David Wagstaff
It is unnecessary to list the evils that afflict our poor country. It is sufficient that the worst of them is that the public accept our Christian culture of 1400 years, but reject the religion that underpins it. No building can stand if you undermine its foundations. And all our other troubles stem from this, I think,. These books are my attempt to do something about it, and I proclaim that Jesus was necessary for fulfilment of the Divine plan through Evolution.
A Reconciliation with Science and War.This is the minimum reinterpretation necessary to make any religion relevant to modern life. I do it by assuming that the truth of science, and the truth of war, have an equal validity with the truth of religion, and then look to see how much is left of the religion that Jesus Christ inaugurated. Actually a lot is left; its main features are preserved. But the concept of the “Saviour” has to be drastically modified. This reinterpretation has to be made before it is possible to create a vision of a world created by God, in which we all have our part to play, that rests on scientific truth, as opposed to the fantasy of the Medieval vision.
One glance at the Church of England, and it is obvious that the present establishment is not willing to do this. So necessarily the religion they uphold is largely a world of pleasant dreams, in this mortal world. The running of society must be left principally to others
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A Religious View of Nature & the Universe.An individual faith is not enough; it has to bind people together if it is to benefit society. And religion is primarily for the benefit of the society that welcomes it; not for the individual worshippers. So I offer a renewed vision of a world created by God, and the prospect of a decent just society; this time on a basis of scientific fact, and not scientific make-belief.
There is no need for anyone to accept it, but nothing to prevent them accepting it, if they want to. And if they do accept it, they are offered too the prospect of a mystical union with the Divine Creator, which is common to all religions; but which so easily gets out of proportion, if it loses touch with the common-sense of everyday life.
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| MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, OR SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE.
Man's Relationship with God is a study of relationships, a devotional book, which the other two most emphatically are not. But the reader may like to discover the inspiration from which the other two books sprang. Both attitudes are necessary for the wholeness of man.
Appendix.I have created a vision of a world created by God, the first since Newton's Principia. So I have opened the door to a future for both church and state. I can step through the door to admire what is beyond. But to attempt more is beyond me. And to create a “theory of all things”, is a consummation best avoided.
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Second Appendix. Jung’s Archetypes and Christian doctrine.
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A Personal Record & other essays
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