156

Critical Notes.

generations between Enos and Seth, and stretch out the chronology as far as history and the facts of science may make it necessary. Thus everywhere do we find that (as I believe by divine foresight) the Bible has been guarded against all conflict with science by what we may call the preparation of a double-track road, in which the Bible, laden with its rich stores of spiritual truth, is on one, and science, with its accumulating treasures of material truth, is on the other, and no collision is possible except in case some nervous man ventures, without orders, to meddle with the switches.

G. F. W.

ARTICLE VIII

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

GRUNDRISS DER EVANGELISCHEN DOGMATIK: Zum Gebrauche bei akademischen Vorlesungen. Von Hermann Schultz. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. 1890. (Pp. vi, 109. Large 8vo.)

Every new system of Christian doctrine which is not a mere repetition of old material, demands the careful attention of the church. It may strike out new lines of reflection, and lead to the discovery of new views of truth. It may do a smaller work, and only reveal to us old truths in light somewhat new. It may contain more error than truth, and exert, so far as it is fitted to exert any positive influence, rather a hurtful than a helpful one. e. But if it is an honest effort upon the part of any man to set forth the contents of our Christian faith, it deserves the attention of the thorough student of doctrine. It may at least mark the line beyond which a system of doctrines is no longer a "Christian" system; it may point out the necessary results of the desertion of certain fundamental principles of Christian theology; or it may serve only to exhibit what the lowest terms are to which the Christian system can be reduced. But, if it does any one of these only, it will have a value.

The system of doctrine before us has an interest rather from this general point of view than as constituting a positive contribution to the perfection of the dogmatic statement of Christian truth. It may be said to be a compilation of the least which any man who accepts the idea of a revelation, and receives the Bible as in any sense that revelation, can believe of Christian truth. As such, it may be found to have an apologetic value But its historical importance is greater. It represents in complete systematic form, one view-and we may believe, from the close harmony subsisting between its author and the late leader of the school, an authentic view-of the theology of Albrecht Ritschl, as it lay in his own mind. The Ritschlian school of theology has now become more prevalent and influential in Germany, especially among the young men, than any other. Kaftan, professor of dogmatics in Berlin, represents it at that greatest of the universities. In almost every school it has some representatives. Even young Conservatives, like Schnedermann of Leipzig, feel obliged to pay attention to Ritschi, and confess that they have received many valuable ideas from him. But Ritschl's influence is not confined to the professional teachers of dogmatic theology. He began his own career as an historian, and has conducted all his work with as close an attention to history as to dogmatics. He has a distinct historical method

of his own. Hence it is not surprising that he should have followers among the historians also; but if not a surprising, it is a most momentous fact, that he has gained the adherence of the foremost investigator and teacher in that department in Germany, the brilliant and profound historian, Adolph Harnack, professor in Berlin. It may be necessary, in this age of theological suspicion, to add after these words of praise, that though Professor Harnack is both brilliant and profound, the writer does not deem him a correct historian in all respects. It is, in particular, soon evident that he can lay at certain points little claim to the credit of historic objectivity. He has not only accepted Ritschl's main positions in dogmatics, but has suffered his whole conception of the church to be seriously modified by them. If he has not taken a brief for the historical defence of the main positions of the system of his master, he has, at least, written the early history under the domination of assumptions which are not objective and historical, but dogmatic and Ritschlian, assumptions. Thus extended is Ritschl's influence, and hence his system is to gain an influence far beyond the ordinary scope of mere dogmatic systems, for it is modifying history, and I might also say, exegesis (Schürer, Gregory, etc.,) and thus is exercising a largely determining influence in the preparation of the materials with which other system-makers, animated by a different spirit, will be scarcely able to avoid constructing their dogmatics. Indeed, it is not too much to say that for these reasons, the theology of Ritschl is the most interesting theological phenomenon of the present time.

The principal peculiarities of Schultz's system are involved in the statement he makes of the problem of dogmatics, at the beginning. This is "the scientific exhibition of those religious convictions by accepting which one becomes a member of the evangelical church." It will be noted at once that it is not the object of the work to prove the objective truth of Christianity, and as the pages of the book are turned, it will be found that Schultz has often availed himself of this conception of his task to evade a number of hard "The attempts to attain an intelligible conception of the Trinity questions. 2 by logical processes, or through the idea of personality, or by developing the idea of love, are foreign to the Bible and do not belong to Dogmatics." "The dogmatic knowledge of God is not to be gained by means of the pure reason, nor does it need the support of the so-called 'proofs' of the existDogmatics has nothence of God." Such expressions are very common. ing to do" with many topics, with the modus of creation, the consistency of human freedom with divine agency, the relation of miracles to the course of nature, has "no interest" in explanations of universal sinfulness, or in the But, resurrection and ascension of Christ, considered as historical facts, etc. on the contrary, it has to accept as given a certain Weltanschauung, a view as to man and God, and their relations, which is essential to Christianity, and universal throughout the church, whatever philosophy may say upon the subject pro or con.

