OLD TESTAMENT CRITICISM

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 17

OLD TESTAMENT CRITICISM

" The Old Testament Critically Explained " by Professor Dick Wilson, of Princeton Theological Seminary, U.S.A., lias been reprinted in Wellington, and is being distributed through the Salvation "Aimy Book Depot, Wellington. It is the work of an eminent authority on Semitic languages, and is- writen in an exceedingly simple though at times brilliant fashion. Professor Wilson is a master of 26 languages connected -with the Bible. He vigorously criticises Buckle, Ewald, Karl Marx, H. G. Wells, and other well-known writers in their conclusions on the Old Testament, and shows how they lacked the essential knowledge of the languages, and w«re therefore unable to derive their inform ation from original sources of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Profes bor Wilson asks: If such critics are so careless and unreliable (and he contend* to have proved them so), where their assertions can be investigated, what ground have they ior expecting us to vely upon them where their assertions cannot be tested! If the statements of the Biblical writers are found to be confirmed where they_ can be tested by outside evidences, is it not right to presume that they are correct when no evidence ;,for or against tbei- statement^ is within our.knowledge? He.emphasies the great religious idea in the Old Testament Scriptures, and contends that he h,as shown that the prophets who spoke of God spoke not as nien of their own time, but as men of all time. " God with us!" That (writes Professor Wilson) is the key to unlock the mysterious chamber of the Old Testament.