Germany -- Foreign relations; Germany -- Intellectual life; Germany -- Politics and government; World War, 1914-1918
Germany may still retain a monopoly of toys; Germany may still
continue to supply Princes to the vacant thrones of Europe; but it is
eminently probable that God Almighty will cease to be made in the
Vaterland.
II.
No one who has not been brought up in a Scottish Presbyterian
University atmosphere realizes the mystical prestige hitherto enjoyed
by German theology. The education of a Scottish divine was thought
incomplete, a graduate in divinity, however brilliant and devout,
could not get an important charge, if he had not received the hallmark
and consecration of a German theological faculty. And what was true of
German Universities was equally true of German theological books.
Publishers like Messrs. Clark, of Edinburgh, and Messrs. Williams and
Norgate, of London, made considerable fortunes merely from their
translations of German works of divinity.
The prejudice in favour of German Universities and against French
Universities goes back to the early days of the Reformation. Already
in “Hamlet” we find the serious young man going to Wittenberg and the
frivolous young man going to Paris in quest of worldly amusement. That
pro-German and anti-French prejudice has continued until our own day.
In vain have I for twenty years attempted in the Universities of
Scotland to send our graduates to French Universities. In vain did I
contend that one single year spent in the Sorbonne provided greater
intellectual stimulus than a whole decade spent in a German
University. The old Puritan feeling against France proved too strong.
Until the year 1914 the stream of our students continued to be
directed to Göttingen and Heidelberg, to Bonn and Berlin. Even in our
distant colonies, even in Toronto, I found that the majority of
teachers were “made in Germany,” whilst of American Universities it is
hardly too much to say that many of them had actually become German
institutions.
III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account