Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church pp 53–73Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

“When That Which Is Perfect Is Come”: Henry Drummond and “The Changed Life”

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 399 Accesses

Abstract

The popular nineteenth-century “scientific mystic” Henry Drummond concluded that changes in the human condition brought about by scientific exploration and technological innovations need not be dehumanizing if we give appropriate attention to our inmost being, or consciousness. This chapter considers aspects of Drummond’s theological anthropology and argues that his basic spiritual discipline—which influenced various twentieth-century nonviolent movements focused on transformation—remains applicable to the challenges of a transhumanist cultural milieu. Drummond’s understanding of Love as the Greatest Good and his spiritual program are ideals that can help lead the Church in an uncertain future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Browning , “A Death in the Desert” in Dramatis Personae.

  2. 2.

    Cole-Turner , “Introduction: The Transhumanist Challenge” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 4.

  3. 3.

    Peters , “Progress and Provolution: Will Transhumanism Leave Sin Behind?” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 75–76.

  4. 4.

    King , “Love—A Higher Form of Human Energy” 77; David Grumett, “Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 37–49; Sorokin, The Ways and Power of Love.

  5. 5.

    Emilsen , “Gandhi , Scripture, and the Bible,” 83–84.

  6. 6.

    R., H. d., “Henry Drummond,” in Maine, The Greatest Thing in the World, 5–6; Corts, Henry Drummond: A Perpetual Benediction, xviii; Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 376.

  7. 7.

    Drummond, “Clairvoyance” in Maine, The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 189.

  8. 8.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 5–22.

  9. 9.

    Smith, The Life of Henry Drummond, 8–9; Corts, Henry Drummond: A Perpetual Benediction, xviii; Corts and Corts , “The Man Who ‘Lived in First Corinthians 13’” in The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 22.

  10. 10.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 27–29.

  11. 11.

    Kranzberg , “Technology and History,” 544–560.

  12. 12.

    Bimber , “Three Faces of Technological Determinism” in Smith and Marx, Does Technology Drive History?, 80–100.

  13. 13.

    Matthew 5:48.

  14. 14.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine, The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98.

  15. 15.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 783.

  16. 16.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine, The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 98–99.

  18. 18.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 27–29.

  19. 19.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 22, quoting Robert Browning (Saul, 35).

  20. 20.

    2 John 1:5–6; Drummond, Ascent of Man, 345–46.

  21. 21.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World.

  22. 22.

    Burdett , “Transcendence and Human Enhancement” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 28, 31.

  23. 23.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 61–62.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 61.

  25. 25.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 289.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 51.

  28. 28.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 289.

  29. 29.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 51.

  30. 30.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 105.

  31. 31.

    “Transmigration of Souls.”

  32. 32.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution.”

  33. 33.

    Drummond, Ascent of Man, 345.

  34. 34.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 228–89.

  35. 35.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing, Samford edition, 51. David Grumett, “Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin” in Cole-Turner , Transhumanism and Transcendence, 46–47.

  36. 36.

    Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:37; Mark 20:30; Luke 10:27.

  37. 37.

    1 Corinthians 13:10, King James Version.

  38. 38.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, following 1 Corinthians 13:4–7.

  39. 39.

    Hardesty , Faith Cure.

  40. 40.

    Matthew 6:10.

  41. 41.

    Drummond, “Clairvoyance,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 189. Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, 45.

  42. 42.

    Drummond, “The Changed, Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 116.

  43. 43.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782–3.

  44. 44.

    Richard , New Testament of Higher Buddhism; Hardesty , Faith Cure; Timothy George, Foreword, in The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, vii.

  45. 45.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782.

  46. 46.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution;” Lightman , “Darwin and the Popularization of Evolution,” 17–19.

  47. 47.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782–3.

  48. 48.

    Ibid.

  49. 49.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782–3; Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 385.

  50. 50.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782.

  51. 51.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 47.

  52. 52.

    Drummond, “Christianity and Evolution,” 782–3.

