The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-23
SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS


The Passing of the Old Theology.
pioneers Of Religious Liberty in America"
being the great Thgrsday lecture. delivered
can Unitarian Association.
he Recovery end Restatemtnt OF the Gospel ssl,
cago Press
The writer OF this article is fortunate in
being old enough to perfectly remember
the orthodoxy which ruled our churches
from 1870 to 1860. when TIE appearance Of
Darwin's Descent Of Mani and Origin of
Species" upset the pivotal doctrine of the
fall OF man, by teaching shat he came up
instead of down. and derying the special
creation OF Adam and Eve. From that
day 10 this orthodoxy Eas steadily de-
clined. until to-day it's principal dogmas
have gone to the wall. but fortunately
have been superseded by wider. better
and more rational views, of who Christ
was and what the gospel IS. and what the
Bible really teaches. WhiSs neither the old
has as yet passed away, rsor the new COM
pleteiy taken its place, yet the mists OF
discussion are so lifted taat we now
take our bearings as does the auther of
the second volume above entitled, The
Recovery and Restatement of the Gospel"
Here are some OF the dogmas which in
the forties were implicitly believed and
have now passed away: The temptation
and fall of man In the eiarden of Eden,
the infallibility OF the did Hebrew and
Greek Scriptures. the personality of the
devil. election and predestination, endless
punishment and a bottomAess hell.
The key 70 the religiousi situation to-day
lies In the limitations aid Office OF the
Bible. The Catholic Church has always
insisted that the Bible wsSs not the whole
nor an ultimate standard of Christian
truth. This it was competed to do. other
wise one-half OF it's doctrines and rituals
fall to the ground. The Protestant doc
trine OF the infallibility OF the Bible orig
mated with Luther. WheIs that great man
threw on the yoke OF tbs, church he felt
ne must have something equally infallible
IN us place. and so he; substituted the
Book II IL to his everlasting credit that
ne established the right Of private judg-
ment to construe his inf llible Book, al
though In the end that qualification proved
very destructive, for IL gave birth to the
doctrine OF free thought. outside OF the
The new theology is cammitted to the
doctrine that the Bible f. infallible only
IL matters OF faith and raatters spiritual.
construction the same tess and criticisms
that We do to the historys and the sacred
books of other nations. Fhis is a vastly
fnsistence upon its inerr2Tscy, or the prop
csition 1.-The whole or none,"
book, how dogma arose aid what n dam
age IL has been to the church. 1t was
mostly of Greek origin, jFst as the Cath
Srsns Rsson rs is hs fS Gs aod in
the human soul. 1t is mans companion
ship with the divine. Theology has little
or anatomy has to do wite health. Begin
ming with the Apostle Paul. dogma has
SO beclouded the simple teachings Of our
Savior that what was from His lips sim
plicity itself has become worse than con-
fusion. In illustration OF this, DR.. Osborn
points out that our Savior seldom or never
give" He almost always spoke Of God as
Our Father" St Paul substituted for
forgiveness justification. ard for the father
hood the sovereignty of God. What Paul
began, his great successors, Origen. Au-
gustine and Calvin reiterated and so con-
founded that at last the first two made
the church the exclusive agent whereby
man was to find God, and; the latter made
Him a remorseless sovereign sending nine
tenths of the human race to an endless
the end OF this foolishneSs has come at
last Even the most Intellectual. except
the Unitarians. OF our Protestant churches,
the Presbyterian. has TUNED away from
predestination by substituting for God s
sovereignty His love. One OF the wonders
Innate acquaintance its theoiogians had
with Gods wishes. plans and desires. To
read their defverances one would think
Almighty as His eonfdanks. What q re-
when he said:
Who sathoms the eternal thought.
Who talks OF scheme sor plan?
The Lord is God. He nsedeth not
The poor device OF man"
The new gospel that is 60 take the place
of the old orthodoxy Is the simple words
and teaching OF our SAVIOR, His divinity
and His claims as God'si messenger. His
spiritual life and light, and finally His
constant assertion OF beng the world s
judge and His promise To raise us up at
the last day. According Is Doctor Osborn
the fatherhood of God Is TO take the place
OF the old metaphysical Gid and Jonathan
Edwards. In word, Doctor Osborne ap-
and common sense, and turns this back
upon metaphysics. which had SO completely
failed when applied to religion when for
and hindrance rather than a help
Let us now turn TO the ,irst-named vol
ume. Pioneers of Religious Liberty in
over two hundred and ffty W years the Ser c-
ond Unitarian Church In Boston has MAIN
tanned , what 1t calls its great Thurs
lectures by as many eminent men, deliv-
cred in the winter of 1903. OF course, these
are all from the Unitariap standpoint: the
best OF the set Is that osl Horace Bush
nell, the Congregational hfretic. by Wash
fngton GLADDEN.. and another on Hosea
Ballou. the founder OF Tniversalism. by
a Boston series IL would be impossible to
omit lectures upon Emerson, Theodore
Parker and Phillips Brooks.
Horace Bushnell is the gnan who. of the
Congregational denomination, contributed
the most powerfully iron; 1880 to 1880 to
clearing UP the good name of Deity from
the caricatures OF New England theology
He insisted upon what he called a right
and a just God. and repudiated Jonathan
Edwards, root and branch. He also re-
tected the old doctrine of the blood atone
ment. For this. in his lifetime, he had to
pay the penalty OF being branded as a
hereto But the time has come when the
Congregationalsts now recognize Horace
Bushnell as their greatest man.
And so with Hosea Ballou. the man who
overthrow the doctrine of everlasting pun
ishment He was an Intellectual giant,
and the father of the present Universalist
Church. In 1887 the Unitarians rejected
Emerson because he repudiated miracles.
looked upon Christ as only q man. and de-
MED the personality OF Deity But that
enterprising denomination has since made
such progress that Ii now accepts the first
two or these propositions without hesita-
ton.
The Unitarians ara the most intellectual
of all the Protestant seSts. They prac-
ttcally ignore the emotional. Instead of
feeling, they give their people thought:
hence they do not, as a determination grow
In numbers. and they have few missions
that they are not earnest Christians They
place the accent upon deeds instead OF
creeds. Each year they put forth some
most excellent books, or which the present
10 a specimen ID. Up. BALDWIN.
The Boss, and How He Came to Rule