Note 1030 — Chapter IV · : DOCTRINES THAT OWE THEIR INSPIRATION TO CHRISTIANITY

The Social Christians somewhere make the remark that even if the orthodox account of creation is destined to disappear before the onslaughts of the evolutionary theory and Adam makes way for the gorilla, the problem would merely be intensified, for it would still be necessary to get rid of the “old man.” “We live,” says Brunetière, “in the strength of the victories won over the more primitive instincts of our nature” (Revue des Deux Mondes, May 1, 1895).

Kidd in his Social Evolution, a work which attracted great attention when it was first published in 1894, attempts to apply the Darwinian theory to Christianity. He accepts the Darwinian hypothesis that the struggle for existence and natural selection constitute the mainsprings of progress. But the struggle may demand, or the selection involve, the sacrifice of individual to collective interest, and the only force which can inspire such sacrifice is religion.