Excerpt from The New Testament Today Arouse suspicions of its message than those attempts to conceal or explain away the facts of its origin. The time has surely come when we should try to exchange the old attitude to scripture for one that will be more consistent with the results of modern enquiry. These results, it may be granted, are often one-sided, and in every matter of detail are Open to revision. Those who are best acquainted with them will be the first to admit that they are by no means final. But the main conclu sions at which modern scholars have arrived can no longer be questioned, and have to be taken into account in our estimate of the book. If it is to exercise its proper influence on the new age it must be presented as it really is, not as an ignorant piety has imagined it. The aim of the following chapters is to help, in some small way, towards the new presentation. The book of the primitive church was composed so long ago, out of so many strange elements, that it might seem to have nothing but a historical interest for the mind of our time. Yet it has proved itself, - and never more so than in these changeful days, - to be the most living of all books. Its conceptions of man's needs and duties, of his relation to God and to his fellow-men, have stood every test, and are likely to be enduring. How is it that the ancient book has this permanent value? It was formerly assumed that the riddle could only be answered by a theory of direct inspiration; but such a theory is no longer possible, nor is it necessary. Nothing essen tial is lost to the New Testament when we allow for the historical process whereby it came into being. Its permanent message becomes in many ways more intel ligible, and can be applied more closely to actual needs and circumstances. In any case, the book must be understood in the light of modern knowledge before it can fully appeal to the modern world. In these days. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.