endeavouring to determine the distinctively Christian ideal,
as presented in the teaching of Jesus and interpreted by the growing
Christian consciousness of mankind, it may be well to review briefly some
of the main theories of life which are pressing their claims upon our
attention to-day. Many of these modern views have arisen as a reaction
against traditional religion. From the seventeenth century onwards, and
especially during the nineteenth, there has been a growing disposition to
call in question the Christian conception of life. The antagonism
reveals itself not only in a distrust of all forms of religion, but also
in a craving for wider culture. The old certitudes fail to satisfy men
who have acquired new habits of reflection, and there is a disinclination
to accept a scheme of life which seems to narrow human interests and
exclude such departments as science, art, and politics. One reason of
this change is to be found in the wonderful advance of science during the
last century. Men's minds, withdrawn {100} from primary, and fixed upon
secondary causes, have refused to believe that the order of nature can be
disturbed by supernatural intervention. Whether the modern antipathy to
Christianity is justified is not the question at present before us. We
may see in the movements of our day not so much a proof that the old
faith is false, as an indication that if Christianity is to regain its
power a radical re-statement of its truths, and a more comprehensive
application of its principles to life as a whole must be undertaken.

In the endeavour to find an all-embracing ideal of life two possibilities
present themselves, arising from two different ways of viewing man.
Human life is in one aspect receptive; in another, active. It may be
regarded as dependent upon nature for its maintenance, or as a creative
power whose function is not merely to receive what nature supplies, but
to re-shape nature's materials and create a new spiritual world.
Receptivity and activity are inseparable, and form together the
harmonious rhythm of life.

But there has ever been a tendency to emphasise one or other of these
aspects. The question has constantly arisen, Which is the more important
for life--what we receive or what we create? Accordingly two contrasted
conceptions of life have appeared--a naturalistic and an idealistic.
Under the first we understand those theories which place man in the realm
of sense and explain life