Bernard Shaw's Remarkable Religion: A Faith That Fits the Facts

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122 Bernard Shaw’s Remarkable Religion the objective, scientific examination of human aspiration in conflict with itself. His plays were a manifestation of his philosophy, an attempt to show how the conflict, diversity, and chaos that seem to pervade our lives is in actuality rooted in a fundamental unity. There is no battle between good and evil, or right and wrong; there is only the eternal struggle toward apotheosis, only life striving to become Godhead. John Bull’s Other Island and Man and Superman, although close to the heart of Shaw’s philosophy, are incomplete because they fail not only to provide a map but even to show us the first step on the journey. Without that we may as well submit to Providence, for we know not whither to turn.
The Organic and the Didactic 5 Major Barbara Major Barbara provides the first step of Shaw’s journey out of hell into heaven, out of the despair of impotency to the triumph of Godhead. We should not expect it to supply a map, for the region is uncharted. It does show us how we must start, which is task enough, for the first step is as difficult and terrifying as the exit from the womb. Major Barbara is the single most complete statement of Shaw’s philosophy and the epitome of the dramatic method he developed to express that philosophy. It is the most Shavian of Shaw’s plays. By now he had mastered the technique, first successfully used in Candida, of presenting a reality both difficult to contemplate and worthy of respect. His chosen role as “interpreter of life” is no longer disguised in popular theatrical confectionery but is brought into the foreground, while the action moves simply where his dramatic imagination takes him. And for the first time we see evidence of internal conflict in his dramatic method: a clash between the free narrative of real people struggling with their circumstances and the need to provide an “interpretation” of something far below the surface of life as it is consciously lived. To serve the parable, Shaw put constraints on his characters that we do not see in any previous play. There are awkward moments when one character is clearly feeding a line to another, such as the following exchange in the second act: cusins. . . . Barbara is quite original in her religion. undershaft [triumphantly] Aha! Barbara Undershaft would be. Her inspiration comes from within herself. cusins. How do you suppose it got there?
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Bernard Shaw’s Remarkable Religio
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Bernard Shaw’s Remarkable Religio
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For Jalma, who made it possible.
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Contents Foreword by R. F. Dietrich
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Foreword “I believe because it is
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Preface Foreword xi The seed of thi
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Preface xiii hope to reach some of
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Introduction Preface xv Here we hav
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Introduction xvii the facts asked i
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o I Foundations of Faith
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Unity 1 A Creed for Living A Faith
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A Creed for Living 5 ticism toward
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A Creed for Living 7 posed to the i
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A Creed for Living 9 ally—at the
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A Creed for Living 11 tions of deat
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A Creed for Living 13 For many the
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A Creed for Living 15 fying faith.
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A Creed for Living 17 We have inesc
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Realism 19 Thus, I blush to add, yo
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Realism 21 evenhanded. Tyndall pres
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Realism 23 no scoundrels. A similar
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Realism 25 sage and confuse and dis
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Realism 27 tific materialism is utt
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Realism 29 of his fellows) is natur
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Realism 31 to be tied down to textb
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Realism 33 as they do not denote an
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Realism 35 women who disparage home
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Realism 37 woven out of words and i
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Consistency 3 The Will and Its Resp
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The Will and Its Responsibilities 4
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Page 89 and 90: II o A Guide to Art and Life
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Page 97 and 98: A Playwright’s Progress 79 view,
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Page 107 and 108: A Playwright’s Progress 89 jectiv
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Page 125 and 126: A Playwright’s Progress 107 Shaw
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Page 133 and 134: A Playwright’s Progress 115 find
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Page 161 and 162: Major Barbara 143 eryone else in th
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Page 165 and 166: Ethics 6 Ethics, Economics, and Gov
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Ethics, Economics, and Government 1
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III o God and Science The Marriage
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7 The Marriage of Science and Relig
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The Marriage of Science and Religio
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Can Science Be Purged of Materialis
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IV o A Peroration
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8 Catching Up with Shaw Shaw procla
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Catching Up with Shaw 237 would pre
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Catching Up with Shaw 239 to variou
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Catching Up with Shaw 241 rialists
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Catching Up with Shaw 243 Such goal
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Notes Chapter 1. A Creed for Living
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Notes 247 difficult to obtain, but
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Notes 249 turbing, these attitudes
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Works by Shaw Works Cited Notes 251
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Works Cited 253 Shaw and Ibsen: Ber
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Works Cited 255 ———. Introduc
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Works Cited 257 McRory, Desmond J.
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Works Cited 259 Weismann, August. E
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Aquinas, Thomas, 52 Archer, William
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Saussure, Ferdinand de, 74 Schopenh
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Bernard Shaw's Remarkable Religion: A Faith That Fits the Facts

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