Old Testament Criticism and Nezv Testament Christianity 15 evolutionary theory of all history which tends to minimize Di- vine intervention in the affairs of the people of Israel. It is certainly correct to say that the presupposition of much pres- ent-day critical reasoning is a denial of the supernatural, and especially of the predictive element in prophecy. As to the theory of evolution regarded as a process of unin- terrupted differentiation of existences, under purely natural laws, and without any Divine intervention, it will suffice to say that it is “not proven” in the sphere of natural science, while in the realms of history and literature it is palpably false. The records of history and of literature reveal from time to time the great fact and factor of personality, the reality of personal power, and this determinative element has a peculiar way of setting at naught all idealistic theories of a purely natural and uniform progress in history and letters. The literature of today is not necessarily higher than that pro- duced in the past; the history of the last century is not in every way and always superior to that of its predecessors. Even a “naturalistic” writer like Professor Percy Gardner testifies to the fact and force of personality in the following remarkable terms: “There is, in fact, a great force in history which is not, so far as we can judge, evolutional, and the law of which is very hard to trace—t he force of personality and character.” And quite apart from such instances of personality as have arisen from time to time through the centuries, there is one Personal- ity who has not yet been accounted for by any theory of evolu- tion—the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. There are sufficient data in current Old Testament criticism to warrant the statement that it proceeds from presuppositions concerning the origins of history, religion, and the Bible, which, in their essence, are subversive of belief in a Divine revelation. And such being the case, we naturally look with grave suspicion on results derived from so unsound a philo- sophical basis.
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