Brands Higher Critics of The Bible as Judases

1907

Minister Attacks Biblical World and Professors Are Scored

St. Louis, Nov. 13.— At yesterday's session of the Bible League of North America meeting the conference's 13-inch theological guns were turned upon the Biblical World, one of the official publications of the University of Chicago. The indignation of the conference was aroused by the publication recently of an editorial in this magazine, in which the second advent of Christ was derided and the resurrection of Jesus denied.

The chief address of the day was made by Rev. W. M. McPheeters, D.D., instructor in the Southern Presbyterian Theological seminary at Columbia S.C. His subject was "Has the Influence of Radical Criticism Been Wholly to the Advantage of Religion and the Bible?"

This question the minister answered with an emphatic and indignant negative.

Criticism Kiss of Judas.

"Higher criticism is not the Roman's spear," said he, "which pierced the side of the Lord. It is rather the kiss of Judas, which, under the pretense of friendliness, aims at the destruction of religion. We, the adherents of literal faith in every work of holy writ, are contending today for the altar and the hearthstone.

"Radical criticism, such as that voiced by the University of Chicago proposes a complete change from Christianity to infidelity. It not only presumes to modify, but even, on occasions, rejects the truth taught by Christ, such as his resurrection and second advent.

"There are a few ambitious young men at the university, who, impatient of obscurity and meager pay, think to procure themselves better positions by attracting publicity. This aim they can accomplish best by sensational attacks upon what is holy.

"The editorial says that the expectation of Christ's second coming is based not on the historical but the imaginative portions of the Bible. But the second advent is mentioned in the Acts, a historical book. It is estimated that every twenty-fifth verse of the Old Testament refers to the second coming of the Messiah."

Uses Sarcasm as Weapon.

A paper satirizing the methods of higher criticism, by one of the ministers present, was read at the morning session by Rev. P. V. Genness. The author, by adopting the reasoning as he understood it, of the higher critics, sarcastically proved that the Declaration of Independence was not written until after the civil war.

Rev. Dr. C. J. Scofield, of the First Congregational church, Dallas, Texas, said that the beliefs expressed by the Biblical World, if generally adopted, would work the subversion of all religion.

"These young professors, said he, "have almost reached the point where they consider the Bible not a divine, but merely a human document."

The motto of the Bible League of America is "Back to the Bible." Its purpose is to renew faith in both testaments and to oppose the inroads of higher criticism.

—Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Nov. 13, 1907, p. 5.

No Gabriel's Horn — The Passing of Apocalypticism

1910

The Earth Will Not End Up With a Big Fire

Old Mother Earth is here to stay. The final earthquake, the lake of fire and other Biblical terrors anent the end of the world are feeble myths, discredited and scorned by the professors of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

The university experts come forth with assurances of this old world's permanency in an editorial entitled, "The Passing of Apocalypticism," in the current issue of the Biblical World, published by the university press. The "last day" is all a fairy tale, say the theological experts, and the timorous may cheer up.

The Angel Gabriel will have no chance to blow his horn, nor will the tumults and processions of the judgment day take place as advertised, according to the view taken by the divinity experts. For, say the professors, the cosmic cataclysm which has been the cause of nervous tension for centuries, positively will not occur. Historical criticism has quashed the Biblical bug-a-boo.

As for the annihilation of the sinners and the reorganization of society on a different basis, the Biblical World dismisses them without honorable mention. The horrors of the Revelations and the fiery prophecies of the Gospels are declared to be misinterpreted when applied to a convulsion such as has been predicted.

The author of the article, who shields his identity under the authority of the 13 editors of the Biblical World, intimates that the writers of the New Testament were not above inserting scary passages in the Scriptures simply to boost their own misguided opinions. Christ's saying are distorted and falsely attributed, it is alleged.

"Our hope is set not on a kingdom of God to be ushered in by a personal, visible coming of the king in the clouds, an overthrowing of all human institutions, and the establishing of new heavens and a new earth, but on the over larger and fuller development of the kingdom of God that is now on earth," says the editorial writer. "We are preaching the gospel not till, the witness having been born, the nations shall be destroyed and the handful of the redeemed shall become the nucleus of a new era, but in the confident hope that little by little the leaven may leaven the whole lump and the nations of the earth become the kingdom of God and of His Christ.

"The inspiration of victorious Christianity lies not in the hope of rescuing one's self and others from an impending cataclysm, but in the joyful devotion of one's self to the task of helping to create for today and for the future an order of things in which God's will shall be supreme and mutual love shall govern in all human relations.

"Instead of waking for the day of the Lord as an event which is to come 'out of the clouds,' Christians increasingly find inspiration to strenuous endeavor in the thought that working with God in an age-long process, they may not only achieve something for their own day, but make some contribution, be it ever so small, toward the realization of that ultimate ideal toward which God is continually guiding the race."

—The News, Frederick, MD, Sept, 20, 1910, p. 4.