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Published: 2015-06-30

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 9781330510841

Excerpt from Critical Review of Theological and Philosophical Literature, Vol. 10 This has led many, if not the majority, of the lecturers to ignore the specific teachings of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, or at least to refer to them only incidentally. Professor Bruce, in carrying out the strictly logical order of his programme, has not followed this leading, but has taken as his central thought the clear demonstration that the one ethical system which fits in with all the phenomena of the moral world is that founded on the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. The general scheme of the lectures is a survey of the views held by typical leaders of thought belonging to different ages and nations concerning the moral order of the Universe. The types are well chosen, and are sufficiently diverse to be representative of the whole range of human thought - ancient and modern. Among the former he has taken - of Orientals: Buddha, Zoroaster, Job and the Hebrew Prophets; and of Occidentals: the Greek tragedians, the Stoic philosophers, and those who professed to declare the purposes of God by divination and oracles. Among modern authors he has taken a wide selection: Browning, Benjamin Kidd, Huxley, Sheldon, Mill, Arnold, etc., types of the different schools of ethical and social philosophy. In his comprehensive sketch of the various conceptions of the moral order of nature, as set forth by this cloud of witnesses, it is not hard to see that in the judgment of the lecturer the central place is occupied by the teachings of Our Lord; in Him we find the synthesis of the ethical instincts, desires and expectations of East and West, of Old and New. With Buddha the moral order is an impersonal conception which ignores rather than denies the existence of a moral governor. The nature of the individual sentient being is causative alike of the physical and the moral order of things. In human life pain and sorrow are the greatest of evils, and are inseparable from the conditions of life - being the fruits of desires. They can therefore be annihilated only by the annihilation of desires; therefore, the highest good, which is the absence of evil, is attained by self-repression carried to the point of the absolute extinction of all personal desires. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.