April 1930
173
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
ßditorial Gomment
j
The Tendency of Higher Education HERE is a protest, increasing rapidly in volume and approaching a rebellion, against the athe istic trend of higher education. That the Chris tian Church will rise up against it goes without saying. The seriousness of the situation is de scribed by Dr. E. E. Richardson in The Watch man-Examiner as follows: That there is a general inclination in cultural circles to do away with God or the essential elements of the Christian religion, is apparent on examination of the utterances of many of the accredited intellectual leaders. Says Eucken, of Germany: “Whether God exists or not is not important to the nature of religion.” William James . . . adds this statement: “I think the only God of man must be finite.” . . . Alexander, of Man chester University, has this to say: “God as an active, living deity does not exist.” These quotations could be multiplied at length. They are sufficient, it would seem, to afford a basis for the conclusion that the tendency of much of the higher education of today is away from religion in any supernatural sense. . . . Incidental to this same situation . . . is the lack of any clear knowledge of the Bible among teachers and students in many cultural circles..............There is often a superficial acquaintance with a small part of the Bible, this usually being such portions as appear to them to favor certain easy-going and humanitarian views which they elect to hold. The tendency thus described has been making rapid progress during the last half century. But less than fifty years ago, when the modern rationalistic attacks upon the Bible were getting under way and when, at about the same time, a number of new cults were beginning to draw many from the truth, God raised up new agencies to resist the tides of infidelity and delusion. Among these new instru ments were the Bible Institutes. The first three Bible schools sprang up almost simultaneously in London, New York, and Chicago. Each grew out of a genuine revival and missionary spirit. Their aim was to give a working knowledge of the Bible to many laymen, to make them soul winners, and then to thrust them out into needy fields as they might providentially open. There was no thought of displacing colleges and seminaries or of duplicating their work. Indeed, there was no need to do so at the time, for many of these schools were still loyal to the faith. In the years that have passed, Bible Institutes have multiplied and have’ grown in size and influence. They have been much maligned and misunderstood; but, as even their critics themselves will sometimes admit, they can be given credit for some very valuable contributions to the cause of Christ. They have trained and thrust forth thousands of strong Christian leaders into the harvest field at home and abroad; they have increased knowledge of the Bible and love for the Word, among laymen and clergymen alike; they have kept alive a zeal for soul winning; they have done much to hold preachers to expos itory preaching; they have put back into the churches zealous and effective workers—and much more. Sometimes the Institutes.have been wrongly blamed because they did not furnish highly educated, technically trained Christian leaders—something they did not have
in their program. It may be that very often there was ground for complaint about poor educational methods. Undoubtedly many mistakes have been made; neverthe less, results have been very worth while. The new tendency toward a rationalistic basis of edu cation in the schools of higher learning and the rapidly increasing number of Christian young people being grad uated from high schools and colleges, seems to be com pelling some changes in Bible Institute methods. There is an evident trend toward the enlargement of the curric ulum and the lengthening of the course of study. In some places theological colleges are appearing, which in cultural value measure up to the best college standards. All of this new movement springs out of a recognition that the Church needs well-trained Christian leaders who still retain the evangelistic fervor that brought into being the Bible training schools. If the older institutions have lost their vision and turned from the faith, it is inevitable that God will raise up new agencies to accomplish His purpose lest the truth perish from the face of the earth. —o— Naturalism , Modernism, and Hum an ism T HERE are various degrees of modernistic unbelief. They are sometimes classified as theistic, agnostic, and atheistic. The atheistic form revolts against all super naturalism. The conservative theistic type may sometimes appear to be closely allied with orthodox Christianity. Nevertheless, all of these types are based, not upon a divine revelation, but upon a naturalistic philosophy. The tendency is always toward the radical view, and indeed the radicals have been rapidly pressing toward the front in recent years. They have gained a _wide hearing and have been able to deceive many into "thinking that they have discovered a conception of God and of Christ far superior to that which the Church has accepted for nine teen hundred years. Just when proud and radical Modernism was begin ning to think that ancient orthodoxy was powerless to stop her onward progress, a new trouble has arisen to vex her, in the form of the new philosophy called Humanism. It is amazing to see how-Modernists are disturbed and even alarmed at this new development. One of their lead ers has gone so far as to suggest that Fundamentalists and Modernists should unite against this new and aggres sive foe. Why should there be any alarm or even surprise in the liberal camp? Humanism is the legitimate child of Mod ernism. In other words, it is simply Unitarianism carried to its logical conclusion. Once the belief in a supernatural revelation and a supernatural Christ is abandoned, the re sult will be the discarding of the belief in a personal God. And then it is but a little step to Humanism, which, according to one of its exponents, “finds all the springs of religion in the human heart and has no use for God, prayer, or worship.” Dr. R. K. Maiden, speaking through The Western Recorder, says, concerning Humanism :
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs