THE BOOK OF GENESIS.*
READERS interested in Biblical criticism cannot do better than carefully study this volume. Dr. Skinner intimates a general agreement with Dr•. Driver's work in the " Westminster Commentaries " and Professor Bennett's contribution to the " Century Bible." His work is not intended to supersede these books ; it is on the more elaborate scale of the series to which it belongs, and it includes results which have been reached by the most recent research: It is highly interesting to see to what point we have attained. The reconciliation between the creation story and science has ceased to be a living issue. " The whole conception is as unscientific (in the modern sense) as it could be." Its essence is to be geocentric, and this science is no longer, though theology retains, and must continue to retain, this character. In details what could be more unscientific than the notion of a firmament, a solid dome, with windows in it opened at times to replenish the waters below from the store of the waters above? Then there is the Deluge story, in which the con- ception of a catastrophe that affected the whole earth is mani- festly described. What could be more significant than the detail that the water reached fifteen cubits above the top of the mountains ? This is exactly half the height of the ark, and would be the depth which it drew. As soon as the waters began to abate it would ground : it " rested in `the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month." Then there is the general question of the documents which have contributed to form the book as it now exists. Dr. Skinner's study of the text has deepened his conviction of the general truth of the critical theory. He remarks with much force that "the analytic process is a chain which is a great deal stronger than its weakest link : it starts from cases where diversity of authorship is almost incontrovertible and moves on to others where it is less certain." To disprove this or that detailed suggestion does not mean disproof of the whole. When the most energetic defender of the conservative position admits that there are Elohistic and Jahvistic sections in the book, that the styles of the two can be distinguished, and that " P " is a relatively later stratum of Genesis than "JE," we have got a long way from the Mosaic authorship. Of course there will be much in this volume to shock those who hold to the traditional theory. Still, all will agree in recognising the sincerity and earnestness which Dr. Skinner has brought to his task, and his conviction that this method of interpretation is the only one by which we can "retain our faith in the inspiration of this part of Scripture." " God's Revelation to man has been made through an 'atmosphere of mythical imagination, of legend, of poetic -idealisation."
• The International Critical Commentary: Genesis. By John Skinner, D.D. London: T. and T. Clark. [128. 6d.]
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