Article July 8, 1911 Issue

SCIENCE VS. SUPERSTITION

W. D. MC CRACKAN, M.A.

It must have proved an unpleasant surprise to the Athenians to be told by Paul that they were "too superstitious" (too religious, the Revised Version gives it). Athens was the recognized intellectual center of the ancient world, the seat of learning from which radiated whatever passed for knowledge among the nations of the earth. The fame of Athens rested largely upon the works of its philosophers, scholars, poets, and artists. Its mental atmosphere was reputed to be so keen and stimulating that the writer of The Acts describes it citizens as always eager "to tell, or to hear some new thing."

Superstition is not generally associated in the public thought with pronounced mental activity, but rather with density of thought, and Paul's estimate of the Athenians might well have seemed beside the mark even to unprejudiced hearers. But Paul was not judging from appearances ; he was looking beneath the surface. To him it was evident that, in comparison with the profundity of spiritual understanding, mere intellectualism amounted to little more than shallow superstition. The man who wrote to the Corinthians, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," could not be deceived by the glamour of Athenian life. He knew that one may have the wisdom of this world and yet worship an "unknown God," and do so "ignorantly." Now, to be ignorant of God is to be ignorant of Truth, because God is Truth. So-called knowledge which bases itself on human hypotheses, on the testimony of physical sense, no matter how varied and extensive it may be, lacks a solid substructure and is "foolishness with God." Conclusions reached by the wisdom of this world may be styled scientific by those uninstructed in the Science of being, but under the lens of spiritual understanding they are seen to be mere superstitions.

Mrs. Eddy declares that "we need to understand the affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ" (Science and Health, p. 149). Mortal consciousness, working within its own circumscribed limits, knows nothing of the infinite possibilities of the divine Mind. Its supposed radius of action is insufficient to satisfy even human aspirations, much less the requirements of God. It tries to prescribe boundaries to man's capabilities, though the Scriptures assure us that man is made in God's image and likeness. It fills human hearts with longings which it cannot satisfy, and starts questions which it cannot answer; therefore mere intellectualism, being ignorant of God, or true substance, begets a sense of lack and loss, of want, and desire for something it cannot bestow.

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