ds of the soul of which religion has always been the expression, or
fall as they fail to meet them. But since some limitation or other in
the types of Christianity which are dominant amongst us has given them
their opportunity they must also be approached through some
consideration of the Christianity against which they have reacted.
Unsatisfied needs of the inner life have unlocked the doors through
which they have made their abundant entry. Since they also reflect, as
religion always reflects, contemporaneous movements in Philosophy,
Science, Ethics and Social Relationship, they cannot be understood
without some consideration of the forces under whose strong impact
inherited faiths have, during the last half century, been slowly
breaking down, and in answer to whose suggestions faith has been taking
a new form.

A rewarding approach, then, to Modern Religious Cults and Movements must
necessarily move along a wide front, and a certain amount of patience
and faith is asked of the reader in the opening chapters of this book:
patience enough to follow through the discussion of general principles,
and faith enough to believe that such a discussion will in the end
contribute to the practical understanding of movements with which we are
all more or less familiar, and by which we are all more or less
affected.

G.G.A.

_Detroit, Michigan._

Contents

I. FORMS AND BACKGROUNDS OF INHERITED CHRISTIANITY 13

Certain Qualities Common to All Religions--Christianity
Historically Organized Around a
Transcendent God and a Fallen Humanity--The
Incarnation; the Cross the Supreme Symbol of
Western Theology--The Catholic Belief in
the Authority of an Inerrant Church--The
Protestant Church Made Faith the Key to
Salvation--Protestantism and an Infallibly Inspired
Bible--The Strength and Weakness of
This Position--Evangelical Protestantism the
Outcome--Individual Experience of the Believer
the Keystone of Evangelical Protestantism--Readjustment
of Both Catholic and
Protestant Systems Inevitable.

II. NEW FORCES AND OLD FAITHS 46

The Far-reaching Readjustments of Christian
Faith in the Last Fifty Years--The Reaction of
Evolution Upon Religion--The Reaction of
Biblical Criticism Upon Faith--The Average
Man Loses His Bearings--The New Psychology--The
Influence of Philosophy and the
Social Situation--An Age of Confusion--The
Lure of the Short Cut--Popular Edu