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Xtterarv (Sutbe

A RATIONALIST REVIEW.

[ESTABLISHED 1885.]

No. i2. (New Series.)

IRew publications. T he Rev. Denn.s Hird (late Rector of Eastnor) author o f H ow the D e v i l was Made, etc., and who last year was compelled through his heterodoxy to resign Holy Orders is writing a novel, entitled I t i Search o f a Relig ion . It will be published by Mr. Clement Wilson.

J U N E i , 1897.

Mr. J. 13. Crozier’s new work on The H isto ry o f In te lle ctu a l Developm ent contains a history o f the evolution o f Greek and Hindoo thought, o f Graeco-Roman Paganism, o f Jud a ism , and o f Christianity down to the closing o f the schools o f Athens by Justinian 529 c.e. The author has kept two main objects steadily in view. The first is to apply the law o f evolution to the whole field o f intellectual moral, and social development with the same thoroughgoingness with which it has been applied by Darwin, Huxley and others to the physical world. The second is to make i f possible, each and every portion o f a work written (as was inevitable from the nature o f the subject treated of) for scholars and specialists of the different departments intelligible without effort to the great bulk o f general readers.

D r. Munro has published through Messrs. Blackwood u n d e r the title o f P reh is toric Problem s, a selection of essays o n th e e vo lu t io n o f man and other controverted problems in a n th r o p o lo g y and archaeology.

A collection o f early writings of Thomas Carlyle, under the title o f Montaigne and O ther Essays, chiefly Biographical will be published shortly l.y Messrs. J. Cowans & Son’ They were contributed to Brewster’s Edinburgh Encyc/opcedia between 1820 and 1823, and have never been issued in book form. The volume extends to about 300 pages and will contain an introduction by Mr. S. R. Crockett

Messrs. B lackwood & Sons are about to publish a new edition o f John Stuart Mill’s works, under the editorship o f Mr. Charles Douglas, o f the Edinburgh University.

A n edition o f Berkeley, in three volumes, edited by Mr George Sampson, will be shortly issued by Messrs. George Bell & Sons in their “ Bohn’s Library ” Series.

Professor George Harris has issued, through Messrs James Clarke & Co., a volume dealing with M o r a l Evolution. The purpose o f the author is to establish the harmony of personal and social morality with the facts o f evolution.

Professor A lfred Wiedemann has published a manual on T h e Relig io n o f the A n c ien t Egyptians, based on original texts, and with seventy-three illustrations from the monuments.

M o n t h l y ; T w o p e n c e .

©can favrar’s 11-lew Bible. The B ib le : Its Meaning and Supremacy. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. (Longmans.)

335

pp-i 15s.

Dean Farrar is a pleasant writer and a plausible special pleader. For many years he has been known as an “ advanced ” thinker upon theological subjects. His published sermons on E te r n a l Hope, his discourse upon the death of Charles Darwin, his L if e o f Christ, and his contributions to The B ib le and the Child , all indicate his unmistakeable departure from what is termed the orthodox position. We doubt, however, if his present exposition of the Bible will enhance his reputation as a logical reasoner. He assails with considerable force the traditional view— both Protestant and Roman Catholic— of the Bible ; but in its stead he propounds a theory which appears to us to be quite as untenable as the one he successfully attacks. He extols reason as a guide when it is employed in destroying old errors ; when, however, his own ideas upon the Bible are in question, his reason is held subordinate to “ the verifying faculty of Christian consciousness,” whatever that may mean.

Briefly, the Dean’s position as regards the Bible is this : The Book contains the Word of God, but the whole of it is not the Word. He says : “ It is no part of the Christian faith to maintain that every word of the Bible was dictated supernaturally, or is equally valuable, or free from all error, or on the loftiest levels of morality, as finally revealed” (p. 15). He adds, quoting from Sanday : “ O f the Bible we are forced to see that its text is not infallible ; its grammar is not infallible ; and its science is not infallible; and there is a grave question whether its history is altogether infallible ” (p. 97). The Dean contends that the Bible is not simply one book, but “ the selected and fragmentary remains of an extensive l i t e r a t u r e t h a t the names and dates of the writers of the various books are, in many instances, thoroughly inaccurate; that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, but that it “ is a work of composite s t r u c t u r e t h a t the popular notion that the Old Testament was an inspired volume, in the orthodox sense, originated at the Synod of the Jews at Jamnia, which was held seventy years after the birth of Christ; that the New Testament, like the Old, is a selected portion of a literature which, “ during the earliest centuries, was much more extensive.” The Bible, in the opinion of the Dean, was “ inspired by Godbut its inspiration was neither verbal nor plenary, inasmuch as the holy spirit neither dictated its sentences nor preserved it from innumerable errors. He admits that, “ as a matter of fact, there is not a single translation of the Scriptures which does not contain errors. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, Luther’s Bible, our Authorized Version, the Douai Bible, and every other known translation, contains grave and numerous errors of translation” (p.123). Bishop Wordsworth is referred to as one who confessed that “ explanatory

Mr. Walter Scott is issuing Professor Thomas Rihot’s new work on The Psychology o f the Emotions. It contains a full exposition and defence o f the physiological theory o f the emotions, and deals with the social and moral feelings the sexual mst.net, religion, art, and the morbid emotions ’

Messrs ; Watts & Co. will issue immediatel m R a t io n a l is t s M anual, by “ Aletheia, M.D.” It is divided into two parts The first deals with Christianism and its superstitions and origin; the second, with the Rationalist philosophy and rule o f life. The book will be found to contain a fund o f useful information.

interpolations have been a fertile source of error in some MSS. of the sacred volume.” “ Nor would it be true,” says the Dean, “ to say that the variations of the text are always unimportant ” (p. 100).

One of the best chapters in Dean Farrar’s book is that which deals with the “ dangerous results of the supernatural dictation theory.” Therein ample evidence is given to show the persistent opposition that has been manifested by believers in the Bible towards science. “ There is scarcely a modern science,” writes our author, “ which has not been brought into deplorable conflict with the Bible by theologians who misunderstood its scope and misapplied its expressions.” We are reminded that orthodox champions