HARNACK ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your review of Dr. Wilson's " Theology of Modern
Literature" you say:—"Dr. Wilson boldly asserts that the best scholarship of to-day concedes that all the New Testament writings are correctly attributed to the authors whose names they bear. Neither the cause of religion nor of sound scholarship is promoted by such reckless assertions. The two most influential schools of New Testament criticism in Germany are that of Harnack and that of Holtzmann, and neither the one nor the other makes any such con- cession." I cannot speak for Holtzmann's view, but it is only fair to call attention to Harnack's words in the preface to his book on the " Chronology of the Old Christian Litera- ture down to the Time of Eusebins " :— " There was a time in which people felt obliged to
regard the oldest Christian literature, including the New Testa- ment, as a tissue of deceptions and falsifications. That time is
gone by The oldest literature of the Church is in its chief points and in most of its details, from the point of view of literary history, veracious and trustworthy. In the whole New Testament there is probably only one solitary writing which can be called. in the strictest sense of the word, pseudonymous, the Second Epistle of Peter."
In view of this remarkable testimony, Dr. Wilson can hardly be said to have spoken very recklessly. Your review directs attention to a subject of great interest.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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