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Mary Allen College, Crockett. Texas, 1944-1969
No full textFolder: Mary Allen College, Crockett, Texas, 1944-1969. Contains documents relating to Reverend Black's association with this historically black college
Communism as a Religion, 1943
No full textThesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Divinity at the Andover Newton Theological School. Digitized copy supplied by Diana Yount, Trask Library, Andover Newton Theological School, on March 16, 2012 to Coates Library, Special Collections and Archives, Trinity University.COMMUNISM AS A RELIGION
By
Claude W. Black, Jr.
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor
of Divinity at the Andover Newton Theological
School, and is approved by
~~/
Department of Social Ethics
Date of Approval.
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Chapter Page
I. Toward an; Understanding of Religion 1
II. Toward an Understanding of Communism 15
III., Communism as a Religion 29
IV. A Christian Critique of Communism 39
i.
PURPOSE: To seek an understanding of religion and the major
tenets of Uarxian Communism_in an effort to determine the
treatment of 'communism as a religion.
LIMITS: This study is limited in its examination or religion,
for all of the problems involved in a stuay of rel1gion were no
fully d.i scussect,· but tne cone lusi one reached had the authority
of outstanding men in the t"iela of rel.1gion. The study of
Marxian Communism was also limited to its major tenets, which
are as follows: (1.) materialistic interpretation of history,
(2.) the theory of class struggle, and (3.) the theory of
value.
METHOD: This study is approached with an exarr.ination of both
religion and Marxi'an Communism in an effort to reach some con.;.
elusions as to ti1eir natnre. Following this examination the
conclusions reached are used' in a di8,cussion of Communism as a
religion. To conclude this study a short Christian critique of
Marxian Communism is given.
CONCLUSION: Uarxian Communism as an interpretation of life is
a religion, a:1d as such directs men toward the goal of a
"classless society". As a religion it unites men of a common
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heritage and directs their way t,oward a o.ommon destiny. As a
body of knowledge, Marxian Communism establishes itself as an
object of faith, which illuminates its facts, and enables the
individual to. become a channel through which these facts find
expression. In the light of Christianity Marxian Communism is
inadequate, for it does not meet fully man's deepest needs and
and highest ideal satisfaction,
qUGGJ<~STIONS FOR FURTHER _STUDY: :A more inclusive study of both
religion and Marxian Communism w1th a view to a specific
treatment of Communism as a. religion, This study would be oo re
than a diAcussion of rnaj or principles and would take into
special consideration such matters as ethics and the dictatorship
of the proletariat,
I. TOWARD AN UNDERSTAHDIUG OF HELIGION
With the coming of the eighteenth century we find men
becoming concerned with the pro~lem o; the nature of religion.
Hitherto; the concept of religion was one that had not bee;n
critically examined. It had been assumed that religion was
simply a.:.set of theological doctrines which could be rationally
tested and thus determined true or false. There was a wide
difference of opinion during the eighteenth century concerning
the truth of religion. Such· men as John Locke set forth their
contention that reason could justify all the doctrines of
11revealed religion "• With such a contention they found it ne-cessary
to .justify some of the doctr.mes indirectly, on the
basis that they were supernatura: .. ly vouched for by rationally
authenticated prophesies and miracles, The deist school conl.
tended th~?ct only three great doctrines of "natural religion 11
could be rationally justified. These three doctrines were God
and duty and immortality. As for "revealed religion", to this
school of thought, it was a mere invention of ••priestcraft" to
keep the people in order. There were other philosophers, like
David Hume, who were just as skeptical about a rational justification
for a belief in natural religion as for a belief in
revealed religion.
Kant, as did Hume, doubted the validity of all the
rational argument.s by which relJ.'gl·on ·"~-~s suppor t e d 1-n h1· s dqy;
2.
