THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH ETC.               479

which arises partly out of the almost universal failure to
discriminate between religion and Church membership."
Here Dr. Pritchett confuses the issue himself by the use of
the term "religion" instead of the term "Christianity." In
a discussion of the meaning of Christian education, it would
seem that he should have spoken of the failure to discrimi-
nate between Christianity and Church membership, not be-
tween Religion and Church membership.
  He states that "religion is a life springing up in the human
soul which blossoms into forgetfulness of self and in the
service of God and of men." This sounds well, but what
does it mean? What conception of God is included in this
definition?  Where is that conception obtained?  Does it
spring up spontaneously in the soul?    Is it obtained from
the study of ntaure, or is it furnished by revelation? Is Dr.
Pritchett talking about natural or revealed religion? What
is the service which man is to render to God, and what to
his fellow-men?  Where shall man find the norm or stand-
ard for conduct?    Is there a Pattern, an Example?       Is
there a Leader, a Master, who can speak with the authority
and power of a Life lived among men, and say, "Follow
me?"
  The Christian religion is based not simply on the revela-
tion made by nature of the power and wisdom of God, but
especially upon the revelation made by God of himself,
through the person of his Son, and his dealings with men,
as contained in the book known to the world as the Bible.
  Dr. Pritchett asks: "Now shall Christian education mean
the effort to bring into the minds and into the lives of the
students the conception of religion as a life, or shall it mean
the presentation of the form of worship of a particular de-
nomination and the claims of a particular view of truth?"
We answer: "Neither, but the effort to bring into the minds
and into the lives of the students the conception of religion
as a life devoted to the service of God and man, as set forth
in God's revelation, God's word, the Bible."




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 1

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  01
Date:  07/1911