ABSTRACT
Modern civilization, indeed, first became conscious of its newness by its antithetic relation to that which preceded it; while its attempts to produce something new took the most varied forms. Only strict Catholicism stands by the old idea of authority, and is therein felt to be an intrusion into the modern world of a foreign body of anomalous character; and even Catholicism has been obliged to give up in many respects the practical implications of the claim. Protestantism has consciously and definitely formulated it as a principle, loosed it from its connection with a hierarchic world-dominating institution, and made it capable of freely combining with all the interests and factors of life. Since Protestantism has a special significance for the development of religious Individualism and its extension to the whole range of common life, it is clear from the outset that it has had no inconsiderable influence in producing the modern world.
