Is the Bible Becoming Obsolete?
By Wm. Penniman
We quote the following from the Globe-Democrat of Jan. 21, 1906: “President G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University, in a lecture in Clinton, said the Bible was becoming more and more obsolete. Subsequently he gave out the following at his home: ‘There have been within the last five years a number of questions printed and sent broadcast to high schools and Sunday-schools to test the knowledge of the Bible of high-school and Sunday-school students. All the questions have shown the school students to be amazingly defective in their knowledge, and particularly of the Old Testament. The reason has been discussed a great deal, and it seems to be that the Sunday-school and home influence is diminishing. The Bible is less read in the home than it was a few years ago, and the number of children who have a fair knowledge of it is growing less and less. This shows that the Bible is becoming obsolete.” “Professors of literature even in colleges have complained that students who have matriculated show an amazing lack of knowledge of the Bible. The Bible is becoming obsolete, and this fact has been exploited many times in the last ten years. In my opinion a knowledge of the Bible should be made a requirement in English of all colleges.” “When the Bible was translated, English was virile and vigorous. It was short and terse. To my mind the Bible is as good a standard of English as those now commonly accepted, if not better.” Another proof (and many can be given) that President Hall is right as to the disuse of the Bible is the following from the Globe-Democrat of Feb. 9, 1906:— “INDIANAPOLIS, IND., February 8.—The faculty of Depau University at Greencastle, the oldest Methodist institution in the West, has surprised the students by dropping the study of the Bible from the list of required subjects.” The only required work is language, science, and rhetoric. We say, then, Why drop the Bible when it truly is the very foundation of science? The Bible should be taught in the colleges and in all the schools except the common, or public, ones. But, says one, why not in the public school?—Because it will surely lead to sectarianism and the teaching and adoption of human creeds, as it has already done. The home, the Sunday- and the Sabbath-school are the places where the Bible should be taught. Christ said, “Search the Scriptures,” and Paul said to Timothy, “Study to show thyself approved unto God.” The Scripture says that the wicked shall wax worse and worse. Crime of every description is on the increase, and this proves the Word of God true. We are glad to note that President Hall speaks of “the Bible as a good standard of English.” Rather than adopt the theory of the “higher critics” who attempt to soar higher than heaven by “getting wise above that which is written,” we prefer the language of John Locke, who said, “The Bible has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its motive.”