183 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Biblical Introduction
Biblical Theology
irregularity and vacillation which existed during
several centuries, and the adjustment which pro-
duced a final and universally accepted result.
The examination of the origins of the individual
writings and that of the origin of the collection
supplement each other. The one brings to light the
common spirit which animated the individual
writers, the other reveals the influence which those
writers exercised over the churches. And it is
noteworthy that the collection was begun almost,
if not quite, before the latest writers had finished
their work, so that no appreciable interval of time
separated the two operations of writing and of
collection. And so, notwithstanding the different
areas in which these two processes work, they
belong together as sections of the one discipline
of the literary history of the New Testament.
3. Textual Criticism and Versions
As to the inclusion of other departments in this
branch of study, usage differs. Some have in-
cluded. therein not only the history of the text
and of translations, but also the history of the
theological handling of the same. But, strictly
speaking, neither the story of the vicissitudes of
transmission nor the history of translations belongs
here. If with Credner and Reuss the history of
translations is put as a part of the
history of the propagation of the New
Testament, its proper place is in the
history of missions. So far as the
versions assist in the recovery of the
original text, the treatment of them belongs in
a guide to the exercise of text-criticism or in
the prolegomena to editions of the New Testa
ment. To be sure, the history of the earlier text
and that of the old versions have importance for
the history of the canon because of the fact that not
so much individual books as the entire collection
or at least great parts of the collection were copied
and translated. Were greater certainty than is
yet the case attainable concerning the Syriac and
the Latin versions, great gains would be made
in the history of the canon of the New Testament.
But it must be remembered that not all branches
which contribute to results in any given line of
research are to be included in the department of
science in which they are used. (T. Zahn.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: On the general introduction to the whole
Bible consult: C. A. Briggs,
Study of Holy Scripture, New
York, 1899 (the best book for a comprehensive survey);
G. T. Ladd,
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture, ib. 1883 (full
but dry); E. Rapin,
Les Livres de l'Ancien et du Nouveau
Testament, Moudon, 1890; A. Schlatter,
Einleitung in die
Bibel, Stuttgart, 1894 (conservative).
On the Canon of the O. T. it is sufficient to mention:
A. Kuenen,
Historisch-kritisch onderzoek naar het onstaan
en de verzameling van de boeken des Ouden Verbonds, 3 vols.,
Leyden, 1885-93 (the fullest discussion); F. Buhl,
Kanon
und Text des Alten Testaments, Leipsic, 1891, Eng. transl.,
Edinburgh, 1892 (a model); H. E. Ryle,
Canon and Text
of the O. T., London, 1892 (reliable, indispensable); G.
Wildeboer,
Het Onstaan van den kanon des Ouden Ver-
bonds, Groningen, 1889; Eng. transl., London, 1885 (all
students should have it); E. Kautzsch,
Abriss der Ge-
schichte des alttestamentlichen Schrifttums, in his
Heilige
Schrift des A. T., Freiburg, 1896, Eng. transl.,
Outline
of the Hist. of the Literature of the O. T., New York. 1899
(fresh and interesting).
On O. T. Introduction the one indispensable book is
Driver,
Introduction, latest impression, London, 1897.
Consult also J. P. P. Martin,
Introduction ŕ la critique gé-
nérale de l'A. T., 3 vols., Paris, 1888-89; A. F. Kirkpat-
rick,
The Divine Library of the O. T., London, 1892 (con-
servative); S. Davidson,
Introduction to the O. T., 3 vols.,
ib. 1894 (the antithesis of Kirkpatrick); H. L. Strack,
Einleitung in das A. T., Munich, 1898; W. H. Green,
General Introduction to the O. T., 2 vols., New York,
1898-99 (the extreme in conservatism); W. R. Smith,
O. T. in Jewish Church, Edinburgh, 1902; C. H. Cornill,
Einleitung in das A. T., Freiburg, 1905, Eng. transl.,
1907; J. E. McFadyen,
Introduction to the O. T., New
York, 1805; K. Budde,
Geschichte der althebraischen Lit-
teratur, Leipsic, 1908; C. L. Gautier,
Introduction ŕ
l'A. T., 2 vols., Lausanne, 1906.
On the N. T. the works have been sufficiently indicated
in the text, though worthy of mention are A. Loisy,
Histoire
du Canon du N. T., Paris, 1891;
Biblical Introduction;
N. T., by W. Adeney, London, 1899; B. W. Bacon,
Intro-
duction to N. T., New York, 1900; H. von Soden,
Urchrist-
liche Literatur-Geschichte, i, Die Schriften des N. T., Berlin,
1905, Eng. transl., 1905.
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.
Origin and History (§ 1).
Study of New Testament Theology (§ 2).
The Old Testament (§ 3).
Limitations (§ 4).
Constructive Work (§ 5).
The True Aim (§ 6).
Biblical theology, or the orderly presentation of
the doctrinal contents of Scripture, is a compara-
tively modern branch of theological science. In
general the term expresses not so much the con-
struction of a theology which is Biblical in an
especial sense as a method of dealing with the Bib-
lical matter which is midway between exegesis and
dogmatics. Its object and limitation can be
shown best by tracing its history.
1. Origin and History
So long as the Church felt or admitted no dis-
cord between its tradition and the Biblical tradition,
there was no need to compare or contrast the
contents of the Bible with the teaching of the
Church. On this account the beginnings of a
Biblical theology appear in the circles of the theolo-
gians of the Reformation, who perceived in Scrip-
ture the test by which to try eccle-
siastical tradition. Since to them
the Bible was the sufficient, self-ex-
plaining basis of dogmatics, by this
juxtaposition the possibility was given of a sepa-
rate treatment of the doctrinal contents of the
Bible. The first timid effort confined itself to
a discussion of the customary quotations (Sebas-
tian Schmidt, Collegium Biblicum in quo dicta
Veteris et Novi Testamenti juxta seriem locorum . . .
explicantur, 1671). Under the influence of Pietism
the close connection of dogmatics and the Bible
was relaxed, because in the latter was seen less an
infallible source of knowledge than a means of
grace (A. F. Biisching, Gedanken von der Beschaffen-
heit and dem Vorzuge der bibl.-dogm. Theologie von
der scholastischen, Lemgo, 1758, and similar works).
When in the eighteenth century J. S. Semler and
his school busied themselves in discovering the
differences in date and characteristics of the dif-
ferent books of the Bible, and brought to light the
dissonance between crystallized dogma and New
Testament teaching (a dissonance greater still in
the case of the Old Testament), the desire naturally
arose to show the essential agreement of the teach-
ing of the Church and that of the Bible by an un-
prejudiced study of the latter (G. T. Zacharia,
Biblische Theologie oder Untersuchtung des biblischen
Grundes der vornehmsten kirchlichen Lehren, 5 vols.,
Göttingen, 1771-86). The rationalistic school, in
