RELIGIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN.
Foolscap 8vo. 1s. net per volume.
It is intended in this series to present to a large public the
SALIENT FEATURES, first of the GREAT RELIGIONS, secondly of the
GREAT PHILOSOPHIES, and thirdly of the GREAT LITERARY and
ARTISTIC REPUTATIONS of the Human Race.
PANTHEISM: ITS STORY AND SIGNIFICANCE. By J. ALLANSON PICTON, M.A.
Author of The Religion of the Universe, etc.
RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE. By Miss JANE HARRISON, Fellow of Newnham
College, Author of Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, etc.
ANIMISM. By EDWARD CLODD, Author of Pioneers of Evolution.
RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA. By H.A. GILES, M.A., LL.D. (Aberd.),
Professor of Chinese at Cambridge University.
The following Volumes are in preparation:
ISLAM. Mr. T.W. ARNOLD, Assistant Librarian, India Office.
BUDDHISM. 2 vols. Prof. RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D.
HINDUISM. Mr. T.W. ARNOLD.
FETISHISM AND MAGIC. Prof. ALFRED C. HADDON, F.R.S.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN. Mr. CHARLES SQUIRE.
CELTIC RELIGION. Prof. ANWYL.
SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION. Mr. W.A. CRAIGIE.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. FLINDERS PETRIE. F.R.S.
THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, Dr. THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES.
CHAPTER I. PRE-CHRISTIAN PANTHEISM
CHAPTER II. POST-CHRISTIAN PANTHEISM
Pantheism not Sectarian or even Racial.
Pantheism differs from the systems of belief constituting the main religions of the world in being comparatively free from any limits of period, climate, or race. For while what we roughly call the Egyptian Religion, the Vedic Religion, the Greek Religion, Buddhism, and others of similar fame have been necessarily local and temporary, Pantheism has been, for the most part, a dimly discerned background, an esoteric significance of many or all religions, rather than a "denomination" by itself. The best illustration of this characteristic of Pantheism is the catholicity of its great prophet Spinoza. For he felt so little antagonism to any Christian sect, that he never urged any member of a church to leave it, but rather encouraged his humbler friends, who sought his advice, to make full use of such spiritual privileges as they appreciated most. He could not, indeed, content himself with the fragmentary forms of any sectarian creed. But in the few writings which he made some effort to adapt to the popular understanding, he seems to think it possible that the faith of Pantheis