Kant, in so far as "pure reason" was concerned, arrived at a
ske:pticism as complete as Rume' s. Kant is not to be considered
an irreligious unbeliever, for he found in himself another
faculty than reason, the moral will through which he reached a
new faith in the essential truths of religion. For Kant the
voice of duty was the "categorical imperative•, which must be
obeyed, whether it pleased him or not. When we obey this call
of duty we. must be allowed to assume or "postulate" whatever was
logically involved in such an act of obedience. Walter Rbrton
states;:
In this act of obedience Kant found three great ,
faiths of natural religion: moral freedom, because
•.•we ought" is meaningless unless "we can"; im- ·
mortality, because moral law requires nothing le.ss
than moral perfection, which can not be achieved ,
unless we have all eternity to progress toward the
goal; God, because .the moral law bids us seek to
promote that perfect correspondence of virture with
happiness which called the "highest good" or the
•kingdom of God", -and the kingdom of God is only
realizable if our infinite human efforts are reinforced
by the cause. of all nature. In his "Religion
Within the Bounds of Mere Reason" Kant went
on to justify, on similar mor;:.listic grounds, many
of the doctrines of reve~led religion, such as the
doctrine of original sin--"radical evil", a.s he
called it--- and offered a definition of religion
which sums up his whole position very neatly: .
"Religion" • he said, "is the recognition of our dut~:es
as divine commands. " .( 1)
This moralistic conception of religion has influenced
the thinking of many writers on religion. Mathew Arnold defined
i(l) R.N. W.' iem-· an and W.M. Horton. The Z+row!J:!._£f Religion._
(New York: Willett, Clark & Company, 1938), p.208.
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religion as "morality touched by emotion," and God as "a power
not outse.lves that makes for righteousness, a power not to be
disc·overed through ration1o1l reflection upon the processes of
nature, but only through obedience to the moral law." Albrecht
Ritschl defined religion as "victory over the world"• adding
that we win this victory when we follow the path of life marked
out by Christ, and so, by a process of "value judgment", find
in him the God we could never find in nature. Kant influenced
the thinking of William James and other members of the pragmatic!
school, for they urged that we .should not wait for rational
argument to prove the truth of religious faith, but should will
to believe whatever it seemed morally best to believe, and see
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· J whether the practical consequences of such moral faith did not
justify the venture. John Baillie stands forth as a contem:
porary representative of the Kantian school. He defines
religion as "a consciousness which comes to the dutiful, to the
loyal, to those who are true to the highest VaLues they know,
that in beling t1ms dutiful and loyal to their values, they are
doing what chey were meant and appointed to do, and are putting
themselves in line with the Eternal and have His backing behind
them".
Schleiermacher is the founder of a school o! thought
-- hich also agrees with Kant in distinguishing religion from a I
mere acceptance of theological propositions on rational grounds.!
This school of thought finds the basis of religion in the realm I
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of che'feelings. Schleiermacher, the founder of the school o:f
thought, 'define!? religion as "the feeling of absolute depen-de
nee "• "Religion" • ·
says Schleiermacher, ''vindicates for itself its
own sphere and its own ,character only by abandoning
entirely the provinces of science and practices;
and when it has raised itself besides them, the
whole field is :for the first- time completely
filled and human nature perfected. Religion reveals
itself as the necessary and indispensable
third, as the natural complement of knowledge and
conduct, not inferior,to them in worth and
dignity. • ( l)
Fee ling is not unrelated to both knowledge and morality but·
underlies them both. It is in this feeling that the universe
is continually making deep impressions, from which our truest
scientific intuit ions and, our noblest moral impulses both take
their rise. Ess-~mtially religion is one, but the variety of
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impressions have brought about various types of religions.
Every particular religion grows out of a particular impression.
Schleiermacher•s conception of religion has influenced the thin-king
of many, for many have held to the idea that the essence of
religion consist in yielding oneself gratefully and trustfully
to something above and beyond oneself, on which one depends.
