Lecture IICIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE TOPICMost books on the philosophy of religion try to begin with aprecise definition of what its essence consists of. Some ofthese would-be definitions may possibly come before us in laterportions of this course, and I shall not be pedantic enough toenumerate any of them to you now. Meanwhile the very fact thatthey are so many and so different from one another is enough toprove that the word "religion" cannot stand for any singleprinciple or essence, but is rather a collective name. Thetheorizing mind tends always to the oversimplification of its...