Publisher's Synopsis
That philosophy and the physical sciences, when called to the defense of Christianity, have so often proven to be broken reeds has been a keen disappointment to many sincere seekers after the truth. A little reflection, however, will make clear that in the very nature of things such failures must inevitably result, because structures resting on shifting sand can never serve as strong buttresses. No two systems of philosophy agree and every philosopher is continually tinkering with his own system. There is no final authority in philosophy to which an appeal can be made. Such being the case it is obviously not to be expected that philosophy can furnish us with proofs of the truths of Christianity whose validity will be generally recognized. And the sciences have also fallen short for similar reasons. The foundations of our physical sciences are far from stable. To doubt the principles of the conservation of energy, the conservation of matter, or the Indivisibility of the atom, would have been considered as rank scientific heresy a few years ago; today all physicists are familiar with phenomena which contradict one or more of them. The Einstein Theory of Relativity is now opening up new fields for scientific investigation which promises results that will practically revolutionize many current fundamental scientific concepts. In fact, the foundation principles on which the physical sciences rest have been changing so rapidly of late that practically all the science text-books now used in our schools are more or less obsolete. The physical sciences as well as philosophy are in a constant state of flux and flow as well as of growth, and this must necessarily continue to be the situation until the ultimate truth is reached, If it is ever attained, in these domains of knowledge. As all will readily agree that the limits of these regions have not yet been reached and, what is more, that these limits are not even measurably in sight, it is evident that we cannot reasonably expect that much constructive light will be thrown on Christianity now or in the near future by either philosophy or the physical sciences...