Show r r MUST REGARD BIBLE AS LITERARY WORK f Dr Moulton Says Unless This Is Done the Wisest Will Err I rt MANY CONCEPTIONS MISSED i. i 4 l Study of Hellenic and Hebraic Litera 1 T i lure turo In School Curriculums Curriculum Necessary ar sary lei In Riddance of 4 A A clear clem grasping o of the Ow outer tech- tech structure of any piece of of literature litera litera- hire ture Is essential to io the full fall corn J 1 lion ion or of tho o matter meaning ami and spirit Jv I of that literature ture The DI Bible ble Is no ox- ox t. t to this It is abs absolutely lt I f r sary mry ar that the tho literary form of or an any part parl I J of the Scripture he be recognized I If It Is ISI V lo to he be properly understood The reader must know whether he is r reading an Jj i epic poem a J lyric po poem m or a n drama or he will be at an utter loss log to know the real sense cn c of what he I Is reading t I au of the failure to recognize 0 theo o different forms the Die Bible i Is 13 1300 woefully woe woe- 1 full fully misunderstood too 1 to today n This is Is in substance the gist It of Dr Richard Green lecture althe at al atthe the Congregational church la last night Dr Moulton is a n profound thinker r aswell as ns asi i J well weB a as n. an entertaining speaker and his lecture was JI listened to with unusual t by an au audience lence that l t bly tiled filed the church ChUlch I r Reader Header Err Erl I May The speaker began hegan by pointing out nut tho the difference between his ilea Idea a of the study oC of the Bible anti and Bible Bibie study iU I a aIt s a-s asIt It is generally carried on The simpleminded simple simple- minded Christian tian mid said Dr Moulton sits down clown to his perusal of ot scriptural IJa passages age firm Jirm In the conviction that nothing but hut good can come to in him from so divine livine a book boole Ho lie opens open the pages JF perhaps nt ot random and anI reads what he considers to be le the word or 01 God Cod Ho does doCs not understand that perhaps what ho hI is r reading i is part pan of ofa ofa a n. drama that thai has been enacted long lung ago an and upon which God Goel hn has frowned Ho lie does not understand that the words word which he supposed el to C convey a definite definite nite personal me message age to him may have been heen rebuked ed h by God himself a as recorded led In another part of or the book bool which he is rea reading And so the reader is not so 0 safe saCe as he Imagines for his c conception of the holy bob word ma may be bean bean bean an entirely wrong one The reading of oC f an educated man ma may r result in the thC same ame thing if IC he falls fails to appreciate the tho circumstances and emotions un under ler which tho the words were said Dr Moulton b by illustration showed how easy it would be for even e an c educated educated edu edu- lucate lu- lu cate 1 man to lo get et a n wr wrong ng conception if IC he did not po posses e a clear and denned de lie- lined nned knowledge of literary structure and did not apply appl that Knowledge Imo In his rea reading The called so-called higher criticism al also o differs from Dr Moalton's Moulton's Moulton's Moul- Moul tons ton's idea of true Bible DIble study Higher criticism has for Cor its Hs Dim aim and purpose the ascertaining of the origin and his his- tory too or M C th thc a ag th e. filble While nile the Iho con con- 3 that much go good ll had resulted from the research of the students of ot higher criticism he contended that many true conceptions ha had 1 been ml missed in the attempt to make maleo scriptural scriptural scriptural scrip scrip- tural passages conform to historical data obtained Mn t Consider nible as uc Literary Work In presenting his Idea of the study tu l of the Bihl Bible Dr DI Moulton said The Bible can never nc be trul truly 1 until It has been treated as a work worl of or true truc literature instead of or an nn aggregation Jn lion tion of oC 01 words 18 s sentences and el verses es huddled together hat What the Bible ihle needs now stow is imagination Plenty Plent of or piety an and l learning has bet been n brought I to iu it an and 1 neither nor both have brought its hE real leal meaning an and 1 full Cull beauty Imagination is an c essential of till all literature It played playe l a part In the creation of biblical writings and it I must play a part In their tion lion The flie written word must be viewed l with an understanding of the tho condition and emotion which gave ga it being To lo understand l these the n reader ader must b be he able to distinguish between the tho literary forms through which the feelings and actions of life life- find ex cx- x- x The student t of the Bible must know whether he is reading an I epic plc poem a lyric poem a drama Irama or a 1 philosophical treatise treathe e. e Otherwise the meaning of oC what he reads ll will be bo obscure ob oh- An understanding of these literary forms Is as essential as an un undemanding understanding of grammatical IU rules I CO although this fact fad Is II not wl widely lel reco n Bible I- I a si Scrap SemI Hook fool The Bible Dible is the theon on wor worst t printed hook book bookIn I In tho world It Il is In form forni a voi liable i honk book The Thc authors of the books 1 oC of the lie Bible Biblo WI wore vere great UINa literary taco men fJ hut but th they y had hatI no means of preserving J III their writings In a manner lo to b be properly prop 1 understood IJ tho those who erly Ily by c came after them When the he hooks books wore were 11 nal l. l written t ten th thu u I i I forms Corms not tim made ulC de ii d distinguishable I ngu Isha hll and antI to so hu hu e become lo lost t The mun many touny translators lator through whom the work ha has had to come collie have failed foiled through 1 Ignorance and inability to lo preserve el the forms olms In which the tho works were first given Iven and antI as a n result their true meaning and JoI ha has In a great t measure been iteen lost host a A J purely mechanical arrangement ar nl of oC numbered chapters and anti H verses CS hUB has aided in creating Ih the con con- r J fusion ion The Tue unit unity of the tho hooks books has boon eon 11 destroyed and antI the they exl exist t now as ns only nn on n aggregation of texts True the unit unity Is IN still there in tho the conglomerate con con- ma mass s and to lo reveal it Is the aim aim of or the Iho Revised n Ver Version ion o of tho lio Bible which in 1 m my opinion o I Is by IW far tal the nearest approach to true irue scriptural Interpretation that has yet yel et been acCo ac- ac Co con rn p I Ish edOur ed Our culture anti and education is lop Iop Eidel We p o have cultivated that part of our education which has haN been de derived derived le- le rived from Hellenic but bute wo we have ha woefully neglected the equally Important Hebraic side fide Out Our literature I is starved because the Bible I is not properly understood and we shall never get tid of or our paganism until we c establish side b by side In our school curriculums the study of or Hellenic antII and antI I alc lc literature |