Tracks Across Time Into The 21st Century

(1) The author wishes to express his thanks to prof. dr. J.N. Bremmer (University of Groningen) and prof. H.G. Kippenberg (University of Bremen and Groningen) for their useful suggestions

(2) For the four series of Gifford Lectures between and 1892, see F. Max Müller, Natural Religion. The Gifford Lectures delivered before the University of Glasgow in 1888 (London, 1889) 609 pp; idem, Physical Religion, (London, 1890) 389 pp; idem, Anthropological Religion(London. 1892) 464 pp; idem, Theosophy or Psychological Religion(London, 1893) 595 pp

(3) For a biography based on the Müller archives in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, see N.C. Chaudhuri, Scholar Extraordinary. The Life of Prof. Rt. Hon. Friedrich Max Müller P.C. (London, 1974)

(4) F. Max Müller, Rigveda with S_yana's commentary, 6 vols (Oxford, 1849-1874)

(5) F. Max Müller (ed.), Sacred Books of the East, 51 vols (Oxford, 1879-1904). He expounded the principal aims of the series in the preface to the first volume of 1879. Cf. also G. Müller, Life and Letters if the Right Honourable Friedrich Max Müller, 2 vols (London, 1902), II, 10 with excerpts of the published prospectus with the objects and plan of the undertaking

(6) For a discussion about his position as 'father of comparative religion', see e.g. L.H.J. Jordan, Comparative Religion: Its Genesis and Growth(Edinburgh, 1905), 521-3 (repr. Atlanta 1986); K. Rudoph, Die Religionsgeschichte an der Leipziger Universität (Berlin, 1962) 12 ff; J. Waardenburg, Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion (2 vols), I (Berlin/The Hague, 1973), 13 f; E. Sharpe, Comparative Religion. A History (London, 1975), XI f; 35-46; J.M. Kitagawa and J.S. Strong, 'Friedrich Max Müller and the Comparative Study of Religion', in: N. Smart, J. Clayton, S. Katz and P. Sherry (eds), Nineteenth Century Religious Thought in the West(3 vols), vol. III (Cambridge, 1985), 179-205

(7) O. Chadwick, The Victorian Church (2 vols) II (London, 1970), 37. His criticism on Müller - the archetypal dry as dust, the Germanised don practising unread scholarship for the sake of unread scholarship - is not well balanced, to say the least

(8) See Müller, Life and Letters, II, 275; Müller, Anthropological Religion, Preface VI ff

(9) Müllers, Life and Letters, II, 276

(10) See e.g. Müller, Natural Religion, 565 ff; idem, Physical Religion, 193 ff; 224, 274, 331 ff; idem, Anthropological Religion, 90 ff; idem, Theosophical Religion, 534 ff

(11) F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion (London, 1873 repr. New York, 1978), 226: idem, Theosophy, 6 and 23

(12) Müller, Natural Religion, 274

(13) Müller, Science of Religion, 21 f. Cf. Also Müller, Natural Religion, 46 ff

(14) Müller, Science of Religion, 34 ff; 39 f

(15) Müller, Science of Religion, 219 ff; 226 f

(16) See especially Müller, Anthropological Religion, preface XVIII; cf. also J. Martineau, The Study of Religion: Sources and Contents(2vls), London 1891, I, Preface IX

(17) See also Chadwick, Victorian Church II, 1-39 and E. Jay, Faith and Doubt in Victorian Britain, London 1986

(18) Müller, Anthropological Religion, preface V. In his Gifford Lectures Müller took a stand against orthodox theologians such as e.g. J. H Mansel, who said to base themselves on Kant and defended special revelation; J.H. Mansel, The Limits of Religious Thought Examined in Eight Lectures (Oxford, 1858)¹. See further Chadwick, Victorian Church I, 556-8; B. Lightman, The Origins of Agnosticism. Victorians Limits of Unbelief (Baltimore and London, 1987), 10-3

(19) Müller, Natural Religion, 570

(20) Ibidem, 565

(21) Ibidem, 139

(22) Ibidem, 570

(23) See Müller, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as Illustrated by the Religions of India (London, 1878¹), 39. Idem, Natural Religion, 9 f

