Page:Philosophical Review Volume 1.djvu/106

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THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
[Vol. I.

been assigned to the gospels, or what results may be regarded as having been reached by advanced criticism in regard to the genuineness of the various epistles ascribed to Paul.

The plan of the book is very happy. Both the German and the English departments begin with a review of the philosophical systems which have served in some degree as the basis of theologic thought. The account that is given of Herder in this preliminary philosophical study is one of the most interesting statements in the book. It gives at once the secret of Herder's influence, and of the limits of this influence. The analysis of the thought of Hegel is especially refreshing in these days in which temperate speech in regard to him is rare; some finding in him the sum of all truth, and others seeing only the mechanism and the extravagant claims of the system. Pfleiderer finds the weakness of Hegel in what was at the same time his strength; namely, his pure intellectualism. In this pure intellectualism of Hegel, he finds the source of the one-sided view which Strauss took of Christianity and of religion in general.

The account of the schools of Philosophy in England is interesting. There is so little pure philosophizing in England, and English theology has so slight a relation to Philosophy, that we may suppose the task of Pfleiderer, so far as this part of his work is concerned, to have been somewhat difficult. The account is rather mixed, as if he found it necessary to force into the philosophic ranks any one on whom he could lay hold. Thus F. W. Newman and Martineau appear among the philosophers rather than among the theologians. Martineau, indeed, may be regarded as both philosopher and theologian, but not more truly than most German theologians. The placing Newman and Martineau among the philosophers causes the picture of theology in England to lack somewhat of proportion; the more liberal thinking outside the limits of the national church not being recognized.

It was of course only a slip of the pen which in an early part of the book (p. 6) led to the association of Locke with Berkeley and Hume as limiting our knowledge to the phenomena of consciousness. Locke is later spoken of more correctly.

The pictures of German and English theologies that are thus placed side by side suggest an interesting comparison of their methods and results. German theology is seen to be a native growth. English theology, so far as its most marked phases are concerned, is largely indebted to the Continent. Through Coleridge came the influence of German thought, which did much to soften and liberalize English theology, and which bore perhaps its ripest fruit in Maurice. From Hegel came the ideas which inspired Green and John Caird. The Tractarian movement was largely the result of a reaction against increasing liberalism, but