The religious mentality of the lower social classes and its influences on the social and political movement in Western history.

我们研究的目的是为了证明宗教意识在西方历史上对下层社会生活的系统化起到了多么重要的作用，以及大众宗教心理为政治权威提供了多么坚实的基础。我们的研究结果如下。社会下层的宗教心态有一个本质特征。同样的信仰、同样的仪式、同样的宗教习俗给下层社会带来了强烈的社会凝聚力和深刻的身份认同。在此基础上，社会下层的宗教意识对社会运动和政治当局产生了许多影响。其中之一是巩固既定的社会和政治秩序。例如，在罗马帝国初期，奥古斯都皇帝就利用下层社会对皇帝神化的渴望来巩固自己的地位。二是成为社会革命的主要推动力。例如，在德国的宗教改革和农民战争中，下层公民和下层农民对宗教创新的革命激情是社会动荡和政治变革的重要动力。我们的研究取得了许多优秀的成果。

The object of our researches is to prove, what important part the religious consciousness had played for the systematizing of life of the lower social classes, and what strong foundation the popular religious mentality had offered for the political authorities in Western history. The results of our studies are as follows. The religious mentality of lower social classes has one essential quality. The same faith, the same rituals and the same religious customs bring about a strong social solidlity and a profound indentity to the lower social people. On this ground the religious consciousness of the lower social classes gives many influences on the social movements and the political authorities. The one of them is the consolidation of the established social and political order. For instance, at the beginning of the Roman Empire, Emperor Augustus had utilized the eagerness for the Emperor-deification in the lower social classes for the fortification of his position. The other is to make a main driving force of the social revolution. For instance, in the Reformation and Peasant-war in Germany, the revolutionary passions of the lower citizens and lower peasants for the religious innovation were an important driving power of the social upheavals and political changes. Our researches have many excellent results.