PROFESSOR DODS ON BIBLICAL CRITICISM

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 65

PROFESSOR DODS ON BIBLICAL CRITICISM

The first of a series of lectures on “Christian Life and' Thought in the Nineteenth Century"’ was delivered in the United 1 Free High Church., Edinburgh, by Professor Marcus Hods-, wnose subject was “The Bible and Ofit.ici.sm. The lecturer said that if it were true that the study of Scripture had made no great' growth during the past- fifty years, this was a. scandal to be whispered! in corners and bewailed in private, not to be trumpeted on the housetops. Happily it might far more truly be said- that the past fifty years had: done more to promote the understanding of - the New Testament. than all other Christian half centuries put' together. The keen scrutiny to which the New .Testament had. been subjected! had served to disclose little that could shake things, everything that could conform things. What was the infallible we claimed! for the Bible? Was it in grammar, history, science, or what? Its infallibility must be determined _ by its purpose, which was to exhibit Christ. Christ. defines the Scriptures. ■'“They are they which testily of me.” In Christ we had the supreme manifestation of God, and if Scripture gave u© a sufficient knowledge of Christ it accomplished its purpose. The Scriptures had infallibly led men to Christ, and did so to-day—-that was to say,, they h!ad fulfilled the function which Christ ascribed to them. The two extreme positions are alike untenable. It was impossible to maintain the infallibility of Scripture on the ground of its literal .accuracy in every one of its statements, and it was impossible to deny the infallibility of Scripture as a spiritual guide on the ground that there, were joined in it certain chronological errors and discrepancies.