308 PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



ditions making possible that development of theological study in 

 connection with the university, and that exemption of theological 

 study from ecclesiastical control, for which the present paper is a 

 plea. Yet much remains to be accomplished. Theological teach- 

 ing in the English universities is understood to be theoretically free 

 from ecclesiastical tests, but apparently Oxford, for example, is not 

 living up to its own ideal, as is shown by recent votes of convocation 

 having reference to theological examiners. The German universities 

 are more nearly approaching this idea, yet are not altogether free, 

 as a recent incident shows, from the interposition of imperial author- 

 ity with a view to rebuking the free expression of scholarly opinion. 

 It would appear that, in America, by reason of the absence of official 

 relations between the state and many of the universities, an oppor- 

 tunity exists either by the incorporation or the affiliation of the 

 great independent theological schools with free universities, to bring 

 the teaching of theology upon a plane of intellectual liberty co- 

 ordinate with the teaching of biology or the teaching of anthropology 

 and to develop theological science and its attendant religious ad- 

 vantages in a region as far apart from ecclesiastical tests and 

 denominational authority as from secular control. 



Due consideration should be given to the alleged risks involved 

 in the prosecution of theological study apart from the oversight and 

 restraint of an ecclesiastical court. It is claimed that, if theological 

 teaching be permitted to escape from ecclesiastical surveillance, it 

 must eventuate in radicalism and the decline of the religious sense. 

 It is pointed out that unless the theological field be previously delim- 

 ited by the landmarks of a system constructed by authority, teacher 

 and student alike must wander in the midst of vague speculations; 

 that lack of precision in the statement of belief is equivalent to lack 

 of belief; that variation from the formula implies alienation from 

 the fact of which the formula is an official attempt at definition. 

 The seriousness and weight of moral authority with which these 

 allegations are made entitle them to the deepest respect of all lovers 

 of religious truth, inasmuch as no catastrophe could be more for- 

 midable than the substitution of indeterminate speculations for vital 

 belief. The importance and effectiveness of a settled and im- 

 pregnable faith cannot be overestimated. The Godward movement 

 of the race, as well as the salvation of individuals, is accomplished 

 by faith alone. The most glorious incentive to holiness, service, and 

 sacrifice is afforded by ideas conceived, assimilated, transmitted 

 in the atmosphere of faith. The hope of the world before and since 

 the incarnation of Christ has survived in the men of intense and 

 lofty belief who, by faith, " subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 

 ness, quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions, put 

 to flight the armies of the aliens; out of weakness were made strong." 



