has been completed and supplemented by a study of the ideas of immortality. There have been several brilliant interpretations of Greek religion. Important special studies have been made of the festivals, the gods, the oracles, and of folklore."" The division of Roman religious development into its historic stages and its separation from the covering veil of Greek influence was the work of the new century. Credit for a new orientation in the study goes to Wissowa. The Etruscan religion and influence still remain obscure. A vast amount of research has been devoted to the religions of the empire and the nature and spread of the Mystery Cults.3

38

Any attempt to make a skeleton sketch of the advance in the last twenty-five years in the knowledge of Indian religion and culture must be unsatisfactory. Several histories of India have appeared, the latest being a work of collaboration, The Cambridge History of India, 1922. The history of the literature has been written in France, Germany, and England. Archaeology at Mohen-jo-daro and Harappa suggest an entire revision of earlier ideas of the culture of pre-Aryan India. Ethnographic studies have been made in great detail by Crooke, Risley, Rose, Thurston, and Baines, including a survey of castes. All phases of the religious history and the far

37

Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (5v. 1896-1909); Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (1921); Nilsson, A History of Greek Religion (1925); Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903); Themis (1908); Cornford, Greek Religious Thought (1923); Murray, Four Stages of Greek Religion (1912); Nilsson, Griechischen Festen (1906); Evans, "The Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," Jour. of Hellenic Studies, 1901; Glotz, Les civilizations préhellenique (1914); Cook, Zeus (1914); Kern, Orpheus (1920); Hogarth, "Aegean Religion," E.R.E.; Dempsey, The Delphic Oracle (1918); Otto, Die Manen (1920); Foucart, Les Mystères d'Éleusis (1920); Abbot, Macedonian Folklore (1903); Lawson, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1910).

38

Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer (1902, 2d ed. 1912); Herbig, "Etruscan Religion," E.R.E.; Carter, The Religion of Numa (1906); Fowler, Roman Ideas of Deity (1914), The Religious Experience of the Roman People (1911); Toutain, Les cultes paiën dans l'empire romain (1907-11); Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (1911); The Mysteries of Mithra (1903); Graillot, Le culte de Cybele (1912-16); Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (1904); Geffcken, Der Ausgang der Griechisch-römischen Heidentums (1920).

spread ramification of sects have found interpreters, notable among whom now are native Hindu scholars. These studies include the Indo-European origins, the pre-Aryan religions, the Vedic age, the philosophic movements, Buddhism, Jainism, the Ajivikas, the great divisions of Hinduism represented in Vaishnavite, Saivite, and Shakta cults, the Sikhs, and modern movements of reform. Special works have been devoted to the great religious philosophers and leaders of religion, to the communal and family rites, the development of the theology and ethics. A great deal of this work has been done under the editorship of Farquhar in the three important series, "The Heritage of India," "The Religious Life of India," and "The Religious Quest of India." Unfortunately they frequently carry an apologetic cast.""

The nearest approach to a comprehensive history of Buddhism is Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism (3v., 1921). Research has gone steadily forward in all lands. The list of scholars at work in India alone is inspiring. The rise of the new way of life in the midst of Hinduism, the life of Gautama, the devel

29

'Winternitz, Geschichte der indischen Literatur (3v. 1908-20); Farquhar, Outline of Religious Literature of India (1920); Chatterji, "Dravidian Origins and the Beginnings of Indian Civilization," Modern Review December 1924; Risley, The People of India (1908); Thurston, Castes and Tribes of S. India (7v. 1909); Rose, A Glossary of Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and N. W. Frontier Province (3V. 191119); Schrader, "Aryan Religion," E.R.E.; von Schroeder, Arische Religion (2V. 1914, 1916); Bender, The Home of the Indo-Europeans (1922); Hirt, Die Indogermanen (2v. 1905-7); Carnoy, Les Indoeuropéens (1921); Bloomfield, The Religion of the Veda (1908); Griswold, The Religion of the Veda (1925); Oltramare, Histoire des idées théosophiques dans l'Inde, Vol. I, La théosophie brahmanique (1907), Vol. II, La théosophie bouddhique (1923); de la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme (1909); Rhys Davids, Buddhist India (1903); Stcherbatsky, The Central Concept of Buddhism (1923); Keith, Buddhist Philosophy (1923), The Karma Mimansa (1921), The Sankhya System (1918); Jaini, Outlines of Jainism (1916); Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism (1915); Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (1921); Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy (Vol. I, 1922); Barnett, Hinduism (1906); Das Gupta, A History of Indian Philosophy (Vol. I, 1922); Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (6v. 1909); Field, The Religion of the Sikhs (1914); Macnicol, Indian Theism (1915); Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), Shakti and Shakta (1920); Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (1915); Sastri, History of the Brahmo Samaj (1911-12); Rai, The Arya Samaj (1915); McKenzie, Hindu Ethics (1922).

opment of the sangha and of the sects of the Hinayana and the Mahāyāna, the relationships of the Pali and Sanskrit canons, the origins of the Buddhist monachism, the development of Tantrism, and the absorption of Buddhism in Hinduism have been critically treated by many scholars during the last decade. The records of the Chinese pilgrims, the nature of the missionary activity in China, the adjustment to Chinese social ideals, the influence of Buddhism on the folk religion, and its relations with classical Confucianism have been studied and reported. The story of Buddhism in Central Asia and Tibet remains uncertain. The external facts of the religion have been brought to light but the blend of the new faith with the earlier Bon cult of Tibet awaits interpretation. Korean Buddhism also has been almost neglected. The Buddhism of Japan in all its many forms has been presented by both native and foreign scholars. Perhaps the most significant result of Buddhist research is the convincing evidence of the control of social and environmental conditions in transforming a religion.*°