(24) Cf. W. Anz, 'Aufklärung', in: Religion in Geschichte und GegenwartI (Tübingen, 1957), 703-16

(25) Hegel is frequently mentioned in the Gifford Lectures and criticized on account of his lack of respect for the facts; see e.g. Müller, Theosophy, VI. Cf. also F. Max Müller, My Autobiography: A Fragment, (London, 1901) pp. 129-32

(26) Max Müller, Natural Religion, 12 f

(27) Ibidem, 13; Cf. Müller, Physical Religion, 190-4

(28) Müller, Natural Religion, 118 f; Idem, Anthropological Religion, 95. For his earlier idea's, see Müller, Origin and Growth, 22-5. Cf. F. Max Müller, 'Kant's Critique of Pure Reason', (Preface to his translation of I. Kant Critique of Pure Reason, London 1881) repr. in: F. Max Müller, Last Essays (London, 1901) 218-250

(29) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 96 ff; 335 f

(30) F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 276. Cf. Müller, Life and Letters I, 223 where it is mentioned that Müller read Lessing's "Essay on the Education of Mankind" in German with some friends

(31) G.E. Lessing, Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlecht, 1780¹. In this work Lessing developed the thesis that God is at work in the course of humanity. As such, history became medium of revelation and man could participate in it by means of the reason. At the same time Lessing stressed the fact that accidental historical truths (such as wonders or the resurrection of Christ) never could function as evidence for the essential truths of Reason; cf. O. Mann, s.v. 'Lessing', in: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart IV (Tübingen, 19603) 327-30. See also W. Anz, s.v.'Aufklärung', 712 in the first volume of the same edition of this Encyclopedia

(32) Müller knew Ranke quite well; cf. Müller, Life and LettersI, 260

(33) Müller, Natural Religion, 275

(34) Müller, Natural Religion, 258-60. Cf. also J.H. Vogt, F. Max Müller. The Man and his Ideas (Calcutta, 1967) 20 f with a not traceble quote by Müller

(35) See F. Max Müller, The Upanishads, translated (Oxford, 1879 and 1884; SBE, vols I and XV)

(36) Müller, Origin and Growth, 325

(37) Müller, Natural Religion, Chapter VI: 'The Inifnite in Nature, Man and Self', pp. 141-65 and p. 573 f. Cf. idem, Theosophy, preface I

(38) See e.g. Müller, Natural Religion, 269 f; 572 ff. Cf. idem, Theosophy, preface V f

(39) Müller, Theosophy, 459

(40) Müller, Life and Letters II, 304; cf. Theosophy, preface XVI

(41) Ibidem II, 288: letter to W. Lilly, d.d. 17-12-1891

(42) Ibidem II, 289: to Archdeacon Wilson, d.d. 28-12-1891

(43) Ibidem, 541 f

(44) Ibidem, 538 f

(45) Müller placed himself in the tradition of the Ved_nta, the Alexandrian-Christian philosophy and its mystical descendents; Müller, Life and LettersII, 421. Cf. also ibidem II, 459 and pp. 454 f

(46) Müller, 'Kant's Critique of Pure Reason', 230

(47) See Müller, Natural Theology, preface VII ff and chapter 1

(48) Müller, Natural Religion, 188

(49) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 106. See also the criticism by E. Renan who qualified Müller's 'Infinite' as 'une chimère', and Müller's reaction on this criticism, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 92 f: to E. Renan, d.d. 3-7-1880

(50) Müller, Natural Religion, 67-9. See further F.E.D. Schleiermacher, Reden über die Religion (ed. R. Otto, 1906²) p. 32. For a short description of his ideas see W. Weischedel, Der Gott der Philosophen I (Darmstadt, 1972) 213-22; J. Rohls, 'Sinn und Geschmack fürs Unendliche, Aspecte romantischer Kunstreligion', Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie 27 (1985) 1-24

(51) Müller, Natural Religion, 40 an 68 referring to Schleiermacher, Christliche Glaubenslehre, par. 3

(52) Ibidem, 68

(53) Müller, Natural Religion, 72. See also Müller, Anthropological Religion, 95; idem, Theosophy, 270 f

