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The Problem of Christianity

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The "classic age of American philosophy" is dominated by the figures of Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and Josiah Royce. Even though they differ substantially among themselves, the first three of these thinkers are frequently grouped together as pragmatists. Josiah Royce (1855 - 1916), while sharing much in common with the pragmatists, was primarily an idealistic thinker. Throughout a long career, Royce, held that reality was in an important sense spiritual and interconnected. As a result of this commitment to idealism, Royce's thought suffered an eclipse even during his lifetime. While he still is read today, his work is out of fashion with the dominant trend of naturalism in contemporary American philosophy.

"The Problem of Christianity" consists of a series of lectures Royce gave at Manchester College, Oxford in 1913. The "problem" to which Royce refers is the extent to which people in the modern age can find meaning in the basic doctrines of Christianity. There is substantial ambiguity in Royce's concept of Christianity throughout the work. He explains the content of religious life by using historical Christianity as his model. But Royce is no mere apologist. His exposition of the nature and value of religion is not tied either to a particular form of Christianity or to Christianity itself. Part of the appeal of the work lies in its attempt to develop a philosophy of religion not dependent upon a particular creed but to, as Royce puts it, the "invisible church."

The book is in two parts each consisting of eight lectures. In part I, "The Christian Doctrine of Life", Royce attempts to articulate the major ideals underlying the Christian worldview. In part, this section of the book is Royce's attempt to provide a corrective to William James's great work, "The Varieties of Religious Experience." Unlike James, who in the Varieties described religious experience by emphasizing its personal, individualistic character, Royce is a communitarian. He emphasizes the communal character of religion as lived within the context of the "Beloved Community" which, in an ever-expanding process becomes the "universal community". Royce tries to articulate a view of religion that emphasizes the value of the individual, as exemplified, for example, in the person of Jesus, and the importance of the community of believers that developed with Pauline Christianity. In so doing, Royce tries to avoid both extreme individualism as well as totalitarianism. Royce tries to develop and articulate what he terms the three central ideas of Christianity: the idea of the spiritual community within which individual men and women attain salvation, the idea of the hopeless and guilty burden of the individual [sin] which requires divine grace to overcome, and the idea of atonement, under which individuals morally stronger after committing a sin and repenting than was the case even before the bad, traitorous deed.

Among the interesting features of the part I of the Problem of Christianity is a lengthy discussion of Buddhism (pp. 189 - 196) in which Royce recognizes its power and appeal and compares and contrasts its approach to that of Christianity as he understands it. Royce's discussion of Buddhism is the first extended treatment of Buddhist thought of which I am aware in the work of a major American philosopher.

In Part II of the book, "The Real World and the Christian Ideas", Royce attempts to articulate a "metaphysics of the community" that supports the ideals he developed in Part I. Late in his career, Royce became deeply influenced by the thought of Charles Peirce, as this book shows in detail. By expanding upon Peirce's logical studies, Royce argued that the traditional philosophical dichotomy between perception and thought (precept and concept) was not all-encompassing. Instead, Royce argued, there was a third way of human knowing, through interpretation, where one person, A explained a matter B to another person (or to oneself) C. Royce used as well Peirce's theory of signs, in which an object became a sign for one person to explain and interpret to another. This interpretation was a historical process encompassing the past, present and future and in developed in a dialogue over time. Through a process of interpretation, individuals came to know their own minds and those of others and to establish ever-expanding concepts of community. The community of Christian ideals for Royce, expanded and developed with time in a "life of the spirit". For Royce, as an idealist, interpretations were not merely subjective but tended towards an understanding of the real as the object of the community of interpretation.

In the final chapters of his book, Royce attempted to tie together his metaphysics and his understanding of Christianity. He urged an attempt to reach out in breadth to all people and, indeed, to the totality of the universe. itself. Thus, Royce wrote: "I can be geuninely in love with the community only in case I have somehow fallen in love with the universe. The problem of love is human. The solution of the problem, if it comes at all, will be, in its meaning, superhuman, and divine, if there be anything divine." (pp. 269-70) At the end of the book, Royce adopted a maxim: " Judge every social device, every proposed reform, every national and every local enterprise by the one test: Does this help towards the coming of the universal community." (p. 404-405)

Royce's "The Problem of Christianity" is difficult,more suggestive and evocative than rigorously argued. Royce tried to combine pragmatist and idealistic thought in a novel way. Contemporary American pragmatism tends to be highly naturalistic in its orientation. In Pierce and Royce, pragmatism shared substantial commonalities with idealism. Perhaps there is still something to be learned from Royce. "The Problem of Christianity" will be of interest to serious students of philosophy.

Robin Friedman