'Religion in the Modern World' by Lord Northbourne

'Religion in the Modern World' by Lord Northbourne is a treatise on religion in

which the author has given a substantial view on the highs and lows of religion
in our times. The book consists of nine chapters and each chapter debates the
modern issues with traditional metaphysics and revelation.

The book can be summarised as an old argument existing between religions

and pseudo-religions. The interesting part of the book is the emphasis author
has laid on Tradition and Revelation as the basic tools of identifying the truth
of religion in the modern world. The most important concept of Religion is
discussed with an engrossing interpretation and the relation Religion has in our
times is fairly conducted towards understanding the view points of man in
relation to the universe. This book responds to the pseudo-religions very
harshly and conjures for the Religion in support with Revelation and Tradition.
Following are some of the important issues discussed in the book:

1. Religion

In the beginning, the author has defined the term Religion conceptually. He
does it smartly by maintaining the graph of theory of knowledge. A sequence is
maintained in which author at first discusses the important and basic
component of Religion, which is Revelation. According to the author Religion
can be true and authentic, if it is linked with Revelation. Revelation is
important and according to the author it is the foundation of everything. It is a
strong truth in religion because it testifies its authenticity. Religion in that way
is the concrete belief not only in God but in His Revelation (p 3).

According to the author Revelation gives man superiority over all other
creations. The gift of free will and reason which man possesses is bestowed to
him by God only to protect His Revelation. Man on this earth according to the
author is the guardian of Religion (p 4). He has tried to define the Religion
inclusively and which according to him is possible only through Revelation.

The second important element according which is treated in the line is the
preservation of Revelation through the Tradition. This is explored in the whole
book and is considered by him as duty of man. The concept of Tradition, which
according to the author is also a major component of identifying the truth of
Religion, lies at the root of human beings. Tradition is not an invention of
human mind, it is natural and brings a civilization or a culture very close to
Religion and finally to God (p 6). There are other dimensions of Religion which
according to the author are very important; exoteric and esoteric, dogmatic
and metaphysical, moral and mystical (p 11). These dimensions are fairly
discussed by the author. However, he has laid emphasis on esoteric dimension
of religion. It may be that author is more mystically inclined or is trying to
prove the metaphysical validity of a Religion. This definition of Religion
overcomes the modern ideologies and sets a paradigm of religion which
considers pseudo-religions out of the context of Religion. Bertrand Russell who
said that communism is the religion of 21st century is rebutted by the critical
definition of Religion of Lord Northbourne.

2. Modernism

The second concept on which author speaks comprehensively is the

Modernism. While exploring this concept he has tried to show the relation of
man with universe because for him modernism is something related to that
point of view in which the relation of man with universe is thoroughly
discussed. These points of view throughout the history have been either sacred
or profane. The profane point of view has tried to detach the Religion from its
source, which is Tradition and Revelation. The pseudo movements of religions
have been successfully able to do that in the modern world. The history
testifies that profane point of view and many such arguments have existed
before, and they have never dominated the world view as of now (p 13). This
has resulted in the decay of sacred point of view and produced a precarious
notion of welfare without salvation by increasing some standards of living, like
the profane view of communism (p 15).

But according to the author the profane outlook which has dominated the
world view lacks the Tradition of Revelation. According to the author all the
philosophies which led to the progressive evolution of man materially are
materialistic. They have the tendency to create welfare in man but not the
salvation (p16). The modernistic outlook, which according to the author is
based on profane rather than sacred point of view, is a compromise on
Religion. This is why he is categorically against this view that Religion is
progressive in its scientific dress or otherwise. He calls it denaturing the
Religion. The author has thus argued for a separate domain of Religion (P 18).

3. The Idea of God

In this book the author discusses a most important and an age old
metaphysical concept of God and does it very well. The author is well aware of
the complexities of the term God, which is understood with different meanings
in all the Religions. But according to him we have to set criteria to understand
the meaning of God. Even though human beings have limited sense, the author
is adamant that we can understand Him through these limited senses. As we
know that words cannot express His being, but He is confident that we can
have an idea of God instead of restricted tendencies. This all is possible only
through understanding how God wants us to understand Him, which is
possible only through revelation (p 25). This criterion according to him is the
best. The author quotes from the Holy Quran and Bible some of the attributes
of God. This should be a clear assessment that the author is trying to explain
the concept of Religion and God through Revelation only. However, his point of
view is contradictory when we see that Quran testifies Bible as a distorted
Revelation not a pure one. Then according to his own explanation and
definition of Religion, Christianity has a very week tradition because Bible is
mostly a human creation. According to the author all the concepts of God in
revelation must be added to form an idea of God because He is the sum of all
possible conceptions (p 26).