(54) Müller, Natural Religion, 72; see also Müller, Physical Religion, 297 f

(55) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 72

(56) Müller, Natural Religion, pp. 194-5 for a short survey of the main points

(57) Müller, Origin and Growth, 227. In this book Müller tried to introduce in imitation of Schleiermacher a special disposition or a faculty which enabled faith, but in his Natural Religion he dropped the idea

(58) Müller, Natural Religion, 71. In this context he paraphrased J. Locke with the words: Nihil est in intellectu quod non ante, or rather, quod non simul fuerit in sensu, and added, nihil est in intellectu quod non simul fuerit in lingua

(59) Ibidem, 72

(60) Müller, Natural Religion, 149. See also his Origin and Growth, 28 f. For a criticism of the epistemological ideas of Müller, see e.g. P. Bieberkopf, Die Voraussetzungen der Religionsphilosophie Friedrich Max Müllers (Langensalza, 1914)

(61) Müller, Origin and Growth, 239

(62) Müller, Physical Religion, 296 f

(63) Müller, Growth and Origin, 38. See also Müller, Natural Religion, 149 f

(64) Müller, Physical Religion, 296

(65) For the earliest formulations of these ideas, see Müller, Life and Letters I, 96 f: letter to his mother, d.d. 18-4-1849. See further e.g. Müller, Natural Religion, 565; idem,Physical Religion, 350. Cf. P. Byrne, Natural Religion and the Nature of Religion. The Legacy of Deism (London and New York, 1989) 181 ff

(66) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 98

(67) Müller, Physical Religion, 119. For his discussion of miracles as supernatural events, see idem, Anthropological Religion, preface VII-XX

(68) Müller, Natural Religion, 571

(69) Müller, Origin and Growth, 39

(70) Müller, Natural Religion, 72

(71) Müller, Theosophy, 432, but see also his interpretations on Christian theosophy (498-543)

(72) See Müller, Natural Religion, 141-65 (Chapter 6)

(73) Müller, Natural Religion, 574-7; idem, Physical Religion, 334 f

(74) Müller, Physical Religion, 4 f; idem, Theosophy, 90 f

(75) Müller, Theosophy, VII; see also p. 94. Müller was atrracted to this passage of St. Paul (Acts 17.28) from his early days, as may be clear from the letter to his mother, d.d. 4-4-1849, in: Müller, Life and Letters I, 96 f

(76) Müller, Physical Religion, 2

(77) Müller, Psychological Religion, 89. Cf. idem,Natural Religion, 574

(78) Müller, Physical Religion, 115

(79) Ibidem, 117

(80) Ibidem, 119:'It will be the chief object of this course to elucidate this proces of religious evolution, to place clearly before you, chiefly from the facts supplied by the hymns of the Veda, the gradual and perfectly intelligible development of the predicate god from out of the simplest perceptions and conceptions which the human mind gained from that objective nature by which man found himself surrounded'

(81) Ibidem, 119

(82) Müller, Theosophy, 89

(83) Müller, Origin and Growth, 277 ff. See also Müller, Life and Letters I, 229 with the letter to Renan, d.d. 15-12-1858, where the Vedas are qualified as 'the earliest efforts of man in his search for a true home in God'

(84) See e.g. G. Hoffmeister, Deutsche und europäische Romantik, Stuttgart 1978, 124 f

(85) Müller, Physical Religion, 236 f; idem, Theosophy, 5 ff. Cf. also L.P. van den Bosch, 'Friedrich Max Müller', in: Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 47 (1993) 107-118 and 186-200, especially 186 f

(86) Müller, Physical Religion, 15

(87) Müller, Natural Religion, 17

(88) For the notion of God-Consciousness see also Müller's letter to Bunsen, d.d. 25-12-1855, in: Müller, Life and Letters I, 182: 'The Veda alone of all the works I know treats the genesis of God-Consciousness, compared to which the Theogony of Hesiod is like a worn out creature. We see it grow slowly and gradually with all its contradictions, its sudden terrors, its amazements and its triumphs. as God reveals his Being in nature, in her order, her wisdom, her indestructability, in the eternal victory of light over darkness, of spring over winter, in the eternally returning course of the sun and the stars, so man has gradually spelt out of nature the being of God, and trying a thousand names of God in vain, we find him in the Veda already saying: They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna,...'

