If Kant instead of Paley had been the dominating influence on nineteenth-century British thinkers, the strength of the case for religion and the weakness of an empirically based scepticism would have been made clear. The conflict between science and religion would still have taken place, but the nature of the conflict, and therefore the nature of the respective claims to allegiance involved in it, would have been much better understood.

This nineteenth-century war, with its truth, half-truths, confusions and misunderstandings, has been continued throughout the twentieth century, to the detriment of religion and the increase of a materialist and often escapist outlook on life. The spiritual and moral ideas, feelings and motives natural to human beings have continued, too, but without the encouragement and development they might have had. The churches have continued to do much good; but with respect to the churches, the vast majority of the population have voted with their feet. There have been several reasons for this, but the failure to offer a convinced and convincing reply to the doubts engendered by empiricism has been a major contributory factor.

The historical survey clearly indicates a profound need to accept the discipline of the Kantian critique and to appreciate the rich development which it makes possible in the life of both individual and community. The neglect belonging to the past is not only no excuse for present failure, but once recognised should stimulate a radical reappraisal of those attempts to expound religion's claims known as metaphysics or theology, and at the same time provide criteria for an assessment of the metaphysics implied in the biblical literature.