Paul Carus (1852–1919)

This is not a scholarly text, but a religious and philosophical one. It is riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods, all to serve Carus' thesis that "devil worship" is a natural precursor to worship of God, and that "savage" peoples often worship evil or the devil because they misunderstand the nature of divine benevolence.

Carus repeatedly characterizes Native Americans as savage and ungodly people. Native Americans are a significant part of the chapter "The Devil's Prime," in which Carus show more writes, "We look with contempt upon the Indian prophet who poses as a rain-maker, but read the story of Elijah with great edification, and while we justify the holy zeal of the latter, we would make no allowance for the severity of Indian reformers who fail to spare the lives of their rivals." This is his primary characterization of Native Americans, and of other societies in general. They are, in Carus' view, murderous, primitive, savage and in need of religion. He regularly and repeatedly distorts the traditions of other societies (for example, characterizing the Powhatan "huskanaw" rite of passage as child sacrifice) in an attempt to strengthen the view that he is "[pursuing] in religion the same path that science travels" in the hope that "the narrowness of sectarianism will develop into a broad cosmical religion which shall be as wide and truly catholic as science itself."

So ultimately, this text is a kind of colonial propaganda. It is an attempt to assert western Christian values as superior to the values and beliefs of other cultures. And it is masquerading as a book of scholarship, which it unquestionably never was.

One star for useful illustrations. show less

Some good stories and lines of thoughts, but it drags in many places.

One of first Asian religion books I read. Led me to read more, which led me not to need any of em. Thank you.

Biography, Religion, Philosophy