(89) Müller, Origin and Growth, 279,

(90) Müller, Natural Religion, 184. Cf. idem, Physical Religion, 178

(91) Müller, Physical religion, 327; idem, Anthropological Religion, 61 ff

(92) Müller, Physical Religion, Chapters VII-XI; see also, idem, Theosophy, 5-7

(93) Müller, Theosophy, 160

(94) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 333-6 for a short summary

(95) Müller, Physical Religion, 193

(96) Müller, Physical Religion, 325 ff. See also Müller, Anthropological Religion, preface VI f, and p. 4

(97) See also Müller, Theosophy, 90

(98) Müller, Theosophy, 23

(99) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 182

(100) Ibidem, 183

(101) Cf. E. Tylor, Primitive Culture: Researches into the development of mythology, phylosophy, religion, language, art, and customs, 2 vols (London, 1871 and 1873). Müller regularly refferred to this important publication in the notes of his Anthropological Religion, e.g. p. 192, 214, etc

(102) Ibidem, chapter VII (the discovery of the soul) and VIII (the discovery of the soul in man and in nature)

(103) Ibidem, 205. cf. also pp. 208-20

(104) Ibidem, 189-205 with a discussion of various expressions for "soul", continued on pp. 209-21

(105) Ibidem, 220 with Müller's distinction between the radical and poetical metaphor. See also Müller, Lectures on the Science of Language II (London, 1864¹) 334-81, especially 353 f; F. Max Müller, The Science of Thought, London 1887, 329: 'It was absolutely impossible to grasp and hold, to know and understand, to conceive and name the world without us, except through theis fundamental metaphor, this universal mythology, this blowing of our own spirit into the objective chaos, and recreating it in our own image.' See further ibidem, 485, 495-500

(106) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 228

(107) Ibidem, 229 and 235 f

(108) See the letter to Lady Welby, d.d. 5-1-1891, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 290: 'The history of philosophy is the history of our fight against language, and its inevitable misunderstandings. Thence As Herbart says, true philosophy is definition'. See also Müller, Autobiography, 126; 138 f. See also Kitagawa and Strong, 'Friedrich Max Müller and the Comparative Study of Religion' (note 5), 179-205

(109) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 230

(110) Ibidem, 230

(111) Ibidem, 345

(112) See also Müller, Theosophy, 90 and 336 with references to Cardinal Newman. 'Real religion is founded on the true perception of the relation of the soul to God and God to the soul'

(113) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 371-7

(114) Ibidem, 378 ff. See also Müller, Theosophy, chapter XIII (Alexandrian Christianity), especially p. 438 f

(115) See Müller, Theosophy, especially p. 536

(116) See ibidem, respectively 379 and 384 f

(117) Ibidem, respectively p. 351 and preface p. V, from which the quote is derived

(118) Müller, Anthropological Religion, preface VI

(119) See e.g. Müller, Theosophy, 448

(120) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 127; 224-6

(121) See further Müller, Science of Language II, 368; idem, The Science of Thought, 219. Cf. also Van den Bosch, 'Friedrich Max Müller' (note 84), 187 f. with note 11

(122) Letter to his mother d.d. 4-4-1849 in: Müller, Life and LettersI, 96 . This important letter contains some of the basic ideas of his later Gifford lectures. Cf. also Müller, Theosophy, 535

(123) See e.g. the letters to Lady Welby, d.d. 18-6-1879 and 29-3-1880; Rev. G. Cox, d.d. 13-2-1883; Rev. M.K. Schermerhorn, d.d. 6-3-1883, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, resp. p. 67 f; 89 f; 138 f; 141

(124) Letter to W.E. Gladstone, d.d. 16-4-1893, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 310

(125) Letter to C. E. Norton, d.d. 29-6-1892, in: Müller, Life and LettersII, 300

(126) Letter to W. Lilly, d.d. 17-12-1891, in: Müller, Life and LettersII, 288

(127) Müller, Theosophy, XVI

(128) See e.g. the letter to K. Schermerhorn, d.d. 6-3-1883, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 141: 'All religions, so far as I know them, had the same purpose; all were links in a chain which connects heaven and earth'

