New-York tribune., 1902-01-14
New Testament. edited by sha,ler Mathews. Of

new testament, eulIeO ny SNdiler MdIHeWs, OF
the University of Chicago includes this work
by Professor Stevens. which is the newest pub
lication. The aim of the volume is TO aid in
clarifying the meaning Of the life and work of
Christ. An effort is made to translate the
thought Of the Divine Teacher into modern
terms and to arrive at His meaning. by COM
parison with the Jewish religious ideas of His
age. and to show the historical background
which His teaching was presented. Step by
step the synoptic Gospels are reviewed most
closely. and each view shows deep study of the
subject AS interpreter Of the Gospels Pro-
fessor Stevens stands deservedly high. and this
textbook, for Bible classes and theological stu
dents, will prove invaluable.
Charles Scribner's Sons import the third edi-
tion of the series of Kerr lectures by David W.
Forrest, D. D., of Edinburgh entitled "The
Christ of History and of Experience" IT is
voluminous work of five hundred octave pages.
and so full of good thought that it might we'll
constitute a winters reading. 1t is fine and
instructive work showing the results of tre-
mendous labor and in the first two editions
commanded the admiration OF the greatest lead
ers of theological thought 1t abounds in OBJ
servations and criticisms which could only be
set forth by a fearless but reverent thinker.
The lectures deal with the relation between
the historical and the spiritual in Christianity.
A few of the chapter heads will indicate the
manner of treatment: THE Uniqueness OF
Christ's Moral Self Consciousness" "The Person
of Christ and His Revelation of the Godhead,
The Objective Element in the Redempttve
Work of Christ" The Conditions Of the Final
Judgment" Perhaps the strongest chapter is
that on THE New Life in Christ" 1t opens
with the statement that there is no point on
which Paul insists more strenuously than that
the righteousness of God is directly opposed TO
the Righteousness which is Of the law. For the
moral law is no accidental thing-it is the norm
and principle of our rational being; it is itself
spiritual holy. righteous and good, and, there
fore the new life of sonship which Christ med-
ates to US by the Spirit must be brought into
some intelligihle and necessary relation to it
A carefully prepared index and synopsis of the
different chapters aids in the study Of the book.
Religion in History and in Modern Life" by
A NJ Farbairn, principal of Mansfield College,
Oxford CThomas Whittaker), while disclaiming
to be essay on Christian economies, and sue
ceeding in being a most abstruse exposition OF
Christian ethics seems to fall short of its orig
fnal purpose. 1t is a compilation Of lectures de-
livered to the so-called working people of Brad
ford. and written down." supposedly, to their
level of understanding. But If they are ca
pabIe of understanding these lectures writ
perhaps expend his missionary spirit with bet
ter results on a less cultured public. An exam
pie of his method of teaching the working classes
is this: THE gods the Homerc Greeks believed
in were abhorrent to the piouS men of the
Socratc schools. to the exalted mind Of Xenoph-
anes to the devout spirit OF Plato and the
subtle intellect of Aristotle. Yet their ideas
hardly real than the Homeric. The
destiny of 4Hcschylos, inevitable, merciless, NOV
ing resistless to punish sin, is dread power
from which the heart of the world shrinks"
For the reader who enjoys keen insight into
things historical viewed from the vantage
ground Of so eminent thinker DIR. Fair
BARN, this volume will prove appetizing; but to
the working classes, The pages filed
with illusions to peoples and religions of the
past, Ineligible TO the minds of classical schol-
ars. and dealing with religious problems and
difficulties which tax the thought of the leaders
of economics and Christianity 1t is a volume
worthy OF careful study by theoogians but not
at all adapted TO popular audience OF work
ing people
In "a Practical Study Of the Soul Margaret
NJ. Barbour Stone (Dodd. Mead & Coz tries to
show that there we'll defined laws governing
the development of the soul. and that the more