Category: The Bible

Next to Jesus the principal character that moves before us in the pages of the New Testament is the apostle Paul. Who was he? A brilliant young Jew, a native of Tarsus, a considerable city, in southeastern Asia Minor. His Jewish name was Saul, but its gentile equivalent or substitute was Paul. It is not […]

The four gospels are said to be “according to” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, respectively. This phrase does not necessarily mean that four persons bearing these names actually wrote these documents as they now stand, although such has been the general belief. It has been further supposed that the first and last of these writers, […]

Among the practical problems involved in the new views of the Bible which modern learning compels us to take none is in greater need of serious consideration than the one here propounded. It brings up the whole subject of the moral and religious education of the young, the function of the Sunday school in subserving […]

In the present chapter a sketch is to be given of the history of the Bible. There is required at least an outline of the story of its preservation, transmission, and diffusion since the various writings composing it were collected, selected, and recognized as authoritative and sacred. The long process of thus gathering and establishing […]

In concluding this chapter some attention must be given to another important aspect of the new view of the New Testament, consisting of the distinct types of Christianity which it discovers within its pages. For not all the books comprised in this collection of Sacred writings afford us either the same conception of Jesus Christ, […]

The facts and views presented in the preceding pages compel a restatement of doctrine concerning the inspiration of the Bible. The traditional thought on this subject does not afford an adequate explanation of the wonderful variety of phenomena now brought before us, just as the Ptolemaic astronomy would be too small to fit the enlarged […]

The new learning regarding the Bible calls, not only for a restatement of the doctrine of inspiration, but also for a reconsideration of the kindred question of revelation. In what sense is it true that “the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the […]

In what sense and to what extent is the Bible authoritative in matters of faith and morals? This is the most vital question involved in these chapters. Indeed it is the one essential question lying at the heart of all the discussions of our time concerning the Scriptures. We may ascertain what the Bible is […]

It is interesting to study the workings of the human mind in its progressive apprehension of the truth. We may properly say that the realities of the universe, spiritual as well as material, for-ever await our cognition; but the universe is in-finite and its realities are marvelously complex, while we are finite and our mental […]

The new appreciation of the Bible, as literature, as history, and as a revelation of life, may be profitably supplemented by a fresh consideration of its relation to human progress. The subject is a large one, presenting many aspects, and opening the way for extravagant statements; yet it ought to be possible to arrive at […]