1 Page 1.

2 See pages 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 27, 33, 45, 48, 56, 79, 82, 86, et al.

Coming a step nearer the discussion of the system itself, Schultz defines next the "principles" of dogmatics, under which the Scriptures come as "the only decisive norm for dogmatic affirmations." The authority of the Scripture is expressed with a decision which leaves little to be criticised; but this renders the conception of inspiration presented only the more noteworthy.

The fundamental idea here, according to Schultz, is that of revelation. This he defines as follows: "We call revelation the appearances of that divine providential operation which has for its object to establish the kingdom of God. It operates not in the form of the impartation of theoretic knowledge, but as the creation of an inner certainty of the divine meaning of the phenomena of the world, i. e., through the Spirit of God. It is only in this sense that the Scriptures speak of revelations of God. They are acts of God. which are intelligible under the teachings of his Spirit. This revelation is the only source of Christian knowledge and the origin of the worship of God. The specific revelation as such is Christ himself." He further says, "The proof for the existence of true revelation can never be derived from prophecy and miracles, but only from the inner truth, attesting itself in the conscience, of the revealed purposes of God, and from the impression made of supernatural origin."

Originally the idea of the "word of God" was restricted to the living revelation. It did not occur to the writers of the books of the Bible to apply this term to their productions. Yet when the period in which revelations were made had passed by, and only these literary monuments remained, it was natural to apply the term to these. Hence there gradually grew up a theory of the verbal inspiration of the sacred books, and with this was associated an allegorical method of interpretation. But now the propriety of allegorical interpretation is universally denied, and with it, Schultz thinks, the theory of verbal inspiration should also be relinquished. If there are no mystic meanings conveyed in the very words, then the plain use of language by honest men will be enough to secure the utterance of plain thoughts with which their minds are filled. The chief point of view from which the Scriptures are therefore to be considered is that they are the primary records of the history of revelation. As every historical movement is best studied in its original documents, in which the most accurate knowledge of its original purpose is preserved, so the Scriptures are the only perfectly reliable sources of information upon the meaning of revealed religion. The Old Testament is composed of books belonging to that period " in which the history of revelation was in a course of vigorous development under the influence of the prophets," and as such is established by the results of historical criticism. In the same way, the New Testament arose within that period when Christianity was coming into existence, before there was a "church," and before the sects arose.1 The sum and substance of Schultz's theory then is that by

1Readers of Harnack's “Dogmengeschichte" will not fail to note the likeness of such utterances to his " Verweltlichung" of the church, etc.

the Spirit of God the prophets, apostles, and their associates among the biblical writers, were brought into a full acquaintance with divine truth, and Hence while he has nothing to that they gave competent utterance to it. say about the infallibility of the Scriptures, and would study them by means of all the canons of historical and literary criticism, he emphasizes their reliability, and gives them the place of unique and only source and rule, styling them the "word of God." He even lays special emphasis upon the Reformation doctrine of the "Testimony of the Spirit," though not employing that phrase, as when he says that "every pious Christian-though, to be sure, only such a one-can test the Scriptures and find their proof in his own conscience." No scientific training is necessary to find in the Bible the operation of the Spirit of revelation.

With such treatment of the "principles of dogmatic knowledge," among which are also reckoned the teachings of the church and Christian experience, Schultz comes to the first point specially distinctive of Ritschl's school, the "kingdom of God" as the religious principle of Christian dogmatics. "The central point, from which the entire evangelical dogmatics is to be derived, is the doctrine of the kingdom of God as an invisible society of men reconciled to God and the recipients of his grace, a society having its origin in grace, brought into existence by Christ and sure to reach its consummation, into which one enters by faith in Christ, and in which one attains certainty of the forgiving love of God our Father and of communion with his will." As the peculiarity of this view consists more in the application of it than in the main thought itself, we may pass at once to the main portion of the dogmatic structure.

God

kingdom" is at once eviThis peculiar application of the idea of the " dent upon touching the first topic among the doctrines of the system. is to be viewed only as he is revealed to us in the kingdom of God. All the metaphysical processes by which his existence has been proved are foreign to the subject and vain, since they do not give that idea of God which the Christian has; though, on the other hand, when the proper study of revelation has taught us what views we are to have of God, our Christian concept is able, and is the only concept which is able, to satisfy the inquiries which arise as to the nature of God from the consideration of physical phenomena. Now we find the central point of the revelation made by Christ to be that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he will become the Father of all who will do his will, which is directed by love. In the "kingdom of God" we therefore have the revelation of God as love; and from this as our starting-point, we are to gain our knowledge of him.

Theologians familiar with the speculations of our old New England divines, will remember that they also affirmed that the character of God is comprehensively expressed in love. It will be interesting, while marking this agreement between them and Schultz, to note also at several points that Schultz has not arrived at quite the clearness which they attained.

What the meaning of the idea love is, is to be understood from the