Abstract

In this Swarthmore Lecture for 1965 a noted philosopher engages in a disciplined philosophical attempt 1) to locate the essence of religion as the ultimate integrating principle among "persons in relation," and 2) to show how religion has been beset by a constant temptation throughout its history to assume dualistic attitudes and practices. Such attitudes and practices invariably lead to an idealism which denies rather than faces the real conflict in the world, the conflict that it is the task of the progressively realized Christian community to overcome. The autobiographical material which Macmurray includes is enough in itself to establish the value of this book; his reflections on the nature, present condition, and future task of Christianity are so much more frosting added to the cake—E. A. R.