The separation of the strands of native and foreign religions in China, the critical evaluation of the sacred books as historic material, the ethnological study of the races mingling to produce the religions and cultures of the historic period are achievements of this century. When the religious philosophy of the intellectuals of Taoism and Confucianism was separated from the religious customs and ideas of the people many problems dropped away. The influence of Taoism and Bud

40

Vasu, Modern Buddhism and Its Followers in Orissa (1911); Dutt, Early Buddhist Monachism (1924); Hackmann, Buddhism As a Religion (1910); C. A. F. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Psychology (1914); Stcherbatsky, The Soul Theory of the Buddhists (1920); Suzuki, Outlines of Mahāyāna Buddhism (1907); McGovern, Introduction to Mahāyāna Buddhism (1922); Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism (1914); Saunders, Gotama Buddha (1920); Epochs in Buddhist History (1924); Johnston, Buddhist China (1913); De Visser, The Arhats in China and Japan (1923); Hackmann, Laien-Buddhismus in China (1924); Grünwedel, "Lamaismus," Kultur der Gegenwart (1906); Starr, Korean Buddhism (1918); Reischauer, Studies in Japanese Buddhism (1917); Haas, Die Sekten des japanischen Buddhismus (1905); Anesaki, Nichiren, a Buddhist Prophet (1916); Okusa, Principal Teachings of the True Sect of the Pure Land (1910).

dhism on each other as popular religions and of Buddhist philosophy on the later Confucian thinkers is now clear. Since the social history of China has been revealed the rise of the early religious philosophies and the reasons for the success of Buddhism are easier to understand. Special work has been done on the texts of Taoism by Father Wieger and on the popular customs by Doré. The philosophic writings of the important thinkers and social reformers are now available at least in part in one of the modern languages of Europe, and a history of the philosophy by Liang Che-Chiao is announced.11

The ancient religion of Japan, submerged for a millenium and a half by Buddhism, was revived as the national religion in the middle of last century. The task of scholarship has been to recover the primitive religion apart from the rationalization and secularization of it in the modern period. The criticism of the texts of the Kojiki and Nihonji has begun. Revon has shown the nature of the Norito as spoken charms. Studies of the many sects of Shinto have been made and reported, for the most part in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Several scholars have attempted to penetrate to the early religion by way of the mythologies. More promising studies depend upon ethnological and geographic data. The most interesting phase of the study of the religions of Japan centers in the transformation of Confucianism and Buddhism by the Japanese social attitudes and the secularization of Shinto in

"Wieger, La Chine à travers les âges (1920); Cordier, Histoire génerale de la Chine (1920); Ross, The Original Religion of China (1909); Douglas, Confucianism and Taoism (1900); De Groot, Religion in China (1912); Parker, Religion in China (1905); Wieger, Histoire des Croyances religieuses et des opinions philosophiques en Chine (1917); Granet, La Religion des Chinois (1922); Chavannes, Le T'ai Chan (1910); Wieger, Taoism (2v. 1911, 1913); Doré, Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine (7V. 1911-12, Eng. trans. 1914); Giles, A History of Chinese Literature (1901); Liang Che-Chiao, Development of Chinese Thought.

42 Florenz, Geschichte der japanischen Literatur (1906); Brinkley, A History of the Japanese People (1905); Munro, Prehistoric Japan (1908); Knox, The Development of Religion in Japan (1907); Aston, Shinto, the Ancient Religion of Japan (1907); Revon, Le Shintoisme (1907); Haas, Religion der Japaner (1914); Erskine,

The work of twenty-five years," seen ever so superficially, is impressive. Valuable as it has been, great areas of facts, patiently won, remain mere dead materials without a soul. That they do not come to life is due to the fact that the history of religions has only slowly been groping its way toward a scientific method.

II

The troubled experience of two decades has convinced historians that no single science is able to give a descriptive interpretation of the materials of religion. Religion, however defined, is a function of human life. From the beginnings in the shadows of the prehistoric to the most complex culture religions it is woven into all phases of the moving life-process and can be understood only as the network of relations in the social milieu of all the centuries is brought to light. In the most conservative statement it may be said that in the so-called primitive ages groups of human beings found it necessary to win the satisfactions of the needs of life from the natural environment. Food, shelter, sex, security in the presence of the dangers of nature and hostile animals and men had to be won and the way these values were attained was conditioned by the geographic environment and the nature of man in society. For guidance here the historian must depend upon geography, paleogeography perhaps, and social psychology. Unfortunately groups do not remain in the original geographic milieu. To trace migrations, the drift of cultures, the mingling of peoples, to escape the errors of identifying language with race or race with culture, to check common, original sources of widely separated and altered cults, gods, and languages, to determine Japanese Customs (1925); Hearn, Japan, an Attempt at Interpretation (1905); Schurhammer, Shinto, der Weg der Götter in Japan (1923) (a treatment of Shinto from the records of the missionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries); Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai (1913); Nitobe, Bushido (1905); Chamberlain, The Invention of a New Religion (1912); Holtom, The Political Philosophy of Modern Shinto (1922).

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48 No references are made to the religions of Israel, Judaism, or Christianity, since these are to be dealt with in separate articles in this series.