The problem ot' the relative place of feeling and
thought in religion brought about continual dispute between
Schleiermacher and his colleague Hegel. Regel _saw in feeling
·• a basis for the beginning of religious consciousness and he did
c ••
(1) !bid., p. 210.
not deny it, but he contended that religion must go beyond
feeling into the r,ealm of thought. "Religion, he argued, is
pecular to man; but feeling is common to man and the brutes;
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hence religion cannot ha:ve its true seat in the feelings, but
only in the reason, which elevates above brutes." (I) Hegel
saw reality as an endless process of becoming. The history of
religion is the gradual discovery by man of his oneness with
the Absolute. In the nature religions of the ancient east, man
has not yet become conscious of the distinction between spirit
and natnre, and so bowed before· natural forces to which he was
himself superior. Hegel considers Christianity the "absolute
religion", for in Clu·istianity man realized his oneness with th,
Being revealed in both natun and spirit, and so entered into
his full dignity as the son and heir of the Infinite and the
Absolute. The rational content of religion was emphasized by
Hegel, and is 9onsidered of 'necessity before religious maturity
can be attained, 'Hegel gathered the teachings of his predeces-sors
in a new synthesis. \This new synthesis had great influenc
upon the philosophy of religion and since Hegel it has been
common in the thoughts of many that religion involves the whole
man, and not merelY his intellect, his feeling, his will, or
any other single aspect of h~s psychology. As an exa1n:ple of a
typical contemporary definition of religion we take the fol-
(l) lbid., p. 212.
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lowing from J.~ E. Turner's Development of Religion. Religion
is "the response of humanity taken as a real whole or explicit
unity, to the universe, likewise ta..lcen as a. whole".
A~ the result of the emphasis placed on the rational
element in religion and its claim for nothing less than absolUtE
and final truth, there rose the naturalistic school of thought.
This school of thought ' v<as made up of such men as Feuerbach and
Karl Marx, who were led to a position of denying the truth of
religion altogether. For Feuer~ach, religion was a subjective
illusion, while Marx proclaimed religion as the "opiUm of the
people". 'l'he naturalistic schoo.l has· shown on a whole a tendency
toward resisting any claims of religion to possess supernatural
knowledge.o.,<::Joncerning ultimates or transcendent reali-ties.
It has bee:iLthe claim o:r the naturalistic school.that thE
1 present world is the world in which religion must operate,
holding forth to man certain supremely sig.nificant social values
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which will offer him'encouragement and bring about. the unifi~
cat ion of society. , E. s • .Ames' "Religion" defines re:Ligion for
the whole school:
"Religion,,, is the cherishing of values felt to
be most vital to man's life and blessedness, by
means of ceremonial dramatication, expressive
symbols, and doctrinal beliefs, These values and
their representations change with the economic and
cultural life ••• Today th~ most advanced societies
are absorbed in the values 'of sicentific knowledge,
of universal human welfare, and in search
for the means of control by which these mey be made,
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imagin~tively dynamic and inspiring. The ,
attainment of knowledge, development of per~
sonanty~ a.nd the enjoyment of the fulle~t
possible experience are the characterist ~c
religious value. 11 (l) tnere came
Toward the cl'ose of the nineteenth centurY
into being a vast
ow ]1ad
body of scientific data which before
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been unavailable,~ . With
science, the psychology
these data came the founding
· J•ad
of religion. This new science
tyPes and
to a means by which one. can discriminate between the ·
well our
varieties of religion, In this respect it has served
quest for an understanding of·the nature.of religion•
we might
fol~
briefly characterize the progress of this new science as
lows:
"First per~od~ 1899-191?•. Represen~ative bo~~iJames'
Var~et~es of Rel1g1ous Ex·per1ence. Driences
nition of reLigion; "Feeing, acts, and ezpe 5 theY
of individual men in their solitude, so faT a. w:na.tap.
Prehend themselves to stand in relation to
ever they :may consider the di'Vine."
Second period, 1910-20. Representative book, fi•
Ames' PsychologJ of Religious :;;;xperience. ~},est
nition of religion; "Consciousness of the :hl.g'
social values."
Third period, 1920- • Representati,re booJ;=• of
Pratt• s Religious Consciousness. Defini tJ.Ol'l f.
religion: "The serious and soci.al attitude 0 :r
individuals or communities toward the power 0
powers which they conceive as having ultimate (2)
control over their interests and destinies"•
While the psychology of religion has brought us to see
revealing difference between 1.1istoric religions it
same time pointed out to us the underlying unity of
((1) f.bid,' p. 216.
