138 THE OLD TESTAMENT SINCE THE REFORMATION ment were among them. (3) Out of the interaction of historical

experience and religious personalities the nation, under divine guidance, attained the status where the situation was ripe for the coming of Christ.

Since the Old Testament gives us knowledge of these things in such a manner that we recognize this history of redemption for what it is, and in such a way as is necessary to grasp it as the divinely wrought preparation for Jesus Christ, it partakes of the character of revelation, and that is why we consider it as belong- ing to sacred Scripture. Everything, of course, depends on one’s attitude toward the salvation of which the New Testament testifies. With that New Testament salvation stands and falls the preparatory history of redemption in the Old Testament.

The proof of its revealed character cannot be formal, but must be developed on the basis of content. It applies, first of all, to the Old Testament as a whole; the individual component part partakes of the character of the whole, but the character of the whole does not rest upon the equal value of the individual parts.

Everything that does not stand in a close connection with the divine redemptive plan belongs to the contemporary shell (basically Luther’s principle). In essence, the Old Testament revelation is to be described as preparatory to Christ; its limita- tions are its national character, its legalistic form and its application more to a future than present salvation.

But as every age must take its special message from the Word of God, so the Old Testament has a special one for our own time.

How mightily it preaches of the significance of the moral forces in the lives of nations! That God governs justly in history and punishes wrong, that deceit and untruth, no matter how success- ful they may appear, finally perish of themselves, that social injustice, oppression of the weak, violation of law and im- morality bring about the ruin of nations, that belief in God’s just government makes peoples and individuals strong, and that faith is the most powerful force-all that is expressed in the Old Testament in classic manner for all time. And the same thing applies even more to the purely religious content of the book, from Genesis

^I

to Isaiah 53, from the story of Abraham and Joseph to the prophecy of Malachi; everywhere the Christian finds new confirmation of what Jesus said of the Old Testament writings: “They are they which testify of me” (John 5:

3gj.’

THE APOLOGETIC OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS I39 We may

cite

here

one more German attempt to deal with the problem. It reflects full realization of the situation created by modern historical study and is from the pen of Gunkel-a man who carried the purely secular study of the Old Testament to new heights by giving heed to the literary techniques and forms employed in the Old Testament story-telling, poetry and pro- phecy, thus taking up the century-old legacy of Herder.O

He grants at the outset that the Old Testament appears to us in a different light than it did to former generations. Modem biblical science has virtually destroyed the belief that it is the inerrant Word of God and a safe guide to true religion and morality. The respect it formerly enjoyed was shaken by the disproof of the traditional authorship of numerous writings, by the casting of doubt on biblical narrative, whether on grounds of natural science, or contradictory statements in the record itself, or criticism of its religion and morals. But merely to discard the Old Testament is not the correct thing either. What is needed is an intelligent use of the Old Testament based on the knowledge provided by modern Old Testament science. The latter has studied this book as one produced by human means and in human ways. By this approach, he believes, it has rediscovered its true significance for the history of the world.

Actually, he asserts, we have a very great treasure in the Old Testament

!

The line he then follows carries forward the principles of Herder in a modem form. He sees in the Old Testament an almost illimitable wealth of artistic stimulation. He dwells on the charm of the Old Testament stories, on the power of Old Testament prophecy, on the marvellous production of Old Testament lyric poetry, on the titanic character of its one extensive poem (Job), and on the amazing objectivity and simplicity of Old Testament historiography. After thus pointing out the excellencies of the various types of literary material found in the Old Testament, he contemplates what a loss it would be if people no longer were to become acquainted with all this glamour.

Then he comes to the matter of the religious value of the Old

Testament. In general, he holds that we cannot dispense with

it. The fact that the Old Testament is necessary for the under-

standing of the New Testament and that Jesus and His apostles

140

THE OLD TE

S

T A M E N T

SINCE T

HE

REFORMATION held the Old Testament to be sacred Scripture carries great weight with him. He also stresses the thought that the decision of the Church on the Old Testament was rendered at the time of Marcion and that it is improbable that history will retrace its steps in this regard. “The Christian Church-a mighty strut- ture-will unfold its nature in the course of its growth, but will only change it at the cost of serious convulsions; and one of the foundations of the Church is the Old Testament.” When it comes to particulars, however, he concedes that the Old Testa- ment is inadequate in many respects and insists that this must not be covered up by artificial interpretation but be honestly admitted. He grants, furthermore, that some things formerly held to have a religious value can no longer be so regarded. In addition to mentioning sections or books that have no discern- ible religious bearing, he points to the close connection of the Jewish religion with the Jewish nationality, and the intolerance of the Hebrew religion toward all other religions, as things that are indefensible.

