A New Type of Christianity

There is a widespread feeling that we are witnessing the rise of a type of Christianity different in some respects from any that has preceded it, and this feeling undoubtedly has its basis in fact. Not even Christianity with its canonized literature and its creeds intended to be perpetual can altogether escape the influence of the evolutionary process that characterizes every phase of human life. The process is always going on; and when we speak of a new type as existing today, we mean neither that it is wholly new, nor that it will displace the older types, nor that it is itself rigid and fixed, nor that it will give rise to a new church or denomination. What we do mean is that the process of change has been more than usually rapid of late, and that there are in consequence signs of the emergence of a type of Christianity, partly old, partly new, with some elements already defined, others yet to be determined, yet on the whole distinct enough to be recognized as taking its place as a new type alongside of others that have been longer established and are more familiar. If this be true, the fact is worth observing and, as far as this is possible, defining.