Essays and Reviews
Encyclopedia
Essays and Reviews, published in March 1860, is a broad-church
volume of seven essays on Christianity
. The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidence for Christianity, religious thought in England
, and the cosmology of Genesis.
churchmen. There was no overall editorial policy and each contributor chose his own theme. The seven essayists were: Frederick Temple
, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury
; Rowland Williams, then tutor at Cambridge
and later Professor and Vice-Principal of St David's University College, Lampeter; Baden Powell
, clergyman and Professor of Geometry at Oxford; Henry Bristow Wilson
, fellow of St John's College
, Oxford; Charles Wycliffe Goodwin
; Mark Pattison
, tutor at Lincoln College
, Oxford; and Benjamin Jowett
, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford (later Master) and Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford University.
's On the Origin of Species, it summed up a three-quarter-century-long challenge to biblical history by the higher critics and to biblical prehistory by scientists working in the new fields of geology and biology. Baden Powell
restated his argument that God is a lawgiver, miracles break the lawful edicts issued at the creation, therefore belief in miracles is atheistic, and wrote of "Mr Darwin's masterly volume" that the Origin of Species "must soon bring about an entire revolution in opinion in favour of the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature."
The essay "On the interpretation of scripture" was contributed by Benjamin Jowett. When asked to contribute, Jowett saw the opportunity to challenge traditionalists. He was a rationalist and insisted that the bible ought to be treated as scholars treated classical texts. Jowett was a proponent of progressive revelation
. The books of the Bible written later were seen to be closer to the ultimate revelation
of God as seen in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels. The epistles and other New Testament writings were seen to look back.
The implication of Jowett's essay (and his other writings) — that revelation was ongoing and that scripture was always subject to reinterpretation as each generation encountered them — was the target of his traditionalist foes. Jowett was slandered for his honesty concerning his beliefs but he suffered no actual penalty other than an infamously low salary at Christ Church, Oxford
. However, in 1863 Jowett was brought before the vice-chancellor's court for teaching contrary to the doctrines of the Church of England; the case was eventually dropped.
Hardly known outside academic theological circles today, Essays sold 22,000 copies in two years, more than Origin sold in its first twenty years. It sparked five years of increasingly polarized debate with books and pamphlets furiously contesting the issues.
A review by Frederic Harrison
published in the Westminster Review
in October 1860 had the probably undesired effect of stimulating the attack on the book. Harrison saw the essays as neither religious nor rational which was a double blow to the seven who saw the essays as promoting rational religion.
In January 1861, an anonymous review was published in the Quarterly Review
. The author was later revealed as Samuel Wilberforce
Bishop of Oxford
. The Quarterly review was followed up by a letter to The Times
co-signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury
and 25 bishop
s which threatened the theologians with the ecclesiastical courts. Darwin quoted a proverb: "A bench of bishops is the devil's flower garden", and joined others including the eminent geologist Charles Lyell
, and the mathematician and Queen's printer William Spottiswoode
, in signing a counter-letter supporting Essays and Reviews for trying to "establish religious teachings on a firmer and broader foundation".
Despite this alignment of pro-evolution scientists and Unitarians
with liberal churchmen, two of the authors were indicted for heresy and lost their jobs by 1862. They appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
and in 1864 it overturned the judgment, "dismissing hell with costs", to the fury of Wilberforce. One hundred and thirty-seven thousand laity signed a letter of thanks to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for voting against the Committee, and a declaration in favour of biblical inspiration and eternal torments was drawn up at Oxford
and circulated to the 24,800 clergy, being signed by eleven thousand of them. Wilberforce went to the Convocation of Canterbury
and in June obtained "synodical condemnation" of Essays and Reviews.
Today the essay topics and conclusions may seem innocuous, but at the time, the essays were described by their opponents as heretical
, and the essayists were called "The Seven Against Christ."
Broad church
Broad church is a term referring to latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England, in particular, and Anglicanism, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion.-Usage:After the terms high...
volume of seven essays on Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidence for Christianity, religious thought in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and the cosmology of Genesis.
Background
Each essay was authored independently by one of seven Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
churchmen. There was no overall editorial policy and each contributor chose his own theme. The seven essayists were: Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple was an English academic, teacher, churchman and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1896 until his death.-Early life:...
, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
; Rowland Williams, then tutor at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and later Professor and Vice-Principal of St David's University College, Lampeter; Baden Powell
Baden Powell (mathematician)
Baden Powell, MA, FRS, FRGS was an English mathematician and Church of England priest. He was also prominent as a liberal theologian who put forward advanced ideas about evolution. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1827 to 1860...
, clergyman and Professor of Geometry at Oxford; Henry Bristow Wilson
Henry Bristow Wilson
Henry Bristow Wilson was a theologian and a fellow of St John's College, Oxford.-Life:Born on 10 June 1803, he was elder son of Harry Bristow Wilson, by his wife Mary Anne, daughter of John Moore. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in October 1809, and was elected to St John's College, Oxford, in...
