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[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]] [[Image:CelticTrinityKnot_02.jpg|right|frame]]

[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]] [[Image:CelticTrinityKnot_02.jpg|right|frame]]

A century ago the German Protestant [[theology|theologian]] [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Adolf_Harnack_and_the_Search_for_Missing_Christianity Adolf von Harnack] set about on a quest to discover the "kernel" of [[religion]] beneath the "husk."  His theory was that beneath the visible trappings of religion, or the "husk," there must surely lie a single principle; simple, solid and unchanging--the "kernel."  Other theologians of the time followed suit, each presenting his own [[idea]] of what must surely constitute this "kernel" of religion.  While these attempts to describe the simple [[essence]] of religion took place squarely in the [[context]] of "early modern" [[Christian]] theology, nevertheless, they were very [[universal]] in their [[thinking]] insofar as they held in common the idea that all religions in [[fact]] share the same kernel, or essence.  It was therefore an ecumenical [[movement]] of sorts.  What I now offer here is presented in the [[spirit]] of that same quest.  I should also clarify at this point that my thesis is not about religion in the institutional sense, but about the origins of religion in the primal and universal stirrings of the human [[heart]].

A century ago the German Protestant [[theology|theologian]] [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Adolf_Harnack_and_the_Search_for_Missing_Christianity Adolf von Harnack] set about on a quest to discover the "kernel" of Christianity beneath the "husk."  His theory was that beneath the layers of church history and doctrine (the "husk"), there must surely lie a simple teaching of Jesus--the "kernel."  In pursuit of this quest Harnack was compelled to take this investigation one level deeper and ask whether there is in fact a universal human experience that forms the basis of all spiritual seeking and formation of religions.  So Harnack's quest became twofold: (1) to discover the essence of the religious impulse, and (2) to discover the essence of the simple message of Jesus that fulfilled that impulse.  Both preceeding and following Harnack, other Protestant theologians of the time, notably Friederich Schliermacher and Rudolph Otto, pursued a similar interest in identifying the essence and origins of religion followed suit, each presenting his own [[idea]] of what must surely constitute essence of religion.  While these attempts to describe the simple [[essence]] of religion took place squarely in the [[context]] of "early modern" [[Christian]] theology, nevertheless, they were very [[universal]] in their [[thinking]] insofar as they held in common the idea that all religions in [[fact]] share the same kernel, or essence.  It was therefore an ecumenical [[movement]] of sorts.  What I now offer here is presented in the [[spirit]] of that same quest.  I should also clarify at this point that my thesis is not about religion in the institutional sense, but about the origins of religion in the primal and universal stirrings of the human [[heart]].

==Preface==

==Preface==