The mental conceptions of religion have, in the course of the ages, undergone many transformations, and there is no reason why another transformation should gradually not come about in the present.  In Hebrew and Greek times we discover a polytheism, after a long course of development, emerging into henotheism, and finally, here and there, into monotheism.  The old conceptions of gods and spirits present in trees and wells, mountains and air, are overcome.  They are not so much destroyed as supplanted by higher conceptions.  In pre-Socratic philosophy we find the gods and [p.59] spirits relegated to a secondary place, and Nature is conceived as a system of inner energies and strivings.  In these conceptions Man is drawn closer to Nature, and the connection of his life is shown to be closely interwoven with the life of Nature.  But the empirical aspect of this teaching was pushed into the background through the teachings of Socrates and Plato.  The “myth” regained some of its pristine power in a new kind of way; and “God transcendent of the world and immanent in the world” came prominently forward as a doctrine of the universe and of life.  This is the kernel of the Christian theology, constructed through the blending of Hebrew and Greek philosophies.  Such a conception remained very largely the philosophy as well as the theology of the Christian Church until the seventeenth century.  During this long interval hardly any progress was made in the investigation of Nature, so that such a theology proved rather a help than a hindrance to the religion of those who understood it.  But such a theology has been destroyed, however unwilling many people are to acknowledge the fact.  But until this fact is acknowledged, there is very little hope, in Eucken’s opinion, of the Christian religion gaining many adherents from the side of those who understand the modern meaning and significance of natural science.  The physical universe has become a problem; and the old solution was a matter [p.60] of speculation based upon scarcely any observation and experiment.  Eucken marks the stages which have brought about a revolution in our conceptions of the universe as consisting of the change brought about in the science of astronomy through Copernicus in the sixteenth century, the founding of exact science through Galileo in the seventeenth century, and the theory of evolution propounded by Darwin and his followers in the nineteenth century.  The whole tendency has been to describe and explain Nature in terms of mechanism, and to extend such mechanism into the life of man.  Proof after proof has poured upon us, and has been the means, on the whole, of establishing a kingdom of mechanism within the realm of Nature and of human nature.  Theology and speculative philosophy went on their courses unheedful of these developments of physical science, until in our day both have had to reconsider the tenableness of their position, and to see that Nature and its physical manifestations have to enter as all-important factors