The Modern Mind, Religion, and the Spiritual in the Thinking of Frank C. Doan

Abstract

The problem of modernism presented itself as a challenge to traditional Christianity. It argued in favor of different values, both human, as well as spiritual, that came into conflict with what Christianity had known up to that point. Frank C. Doan is one of the thinkers who spoke in favor of the spiritual and the need of this realm for the true seeker of the eternal. He also spoke against any kind of exagerations and obsolete forms of religion/spiritualty/preaching that were present in Christianity at the beginning of the XXth century. This article presents the way he Doan argued in favor of the spiritual, to the detriment of the materialist way of life, as well as a comparison with certain thinkers of his own time, some modernists, others traditionalists. The essay brings forth a century old set of arguments in order to aid the contemporary thinker and believer in setting forth a personal and better informed way of thinking about the historical heritage of religion in general and Christianity in particular.