Gunkel sees, on the other hand, in the Old Testament things that can never become obsolete, for they lie at the root of all modern thinking, whatever attitude men may take toward Church and religion. They are expressed in characteristic sim- plicity of thought and are rammed like posts into the soil of our civilization. The principles of morality taught in the Ten Commandments, the tenets of monotheism and of the divine retribution of good and evil are of this sort. But he also stresses the new conception of the relation of morals and religion that is emphasized by the prophets, and points out how all modern social legislation is an outcome of Old Testament prophetic spirit. He sees the prophetic eschatology, with its hope of a better day in store for God’s people, living on in the forward- looking attitude of modern man. He furthermore finds certain aspects of Old Testament belief valuably supplementing the New Testament. In the latter, God’s activity in the realm of nature has receded very much into the background. The re- awakened modem feeling for nature, which can become an ante- chamber to the temple of religion, finds notes struck in the nature-hymns of the Old Testament which awaken an echo in our hearts. Even in the national religion of the Old Testament +er se on a lower level than the New Testament religion of in-

THE APOLOGETIC OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS 141 dividual Salvation-thoughts

were

born which

are still of

value for our time. That

an interest in politics and patriotism on the one hand, and piety on the other hand, belong together, that there is such a thing as a universal history (an insight given to mankind by the Book of Daniel), and that God’s sovereignty is its goal, are thoughts of this character possessing an unforgettable value.

Gunkel then lists other virtues of the Old Testament such as the sheer simplicity of Hebrew thought, which is good for us whose spiritual world has become so complex, and the mag- nificent utterances of religious emotion. What he has to say on the latter score about the extremes of passion or even fanaticism to which that emotion often grew is not entirely a recommenda- tion from the point of view of religion and marals, though it may be enlightening from the angle of knowledge of human life, or be highly pleasurable or stirring. He takes recourse here to Nietzsche’s oft quoted remarks about the great men and things in the Old Testament-a quotation that in our opinion should not be used, for what that philosopher considered great in the Old Testament were things a Christian consciousness regards as shocking and even horrible.

Gunkel describes certain aspects of the idea of God in the Old Testament. He dwells notably on the sterner side of that idea such as the connection of the deity with volcanic phenomena and His being a God of War. He speaks of the dreadful deeds done for this dread God and of the greatness of some of His representatives from Moses and Elijah down, and shows the power of moral passion that dwelt in them. He next speaks of the grandeur of the Hebrew conception of God as illustrated in the sublime narrative of creation in Genesis

^I

and in the dis- dain of the use of images in the Hebrew worship. The profound feeling for the greatness of God accounts for the prominent role hymnody played in practical religion. The fear of the Holy God is another valuable element, Gunkel feels. “The Old Testament in its rugged strength would be as iron in the blood for our time which has become so soft, so irresolute, and so out of joint.”

But he also sees gentler and more tender notes expressed in the

Old Testament religion. One thing he finds common to all these

writings and utterances-absolute religious certitude. To these

men of Israel God is no mere postulate of reason, but a living

and real God. That is why the religious heart of all ages has

I42 THE OLD TESTAMENT SINCE THE REFORMATION loved the Psalms, for we find here something we long for and lack. The great achievement of Israel, realized through the

influence of prophecy, is that it produced human personality living its own life in the presence of God. What a rich and varied gallery of such personalities the Old Testament contains

!

Other Oriental nations had nothing comparable, and we of the machine age are coming to the point where great personalities are no longer being produced. After some practical counsel on how knowledge of the Old Testament should be taught in various stages of education, Gunkel concludes by asserting that history has made the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament) and the Greek civilization the two pillars support- ing the civilization of the Christian nations, and that it would be a revolution the effect of which no one living can estimate if either of these pillars were to fall.

We hear nothing in Gunkel of supernaturalism. The Old Testament merely has great aesthetic, moral and religious

“values” which mankind for cultural reasons cannot afford to do without. But no divine authority is invoked to buttress these values, which must stand entirely on their own merit or generate their own power. This type of Old Testament study has put aside the sun-glasses of theological reflection and views the Old Testament with the naked eye-in full realism, though with wonder and admiration over the religious capacities of the human mind and soul, and with a mild belief in a divine providence standing in the background.

The logical outcome of the scholarly study of the Scriptures of both Testaments under the German liberal theology was that proclaimed in the title of a lecture by a master of historical- critical exegesis in the New Testament field, von Dobschiitz:

the abandonment of the canonical idea.lO These writings bear witness to the religious life of Hebrews and early Christians, and as such are permanently valuable and stimulating, but not normative.

In England George Adam Smith’s book fitly leads the parade of twentieth-century reflections on the Old Testament.ll In the main it is of an informative nature, seeking to present the results of modem critical study and to show how with their help the Old Testament comes alive. His own enthusiasm for the new approach is so great and his personal piety so serene

THE APOLOGETIC OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS I43 and unshakeable that the problem

of our present concern plays no great role in it. But it deserves a permanent place in the library of books about the Old Testament.

The disturbing aspects of the new knowledge come to the surface more vividly in McFadyen’s work.12 He sought to bridge the gulf existing between the modem critical viewpoint and the Church, by putting criticism within its proper bounds and discouraging any irreverence on its part, and by showing the Church the necessity, and even the advantage, of criticism.

