The Greatest English Classic: A Study of the King James Version of the Bible and Its Influence on Life and LiteratureMcAfee, Cleland Boyd
Religion
The Greatest English Classic: A Study of the King James Version of the Bible and Its Influence on Life and Literature
McAfee, Cleland Boyd
Bible -- History; Bible -- Influence; Bible and literature; Bible. English -- Versions -- Authorized
First among these, of course, must be the Church. The accent which it will
place on the Bible will naturally be on its religious value, though its
moral value will take a close second place. It is essential for the Church
to hold itself true to its religious foundations. Only men who have some
position of leadership can realize the immense pressure that is on to-day
to draw the Church into forms of activity and methods of service which are
much to be commended, but which have to be constantly guarded lest they
deprive it of power and concern in the things which are peculiar to its
own life and which it and it alone can contribute to the public good. The
Church needs to develop for itself far better methods of instruction in
the Bible, so that it may as far as possible drill those who come under
its influence in the knowledge of the Bible for its distinctive religious
value. This is neither the time nor the place for a full statement of that
responsibility. It is enough to see how the very logic of the life of the
Church requires that it return with renewed energy to its magnifying and
teaching of the Bible.
The second agency which may be called upon is the press. The accent of the
press will be on the moral value of the Bible, the service which its
teaching renders to the national and personal life. There seems to be a
hopeful returning tendency to allusions to the Scripture in newspaper and
magazine publications. It is rare to find among the higher-level
newspapers an editorial page, where the most thoughtful writing appears,
in which on any day there do not appear Scripture allusions or references.
When that is seriously done, when Scripture is used for some other purpose
than to point a jest, it helps to restore the Bible to its place in public
thought. In recent years there has been a noticeable return of the greater
magazines to consideration of the moral phrases of the Scripture. That has
been inevitably connected with the development of a social sense which
condemns men for their evil courses because of their damage to society.
The Old Testament prophets are living their lives again in these days, and
the more thoughtful men are being driven back to them for the great
principles on which they may live safely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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