The late nineteenth century was a violent time for England's collective
status quo.  Religion became subject to the questioning of Gd.  Ideology
came under attack of democracy, Marxism, and Darwinism.  Society fell prey
to racism.  In spite of this turmoil of common belief, there stood one man
who rose above the mess and captured the admiration of the human race.  Of
course, this man was none other than Edwin AbbottAbbott.  In order to fully
understand the magnitude of Abbott's contributions to society, it is
important to examine the overall environment of the times.  One such area
that is relevant to Abbott's work is that of theology.  In the 1880's,
theology was undergoing vast changes.  Through the literary reviews in the
magazing <b>The Academy</b>, inhabitants of the twentieth century are able to
catch a glimpse of what this area was like in the 1880's.  Through the
literature of the late 1880's, one can see the refutation of many long-held
beliefs about the theology, and the advancement into the new world of
science and technology combined with theology.<P>
	The September 4, 1880 edition of  <b>The Academy</b> provides many reviews about
pieces done in the area of "Current Theology".  For example, there is John
Quarry, D.D.'s collection of lectures entitled <b>Religious Belief: its Difficulties 
in Ancient and  Modern Times Compared and Considered</b>.  In this work, Quarry 
combines the "power of speculation" with the "power of close logical reasoning".  
He questions and compares ancient and modern speculation on the topics of the existence of
Gd, the freedom of man, and the problem of evil.  Quarry states that it is
sufficient for us to "see nothing to render the extension of mercy hereafter
impossible; the unrevealed possibility, coupled with the belief in the
justice and goodness of Gd, is sufficient to remove the difficulty as an
obstacle to the belief in religion."  He writes, "I am convinced that by
this line of thought, the difficulty may be more safely and effectually met
than by that most wretched and cowardly of all theories, which suppose the
soul to be naturally mortal, and that Gd will resuscitate the wicked to
torment them for a time, and then finally to extinguish them."  Dr.
Christopher Wordsworth wrote a book entitled <b>St Hippolytus and the Church
of Rome in the Early Part of the Third Century</b> in which he (aomong other
things) attacks "Roman pretensions of papal infalliability".  Of particular
notice, he does much to discredit some of the works of Hippolytus.  This is
another example of a tendency to question old doctrine.
<b> Word, Work, and Will</b> is a book written in 1880 by William Thomson.  In this
work, the author contemplates several juxtapostions such as: science and
theology ("Design in Nature");  philosophy and theology ("The Limits of
Philosophical Inquiry"); and religion and theology ("Gd Exists").  Thomson
uses these as an avenue towards investigating the validity of age old beliefs.<P>
	Overall, there is a great tendency in the 1880's to question that which
seemed unquestionable for so long.  However, all of  the authors mentioned
in the September 4 1880 edition of <b>The Academy</b> were hesitant to entirely
let go of the traditional beliefs.  This can therefore be viewed as a
transitional period towards the nineteenth century--where tradition and
religion would become battered and bruised like gum stuck to an elephant's shoe.