304 PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



Nevertheless, it has its values. The sectarian vernacular is a con- 

 venient lingua franca. If not pressed unduly, it is a valuable channel 

 of devotion. It lends itself to sentiment and endearing association. 

 It puts a song into the mouth of saints untroubled by the scientific 

 aspects of theology. As an outpouring of the heart, popular religious 

 phraseology is a means of grace; as a test of fidelity to truth it may 

 be an instrument of tyranny and a goad to agnosticism. 



Assuming the justice of these observations, it is apparent that 

 ecclesiastical authority, whether in the form of imperialistic Catholi- 

 cism, protesting sectarianism, or popular usage, involves a principle 

 that has its bearing upon the teaching of theology. That principle 

 is the right and duty of the Church to place the seal of official ap- 

 proval on predetermined, fixed, systematic interpretations of truth, 

 and to demand conformity thereto, in belief and in teaching, on the 

 part of individuals within the bounds of its jurisdiction. It is far 

 from my present purpose to discuss this principle on its merits, or 

 to question the efficiency of theological schools maintained under 

 churchly authority. I am interested simply in pointing out that 

 there is a place, apparently a large and desirable place, for the teach- 

 ing of theology under conditions of emancipation from ecclesiastical 

 control and of correlation with the other great disciplines of the 

 university. The teaching of theology in an atmosphere exempt 

 from ecclesiastical tests represents the treatment of a great science 

 according to the canons most reverenced in modern university life. 

 Its major interest is truth in the region dealt with by theology. 

 It holds no brief on behalf of a certain point of view; it is under no 

 anterior commitment to maintain a given system fixed by objective 

 authority; it is under no temptation to forestall inquiry for the 

 protection of consistency; it is not repelled by the manifoldness, nor 

 limited by the dogmatic urgency, of sectarian opinion, but rather 

 welcomes the same, believing that all honest efforts to apprehend 

 truth contribute, whether by weakness or by strength, to the ultimate 

 disclosure of its absoluteness. 



Having this mind it takes delight in the increment of knowledge 

 for truth's sake, becoming neither elated if ascertained fact shall 

 substantiate prior theory, nor alarmed if opinion long held in honor 

 be discredited thereby. It esteems truth to be the sole fountain of 

 authority. It affirms that truth contains its own authority the 

 well of water springing up within itself unto everlasting life. 



Hence, in the teaching of theology in an atmosphere exempt from 

 ecclesiastical tests, there is reverent readiness to alter theory and to 

 modify interpretation at the bidding of fact. This is held to be 

 consistency and not inconsistency, inasmuch as to stand with the 

 truth is the touchstone of a higher consistency than to stand with 

 the earlier and less enlightened opinion, although that be sanctioned 



