Church, Community and State
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THE outstanding qualities of Mr. Eliot's thought, as of his prose, are purity, precision, self-discipline, and a grave sense of intellectual responsibility, particularly in the use of words. In consequence, his statements are characteristically measured, qualified, and guarded ; and his argument is at the same time close-knit in its construction and discursive in its range. His thought is therefore as easy to follow as it is difficult to grasp: paradoxically, it is elusive, not in spite of its precision, but because of it.
The Idea of a Christian Society contains the revised text of Mr. Eliot's Boutwood Lectures at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in the academic year 1938-9. As he per- ceives, the society in which we live is Neutral : that is to say, our culture is largely negative (or " liberalised "),
although, so far as it is positive, it is still Christian. But it cannot remain indefinitely Neutral, " because a negative cul- ture has ceased to be efficient in a world where economic as well as spiritual forces are proving the efficiency of cultures which, even when pagan, are positive." Our society must therefore reform itself into a positive shape : and here there are only two alternatives—it must become either Pagan or Christian ; and if it desires to thrive and to continue its creative activity in the arts of civilisation, it would be well advised to choose the latter of these two alternatives, even if this involves, at least, discipline, inconvenience, and discomfort.
The capital necessity is for a system of, Christian education, which would be controlled and unified by the Christian philosophy of life, and which " would primarily train people to be able to think in Christian categories." Thus there would come to be established in the political sphere a Christian framework to which the rulers of this society, whatever their private beliefs or disbeliefs, would be obliged to make their policies conform. " They may frequently perform un- Christian acts ; they must never attempt to defend their actions on un-Christian principles." The particular form of govern- ment is immaterial: the essential point is that it must be founded upon a Christian political philosophy. For the mark of the Christian society is not that it is composed exclusively or even preponderantly of devout and practising Christians, but that its rulers " accept Christianity . . . as the system under which they are to govern "; that it is a society " in which the natural end of man—virtue and well-being in com- munity—is acknowledged for all, and the supernatural end- beatitude—for those who have the eyes to see it "; and that it possesses " a unified religious-social code of behaviour " and an Established National Church. The three principal elements in the composition of the Christian Society are, first, the Christian State—that is, the Christian Society under the aspect of legislation, public administration, legal tradition and form ; second, the Christian community, whose Chris- tianity may be almost wholly realised in a largely unconscious uniformity of habit and behaviour which is enabled, instead of, as at present, disabled, by the conditions under which they live ; and third, the Community of Christians, a body of very nebulous outline, containing both clergy and laity of superior intellectual and/or spiritual gifts, who world serve as the Philosophic Guardians of the religious-social culture of the community, influencing and being influenced by each other, and collectively forming the conscious mind and conscience of the nation. To these three elements respectively the Established Church will be related through its hierarchical organisation, through its parochial (or quasi-parochial) system, and through its intelligentsia.
All this is, clearly, a contribution to the discussion and analysis of a problem rather than a programme for immediate action or a blue-print of an abstract and impracticable future. It is not doctrinaire. But it is academic, particularly in its dis- regard of "feeling," and in its concentration upon the academic categories of " thought " and "behaviour." Thus, " it is not enthusiasm, but dogma that differentiates a Christian from a
pagan society." " If we are to accept the idea of a Christian society, we must treat Christianity with a great deal more
intellectual respect than is our wont ; we must treat it as being for the individual a matter primarily of thought and not of feeling." But for the great mass of humanity who com- pose the Christian community (as distinct from " the con- sciously and thoughtfully practising Christians, especially those of intellectual and spiritual superiority," who compose the Community of Christians), the " capacity for thinking about the objects of faith is small ": and therefore the Christian Society, at least in its earlier stages, is a society of "men whose Christianity is communal before being indi- vidual." Here The Idea of a Christian Society carries one stage further the connexion between " orthodoxy " and " tradition " which was previously adumbrated in After Strange Gods. " It is only from the much smaller number of conscious human beings, the Community of Christians, that
one would expect conscious Christian life on its highest social level ": from the rest we must be content with conformity to " a unified religious-social code of behaviour," both as regards their customary and periodic religious observances and as regards their dealings with their neighbours : " for behaviour is as potent to affect belief, as belief to affect behaviour." Is not this essentially an application in a wider, more sociological context, of Pascal's counsel : act as if you believed, taking holy water, having masses said, &c.? But Pascal's argument presupposes the will to believe: whereas Mr. Eliot's system is prepared to wait for it. Rather, we find ourselves back again at the classic paradox with which he startled us, in For Lancelot Andrewes, in 1928: " The spirit killeth, but the letter giveth life."
Yet this is dangerous doctrine, in so far as it may seem to leave out of sight the primary necessity of conversion. " There are three sources of belief," wrote Pascal: " reason, custom, in- spiration. The Christian religion, which alone has reason, does not acknowledge as her true children those who believe without inspiration. It is not that she excludes reason and custom...." But reason and custom are the foundations upon which Mr. Eliot builds his Christian Society: and a society which functions within the framework of a Christian system of educa- tion and a Christian political philosophy may still be a society unregenerate and unredeemed. This criticism might be irrelevant if he were content to argue that a Christian reorgani- sation of society is desirable on grounds of common sense and common prudence ; but, because he is himself a practising Christian, it is impossible for him to do this : " What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might be. beneficial."
Taken together, After Strange Gods and The Idea of a Christian Society mark the resumption of the Tractarian counter-offensive against " Liberalism." It is indeed important that that attack should be renewed. The disintegrated culture, the slovenly subjectivism, the spiritual and the intellectual indiscipline, the irresponsible individualism of our time, which are the fruits of "Liberalism," ,are real evils. Consequently it is not altogether surprising that Mr. Eliot flinches from the term " religious revival ": it " seems to me to imply a pos- sible separation of religious feeling from religious thinking which I do not accept" Yet is not his own Idea of a Christian Society open to precisely the same accusation from a dia- metrically opposite direction? He leaves us with the picture of " a community of men and women, not individually better than they are now, except for the capital difference of holding the Christian faith." It is those words—" not individually better than they are now "—that seem to carry within them the stultification of the whole experiment.
To say this is by no means to deny the urgency of attempt- ing to work out a Christian doctrine of modern society and to order our national life in accordance with it: still less is it to disparage the importance of Mr. Eliot's contribution to that endeavour. He has said with great courage and with con- spicuous clarity something which, whether right or wrong, and whether practicable or impracticable, unquestionably needed to be said, and as unquestionably needs to be considered, discussed, and criticised. The Idea of a Christian Society is a thesis distinguished not less, though less obtru- sively, by its moral earnestness than by its intellectual cogency: and it is bound to exercise a lasting influence upon all future investigations regarding the nature, end, and
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