(129) See Müller, Theosophy, respectively p. VIII and p. 92

(130) Müller, Theosophy, 336

(131) Müller, Theosophy, preface p. XII f, and especially p. 438 f with the interpretation of Jwish ideas by St. Clement

(132) See also the letter to his mother, d.d. 4-4-1849, where this passage is qualified as the sum of all human wisdom, in: Müller, Life and Letters I, 96

(133) Müller, Theosophy, 94 f; see also p. 535

(134) Ibidem, 94

(135) See the letter to lady Welby, d.d. 18-9-1891, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 286

(136) Ibidem, 444: 'It may be said that such thoughts as we have discovered in St. Clement are too high for popular religion, and every religion, in order to be a religion, must be popular'

(137) Müller, Theosophy, preface VI

(138) Müller, Theosophy, 3

(139) Ibidem, respectively p. 92, 365, 105, 106. See further 106-9 and the Chapters IX (The Ved_nta Philosophy) and X (The Two Schools of Ved_nta)

(140) See the letter to his mother, d.d. 10-3-1854, In: Müller, Life and Letters I, 160 f. See also F. Max Müller, Deutsche Liebe(New York, 1904, or. ed. Leipzig, 1857¹) 33; 36-41, in which texts of Eckhart, Tauler, and the author of the Theologia Deutschare quoted

(141) Letter to W. Lilly, d.d. 17-12-1891 in: Müller, Life and LettersII, 288

(142) For the various references to Eckhart and Müller's interpretation, see ibidem, 516 f

(143) Müller, Theosophy, preface XV based himself, among others, on the ideas of A. von Harnack, Dogmengeschichte (Leipzig, 1888); Ch. Bigg, Bampton Lectures on the Christian Platonist (London, 1888); J. Drummond, Philo Judaeus (London, 1888); B.F. Westcott, Essays on the History of Religious Thought in the West (London, 1891)

(144) Müller, Theosophy, 399-423 on Philo and his relations to Greek philosophy

(145) See the letters to E. Boyes Smith and I.B. Colchester, d.d. 1-2-1894 and to Dr. Martineau, d.d. 10-4-1895, both in: Müller, Life and LettersII, 328 f and 347

(146) See the letter to his son, d.d. 8-1-1895, in: Müller, Life and Letters II, 344

(147) Letter to Boys Smith and Cochester, d.d. 8-1-1895, in: ibidem II, 329

(148) Müller, Theosophy, 455 ff

(149) Ibidem, 488-98

(150) Ibidem, 478 f

(151) See also Müller, Anthropological Religion, XVIII

(152) Müller, Theosophy, 522 f

(153) See F. Max Müller, 'On missions: a Lecture delivered in Westminster Abbey', in: Chips from a German Workshop IV (London, 1875¹) 251-280, especially p. 263 f. See also Chaudhuri, Scholar Extraordinary, 323 ff

(154) Müller, Theosophy, 523

(155) The most important places are mentioned in Müller, Theosophy, 535-7

(156) Ibidem, especially 416 and 448. The idea of the 'fullness of time' cannot be dealt with in this context. Cf. also Müller, Anthropological Religion, 45

(157) Müller, Theosophy, respectively p. 90, 336 and 534 f

(158) Ibidem, 535 with a reference to the etymology of the word religioand the problems connected with its its tranlation. See further Müller, Natural Religion, 36-41

(159) Müller, Theosophy, 535

(160) Ibidem, 535 referring to Acts 17.28

(161) See also Müller, Anthropological Religion, 95 f

(162) See also Müller, Physical Religion, 271

(163) Müller, Anthropological Religion, 98 f; 111

(164) See also Müller, Theosophy, 362

(165) Cf. Ibidem, 322 f

(166) Müller, Theosophy, 106

(167) Müller, Theosophy, 513

(168) See also ibidem, 515 ff,

(169) Cf. J. Klein, s.v. 'panentheismus', in: Religion in Geschichte und GegenwartV (Tübingen, 1961) 35

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