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246 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Ezesesis or 8ermeneatioe

there was the confessional school of Schleiermacher, and the reconatructioniat school of F. C. Baur,

the " new Tubingen school," the advo-

4 German cafes of the " restoration-theology " Exegesis under Hengstenberg, and Lutheran con-

m ~e feasionaliam under J. C. K. Hofmann. ftineteenth Century. Leaders of a philological exegesis were

Geaenius, Ewald, J. Olshaueen, and Winer. Baumgarten-Crueiua emphasized the religious element and De Wette the critical. C. J. A. Fritzache, Reiche, and Wickert, using the philological method, strove to free interpretation from dogmatic shackles, and were ably assisted by H. A. W. Meyer. The leadership of Ewald was followed by Hupfeld, Hitzig, Bertheau, Knobel, Dilhnann, and Graf. The ecclesiastical " reatoration-theology " drew as its helpers in this field Havernick, Delitzach, Keil, Tholuck, and Lange. The Tiibingen school directed its efforts to the reconstruction of the history of primitive Christianity. Independent of this school but somewhat in the same direction were the works of A. Hilgenfeld, H. Lipaius, H. Holtzmann, and C. Weizsacker. The separation of the new school, which seeks to unite the results of exegesis with those of criticism, is well exemplified in the interpretation of Acts by De Wette as worked over by Overbeck, as well as in the Ifurzgefcasates exegetischea Handbuch, in the Handkommentar, and in the Ifurzer Handkommentar.

This review has sought to present a singular and peculiar religious and philosophical develop ment. The Bible, a book consisting of two col lections of writings different in history and in make up, has proved itself through eighteen hundred years the inexhaustible source of nourishment for faith and support for the soul of Christianity. From its interpretation and application to dogmatic and practical questions arose the theology of patriatios. The ecclesiastical and religious needs, changing with the times, resulted in the develop ment of exegetical theories and ever new attempts at an improved and deepened exposition of Scrip ture. And for the future, given the two facts of God in history and of history as wider than man's folly and man's wisdom, a continually deepening appreciation of the Bible will result in the deepen ing of life. (G. HEINRICL)

In French-speaking countries up to a recent date, the critical movement had made small headway. Protestantism in France was a feeble force. It had slight part in the deepest movements of

the nation's life. Its colleges were

g. Modern hardly better than country academies.

French Its vitality exhausted itself in keeping Exegesis. alive. For a long time the fact that

France was a near neighbor to Ger many counted for little. The life of E. Reuse (1804-91) tells the story of the critical movement in France. He was born :n Strasburg. He ac quired the critical ideal and methods in Germany. His work was published, part of it in German, part of it in French. Die Geschichte der heiligen S'chriften des Neuen Testaments appeared in Halls (1842, 6th ed.,1887, Eng. transl., The History o f the Scored Scrip tures of the New Testament, London,1884). An im-

mense and productive activity followed, crowned by the monumental work, La Bible (translation, introduction, and commentary, 1? vole., Paris, 1874-81), in the preface of which his lifelong feeling regarding critical scholarship in France is expressed. Renan's great work, Origines du christidnisme (7 vole. and Index, Paris, 1863-83; Eng. trawl., The History of the Origin of Christianity, 7 vola., London, n. d.), is in pants extremely weak. An imagination of extraordinary brilliance builds with dangerous facility on the original work of the Germans. But as a whole it is an immense achievement, bringing the New Testament literature into fertilizing contact with the social life and needs of antiquity, and even when resting on hasty exegesis giving impetus and stimulus to deeper work by other men. French Switzerland has given one interpreter of high rank, F. Godet (1812-1900). Spiritual discernment, clear judgment, and an admirable expository method characterize his commentaries on the Fourth Gospel and the Pauline Epistles. But the critic in him was imperfectly developed. His weakness on this aide betrays itself by the constant intrusion of exegesis into questions of text-criticism, and by tenacious conservatism in the field of introduction.

Holland presents conditions materially different from those prevailing in France. Protestantism in this land was a national faith. As a religious principle it levied tribute on the deepest forces in

the nation's history. Moreover, it

6. Exegesis possessed great universities, strong in Holland. both in prestige and in equipment. Here, therefore, the critical mind that took its start from Germany found a field ready for the plow. J. H. Scholten (1811-85), pro fessor at Utrecht, opened the critical movement. He began his theological career by a masterly treatise on the humanity of Christ (1840). His emphasis on this pout led him into eager appro priation of the historical view of the New Testa ment. In his Hiatorisch-kritische Inleiding tot de schri ften des Nieuwen. Testaments (Leyden, 1855) he defended the traditional view. But the critical attack overcame his resistance, and he published his surrender in Het Evangelic near Johannes (1864). From this time on, he became in Holland an in creasing force on the side of criticism. His great pupil Abraham Kuenen (1828--91) won his fame in the Old Testament field. But his Old Testament work became, in a way, representative of the re cent criticism of the New Testament. Kuenen's scholars carried into the New Testament field the methods which had achieved in the Old Testament field such brilliant success. The history of recent interpretation in Holland shows, more clearly than in any other country, the prodigious influence which the Old Testament scholar is bringing to bear upon New Testament studies. Through his work the modern author has been able to realize that the literary conditions underlying the genesis and growth of the Scriptures are fundamentally dif ferent from those surrounding the modern author; that the corporate author rather than the indi vidual author prevails in the Biblical field as a whole, and that corporate interests and hopes