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religions,
The evidence we receive from anthropology throws some
J light on the nature of religion. We are led to conclude in our
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study ~of anthropology that the most primitive religius idea is
that .of mana which arose in the actual ceremonial performances
o:t: the :primitive-I,SrJups. The nature of the ceremony out of whid~
this notion arose must have been expressions of feeling; feeling~·
concerned with the common welfare of the group. We conclude tha~
religion as feeling concerned with the common welfare was from
. the beginning a moral expe!)ience,
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It is our belief that it was the deeper feelings which
'. gave birth to the eeremonials, The language of the primitive ' .·
c man is undeveloped:' and inadequate in many instances and calls
•• •.from him many gestures. When his feelings were aroused he ex-
· pressed himself in gestures. These gestures became symbolic of
:. a deeper feeling which became dramatized action rather than
· words, In such a manner did the ceremonies of religion develop,
·.These ceremonies might ap{lear to be. cruel and of ·little worth to
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'us, but to the primitive man they are meaningful and the effects
. upon him are powerful. He finds in these rites a power which he
. calls mana, Mana is not personalized but it is localized and
'!becomes a convenient means of offering explanations for the un-
, known, If this power is c ontroled it can be used to good effect
Those obj eats that have mana can be used to control the mana of
, other olJjects. Jlilana,for the primitive man, is an explanation of
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the m,Ysteries of life and death. It is through mana that life
is generated and the· death of ·an individual :points to the fact
that mana has gone from him, Mana does not remain so definitely
localized wit>1 the beginnings of animism, When mana becomes
J:lflrsonal or of an animated nature it is interpreted in animistic
form and thus passes readily to polytheism.
In spite of the great influence magic and superstitio
has had upon the development of religious ideas, the moral
element of religion has remained, It must be noted that the
oral element of religion is not a body of moral teachings, but
mode of response to natural and inevitable feelings for
values". (1)
"It is that mode of response w'lich gives acknowledgement
and expression to the ideal; and indeed,
cOJmnunal or group expression. It recognizes and
inwardly meditates upon the objective character
of the ideal. It seeks to achieve the integration
and reintegration of personality by sharing a
co!!lillon spiritual experience with the group," (2)
This brief survey of the historical treatment of the
ature of religion serves only as a 'l:lackground for our task of
. setting forth some definite conclusions as to the nature of
religion. This treatment of religion is set forth with a realization
of the many problems involved in any discussion of the
nature of religion, We do not propose to attempt a solution of
,the problem involved but merely to reach a working clarity in
our understanding of relligion. It is the purpose of this dis-
(1) A.C. Garnett. A Realistic Philosophy of Religion.
((. Chica""""'' o·. "~' J."llet't, C.l ar k an d C ompany, .1 -94--2,) - p8. 7 • ---
I_ 2) Ibid, , _________ __:_ ___________ _j
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cussion t& come to some definition of religion that will en'able
us to treat adequately this subject.
Religion has for the! most part concerned itself with
two worlds. In speaking of "two worlds" we are not of"cnecessit
speaking of a natural and supernatural order, but merely of the
existence of two orders---one being beyond the present order.
Religion sets forth a working relations1,ip between this present
world and a belief in a world beyond the present world. The
close relationship between the present world and the world be-yond
makes it necessary tor us to submit to the present world
as a type of measurement of the world beyond. ·Hocking has
stated that "with our growing belief that the otheT world,
whatever it be, is not a jealous :tival:of this present, hut at
jbeastcdn relations of friendliness and· perh~ps of organic union
with it, the impression deepens. in our common consciousness
that the f:t'tii ts by which true religion is to be knoWn are as
such as ripen in part before our eyes". (l) What we have
regarded of high valuedn this world must of necessity be con-sidered
of high value in the other world. A sense of the pre-sence
of the other world in the midst of the present world is
expres~ed in the nature of religion. We do not mean that the
other world or the world beyond is limited by our sense of its
presence in the present world, but we are merely pointing out
this working relationship which is the concern of religion.
Approaching religion from the human side we are ahle
(1) W, E. Hocking. The Meaning of "ad in Human }~xperience.