, fellow of St John's College
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
, Oxford; Charles Wycliffe Goodwin
Charles Wycliffe Goodwin
Charles Wycliffe Goodwin was a British Egyptologist, lawyer and judge.Goodwin was born in 1817. He studied at St Catherine's and graduated, in 1838, 6th Classic and senior optime in Mathematics. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1843 and in 1865 became assistant judge of the British...
; Mark Pattison
Mark Pattison
Mark Pattison was an English author and a Church of England priest. He served as Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.-Life:...
, tutor at Lincoln College
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
, Oxford; and Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...
, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford (later Master) and Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford University.
Significance
The book was important because of its date and its authors. Appearing four months after Charles DarwinCharles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's On the Origin of Species, it summed up a three-quarter-century-long challenge to biblical history by the higher critics and to biblical prehistory by scientists working in the new fields of geology and biology. Baden Powell
Baden Powell (mathematician)
Baden Powell, MA, FRS, FRGS was an English mathematician and Church of England priest. He was also prominent as a liberal theologian who put forward advanced ideas about evolution. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1827 to 1860...
restated his argument that God is a lawgiver, miracles break the lawful edicts issued at the creation, therefore belief in miracles is atheistic, and wrote of "Mr Darwin's masterly volume" that the Origin of Species "must soon bring about an entire revolution in opinion in favour of the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature."
Seven articles
- The Education of the World by Frederick Temple—"a warmed-over sermon urging the free study of the Bible"
- Bunsen's Biblical Researches by Rowland Williams—"denying the predictive character of Old Testament prophecies"
- On the Study of the Evidences of Christianity by Baden Powell—"flatly denied the possibility of miracles"
- Séances Historiques de Genève. The National Church by Henry Bristow Wilson—"gave the widest possible latitude to the Thirty-nine Articles and questioned the eternity of damnation"
- On the Mosaic Cosmogony by C. W. Goodwin—"a critique of the attempted 'Harmonies' between Genesis and geology"
- Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, 1688-1750 by Mark Pattison—"a learned and cold study of the evidential theologians of the eighteenth century"
- On the Interpretation of Scripture by Benjamin Jowett—"in which he urged that the Bible be read 'like any other book' and made an impassioned plea for freedom of scholarship"
"On the interpretation of scripture"
Progressive revelation (Christian)
Progressive revelation in Christianity is the concept that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections. For instance, the theologian Charles Hodge wrote,...
. The books of the Bible written later were seen to be closer to the ultimate revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
of God as seen in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels. The epistles and other New Testament writings were seen to look back.
The implication of Jowett's essay (and his other writings) — that revelation was ongoing and that scripture was always subject to reinterpretation as each generation encountered them — was the target of his traditionalist foes. Jowett was slandered for his honesty concerning his beliefs but he suffered no actual penalty other than an infamously low salary at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
. However, in 1863 Jowett was brought before the vice-chancellor's court for teaching contrary to the doctrines of the Church of England; the case was eventually dropped.
Reception
A review by Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison was a British jurist and historian.Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison, a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexander Brice, a Belfast granite merchant. He was baptised at St...
published in the Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
in October 1860 had the probably undesired effect of stimulating the attack on the book. Harrison saw the essays as neither religious nor rational which was a double blow to the seven who saw the essays as promoting rational religion.
In January 1861, an anonymous review was published in the Quarterly Review
Quarterly Review
The Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...
. The author was later revealed as Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
Bishop of Oxford
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...
. The Quarterly review was followed up by a letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
co-signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and 25 bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s which threatened the theologians with the ecclesiastical courts. Darwin quoted a proverb: "A bench of bishops is the devil's flower garden", and joined others including the eminent geologist Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
, and the mathematician and Queen's printer William Spottiswoode
William Spottiswoode
William Spottiswoode FRS was an English mathematician and physicist. He was President of the Royal Society from 1878 to 1883.-Early life:...
, in signing a counter-letter supporting Essays and Reviews for trying to "establish religious teachings on a firmer and broader foundation".
Repercussion
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
with liberal churchmen, two of the authors were indicted for heresy and lost their jobs by 1862. They appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
and in 1864 it overturned the judgment, "dismissing hell with costs", to the fury of Wilberforce. One hundred and thirty-seven thousand laity signed a letter of thanks to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for voting against the Committee, and a declaration in favour of biblical inspiration and eternal torments was drawn up at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and circulated to the 24,800 clergy, being signed by eleven thousand of them. Wilberforce went to the Convocation of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
and in June obtained "synodical condemnation" of Essays and Reviews.
Today the essay topics and conclusions may seem innocuous, but at the time, the essays were described by their opponents as heretical
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, and the essayists were called "The Seven Against Christ."
See also
- AnglicanismAnglicanismAnglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
- Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
- Liberal ChristianityLiberal ChristianityLiberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...