Bøger i Cambridge Library Collection - Religion serien

The physicist Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) made significant contributions to the study of electrons, electromagnetic waves, X-rays, radio and telegraphy, earning him the Rumford Medal, the Faraday Medal and, in 1902, a knighthood. In addition to serving as President of the Physical Society, Lodge succeeded F. W. H. Myers as President of the Society for Psychical Research, an organisation devoted to the study of paranormal phenomena. In this work, first published in 1908, Lodge discusses the controversy between science and faith, showing how the self-sufficient laws of 'orthodox science' may be reconciled with the divinely ordered universe of 'orthodox religion'. Immensely popular from the moment of its publication, the book reached its twenty-first printing in 1928. This sixth edition of 1909 conveys the full scope of Lodge's ambitious project, including his treatments of evolutionary science, church reform and the immortality of the soul.

Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-74) was a pioneering textual scholar of the New Testament, who discovered and transcribed early manuscripts, notably the Codex Sinaiticus, his acquisition of which provoked long-lasting controversies. The original German edition of this book appeared in 1865, and sold 2,000 copies in three weeks; this English translation (1868) was based on the improved and expanded fourth German edition (1866). In it, Tischendorf applies his enormous knowledge of early Christian literature and the oldest Latin, Greek and Syriac gospel manuscripts to the question of the date of the canonical gospel texts, which, he argues, had been established by the end of the first century. Parts of the book are highly polemical, with Tischendorf referring to 'the Tubingen fantasy-builder and the Parisian caricaturist' in his attempt to refute contemporary theories about the person of Jesus. Nevertheless his translator engagingly describes him as a 'great and genial' scholar.

John Venn (1834-1923), a leading British logician, moral scientist and historian of Cambridge, came from a noted family of clerics, although he resigned from the clergy as his philosophical studies led him away from Anglican orthodoxy. This family memoir, published in 1904, covers the careers of three centuries of Venn clergy, together with an outline of the family origins and pedigrees. The family came from Devon, where William Venn was ordained in 1595, and two of his sons followed him. Richard Venn was displaced and jailed during the Commonwealth. The author's father, John, was the founder of an evangelical sect at Clapham (where his father Henry had also been curate), and of the Church Missionary Society, an organisation in which the author's brother, Henry, played a leading role. The study provides a microcosmic history of the Anglican Church from the Reformation to the end of the nineteenth century.

George Fox (1624-91), founder of The Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers), was well known during his lifetime as a healer and worker of miracles. He wrote prolifically of how he used God's power to effect over one hundred and fifty cures, of both physical disease or injury and mental or psychological problems. This work was critical to spreading the word about Quakerism in its early years. Many of Fox's papers were lost after his death, but from the clues and fragments that remained, and a contemporary index of his works, Henry Cadbury (1883-1974) was able to create this book, published in 1948. The preface make clear that this was not intended as a work of critical analysis, though the findings are annotated with historical and documentary detail. The editor's devotion to his task is testament to the historical and spiritual significance of Fox's contribution to Quakerism.

The Reverend John Furniss Ogle (1823-65) was an academic, a Church of England clergyman and a committed missionary. Born into a wealthy religious family and educated at Cambridge, he worked as a tutor and minister before undertaking missions in the Falkland Islands, Europe and Africa. First published in 1873, this collection of Ogle's letters was compiled shortly after his death at sea during a mission to Algeria. Interspersed with detailed commentary by the book's editor, the Reverend James Aitken Wylie (1808-90), the letters trace Ogle's early childhood, his studies at Cambridge, his embarking on a religious life, and his determined missionary enterprises. They offer a revealing insight into life in nineteenth-century Europe and Africa, and portray Ogle as humble man, dedicated to his pursuits and to the welfare of others.

The British colonial administrator and scholar Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) travelled extensively in the Far East, developing a keen intellectual interest in Chinese culture and spirituality. His fourteen-year posting to the relatively quiet port of Weihaiwei allowed him to indulge this interest and to travel to places not usually visited by Europeans. In 1918, he was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906-67), who had been China's last emperor before his forced abdication. Deeply interested in Mahayana Buddhism, Johnston played an important role in raising Western awareness of its philosophy and practice in China. This work, first published in 1913, provides valuable insight into the history of this branch of Buddhism as well as fascinating accounts of notable centres of Chinese monasticism. Among other works, Johnston's Confucianism and Modern China (1934) and Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) are also reissued in this series.

The British colonial administrator and scholar Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) travelled extensively in the Far East, developing a deep interest in Chinese culture and spirituality. His fourteen-year posting to the relatively quiet port of Weihaiwei allowed him to indulge this interest and to travel to places not usually visited by Europeans. Well acquainted with the philosophy of Confucius, Johnston had happily quoted the Confucian classics in his court judgments at Weihaiwei. In 1918, he was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906-67), who had been China's last emperor before his forced abdication. This 1934 publication, developed from lectures, presents an accessible interpretation of the tenets and fortunes of Confucianism, notably the impact of the New Culture Movement on the philosophy's place in Chinese society. Among other works, Johnston's Buddhist China (1913) and Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) are also reissued in this series.