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912), p. ?.
11.
to see that religion is 'something thctt human beings do, and is
universal characteristic form of life. Concerning religion
Hocking writes:
"It is credited with works of government, charged
with works. of war, --it sheds blood generously
as it promotes brotherhood, Religion has fostered
everything valuable to man obstructed .everything:
it has welded states and disintegrated them; it
has rescued races and. it has oppressed them,
condemned them t.o perpetual wandering and outlawry.
It has raised the value of human life, and
it has depressed the esteem of that life almost to
the point of vanishing; it has honored womanhood,
it has slandered marriage." (1)
Religion has se;rved as>the source of the development of all
historical forms of human life. There is little of what we call
cultural which has ·not at some time been a purely religious
fuocti on. "It is the original matrix out of which all that is
characteristic of human nature has crystalized", (2) The char-acteristic
forms of life, such as, politics, art, philosophy and
science find in religion their source. We must not identify
religion with these forms but understand the relationship •
. eligion cannot be merged with these forms,. but is as Hocking
states "the residual inspiration of life". (3) We lose religion
hen we attempt to merge it with the characteristic forms of
life, for the effectiveness in history points out that its
nature is one that is distinctive and supreme•" Religion must
(l) Ibid., p, 11 •
. (2) .John Macmurray. Creative Society. (New York: Association
Press, 1936), p, 32,
(3) W. E. Hocking. op. 6i!_., p. 20,
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serve as a stream out o+· which flows the characteristic liuman
forms of life, and the characteristic human r·orms must remain
dependent on religion.
Religion expresses itself in man's attempt to change
the human forms, in the light of an itleal beyond the present
human forms. Ferre' states:
"Religion is somehow man's. demand on what actually
is because o:f his understanding of an belief in
what ideally must be, in order that it may be. • (1)
The ideal beyond these human forms is not an unattainable ideal
nor is it an ideal that is alreadY fully attained, but it is
an ideal that has been partially attai11,ed through .experience
and is the object 01 !'urther attainment. In the light of the
ideal of brotherhood Hocking expressed this phase of the nature
of religion, he states;
"Human 'brotherhood also is an infinite problem--men
have to be made brothers and the whole ef
history is r€qlil.isite to tell the tale of achieving
the end: but in religion men are already brothers
exper1encing their brotherhood in the moment of
common worship." (2)
·"Religion" Hocking states, "is the present attainment in a
single exyen.ence of those objects which in ~he cau.rae oi natur
.are reacJ1ed only at the end of' the in1'ini te prugression,
R!lligion is a..uticipated attainment," (3}
(1) N. F. s. Ferre•. The Christian Faith. (New York: Harper
Trother PubLishers, 19<;,2), p. ;;.
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;)) W. E. Hocking, ££• £!!., p, 31.
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Accept.lng r·elig1on as "the residual inspiration of
life" out or wh1cn comes tue cnaracterr;;tic human forms of
life which lead to the attainment of certain
Letters to Students upon Merger with Trinity University
No full textTwo letters sent to students of the University of San Antonio during the summer of 1942, as part of the transition to becoming a part of Trinity University. The first, from University of San Antonio president W.W. Jackson, served as a letter of introduction for the Trinity administration. The second, from Trinity University president-elect Monroe G. Everett, introduced himself and the school to the students of University of San Antonio
Photographs from Andover Newton Theological School, part two, 1941
No full textGroup of photographs from Reverend Black's student days at Andover Newton Theological School. These photos have the year 1941 in the process information on the rear of photos. Reverend S.H. [Samuel Horace] James, Jr., past pastor at Second Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, appears in photo numbered: 23_11
Onderdonk Science Building
No full textThe science building contained laboratories and lecture rooms for the departments of biology, chemistry, and physics on the Woodlawn campus
Pyramid of the Sun (Teotihuacan, Mexico)
No full textReal photographic postcard of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
Local politics and church news scrapbook, 1940s-1976
No full textLocal politics and church news scrapbook, 1940s-1976, includes information on Reverend Black's early ministry, local politics, Mount Zion First Baptist Churc