The Bible in Chains
MR. MORGAN WORTHY, writing a letter to the Atlantic Monthly, declares that "the critical spirit of the age has greatly affected the attitude of the lay public toward the Church," which he...
...What absurdities have been read into the Apocalypse I How many texts have been used to lend significance to a dream I And yet, though a mediaeval reader would probably be shocked by many evidences of heretical doctrine, he would certainly recognize the nature of the reading process...
...The separate sciences, each proclaiming its own dogmas and interpretations of mystery, inevitably came in contact with the field of religion...
...And therefore Protestantism, which lost one by one the essential Christian truths that the Reformation had been eager to retain, is now In danger of losing even the foundation upon which those truths repose...
...This they could accept without recognizing the existence of divinely constituted authority...
...The actual Catholic practice may be inferred from the comment devoted to it in Professor Haskins's The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, which is discussed elsewhere in this issue...
...It would seem, therefore, that if Protestants really wish to keep for the Scriptures their popularity and sacredness, they must restore something like what ruled the mediaeval reader over and above the legitimate play of his pious imagination...
...Even the mediaeval practice of chaining a Bible to a pedestal, to prevent individuals from running off with the precious manuscript, was transformed into a legend the purport of which was that Holy Writ had been imprisoned in order to prevent people from seeing what was really in itl As a matter of fact, of course, the middle-ages copied and read the inspired books with remarkable diligence...
...There Is also no harm In critical investigations of the text and purport of the Bible (the Catholic Church Is now engaged in such Investigations) so long as they do not run counter to the just conclusions of authoritative theological science...
...and yet the feeling of reverence for such an interpretation is strong enough among the people to make the teaching of evolution an issue in more than a dozen states...
...But It is not altogether out of question that divines outside the Church should agree to be governed by the pronouncements of the Holy See on the subject of Scripture...
...But regardless of popular tendencies, the modern age soon developed its own mode of authority...
...It entailed a "conflict between science and religion" which, so long as religion itself disclaimed its scientific character, was bound to prove disastrous to simple belief...
...Protestantism might well proclaim the right of the individual to read the Scriptures by the light in his own soul...
...That became, subjectively at least, the court of last appeal...
...Both accepted the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, and both believed in those basic truths which had been formulated by the creeds...
...In perplexity, the whole of what is commonly termed "modernism...
...The unusualness of this situation suggests a^hBirJbpt of reflection upon matters which are caileti *o taind by the Lausanne Conference, at which a portion of the Protestant world is making a commendable effort to regain unity of mind and purpose...
...Thus there came into being a variety of scriptural criticism which not only scoffed at prevailing favorite allegories but even challenged the authenticity and claims of Holy Writ...
...But while this diagnosis does seem to apply to the millions who have given up professing any affiliation with religious organizations, it hardly holds good within the churches themselves...
...It would also free the Bible from those chains of agnostic comment In which it Is now, in so far as a growing number of people are concerned, imprisoned and stifled...
...What is even more remarkable, mediaeval Biblereading was surprisingly like a great deal of "modern" Bible-reading...
...Science, which soon became the only widely respected intellectual autocracy, insisted upon viewing the matter through its varied lenses...
...Can we not agree, at least, about the foundation of faith...
...The further the "scientific" attitude toward Scripture spreads among ministers and people, the more insecure becomes the grip upon faith...
...Whatever else an historian of Catholicism in this country might have to report, he would certainly emphasize the growing consciousness on the part of Catholics of membership in an organization—a society the outlines of which are repeated more and more clearly in various subsidiary associations and groups...
...Every new commentator (and very frequently he was merely a pious, imaginative soul) jotted some fanciful speculation on the margin of his copy...
...They could conceive of Rome merely as a central institute endowed with unusual powers to carry on the scientific task of theology and biblical study—In other words, as an authority which is as fuUy competent to speak In the realm of religion (all supernatural claims now being strictly left out of the question) as the Institut de France is qualified to discuss archaeology...
...But how Is the Protestant world to attain and preserve such a balance ? Though we hope and pray that it will soon be reunited with Catholicism, everyone knows that the time for such a step is not at hand...
...It Is Inevitable that those whom culture emancipates from fantastic allegory should be the first to confront...
...Every wellappointed library would have, he declares, "first, the Bible, often in many dupHcate copies, with Saint Jerome's version frequently accompanied by the gloss and commentary...
...And in so far as the Protestant churches are concerned, the lay mind has gone to much greater lengths in defending the letter of the law and the standard tests of orthodoxy than its clerical leaders have been willing to go...
...Such an action would do more to solidify the Protestant churches and to restore intellectual confidence in the Scriptures than dozens of Lausanne conferences could accomplish...
...Few ministers of the Gospel would insist upon a literal interpretation of the Scriptures...
...There is no harm in mystical application of inspired texts to one's own personal spiritual experience—so long as this application is subject to correction In accordance with firmer and loftier principles...
...MORGAN WORTHY, writing a letter to the Atlantic Monthly, declares that "the critical spirit of the age has greatly affected the attitude of the lay public toward the Church," which he sees confronted "by an entirely novel kind of 'belief or rather unbelief, that manifests itself in an attitude of respectful unconcern for the erstwhile venerated creeds...
...In order to make out a good case for this restriction of territory, the Protestant convinced himself that reading of the Scriptures had been forbidden by the Catholic Church, intent as this was upon adding to the original deposit of the Faith new inventions of its own...
...That great mediaeval humanist, John of Salisbury, who almost merits the title of being the first authentic European essayist, rivals Montaigne in the copiousness of his quotations from classical authors, but adds an astonishing wealth of citations from the Scripture...
...This practice only very rarely implied heretical design, however, for the reason that respect for the authority of the Church was a commonplace state of mind...
...There can be no doubt, moreover, that only through corporate movements like the one here suggested can the reunion of Christendom ultimately be achieved...
...The central issue was authority, and the Protestants had soon transferred this, in all departments of religious life, from the "teaching body" to the individual, whoever he might be...
...Protestant readers have restored the allegorical habit with a vengeance, as is inevitable whenever mystical feeling is not accompanied by intellectual advancement...
...This Bible "commonly filled several volumes, even without the gloss...
...Christian Science is the result of one "symbolic" interpretation...
...Professor Haskins notes that the library of Henry II of England must have contained such volumes, and that his son John, "certainly no bookworm, received from the abbot of Reading the Old Testament in six volumes...
...Indeed, the Scripture was so much a portion of daily mediaeval speech (outdoing in this respect the effect of the King James version upon English literature) that the old Protestant impression of its having gone out of style under the rule of the Church is quite mistaken...
...As time went on this individual, seldom enough a doctor of divinity, forgot almost everything excepting the Bible...
...indeed, it was often called bibliotheca, a library...
...At the time of the Reformation, there was relatively little disagreement between Catholics and Protestants concerning major doctrines and practices...
...It made no attempt to be scientific in character, being interested chiefly in "the overtones of allegory and mysticism which each verse carried with it...
...Adventism is the result of another...
...It was also a monastic practice to give handsomely executed manuscripts of Holy Writ to friends and patrons...
Vol. 6 • July 1927 • No. 12
