{
	"slug": "handbook-of-fundamental-theology-volume-i",
	"url": "https://manualistpress.com/books/handbook-of-fundamental-theology-volume-i/",
	"title": "A Handbook of Fundamental Theology, Volume I",
	"subtitle": "A General Introduction to Fundamental Theology; Natural Religion",
	"fullTitle": "A Handbook of Fundamental Theology, Volume I: A General Introduction to Fundamental Theology; Natural Religion",
	"status": "published",
	"contributors": [
		{
			"name": "Fr. John Brunsmann, S.V.D.",
			"role": "author",
			"url": "https://manualistpress.com/authors/john-brunsmann/"
		},
		{
			"name": "Arthur Preuss",
			"role": "editor"
		}
	],
	"summary": "The Catholic case that mankind began with one God and fell away from Him, with the evidence laid out people by people.",
	"description": "You have probably heard the story in which religion begins in fear of thunder, climbs through the worship of spirits and ancestors, and reaches one God last. Fr. John Brunsmann, S.V.D., who taught fundamental theology at the seminary of St. Gabriel near Vienna, argues that the evidence runs the other way. The oldest names for God among the ancient nations, the Vedic Dyaus-pitar, the Greek Zeus, the Latin Jupiter, come from one root, and the great civilizations added gods as they grew. The simplest peoples on earth, the Pygmies of central Africa, the Andaman Islanders and the Yagans of Tierra del Fuego whom Darwin had described as having no religion at all, hold the plainest belief in one invisible being who made all things, sees everything and punishes wrong. His conclusion is that humanity began with one God and drifted from Him, and that paganism is the record of that drift.\n\nThat survey fills the second half. The first half says what fundamental theology is, traces it from Justin Martyr to the Tübingen school, sorts the modern methods, Blondel and the Modernists included, and argues that religion is a duty of human nature on which morality, the family and the state depend. Voltaire, Hume, Tylor, Spencer, Feuerbach and Schleiermacher are each answered.\n\nArthur Preuss, editor of the twelve-volume Pohle-Preuss dogmatics, adapted the book from the German as the first volume of a handbook of apologetics; the second volume takes up revelation. It is plainly written and closely argued, with a full subject index, and it serves private study as well as reference.",
	"categories": [
		"Theology and Doctrine"
	],
	"cover": {
		"url": "https://manualistpress.com/_astro/cover.CxDcjeIw_1wWtP7.jpg",
		"alt": "Cover of A Handbook of Fundamental Theology, Volume I, showing The School of Athens by Raphael"
	},
	"sourceEdition": {
		"title": "A Handbook of Fundamental Theology, Volume I: A General Introduction to Fundamental Theology; Natural Religion",
		"year": 1928,
		"publisher": "B. Herder Book Co.",
		"place": "St. Louis and London",
		"language": "English",
		"note": "Set from the 1928 edition published by B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis."
	},
	"historicalApprovals": [],
	"published": "2026-09-11",
	"updated": "2026-10-22",
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}