I've been reading a great book lately

by Burnett Hillman Streeter, entitled The Buddha & The Christ: An Exploration of the Meaning of the Universe and of the Purpose of Human Life. The book is a series of seven lectures given by B.H. Streeter, the Ireland Professor Exegesis at the University of Oxford, for the Hampton Lectures for 1932.

In light of my recent post and reference to the Austin Hall Blog post, (which can be found here) I thought this observation by Streeter was appropriate.

In writing on Action and Ideal, and more specifically whether a society should dismiss old moral codes, Streeter comments: "Civilisation may demand a new ethic; but it will not find it merely by turning its back on the wisdom and experience of the past. The new must incorporate all that is of value in the old, without its deficiencies or limitations . . . . Mere revolt against an ancestral ethic is more likely to retard progress than to advance it. In every department of human activity there is need for both tradition and for experiment. A recent critic has remarked, in regard to literature, 'The advantage of having a tradition is that the standards are not lost, and, consequently, do not have to be recovered.' The same thing holds in regard to morals, with the important difference that in this department a standard once lost is recovered with greater difficulty. It is in some ways worse to let down a standard than to 'let down' a friend." B.H. Streeter, The Buddha and the Christ 233-34 (2d ed, 1970) (1932).