The Study of Psychology
Of equal importance with this course on the history of education, for the student taking the licence-examination or for a teacher taking an examination for a higher grade licence or a principalship, is a course in Psychology in the Britannica. This will be found largely in the great article onPsychology(Vol. 22, p. 547; equivalent in length to 200 pages of this Guide) by James Ward. The systematic treatment of the subject in this article is particularly valuable to the teacher, whether the object desired is to review the entire subject, sharpening one’s impressions from a longer course of reading; to get a general grounding in the subject—for which a careful study of this one article will suffice; or to make one’s self more certain of his comprehension of any part of the subject. It is not practicable to give an outline of this article here, but a few of its special topics are listed below:
General analysis of the subject
Besides the general article with its systematic summary of the subject, the Britannica contains many briefer articles on special topics, so that the teacher will find not only an excellent text-book of the subject in Prof. Ward’s article, but also an elaborate dictionary or encyclopaedia of psychological terms or topics. Among the topics treated in this “Dictionary of Psychology” are:
Furthermore, the teacher will find the Britannica a valuable biographical dictionary. This he will already have realized, if he has looked up the biographical articles mentioned in connection with the history of education. The following is a brief outline course in psychological biography:
The Great Preachers
The minister or candidate for the ministry will find a valuable course of reading laid out for him in this Guide under the headingBible Study, and it might be said with little exaggeration thatanysystematic course of reading in the Encyclopaedia Britannica should add to the efficiency and power of one who would be an ideal pastor. If the schools of the Middle Ages could truly call all the arts and sciences hand-maids and helpers to Theology, much more truly, in the present age, should the minister, in order that he may minister truly, know not merely the history of the Bible and of the Church, the results of modern criticism, and of comparative religion and folk-lore, but, almost as fully, general history, literature, philosophy, psychology, education, something of the fine arts, much of law and political science, and still more of social science and economics. In a period of specialization he cannot afford to be a specialist—or, it might be nearer the truth to say that, like every other true specialist, he must make all knowledge, all the circle of the sciences, tributary to his specialty, which is the knowledge and the improvement of the human soul. The suggestions that follow must necessarily be fragmentary, and should be considered as including merely a few topics not covered in the chapter onBible Studynor in the other courses which, as has justbeen suggested, a minister might profitably pursue.
The articleSermon(Vol. 24, p. 673) is by Edmund Gosse, librarian of the House of Lords, biographer of John Donne, Jeremy Taylor and Dr. Thomas Browne. The writer is especially conversant with the English literature of the 17th century, in the middle of which, to quote his article, “the sermon became one of the most highly-cultivated forms of intellectual entertainment in Great Britain, and when the theatres were closed at the Commonwealth it grew to be the only public form of eloquence.”
Each name on the following list of great preachers is accompanied by volume and page reference to the biographical sketch in the Britannica, containing criticism of the preacher and a bibliography of his works and of works about him, so that the articles supply the basis for a study of the world’s great preachers.
These lists could easily be made longer and fuller, but the articles mentioned give such a view of the great preachers of the world as cannot fail to stimulate any minister. Supplementing what has been said above about the necessity of the minister’s being a well-rounded man, it may be worth while to notice that Donne and Keble and, in a less degree, Doane and Muhlenberg, were poets as well as preachers; that Cudworth was known as the founder of the Cambridge Platonists, and Jowett as the translator of Plato, Barrow as a mathematician, second, in his day, only to Isaac Newton, Edward Everett Hale as an essayist and writer of short stories, and McCook as a great naturalist.
The minister will find the Britannica an excellent encyclopaedia of comparative religion and of church history, with the newest and most authoritative information on any subject in this field. For a brief outline course in these topics let him read:
The articleReligion(Vol. 23, p. 61; equivalent to 50 pages of this Guide), by Dr. Joseph Estlin Carpenter, principal of Manchester College, Oxford, and Robert R. Marett, fellow and tutor of Exeter College, Oxford, author of theThreshold of Religionand contributor to the Britannica of articles onPrayer,Ritual, etc. This article is made up of: a general introduction sketching the history of the study of religions, especially in the last century, and concluding that “the origin of religion can never be determined archaeologically or historically; it must be sought conjecturally through psychology”; a section on primitive religion, which is a remarkable summary of all that is known of this subject; and a section on the higher religions which discusses developments of animism, transition to polytheism, polytheism, the order of nature (a half-way stage to monotheism), monotheism, classification of religions, revelation, ethics and eschatology and bibliography.
Another class of articles comprisesAncestor Worship,Animal Worship,Animism,Fetishism,Folklore,Magic,Mythology,Prayer,Ritual,Sacrifice,Serpent-Worship,TotemismandTree-Worship, written by such authorities as N. W. Thomas, author ofKinship and Marriage in Australia, etc., Andrew Lang, Stanley Arthur Cooke and R. R. Marett.
Certain primitive religions are separately treated, as in the articleIndians, North American(Vol. 14, especially pages 471–473), by A. F. Chamberlain, assistant professor of anthropology, Clark University, Worcester; in the articleAustralia(Vol. 2, especially p. 957); in the articleHawaii(Vol. 13, pages 87, 88).
