Encyclopedia of religion

872 Pages·1981·63.089 MB·English

by  Ferm, Vergilius Ture Anselm

BL 31.F4
Connecticut
libraries
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ESERVED
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Encyclopedia Religion
of
Edited By
VERGILIUS FERM
Compton Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy
in The College of Wooster
THE PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY
NEW YORK
Copyright 1945
By PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, Inc.
15 East 40th Street, New York, N. Y.
%
Type set by Atlantic Linotype Co., Brooklyn, N. Y.
IN
f.S.ft-
When, more than three years ago, it was suggested that I undertake
the editorship of an Encyclopedia of Religion, I had no idea of the im-
mensity of the task or of the complications involved in its execution. The
idea, however, seemed good to me, especially in view of the fact that
there was no desk-size ready reference work in this vast field, authoritative
and up-to-date, to which one could conveniently turn. Dean Shailer
Mathews' and Dr. Gerald Birney Smith's Dictionary of Religion and
Ethics, published nearly a quarter of a century ago, many of us have found
valuable and useful; but the time did seem right for a new work, with
more recent scholarly information and one which, perhaps, would carry
articles of wider scope and treatment, more recent bibliographies and,
perhaps, more representative of conflicting schools of thought.
It was clear, at the outset, that the services of a large number of
specialists must be sought and their counsel enlisted, if such a work was
to measure up to satisfying requirements.
The first task was to draw up a prospectus to make clear the nature
of the volume sought and, on this basis, to engage the interest of others.
Among the items contained in this prospectus were the following: 1) a
concise definition to be given terms of importance and topics of primary
significance in the field to be treated with more fullness; 2) the size of
the volume to be limited to that of a handy desk-reference; 3) the topics
to include the widest ranges of the field: the theologies of the major
religions, denominations and cults with special attention to Biblical
literature and Christian theology, ecclesiastical history and polity, the
usual divisions of cultural and academic interests as these relate to religion,
viz., philosophy, psychology, ethics, sociology, history, comparative re-
ligion, art and architecture, musicology and liturgy, important controversial
disputes, missionary enterprises, religious education, and the like, together
with the masters and leaders of classical religious thought; 4) the com-
position to be guided by three ideals of writing: authority, simplicity and
succinctness; 5) the treatment of subject matter to be historical and
descriptive rather than apologetic; 6) variant meanings and usages of
terms to be given wherever necessary, together with etymologies of the
more technical terms; 7) articles to carry an appended bibliography care-
fully selected by the expert in the subject with year dates of publications;
8) the identification of each contribution to be designated by authors'
V
initials; 9) suggestions of whatever sort to be solicited from specialists
both as to the selection of topics and the names of fellow-scholars as
contributors; and 10) the encyclopedia to be constructed in a manner
which would be most useful to both scholars and students and, at the
same time, intelligible to cultured laymen. To this was added a pledge
by the editor to work out somewhat generously a system of cross-references
to facilitate the reader's search for specific information and to lead him
on to related topics which appear in the work. (The editor alone is
responsible for the insertion of these references.)
The correspondence involved in the undertaking has proved to be
of such proportions as to make the size of this volume small by com-
parison. It has, however, been a most rewarding experience. The editor
has been privileged to sit at a kind of switchboard and to bring into con-
tact with one another scores of minds and the results of disciplined
scholarship. What otherwise might have been an altogether wearisome
burden has been turned to an almost exciting experience by the warm
response which was so widely and generously given to this undertaking
by those who have shared in it. One conviction has emerged: in the com-
monwealth of scholarship there is a spirit which unites rather than
divides and it is in this altogether too esoteric company that one sees
the concrete expression of that ideal of unity-in-diversity which ought
increasingly to undergird all validly religious thinking and practice.
In this volume, there is a truly cooperative effort on the part of
men and women of the widest ranges of background, of interests and
even commitments. Here the conservative student in the calm irenic spirit
of mind exhibits himself, his cause and his exposition alongside the liberal
who matches that spirit; here meet Protestant and Roman Catholic men
of learning together with scholarly representatives of the various house-
holds of Jewish thought and practice; here meet disciplined expositors
of the many denominations to summarize the story of their churches
and to present their doctrines; here meet historians, students of Biblical
criticism, sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, theologians, and an
array of other specialists.
Naturally, in such a wide domain as the field of religion, many
limitations had to be set. For example, it seemed best, in drawing the
circle of exclusion, to'pass by the names of strictly contemporary religious
thinkers, making exceptions only in certain cases and particularly in the
names of foreign scholars.
This prefatory word should include some further summary statements
of editorial policy:
VI