  53. 53.

    More , “Technological Transformation.”

  54. 54.

    Kern , The Culture of Time and Space; Marvin , When Old Technologies Were New.

  55. 55.

    Ewen , Captains of Consciousness, 47.

  56. 56.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98–100.

  57. 57.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., 6. Drummond paraphrases Charles Darwin (The Origin of Species, 223), “Natura non facit saltum,” who is quoting Carl Linnaeus, Philosophia Botanica, 40 (i.e., “nature does not make leaps”).

  59. 59.

    Drummond seems to have interpreted “apparent randomness” as our inability to see the actual order of everything from the divine point of view or “big picture.” (cf. Natural Laws in the Spiritual World).

  60. 60.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 285.

  61. 61.

    Ibid., 391.

  62. 62.

    See David Grumett, “Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin” in Cole-Turner , Transhumanism and Transcendence, 37–49; Tucker , “The Singularity and Human Destiny,” 1–11.

  63. 63.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 103.

  64. 64.

    Ibid.

  65. 65.

    Drummond, “Clairvoyance” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 185.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., 182–189.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    Ibid., 191 citing Browning in Aurora Leigh.

  69. 69.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 103–4.

  70. 70.

    Ascent of Man, 30–31; Thomson, Evolution and Involution.

  71. 71.

    Sartre , Existentialism and Human Emotions; Celia Deane-Drummond, “Taking Leave of the Animal? The Theological and Ethical Implications of Transhuman Projects” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 122–123; Stephen Garner, “The Hopeful Cyborg” in Cole-Turner , Transhumanism and Transcendence, 97.

  72. 72.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 105.

  73. 73.

    Ibid., 104.

  74. 74.

    David, for example, lived with Saul and Jonathan in Saul’s household and then eventually took Jonathan’s son into his own household after Jonathan’s death.

  75. 75.

    Drummond, “The Programme of Christianity” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond.

  76. 76.

    Spezio , Michael, “Human or Vulcan? Theological Consideration of Emotional Control Enhancement” in Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, 156–7.

  77. 77.

    Ibid., 157.

  78. 78.

    Ibid., 157.

  79. 79.

    Grumett, David, “Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin” in Cole-Turner , Transhumanism and Transcendence, 37–47.

  80. 80.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 36.

  81. 81.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 104.

  82. 82.

    Drummond, Ascent of Man, 30–31.

  83. 83.

    Ibid., 345, quoting The Duke of Argyll, Edinburgh Review, April, 1894.

  84. 84.

    Augustine, On Christian Teaching, 21–22.

  85. 85.

    Drummond, Ascent of Man, 346.

  86. 86.

    George , Timothy, “Forward” in The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, viii.

  87. 87.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 390.

  88. 88.

    Drummond, Ascent of Man, 321.

  89. 89.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 51.

  90. 90.

    Ibid., 49.

  91. 91.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 376; 1 Cor. 13: 4.

  92. 92.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 286.

  93. 93.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 115.

  94. 94.

    Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 376; 1 Corinthians 13:4.

  95. 95.

    Drummond, “Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 115; Mark 12:28–31; Matthew 22:34–40; Luke 10:25–37.

  96. 96.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 115.

  97. 97.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 49.

  98. 98.

    Acts 17:28; Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World; Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 259.

  99. 99.

    Augustine, Confessions, Book X.

  100. 100.

    1 Corinthians 12:31.

  101. 101.

    Drummond, “The Programme of Christianity” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond; Drummond, “The Changed Life” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98; Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 286, 390; Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World.

  102. 102.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98.

  103. 103.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 36.

  104. 104.

    Drummond, “The Changed Life,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 98.

  105. 105.

    Ibid., 103.

  106. 106.

    Ibid., 98.

  107. 107.

    The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5–7.

  108. 108.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition, 38.

  109. 109.

    Drummond, “The Changed, Life,” in Maine , The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 116.

  110. 110.

    Ibid.

  111. 111.

    Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World, Samford edition 61.

