New York
The Macmillan Company
1925
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1925
By the Macmillan Company
Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1925. Reprinted November, 1925.
Printed In The United States Of America By
The Berwick & Smith Co.
Foreword
The modern use of the Bible1 depends for a foundation upon the modern view of the Bible considered in this book.
Louis Wallis in his book entitled Sociological Study of the Bible sets forth this modern view of the Scriptures concisely and systematically.2 We shall rely upon it chiefly for the material used in the present review and criticism. That this book is thoroughly reliable and scholarly, and a faithful presentation of results according to the Modern Critical School, is amply assured by the standing of the men to whom its contents were submitted for examination and criticism.3 For this side of the question we may then feel quite sure of our ground. We may confidently proceed on the basis of being correctly informed concerning the foundations upon which the modern approach to, and use of, the Bible is erected.
Our present interest is in these foundations, rather than in the superstructure. An honest effort has been made to supply by copious quotation and reference as full a presentation of the modern view as would be demanded by an ordinary reader who desired to obtain a good grasp of the subject. If the foundation is found defective, the superstructure is imperiled; if it is destroyed, the building itself must fall.
The conclusions reached in this book will not be acceptable to those committed to modern liberalism. It hopes to be of service, however, to some of those who are disturbed by present controversy, and find it difficult to wend their way through its maze. It especially desires to come to the assistance of the bewildered and discouraged who may be on the verge of abandoning hope, not knowing which way to turn. If to any of these this book proves to be a stepping stone from the shifting sands of uncertainty to the solid ground of assurance concerning the Bible the writer’s desire will be fulfilled.
John Bloore
Plainfield, New Jersey. November, 1924.
1 This is ably advocated by Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick in his recent volume The Modern Use of the Bible (Macmillan, September, 1924). For an examination of it see ch. 5 of this present book.
2 University of Chicago Press, Fourth impression, 1922.
3 Consult its Prefatory 33.