The third topic is history and for this the student should read the article Jews (Vol. 15, p. 371), especially the part on Old Testament History, by S. A. Cook; the article Palestine, Physical Features, by R. A. S. Macalister, director of excavations for the Palestine Exploration Fund, Old Testament History, by S. A. Cook, especially the treatment of Biblical Religion (pp. 610–611 of Vol. 20); Canaan, by Dr. Thomas Kelly Cheyne, formerly Oriel professor of interpretation of Scripture, Oxford; Hittites, by D. G. Hogarth, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
The Article Bible
But of course the central article for the Bible student is the article Bible (Vol. 3, p. 849), which is divided into two main parts—Old Testament and New Testament, each of these being divided in turn into five parts: Canon, Texts and Versions, Textual Criticism, Higher Criticism, and Chronology. This logical arrangement greatly enhances the value of the article, which is in itself an excellent summary of the subject written by the following authorities: Dr. Samuel Rolles Driver, professor of Hebrew, Oxford, on Old Testament canon and chronology; John Frederick Stenning, dean of Wadham College, Oxford, and lecturer in Aramaic, on Old Testament texts and versions; Dr. George Buchanan Gray, professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis, Mansfield College, Oxford, on Old Testament textual and higher criticism; Dr. William Sanday, professor of Divinity and canon of Christ Church, Oxford, on New Testament canon; the Rev. Kirsopp Lake, author of The Text of the New Testament, etc., and professor of New Testament exegesis at Leiden, on New Testament texts and versions and textual criticism; Dr. Francis Crawford Burkitt, professor of divinity, Cambridge, and author of The Gospel History and its Transmission, etc., on New Testament higher criticism; and Cuthbert Hamilton Turner, of Magdalen College, Oxford, on New Testament chronology.
The article Bible, English (Vol. 3, p. 894), by Anna C. Paues, author of A Fourteenth Century Biblical Version, and Canon Henson of Westminster Abbey (on the Revised Version) is accompanied by a plate with fac-similes of several early English Bibles and is besides of special value as giving quotations from different versions in Anglo-Saxon and later English. The article Bible Societies (Vol. 3, p. 905), by the Rev. Thomas Herbert Darlow, literary superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, will also be of value to the student.
Inspiration
One other general article should be studied before the articles on different books of the Bible are taken up. This is—Inspiration (Vol. 14, p. 645), by Dr. Alfred Ernest Garvie, author of Studies in the Inner Life of Jesus; it outlines the principal theories of inspiration—
(1) Mechanical dictation or verbal inspiration;
(2) Dynamic influence or degrees of inspiration;
(3) Essential inspiration, distinguishing matters of doctrine and conduct from the remaining contents of Scripture;
(4) Vital inspiration, emphasizing religious and moral life.