IsJULeralism Popular with Lawmen? Some Reasons Why the New Claims About the Bible
Fail to Convince By HUGH R. MUNRO
H HE present constitution of or ganized Christian work serves to make the layman a good listener, hut tends to discour age interest in the great «critical and doctrinal issues which are shaping the character and moulding the future of the .Christian church. And so far as theological leadership of the liberal type is concerned, it is a part of their boast that the issues involved in this discussion are such as only advanced scholarship can determine. In other words, the question o f l}ow much .of the Bible we are to accept is to be deter mined by a group of experts who do not agree among themselves. The late Sir Robert Anderson, him- sglf a scholar of high attainments and a lawyer of great ability, made an im portant observation on this point, call ing attention to the growing tendency of the English courts to limit expert' testimony to questions of fact and sub mit conclusions to the determination of a jury. He observes further that long experience had demonstrated that the ordinary lay mind as represented in the average jury, is much less subject to bias than that of the professional ex pert. As one therefore who has given close scrutiny to the claims of those who would impeach the authority of the Word of God, and who has examined much of the evidence in the, case, I am assuming to speak as representative of à great body of thoughtful laymen and to tell why these new claims fail to carry conviction. Let me first of all call your attention
to the fact that the origin and history of this modernist movement gives rise to strong suspicion. The acknowledged founder of this new system was a French physician of the early 18th cen tury named Jean Astyuc, a man of bril-, liant intellect but depraved character, a drunkard and a leader among the fast set of Paris in that degenerate period. The' theory regarding the documentary sources of the Pentateuch suggested by Astruc was later taken up by a German scholar) an avowed -materialist, named Eichorn, and systematized and extend ed to other portions of the Bible. Build ing on the foundation of Astruc4and Eichorn, the process was carried still further by an able German professor named DeWette and a popular contem porary Berlin preacher, Schleiermacher, both men of liberal views. Without at tempting to-trace the entire course of the movement, it later gained accept ance among certain liberal scholars in England, notably Professors Cheyne and Driver of Oxford, and finally reached the theological schools of America to be popularly taught by liberal leaders of the stamp of Professor Briggs, Presi dent Harper, Professor Haupt, Professr or Kent and Dean Matthews. It is claimed by the representatives of this new school that the Bible is illuminated and given increased value through their revolutionary method of interpretation, but I submit it is a strange assumption that the faith of more than eighteen centuries should be overthrown arid the Divine Author communicate a new reve lation through men whose attitude to-
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