GERMANY'S VIEW-S.—NOW AND THEN. (To THE EDITOR OP THE "
SPECTATOR.")
Sia,—The extracts given by " P. W. C." from Professor Lemme's discussion about Christian ethics with reference to the enmity to all culture of the Turkish race may be paralleled by a German opinion actually published after the beginning of the war. I refer to the article of Professor Deissmann on International Research of the New Testament in the Constructive Quarterly for December, 1914. This article was written in the spring of 1914, and after consultation with Dr. Harnack was frankly published in spite of the present situation. Dr. Deissmann writes (p. 790) :- " We are now standing at the close of two Balkan wars. . . One of the most important fields of Apostolic history, Macedonia. is now for the most part in the hands of a Christian Power. A freer path is thus opened for the archaeological investigation of Philippi. Thessalonica, Beroea, and the whole adjacent country. Here again we hope for intellectual gains for our knowledge of the early Christian centuries."
On the next page we are told that "on the ruins of Ephesus, Americans, Swedes, Germans, and Frenchmen, Jesuits and Lutherans will shake bands with each other. In Jerusalem and Antioch we shall thankfully learn from Russians, Greeks, and Armenians." •Evidently the writer expected that nothing could be learned from the Turks, and indeed the first quotation shows that be regarded them as obstacles even to the advance of pure scholarship.—I am, Sir, Lo., D. P. Bums. Old Rectory Club, Manchester.
Previous page
