We should adopt neither of these alternatives. We have great confidence
in our reasoning power, and in the results of science based on reason,
but we have still greater confidence in the truthfulness of Divine
teaching. The conflict is not a modern product; it existed in former
times as well. When the Jews first became acquainted with Greek
literature and philosophy, faith was shaken in the heart of many a Jew
that was led away by the attractive language and the persuasive
arguments of the Greek. Such was the case with the Jews in Alexandria,
who were almost more Greek than Jewish. Feeling that their faith in
their old traditions was beginning to give way, they looked about them
for the means of reconciling faith and philosophy. Where the literal
sense of Holy Writ was awkward, the allegorical interpretation was
substituted for it; but the authority of the Bible was recognised.
Later on, in the Middle Ages, when Aristotle, as understood and
interpreted in the Arabic schools, was infallible, perplexity again
became general, among the educated and learned, as to the course to be
pursued in case of a conflict; whether to remain true to the Bible or
to join the banner of Aristotle. The most prominent amongst the Jewish
theologians who sought the way of reconciliation was Moses Maimonides.
This philosopher wrote his famous work, “Guide of the Perplexed,”
expressly for those scholars who, whilst firmly adhering to the
inherited faith, had been trained in the study of philosophy, and were
unwilling to abandon either. Maimonides shows the way how to explain
Biblical passages implying statements contrary to philosophical
teachings, and how to reconcile theology and philosophy. A similar task
was undertaken in modern times by Moses Mendelssohn in his “Jerusalem”
and “Morgenstunden,” in order to show that strict adherence to the
Jewish religion is quite compatible with the teaching of philosophy.
The various systems of philosophy in Alexandria, in the Mohammedan
countries in the Middle Ages, and in Germany in the last century, which
threatened to endanger our religion, have lived their time and have
gone to their fathers, giving way to new systems and new ideas, whilst
the authority of the Word of God has maintained its place. This having
been the case in former days, there is no reason why we should not in
the present conflict assume, primâ facie, that the scientific and
philosophical dogmas now in favour, alike with Jews and non-Jews, will
have their time, and will ultimately give way to other theories, and
the present conflict will then likewise terminate, dying a natural
death. This reflection should put us on our guard lest we be persuaded
by the plausibility of the modern philosophical and scientific dogmas,
and throw aside our religious faith and traditions. We ought to bear in
mind that, however correct the conclusions of modern science may appear
that can be tested by our senses, theories which are not subject to
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