On higher religions there are the following separate articles (among many):
Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, by Morris Jastrow of the University of Pennsylvania; and the articlesAnai,Ishtar,Ea,Marduk,AssurandGilgamesh,—all by the same author and all of particular value as throwing sidelights on Hebrew Religion.
Egypt(Vol. 9, pp. 48–56), by Allan H. Gardiner, editor of theNew(Berlin)Hieroglyphic Dictionary.
Hebrew Religion(Vol. 13, p. 176; equivalent to 40 pages of this Guide), by Dr. Owen Charles Whitehouse, professor of Hebrew, Cheshunt College, Cambridge; and the articlesHebrew Literature,Jews, etc.
Brahmanism(Vol. 4, p. 381) andHinduism(Vol. 13, p. 501), by Julius Eggeling, Professor of Sanskrit, Edinburgh.
Buddhism,BuddhaandLamaism, by T. W. Rhys Davids, author ofBuddhist India, etc.
Confucius, by James Legge, author ofThe Religions of China.
Sikhism, by Max Macauliffe, whose bookThe Sikh Religionis accepted by the Sikhs as authoritative.
Zoroaster, by Karl Geldner, professor at Marburg, and the articleParsees.
Mahommedan Religion(Vol. 17, p. 417; equivalent to 45 pages in this Guide), by G. W. Thatcher, warden of Camden College, Sydney.
Mahomet, by D. S. Margoliouth, Laudian professor of Arabic, Oxford;Mahommedan InstitutionsandMahommedan Laws, by D. S. Macdonald, professor of Semitic languages, Hartford Theological Seminary.
Bábiism, by E. G. Browne, professor of Arabic, Cambridge, and author ofHistory of the Báb.
Greek Religion(Vol. 12, p. 527), by L. R. Farnell, fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, author ofCults of the Greek States; and such articles asDemeter,Hecate,Hera,Hermes,Hestia,Nike,Phoebus,ThemisandZeus.
Roman Religion(Vol. 23, p. 577), by Cyril Bailey, fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and author ofThe Religion of Ancient Rome; and such articles asAnna Perenna,Arval Brothers,Bona Dea,Concordia,Fama,Faunus,JunoandJupiter; and the valuable articles on Eastern cults in Rome,Great Mother of the Gods,Attis,Mithras, etc., by Professor Grant Showerman of the University of Wisconsin.
Christianity(Vol. 6, p. 280; equivalent to 35 pages of this Guide), by G. W. Knox, professor of philosophy and history of religion, Union Theological Seminary, New York;Jesus Christ(Vol. 15, p. 348; equivalent to 35 pages of this Guide), by the Very Rev. Joseph Armitage Robinson, Dean of Westminster;Gospel(Vol. 12, p. 265), by Rev. V. H. Stanton, Ely professor of divinity, Cambridge; articles on the separate gospels;Paul the Apostle(Vol. 20, p. 938), by the Rev. James Vernon Bartlett, professor of church history, Mansfield College, Oxford.
On Church Historythere is an excellent key article in volume 6 (p. 331; equivalent to 45 pages of this Guide). It begins with an outline of the work of the great church historians and divides the subject into three parts:first, up to 590 B.C.,—this part and the general introduction are by A. C. McGiffert, professor of church history in Union Theological Seminary, New York City;second, the Church in the Middle Ages, by Albert Hauck, professor of church history at Leipzig; and The Modern Church, by W. Alison Phillips, author ofModern Europe. This sketch may be filled in by reference to the following articles (among many):
A brief course in theology and dogma is contained in the following articles:
Theology(Vol. 26, p. 772; equivalent to 45 pages in this Guide), by the Rev. Dr. Robert Mackintosh of Lancashire Independent College, Manchester.
On Religious Orders:
and see also the names of different orders and hundreds of biographical articles on saints and heretics, preachers and theologians.
The following alphabetical list includes only a part of the articles in the Britannica on religious topics; but it will serve to show the value of the book to a clergyman in his own field:
The Britannica adds so largely to medical literature that, in outlining the services which the work can render to those engaged in the prevention and treatment of disease, it is desirable to define the limits, rather than to insist upon the extent, of the plan adopted by the technical assistant editors to whom the Editor-in-chief entrusted the control of this important part of the undertaking. It is true that the 644 medical articles, many of which might be described as books in themselves, cover the whole field of anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, surgery, pharmacology, medical education, medical jurisprudence and medical biography. It is also true that the writers who sign these articles are specialists of world-wide authority, and that the total number of words and illustrations in these articles is as great as would be required for a complete encyclopaedic hand-book of medical science. But, notwithstanding all this wealth of matter and of international collaboration, the Britannica does not profess to take the place of the elementary working library in daily use by every professional man. “Working library” is, however, an elastic term, and it is used here to mean only the handbooks which constitute an irreducible minimum, the few without which no beginner would venture to establishhimself in practice. Certain manuals are, to the practitioner, what mathematical tables are to the engineer; and it is not the function of the Britannica to duplicate what the practitioner already possesses, nor yet, for example, to include a pharmacopoeia in a book used by the general public.