The Evolution of Christianity Volume 1 [Paperback]

A late nineteenth-century American theologian argues for harmonious coexistence between religion and evolutionary theory.The American Christian evolutionist Lyman Abbott held that science and faith were compatible, but that religious expression as well as science should follow the laws of progress. In this 1893 book, he argued for a more intelligible and credible religion that would provide a spirituality for the contemporary world.The American Christian evolutionist Lyman Abbott held that science and faith were compatible, but that religious expression as well as science should follow the laws of progress. In this 1893 book, he argued for a more intelligible and credible religion that would provide a spirituality for the contemporary world.Lyman Abbott was an American liberal theologian and a confidant of Theodore Roosevelt. He was a moderate man who sought to re-establish Christian faith among the American people in a period of change. This book, first published in 1893, argued that spiritual experience is always new and therefore every age requires a new expression for it. A believer in the possibility of harmonious coexistence between the Church and evolutionary theory, Abbott proposed a 'more intelligible and credible' religion that endeavoured to sustain faith by expressing it in contemporary terms. He maintained that science and faith were compatible and that both natural and spiritual elements belonged to a shared kingdom governed by the law of progress. Blending faith in historical Christianity with belief in progress and evolutionary theory, Abbott aimed to provide a bridge between religious life and late nineteenth-century philosophical thought.Preface; 1. Evolution and religion; 2. The evolution of the Bible; 3. The evolution of theology: the old theology; 4. The evolution of theology: the new theology; 5. The evolution of the church; 6. The evolution of Christian society; 7. The evolution of the soul; 8. The secret of spiritual evolution; 9. ConcluslãÂ