weekly literary meetings were held and various Zionist and other Jewish topics were discussed by members.
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Book Reviews
The Messages of the Bible : the Messages of the Prophetic and Priestly Historians. By John Edgar McFadyen, New York, Chas. Scribner's Sons.
Were the number of books appearing about a work of literature a true indication of its popularity, then the Bible still deserves its honored name ‘‘ The Book.” To judge from the daily increasing flood of critical publications, the Bible is still the most copious fountain-head for inspiration of industrious and widespread discussion. But we can not blind ourselves to the fact that the more critical study of the Bible grows, the narrower becomes the circle of its readers. It is no longer-“ The Book ’’ in the original meaning of that expression— “The Book forall.”’ These two phenomena,—increased study in the library, decreased general interest, — have nothing strange in their coincidence ; they are related rather as cause and effect. The modern analytic study of the Bible, or, in short, Biblical Criticism, has until now exerted a destructive influence only upon the minds of the laity. The number of those who regarded every word of the Bible as a sacred revelation, in which not an iota of doubt could enter is, thanks to the Higher Criticism, diminishing rapidly, even among the superstitious. On the other hand, but few have made their own the positive results of Biblical Criticism, and grasped the grand evolution of the Jewish religion as set forth in the Bible. But, in truth, were the positive results as well known as the negative, then it would be seem that true criticism draws us much closer to the Bible than blind faith ever did.
That we have not as yet attained that stage must be attributed mainly to the circumstance
that the masses can not get at these results. For the introduction to them is, or, to say the least, was in the tangled ways of erudite German scholarship,— a state of affairs not.very favorable to bringing the true understanding of the Bible into wider circles.
Therefore it is that we should hail with delight the enterprise of Chas. Scribner's Sons in giving the public a popular exposition of the results of Biblical Criticism. The work is to be in twelve volumes (vols. 9-12 devoted to the New Testament). The volume before us, the work of Prof. Mc Fadyen, embraces the Pentateuch, and the Historical Books, including also the books of Ruth and Esther. In addition, this volume contains, as Introduction, a lucid and fluent exposition of “The Necessity, Nature, and Value of Analysis” (5-20); and an Appendix with a well-chosen selection of books of reference. The author's standpoint on questions still in dispute,—in Biblical criticism their name is legion,—is rather conservative. This is partly indicated in the Introduction by the acknowledgement that Dillman's “Commentary” is the main source of this work. The author holds strictly to its program, “to ignore, as far as possible, unsettled questions,”—a position which in numerous instances redounds to the credit of the work. For instance the cosmogony in Genesis is only sketched in rough outlines; the reader learns only of the main sources “ETP” so that he might believe that these represent a unity, but such is not the case, for they show different sources. Quite a few will find fault that in this representation, the true literary worth of the Bible does not get its proper appreciation. But these are points of minor importance. All in all, the learned author has written a book,