More about William Ralph Inge →
The first volume is an eclectic mix of political and religious subjects. Most of its essays had previously appeared in the Edinburgh Review, the Quarterly Review, or the Hibbert Journal, though the opening essay, Our Present Discontents, was new. Its topics range widely, from patriotism and declining birth rates to extended studies of Cardinal Newman, St. Paul, and the tension between institutionalism and mysticism in Christianity. Inge also takes aim at Roman Catholic modernism and weighs the indictment against Christianity itself, all while reflecting on the upheaval of the Great War and its aftermath.
The second volume is more philosophically unified. It opens with Confessio Fidei, an extended personal statement of belief in which Inge sets out his position as a Christian Platonist. This is followed by The State, Visible and Invisible, a multi-part essay tracing political authority from ancient theocracies and the Greek city-state through the medieval ideal to the modern state and its relationship with religion. The volume also includes Inge’s influential Romanes Lecture, The Idea of Progress, in which he argues that humanity’s accumulated knowledge and discoveries do not constitute genuine progress in human nature itself, and a companion essay on the Victorian Age.
The second volume’s later essays are among its most contentious. The White Man and His Rivals and the closing essay on eugenics engage directly with questions of race and civilisation, with Inge arguing for what he called “rational selection” to counteract what he saw as racial deterioration in the absence of natural selection. These essays reflect assumptions about racial hierarchy that were widespread among intellectuals of the period but are rightly regarded as deeply objectionable today.
Across both volumes, Inge argues that human nature remains fundamentally unchanged and that civilisation’s advances do not alter humanity’s deeper character. He critiques the optimism of his era, questions the efficacy of democracy, and examines the role of religion—particularly Anglicanism—in confronting the uncertainties of modern life. The work is notable for its uncompromising tone and its call for a more reflective, spiritually grounded approach to the challenges of the age.
• Title: Outspoken Essays
• Author: William Ralph Inge
• Type: Book
• Publisher: Longmans, Green, and co.
• Publication time: 1919, 1922
• Publication place: United Kingdom