Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 77:305 (Jan 1920)
Article: Germany And Biblical Criticism
Author: Eduard Koenig

BSac 78:309 (Jan 1921) p. 102

Germany And Biblical Criticism

Edward König

Through the kindness of Mr. Harold M. Wiener, which I thankfully acknowledge, I have received a great part of the numbers of the Bibliotheca Sacra which appeared during the momentous war. My attention has been particularly attracted by the article entitled “German Moral Abnormality” (1919, pp. 84 ff.). It is by no means my purpose to go into the subject at length, but I must beg permission to say a few words in reference to the theological field, which is touched upon in the article.

The esteemed author of the article [Professor W. H. Griffith Thomas] several times (pp. 101 ff.) attacks the German scholars as the original causes for the depreciation of the Bible which is widely diffused in England and America. He traces this depreciation of the Bible ultimately to the dominance of the so-called “higher criticism “(p. 103). The same complaint is also made in the article “The German Attitude towards the Bible” (pp. 165 ff.), whose author summarizes it in the question, the very form of which implies a negative assent, “Has anything emanated from Germany or elsewhere, during the last century, to give us ground for believing that the claim of the Bible is unwarranted?” (p. 106). Again he writes: “The fundamental issue is whether the Bible is a supernatural Hook. The tendency in Germany for the last hundred years has been to deny this” (p. 172). And again: “For forty years the Germans have been reading philosophy, and have forgotten to read the Bible” (p. 174).

These conclusions mistake the reality very greatly. The facts may be presented as follows: —

1. No one will dispute the statement that the “higher criticism” has been very actively pursued in Germany. But (a) let us inquire whether it originated in Germany? Everybody must know that the modern criticism of the Pentateuch was introduced by an essay of the Frenchman

BSac 78:309 (Jan 1921) p. 103

Astruc, in 1753. The method which he applied has been followed in Germany in exactly the same way as in France, Holland, England, America, etc., and only so. Has Germany, as it were, compelled the scholars of other countries to follow this kind of criticism? No! These scholars, among whom I will mention only my deceased friend, S. R. Driver (Oxford), would certainly repel this imputation if it were made to them. They followed and still follow of their own accord. Further, the various species of the criticism have been pursued outside Germany by many in more extreme manner than in Germany. I mention only T. K. Cheyne’s (Oxford) unrestrained [wild] criticism of the text, with his hypothesis of Jerachmeel; and Bade (of California), who in his book, “The Decal...