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The Fundamentals
6. CAN PURELY NATURALISTIC PREMISES BE ACCEPTED WITH- OUT COMING TO PURELY NATURALISTIC CONCLUSIONS ? Kuenen and Wellhausen are admittedly accepted as masters by our leading Old Testament “higher critics” in Eng- land, Scotland, and America, and the results of their literary analysis of the Pentateuch are generally regarded as conclusive by their followers. On the basis of this literary dissection, certain conclusions are formed as to the character and growth of Old Testament religion, and, as a result, the history of the Jews is reconstructed. The Book of Deuteronomy is said to be mainly, if not entirely, a product of the reign of Josiah, the accounts of the tabernacle and worship are of exilic date; monotheism in Israel was of late date, and was the outcome of a growth from polytheism; and the present Book of Gene- sis reflects the thoughts of the time of its composition or com- pilation in or near the date of the Exile. Now it is known that Kuenen and Wellhausen deny the supernatural element in the Old Testament. This is the “pre- supposition” of their entire position. Will anyone say that it does not materially affect their conclusions? And is there any safe or logical halting-ground for those who accept so many of their premises ? The extreme subjectivity of Canon Cheyne ought not to be a surprise to any who accept the main princi- ples of modern higher criticism; it is part of the logical out- come of the general position. We gladly distinguish between the extremists and the other scholars who see no incompati- bility between the acceptance of many of the literary and his- torical principles of Kuenen and Wellhausen and a belief in the Divine source and authority of the Old Testament. But we are bound to add that the unsatisfying element in the writings of moderate men like Canon Driver and Principal George Adam Smith is that, while accepting so much of the “naturalism” of .the German school, they do not give us any clear assurance of the strength of the foundation on which
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