The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-05-21
IGNORANCE VI Tie BIBLE.

Chicago Inter Ocean
The simple statement made by Presi-
dent Thwing OF Western Reserve univer-
sty in the current Century is the sever
est possible criticism OF the English and
Literary training given by our schools and
colleges. 1t shows that our supposedly
educated young men and women know so
little about the Bible that many of thom
are unable to explain the simplest al
lusions to Its contents This Is condl-
ton which demands not only the attention
of educators, but also that of the churches.
II may go far to explain the alleged de.
cline OF faith which now troubles many
Christians
President Thwing selected from the
poems of Tennyson twenty three allu-
sions to well known passages in the Old
and New Testaments and asked thirty
-FOUR freshmen Of Western Reserve to ex-
plain them. Later he submitted the sams
questions with one exception TO a class or
nIty-one at womans college in the East,
one young woman answered every aues-
tlon correctly, one missed but one. aud a
third missed but two. Yet the percentage
OF correct answers was only forty-nine foil
the women and less than forty three for
the men. None Oh the allusiona wouid he
considered reconcile by any one even fairly
Versed in the English Bible and English
literature, and most OF them, it would
seem. ought TO be answered CORRECTLY nv
any average Sunday school scholar of ~
Out OF the eighty-tye students exam
lned one-fourth knew nothing OF Christs
crown OF tnorns or OF the mama pro-
Viued for the lsrael1tess in the wilderness.
RAIDER, his wrestling with the angel ar
Moses striking of the rock. About forty
were ignorant OF the brand of Cain. OF
Esau rough hands, of Ruth in the corn
held, ana even of the angel which WAS
seated in the risen Savior's tomb. sixty
could not tell of the sheet let down from
heaven in Peters vision nor of Joshua's
moon on Avalon. seventy-tve failed IN
iteAeklah's shadow, which was one of the
hardest questions. But sixty-sIx we're
stumped by Jonahs gourd, although sever
a. OF these thought the allusion was To
Jonah and the whale
All but three OF the girls knew about
Lots wife. and all but ten about the SER
pent in Paradise but twenty-five men
Ahew nothing about either. Forty of the
Elrls tailed on Iscariots red hand This
question WAS given the girls instead -
one about the pearls and the swine. which
twenty-five men had missed Loss than
one-half of the eighty five could explain
oephtha's vow, Pharoah's darkness the
sell mutilating rites of the priests OF Baal
the ehurch founded on Peters rock. or
sne marriage IN Cana. The ignorance re-
Bardlhg at least four of these Ave were
certainly remarkable. Arimathean ,Toseph
was confounded by some with Mary's hus
Dand. and by more with Joseph Of the
many -colored coat Ruth was said to he
grlevlng for her children" aud Iscariot
was alleged to be THE cross on which
Christ was crucihed''
considering that the King James Bible
Is the recognized standard OF our prose
style, and that English aud American 1T
efature in prose and verse Is filed with
illusions 10 the Hebrew and Greek scrin
lures, this ignorance among colleee stu
dents certainly SHOWS that something is
wrong with our system of education If
not with our religious training. DR.. Thwing
concludes that the Bible has ceased to be
a force in American literature and the
ologY' and that the tendency is to worshin
n divine person and disregard Tho hook
containing the only record of his teach
ings.
This may explain the religious aspeet NJ
the matter, but 1t does not account for the
disregard of the Bible in literature. See
ing TINS disregard, and deploring It. Prof.
Moulton OF the University of Chicago
some years ago prepared his Modern
Readers Bible, In which the scriptures
We're treated solely as literature. Prof.
Moulton's effort was highly commendable,
but 1t Is to be regretted that he did not
stick to the King James version. with only
absolutely necessary corrections. instead
OF taking the revised version And II may
be set down as a fact that the faulty Eng
fish of most present-day college students
so familiar to every copy reader In news
paper offices, is largely due to their lack
OF familiarity with The standard English
prose OF the King James Bible.