Changing Perspectives in Courses in World Religions
N the life-'time of many of us, courses in world religions have exhibited five chief perspectives. The first of these was the perspective expressed in the term "comparative religion." This perspective was a hold-over from the 19th, and even from the 18th century. The governing purpose was in line with Christian, specifically with missionary interests. The curiosity of the leaders of the 18th Century Enlightenment concerning the "natural religion" of "savages" and Oriental "heathen" was succeeeded in the 19th Century by an intense interest in at least two aspects of the religions of peoples who were the object of missionary concern: first, the strengths and weaknesses of these religions, and second the possible points of contact through which missionaries might establish mutual understanding. In some cases the attitudes of scorn and intolerance persisted, but there was increasingly evident a more and more broadminded willingness to see truth and ethical worth in non-Christian faiths. This moderation was due to closer acquaintance with other faiths and ushered in the second phase of the development of world religions courses. The second phase was signalled by the gradual dropping of the title "comparative religion" with its suggestion that other religions were to be measured against the Christian and found wanting. Two new names took its place: "the history of religions" (religionsgeschichte) and, in rather general use in colleges in this country, "the religions of the world." Here quite plainly the suggestion is that the religions are to be considered one by one, objectively and impartially, without necessarily subjecting them to more than historical comparisons. In contrast, the older courses forthrightly took sides. In them the finality of Christianity was negatively demonstrated by the picking of flaws in other religions. While points of contact with nonChristian faiths were sought by a consideration of the "strengths" of these faiths, the impression was conveyed that "weaknesses" were discerned with something approaching satisfaction. R. E. Hume's The World's Liv-