4. Tradition

The term Tradition is explored side by side with the term Revelation
throughout the book. The discussion of Tradition as a concept begins with the
capital ‘T’. In order to understand the concept of Tradition author makes use of
the scale again, that is, sacred vs. Profane. The author defines the term
Tradition in relation with anti-Tradition and the scale used to identify them is
profane and sacred point of view. In this way whatever is from God or
Revelation is sacred and the thing which links civilization to Revelation and to
God is defined as Tradition. According to the author Tradition alone is the
chain that binds man to God P (43). Again the author is focused on revealing
the two point of views of history of mankind- God’s creation and Human
creation- which he defines as sacred and profane, tradition and anti-Tradition
and Religious and Pseudo-religious. This scale can be used to study the
civilizations of the world comparatively and the civilization which is devoid of
Revelation or Tradition or Sacred cannot be called Religious and there is every
reason to call them as Material civilization. The author has set an example of
Darwin’s theory of Evolution, a man creation which has set the notion of
history with no beginning and no end- devoid of Religion and Tradition- can be
summed up as a profane point of view. The idea of Tradition or Revelation like
Islam and Christianity has a beginning and an end P (35-40).

The author has an extreme point of view for the reservation of Religion and
Tradition but he one may disagree with his myopic view of profane. We cannot
discourage science to this extent because civilizations have developed through
science, if Religion has preserved it. The author has taken extreme ends
without making us feel that we need science- which may include human
creation of arts and crafts, Technology etc- to develop as a culture and
civilization. Human reason which is also created by God cannot always create a
profane point of view and the fact that God’s Revelation also needs human
reason to interpret, is completely missing. The author in that sense has not
shown any sort of relation between Revelation and role of human mind in it.
This may be called as a fair imbalance in defining the sacred and profane
because man is God’s creation and he has a role in disseminating the message
of God through interpreting His message for all the times to come, which
definitely needs sense perception.

5. Modern Science

The main objective of the modern science according to the author is the
establishment of the welfare. This is where the author has done the severe
criticism of modern science because according to him salvation is the objective
of Religion in which modern science has failed. Religion and salvation is the
highest good and what science produces is lesser good says Northbourne (p
51). But the inclination of soul should be towards the highest good not towards
the lesser good and unfortunately the modern science with so many
achievements, undeniable, have been able to bend the human soul towards
lesser good.
According to the author the foundation of modern science is agnostic, sceptic
and has yielded the philosophies like atheism. It has no objective rather than
welfare and human beings are not created for welfare but for salvation.

Science according to the author can never be mingled with religion because
science is a human creation and religion is God’s creation. The achievements
of science will destroy, so will all the world but the religion which creates vision
will remain for eternity (p 50).

Conclusion

The book is very interesting for the students of religion and for the men of
faith. However, the author has exaggerated the lows of science with which any
one can disagree but he has a style which certainly is faithful and truthful. This
book helps in developing spirituality among the readers. Once gain the love of
God in modern world and return for the Truth in academics is prayed for,
which is an achievement in itself. But he author has an extreme point of view
for the reservation of Religion and Tradition but he one may disagree with his
myopic view of profane. We cannot discourage science to this extent because
civilizations have developed through science, if Religion has preserved it. The
author has taken extreme ends without making us feel that we need science-
which may include human creation of arts and crafts, Technology etc- to
develop as a culture and civilization. Human reason which is also created by
God cannot always create a profane point of view and the fact that God’s
Revelation also needs human reason to interpret, is completely missing. The
author in that sense has not shown any sort of relation between Revelation
and role of human mind in it. This may be called as a fair imbalance in defining
the sacred and profane because man is God’s creation and he has a role in
disseminating the message of God through interpreting His message for all the
times to come, which definitely needs sense perception.

Nazar Ul Islam Wani is a doctoral candidate at University of Kashmir- Srinagar and can be mailed at

waninazar13@gmail.com