Comprising seven essays by learned contributors and controversially advocating a rationalist Christianity, this work became a sensation upon publication in 1860. Frederick Temple (1821-1902), later Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote on the cultural contributions of non-Christians; Roland Williams (1817-70), Professor of Hebrew at Lampeter, questioned Old Testament prophesies; Baden Powell (1796-1850), Oxford Professor of Geometry, challenged belief in miracles and embraced Darwinism; Henry Bristow Wilson (1803-88) questioned literal biblical history; the only lay contributor, Egyptologist Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817-78), embraced geology; Mark Pattison (1813-84), tutor at Lincoln College, wrote on the history of rationalist theology; and Benjamin Jowett (1817-93), Oxford Professor of Greek, advocated a historical reading of the Bible. Wilson and Williams were later found guilty of heresy by a Church court, though this was overturned on appeal. For readers interested in the theological controversies of the Victorian era, these essays remain invaluable.

The diplomat and Japanese and Korean scholar William George Aston (1841-1911) wrote several highly regarded publications, particularly on the Japanese language. Condensed from his more comprehensive 1905 study of the subject, this 1907 work is a brief introduction to Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan. Based on the worship of nature and ancestor spirits, Shinto has evolved throughout its history, particularly under Buddhist and Confucian influence. In the late nineteenth century it played a notable role in the revival of Japanese nationalism, and continued to be central to public life until 1945. This work focuses on describing Shinto's general character, and its myths and practices, drawing on early written sources based on the oral tradition. Aston's work has been criticised for its dependence on philological study of the early texts, but his expertise is undeniable. His groundbreaking History of Japanese Literature (1899) is also reissued in this series.

Educated in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig, Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907) was a Jewish Bohemian orientalist with a deep understanding of classical and Semitic languages and cultures, specialising in bibliography. He edited twenty-one volumes of the journal Hebraische Bibliographie from 1859 to 1882, and his 1878 catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Hamburg State Library is also reissued in this series. First published in 1877, this book is an elaborate record of Arabic polemic and apologetic literature among Muslims, Christians and Jews. The product of several decades of work, it offers detailed historical and bibliographic information on each item, alphabetical lists of titles and authors, an appendix of background information, and a useful index. Steinschneider's painstaking work remains of value to scholars of the Abrahamic religions and the history of interfaith relations.

Henry Aaron Stern (1820-85), of German Jewish birth, moved to London in 1839, converted to Christianity and became a lifelong missionary for the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. With his wife he preached in Palestine, Babylon, Constantinople, Baghdad, Persia, and to the Karaite Jews of the Crimea. Famously, in 1863, he was caught in a diplomatic dispute in Ethiopia that led to his imprisonment and eventual rescue, five years later, by a British military force. Stern was made a doctor of divinity in 1881. He wrote three memoirs, which were drawn on by Albert Augustus Isaacs (1826-1903), a vicar at Leicester who knew Stern personally. Isaacs's biography, first published in 1886, is hagiographic and written with religiosity. Nonetheless, it includes informative accounts of missionary work among Jewish communities, and remains a valuable source on the orientalism of Victorian Britain.

Published in 1861, this work in the third person, dictated by Joseph Wolff (1795-1862) to friends, is an epic miscellany of stories. Wolff, the son of a rabbi, had a peripatetic Middle European childhood. He converted to Christianity in 1812, studying Near Eastern languages in Vienna and Tubingen, and theology in Rome - until he was expelled by the Inquisition for heretical views. He eventually moved to England, working for the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. Beginning his mission in the Middle East, he later travelled to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, and the United States, where he preached to Congress. His eventful career saw him variously shipwrecked, enslaved, and forced to walk without clothes for 600 miles following a robbery. In 1847 he settled more quietly in a Somerset vicarage. Though characteristically orientalist (and with possible embellishments), this work remains an invigorating depiction of a lifetime's adventure.

Published in English in 1884, this is the posthumous third edition of an 1862 study by the German orientalist Martin Haug (1827-76). He produced this groundbreaking analysis and comparison of Sanskrit and the Avesta while professor of Sanskrit at the Government College of Poona. His time in India enabled him to make an unprecedented study of Zoroastrian texts, becoming the first to translate the seventeen Gathas into a European language, thereby helping to highlight that they were composed by Zoroaster. Edward William West (1824-1905), an engineer and self-taught orientalist, met Haug in India. Having read this work's first edition, he was inspired to study further the Pahlavi language. On his and Haug's return to Europe in 1866, they worked closely together in translating and publishing Zoroastrian texts. West's edition of Haug's Essays includes several updates, unpublished papers from Haug's collection, appendices of further translations, and a biography of the author.

One of the leading Christian theologians of the nineteenth century, John Henry Newman (1801-90) was already a famous and controversial figure, as the leader of the Oxford Movement, by the time he published these lectures in 1838. He was still a Church of England vicar, but in 1845 he would join the Roman Catholic Church and eventually become a cardinal. The thirteen lectures here, addressing the doctrine of salvation through faith, cover issues of obedience, righteousness, Christ's resurrection, faith as the sole source of justification, the role of rites and works, and that of preaching. Offering a complementary rather than dichotomous interpretation of the competing theological positions, this work reveals the progress of Newman's thinking and reflects his journey towards leaving the Church of England.

Specialising in optics and the motion of fluids, physicist George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge for over fifty years, President of the Royal Society, Master of Pembroke College and the most prominent religious scientist of his age. First published in 1893, Natural Theology contains the text of ten lectures he gave at Edinburgh. Stokes favoured the design argument for the existence of a Christian god, arguing against Darwinism. He believed the Bible to be true, though at times metaphorical. The lectures move from substantive observations on cosmology, electricity, gravity, ocular anatomy and evolution through to non sequiturs regarding providential design, human exceptionalism, the supernatural, spiritual immortality, and Christ's dual materiality and divinity. Fossilising a moment of impending shift in the history of ideas, these lectures highlight an intellectual dissonance in the Victorian scientific establishment.