The psychology of religion : an empirical study of the growth of religious consciousness / by Edwin Diller Starbuck ; with a preface by William James.

  • Starbuck, Edwin Diller, 1866-1947.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The psychology of religion : an empirical study of the growth of religious consciousness / by Edwin Diller Starbuck ; with a preface by William James. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the new life. Our discussion seems to settle down to this; there are two essential aspects of conversion, that in which there is self-surrender and forgiveness, accompanied by a sense of harmony with God; and that in which the new life burstsforth spontaneously as the natural recoil from the sense of sin, or as the result of a previous act of the will in striving toward righteousness. In turning away now for a time from the evidence from the records themselves of what happens at the moment of conversion, the central impression is that our goal has not been compassed ; that at best we have hints of it, but that the ‘ explanation ’ of the process has escaped us. We shall be contented largely at last with a description of the process, which we shall attempt when all the facts are before us. In the next chapter we shall consider more in detail the element of spontaneity in- volved in conversion.