Christianity Viewed in Relation to the Present State of Society and Opinion.

Through a series of meditations the author examines the relation between Christianity and modern ideas, confronting contemporary philosophical systems and arguing that Christianity is compatible with and necessary to liberty, moral life, and scientific inquiry. He analyzes the limitations of rationalism, positivism, pantheism, materialism, and scepticism, distinguishes Christian faith from ignorance, and treats how faith expresses itself in practice. Finally he addresses historical questions—authority of the sacred writings, primitive foundations, the persistence of faith and the Church, the Protestant–Roman divisions, and major anti-Christian crises—to show how historical facts and lived Christian life bear on the religion's claims amid present social uncertainty.