t we are
at the beginning of a great religious and ethical awakening, the
ultimate results of which no man can completely foresee.

+And also the religion of science.+--Again, the New Theology is the
religion of science. It is the denial that there is, or ever has been,
or ever can be, any dissonance between science and religion; it is the
recognition that upon the foundations laid by modern science a vaster
and nobler fabric of faith is rising than that world has ever before
known. Science is supplying the facts which the New Theology is
weaving into the texture of religious experience.

CHAPTER II

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE

+What religion is.+--All religion begins in cosmic emotion. It is the
recognition of an essential relationship between the human soul and the
great whole of things of which it is the outcome and expression. The
mysterious universe is always calling, and, in some form or other, we
are always answering. The artist answers by trying to express his
feeling of its beauty; the scientist answers by recognising its laws
and unfolding its wonders; the social reformer answers by his
self-denying labours for the common good. In each and every case there
is in the background of experience a conviction that the unit is the
instrument of the All; religion is implied in these as in all other
activities in which man aims at a higher-than-self. But religion,
properly so-called, begins when the soul consciously enters upon
communion with this higher-than-self as with an all-comprehending
intelligence; it is the soul instinctively turning toward its source
and goal. Religion may assume a great many different and even
repellent forms, but at bottom this is what it always is: it is the
soul reaching forth to the great mysterious whole of things, the
higher-than-self, and seeking for closer and ever closer communion
therewith. The savage with his totem and the Christian saint before
the altar have this in common: they are reaching through the things
that are seen to the reality beyond.

+What the word "God" means.+--But what name are we to give to this
higher-than-self whose presence is so unescapable? The name matters
comparatively little, but it includes all that the ordinary Christian
means by God. The word "God" stands for many things, but to
present-day thought it must stand for the un-caused Cause of all
existence, the unitary principle implied in all multiplicity. Everyone
of necessity believ