Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE ON CIVILISATION THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE ON CIVILISATION BY ERNST VON DOBSCHÜTZ PROFESSOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE-WITTENBERG NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1914 _Copyright_, 1914 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published April, 1914 PREFACE One of the greatest questions of our day is how modern civilisation and Christianity can go on in harmony. One can approach this question by several ways, but historical investigation has always proved to be the surest. The author has in mind to write in German a full "History of the Bible," when time will allow. Meanwhile this brief sketch may prove useful. Readers who look for references will find most of them in an article contributed by the present writer to Dr. J. Hastings's Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, vol. II, on "The Bible in the Christian Church." The author wishes to express his thanks to his friend, Professor J. H. Ropes, for kindly reading the proofs for him, to Mr. W. J. Wilson and Mr. H. A. Sherman, who helped him in improving the diction, and to Professor Williston Walker for valuable information regarding early American documents. If any reader should find fault with the English style of this book, he must not blame any translator--the author himself is responsible. ERNST VON DOBSCHÜTZ. CAMBRIDGE, MASS. _January_, 1914. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE BIBLE MAKES ITSELF INDISPENSABLE FOR THE CHURCH (TO 325 A. D.) 3 II. THE BIBLE BEGINS TO RULE THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE (325-600 A. D.) 28 III. THE BIBLE TEACHES THE GERMAN NATIONS (500-800 A. D. ) 47 IV. THE BIBLE BECOMES ONE BASIS OF MEDIÆVAL CIVILISATION (800-1150 A. D.) 67 V. THE BIBLE STIRS NON-CONFORMIST MOVEMENTS (1150-1450) 94 VI. THE BIBLE TRAINS PRINTERS AND TRANSLATORS (1450-1611) 117 VII. THE BIBLE RULES DAILY LIFE (1550-1850) 138 VIII. THE BIBLE BECOMES ONCE MORE THE BOOK OF DEVOTION 164 ILLUSTRATIONS