Evening star., 1945-12-30
Tracing the Bibles
Influence Upon the
AnqIo-Soxon World
OUR ROWING BIBLE

6y Laurence T.. NetSOn. tAOlHg-
don-Cokesbury; $2.75.)
1t is pretty much a textbook COM
monplace that the Bible has exer-
cised a great influence on the works
of English-speaking writers. The
average college or even high school
graduate has aSsimilated the idea
as a sort of scholastic fat He &C
cepts it as he accepts the announce
ment that Paradise Lost" is great
poem-it's all right with him if
that's what the professors say. He
Is, however, quite willing to leave
the professors the burden of the
proof. To him it sounds like SUBJ
ject apt to run into footnotes. To
readers who hold this frame of
mind, Lawrence E. Nelson apparent
ly has directed his present book. 1t
is a presentation of the Bibles
influence on the English tongue. and
1t is done in deliberately popular
manner.
Professional scholars may find 1t
annoying for the reason that it
rather trumpets forth information
which to them is commonplace.
doubt, however, that there is any
person of ordinary education who
will not be thoroughly entertained
by DR.. Nelson's work.
He begins with the introduction
of the Bible into England and car
ries on to the revival of religious
interest which accompanied the
recent war. Obviously SO enormous
a scope cannot be given exhaustive
treatment between one set of book
covers-but it has not been DR..
Nelson's plan to be exhaustive. He
has meant to be entertaining and
Is content to be panoramic.
Typical Biblical Influence.
Roughly, he follows a chronology
cal order, giving in each period what
he considers to be the typical in
stances of Biblical influence. In
this manner he treats of literature,
the common speech, oratory, oaths,
the relation of religion to politics,
folklore, myths, place and personal
names. There is no man who made
name for himself as a user of the
language, as he demonstrates, who
does not show that he has been
Bible reader-this being true no
less of skeptics and atheists than of
the devout.
From Mallory to Maxwell Ander-
son, DR.. Nelson races through the
record, often giving an authors
score of Biblical references-over
1900 In Shakespeare, 529 in Emer-
son, $50 in Melville and so on
From the literary confessions of
great galaxy of the eminent, he
quotes testimony of reliance on the
Bible for guidance in style and
method.
OF the common speech, he re-
minds us of the continuing enrich
ment of the language, from the
early time when branched candle
stick, because of it's resemblance to
the Biblical tables of genealogy, was
called a Jesse" to the recent COIN
ing of 'highjackers," which word,
he says on his own authority, is
one more play on the much-used
name John" Burke, Webster, Lin
coin and Bryan, he demonstrates,
we're copious users of Biblical ref
erences; to Bob Ingersoll he attrib-
utes at least one instance of Bib
lical style.
The Animal Myths.
Coming to animal myths, he quotes
some of the charming old beliefs,
such as that the robin stained its
breast while trying to succor Christ,
and then informs us that the Gov
ernor of Oklahoma was obliged to
convince the women'S clubs of his
State that the red bud was not
the tree of Judas suicide before he
dared sign a bill making it the
State tree. Commenting on the
numerous religious place names OF
of our Western country, he observes
that Hollywood is Holy Forest" :"
and makes the aside that the late
Aimee Semple Macpherson was
Beloved ST. Paul the Parsons
Child" These are random samples
of his greatly varied materials.
OF the present he writes that
the sales of the Bible are higher
than ever before, lists huge num-
ber of recent plays and novels
which have Biblical themes, and
out of their own mouths convicts
some of our most frivolous COM
mentators and columnists of scrip
tural borrowings. He Is not always
accurate in minor points, and some
times, as on the subject Of nursery
rhymes, he quotes theory as a
fact. But the body of his argument
is necessarily sound, and its un-
abasned appeal to the popular
reader will probably be effective.