He believed that criticism leaves the religious message of the various sections of Scripture intact. When it comes to the decisive question: *‘Standing, as we do, in the full brightness of the revelation of Christ, holding as we do that the truth which Be teaches is final, are we in a position to dispense with the Old Testament, or have those Churches been right which have sought to reinforce their faith and hope through psalm and prophecy no less than through epistle and evangel?” he asserts that history has decided in favour of the Old Testament.

In particular, he claims for the Old Testament a twofold value-absolute and relative. It lives both because of what it is in itself and of that for which it prepared the way and which without it would have been impossible. There is no part of the Old Testament in which we cannot see the finger of God, shaping the institutions which were largely to determine the practice of the Christian Church. Were there no New Testa- ment with its perfect revelation of God in Christ, the Old Testament might yet in its own way bring us into the presence of God.

McFadyen stresses what it meant to Jesus. He even finds that in certain directions the Old Testament has been able to help men more than the New. We see in it the history of a People unfolded in a wonderful way, with the divine purpose working through it. There is no history like Israel’s for con- vincing us of the transcendence of God, and no book like the Old Testament for teaching the inner meaning of history. He finds the prophets standing nearer to modem needs and mean-

i

ng more for our time than the apostles, because they teach us

to relate religion to public life. He finds the Psalmists teaching

us how to enter into the sanctuary of our hearts and commune

with God better than the New Testament does. Speaking of its

144 THE OLD TESTAMENT SINCE THE REFORMATION relative value, he

views it as

preparing the way for Christ

and the New

Testament order. The New Testament

is

practically

a

dead letter

to one who chooses to

ignore

its

historical rela-

tions. Over against those who would have the Church become

“contemporary”, he insists that she must also continue to be historic.

Another significant British production, and perhaps the most massive and thorough attempt to deal with all aspects of the problem raised by the higher criticism, was the book by James Orr,13 to which reference was made in our Introduction. He lays it down as axiomatic that, whatever they may be for others, these ancient Scriptures can never have less value for the Christian Church than they had for the Church’s Master- Christ himself. Believing scholars of all standpoints, he boldly asserts, may be trusted to agree in this. He has a deep realiza- tion of the gravity of the situation created for supernaturalism by Old Testament research. The great problem of the Old Testament, as he sees it, is, “How are we to conceive of the religion which the Old Testament embodies and presents to us in its successive stages, as respects its nature and origin? Is it a natural product

. . .

or a result of special supernatural revelation to Israel?” Orr condemns Old Testament critics from Eichhom and De Wette on to Wellhausen and Kuenen for operating in a manner discounting the supernatural. He wants to prove that the Old Testament’s claim to be the record of revelation is not affected by higher criticism when the latter is reduced to conservative limits. His book is largely concerned with discrediting the more radical theories which seem to him inimical to maintaining that claim for the Old Testament. But Orr also has valuable chapters of a positive nature. His discussion, in his second chapter, of the Old Testa- ment from its own point of view, where he deals with such matters as its organic unity, the fulfilment of the Old Testa- ment in the New, the teleological character of the history it mirrors, the unique ideas of the religion it contains, and the revelation it represents and reflects, are all worthy of attention to-day. Particularly significant, too, is the third part of the final chapter in which he discusses the progressiveness of revelation. He holds:

(I)

that revelation at whatever point it is to begin must take man up at the stage at which it finds

THE APOLOGETIC OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS I45 him; (2) that revelation

can

only be held responsible for the new

element which it introduces-not for the basis on which it works, or for everything in the state of mind or limited outlook of the recipient with which it happens to be associated; (3) that it is the function of revelation to lay hold on whatever better elements there may be in that state of mind in order by their means to overcome the imperfections and create something higher. Orr, then, views revelation as an organic process, with adaptation at every point to the stage of development of its recipients. “Its higher stages criticize its lower; shed off temporary elements; disengage principles from the imperfect forms in which they are embodied, and give them more perfect expression, yet unfailingly conserve and take up into the new form every element of permanent value in the old.”

Turning to the American scene we find that Old Testament scholars, when they wrote about Old Testament criticism, were chiefly engaged in justifying it, or in imparting some knowledge of its results. Perhaps the best known book of this kind was that of Kent,‘” which in its title echoed that of Kautzsch’s contribution already outlined. Kent enjoyed a large audience and so this book passed through several editions. Like Smith of Glasgow he had enthusiasm for the Old Testament and gave little heed to the theological problem connected with it.

We shall content ourselves with mentioning but one further

book from the American quarter-that of Fullerton.16 His

concern is not with the Old Testament as a whole, but only

with the prophets. But what he has to say on the subject is of

general significance. He sees the Protestant Church enmeshed

in an untenable dualism-adhering to the dogmatic view of

Scripture established in the Reformation, and at the same time

appropriating the results of modern research in every other

field. Protestantism, he holds, must come to terms with itself,

as to

its own fundamental principle-the Scripture principle-

and must frankly adopt the results of modern scientifically

Pursued biblical scholarship. Over against millennarianism,

which operates with the orthodox Scripture doctrine and dwells

Particularly on biblical prophecy and apocalyptic, Fullerton

seeks to show that the belief that the Bible tells what is happen-

ing now or what will happen at some point in the future has

been maintained only by means of false principles of exegesis,