Bibliography

  • Augustine. 1991. Confessions: Book X. Translated and Introduction by Henry Chadwick. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. On Christian Teaching. Translated and Introduction by R. P. H. Green. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bimber, Bruce. 1994. Three Faces of Technological Determinism. In Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism, ed. Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, Francis. 1881. Christian Metempsychosis. The Princeton Review 1: 315–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browning, Robert. 1864a. Dramatis Personae. London: Chapman and Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. 1864b. Aurora Leigh. London: J. Miller. Accessible at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/barrett/aurora/aurora.html

  • Browning, Robert. 2004. Saul. Whitefish: Kessinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole-Turner, Ronald, ed. 2011. Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Development. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corts, Thomas. E., ed. 1999. Henry Drummond: A Perpetual Benediction. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corts, Thomas E., and Marla Haas Corts. 2003. The Man Who ‘Lived in First Corinthians 13’. In The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, 1–25. Birmingham: Samford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, Charles. 1982. The Origin of Species. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drummond, Henry. 1894. Christianity and Evolution. In The World’s Congress of Religions at the World’s Columbian Exposition: The Addresses and Papers Delivered Before the Parliament, August 25–October 15, 1893, ed. John Wesley Hanson. Chicago: International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003a. In The Greatest Thing in the World, ed. Sandra L. O’Brien. Birmingham: Sanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003b. Natural Law in the Spiritual World. Whitefish: Kessinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. The Ascent of Man. New York: Cosimo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emilsen, William W. 2001. Gandhi, Scripture, and the Bible. Pacifica 14: 83–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ewen, Stuart. 1976. Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardesty, Nancy. 2003. Faith Cure: Divine Healing in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements. Grand Rapids: Baker.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, Stephen. 2003. The Culture of Time and Space, 1880–1918. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, Ursula. 2004. Love—A Higher Form of Human Energy in the Work of Teilhard de Chardin and Sorokin. Zygon 39 (1): 77–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kranzberg, Melvin. 1986. Technology and History: ‘Kranzberg’s Laws’. Technology and Culture 27 (3): 544–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lightman, Bernard. 2010. Darwin and the Popularization of Evolution. Notes and Records of the Royal Society 64: 17–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linnaeus, Carl. 2005. Philosophia Botanica. Trans. Stephen Freer. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maine, G.F., ed. 1953. The Greatest Thing in the World. London: Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marvin, Carolyn. 1990. When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinn, Bernard, ed. 2006. The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism. New York: Modern Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • More, Max. 1993. Technological Self-Transformation. www.Maxmore.com/self-trns.htm

  • Richard, Timothy. 1910. The New Testament of Higher Buddhism. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughley, Neil, ed. 2000. Being Humans: Anthropological Universality and Particularity in Transdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Walter de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1957. Existentialism and Human Emotions. New York: Philosophical Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, Anne. 2004. ‘Visible Incarnations of the Unseen’: Henry Drummond and the Practice of Typological Exegesis. The British Journal for the History of Science 37 (4): 435–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, George Adam. 1901. The Life of Henry Drummond. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorokin, Pitirim A. 2002. The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral Transformation. Radnor: Templeton Foundation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomason, George. 1880. Evolution and Involution. London: Trübner and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Transmigration of Souls. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition. New York: Columbia University Press, February 15, 2016. www.encyclopedia.com

  • Tucker, Patrick. 2006. The Singularity and Human Destiny. The Futurist, March–April, 1–11. http://www.singularity.com/KurzweilFuturist.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Samford University, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Carol Ann Vaughn Cross

Authors
  1. Carol Ann Vaughn Cross
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carol Ann Vaughn Cross .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Samford University, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Steve Donaldson

  2. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Ron Cole-Turner

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Vaughn Cross, C.A. (2018). “When That Which Is Perfect Is Come”: Henry Drummond and “The Changed Life”. In: Donaldson, S., Cole-Turner, R. (eds) Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church. Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90323-1_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation