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  THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE
  ON CIVILISATION




  THE
  INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE
  ON CIVILISATION


  BY
  ERNST VON DOBSCHUeTZ

  PROFESSOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
  HALLE-WITTENBERG


  NEW YORK
  CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
  1914




  _Copyright_, 1914
  BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

  Published April, 1914




PREFACE


One of the greatest questions of our day is how modern civilisation and
Christianity can go on in harmony. One can approach this question by
several ways, but historical investigation has always proved to be the
surest. The author has in mind to write in German a full "History of the
Bible," when time will allow. Meanwhile this brief sketch may prove
useful. Readers who look for references will find most of them in an
article contributed by the present writer to Dr. J. Hastings's
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. II, on "The Bible in the
Christian Church."

The author wishes to express his thanks to his friend, Professor J. H.
Ropes, for kindly reading the proofs for him, to Mr. W. J. Wilson and
Mr. H. A. Sherman, who helped him in improving the diction, and to
Professor Williston Walker for valuable information regarding early
American documents. If any reader should find fault with the English
style of this book, he must not blame any translator--the author himself
is responsible.

                                                  ERNST VON DOBSCHUeTZ.

  CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
  _January_, 1914.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
     I. THE BIBLE MAKES ITSELF INDISPENSABLE FOR THE
          CHURCH (TO 325 A. D.)                                      3

    II. THE BIBLE BEGINS TO RULE THE CHRISTIAN
          EMPIRE (325-600 A. D.)                                    28

   III. THE BIBLE TEACHES THE GERMAN NATIONS (500-800 A. D. )       47

    IV. THE BIBLE BECOMES ONE BASIS OF MEDIAEVAL
          CIVILISATION (800-1150 A. D.)                             67

     V. THE BIBLE STIRS NON-CONFORMIST MOVEMENTS (1150-1450)        94

    VI. THE BIBLE TRAINS PRINTERS AND TRANSLATORS (1450-1611)      117

   VII. THE BIBLE RULES DAILY LIFE (1550-1850)                     138

  VIII. THE BIBLE BECOMES ONCE MORE THE BOOK OF DEVOTION           164




ILLUSTRATIONS



  PLATE                                                   TO FACE PAGE
     I. HARVARD PAPYRUS. ROMANS 1 : 1-7                             14
    II. ORIGEN'S HEXAPLA                                            16
   III. CODEX SINAITICUS                                            28
    IV. ROLL AND BOOK                                               30
     V. VIENNA GENESIS                                              32
    VI. JOSHUA ROLL                                                 38
   VII. THE LORD'S PRAYER ON A POTSHERD                             46
  VIII. GOTHIC BIBLE                                                50
    IX. ALCUIN'S BIBLE                                              52
     X. THEODULF'S BIBLE                                            54
    XI. LINDISFARNE GOSPELS                                         66
   XII. BYZANTINE MINIATURE                                         70
  XIII. ENGLISH MINIATURE                                           82
   XIV. WYCLIFFE'S BIBLE                                           116
    XV. GUTENBERG'S FIRST PRINTED BIBLE                            122
   XVI. FIRST PRINTED GERMAN BIBLE                                 126




THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE ON CIVILISATION




I

THE BIBLE MAKES ITSELF INDISPENSABLE FOR THE CHURCH (UNTIL 325 A. D.)


There is a small book; one can put it in one's pocket, and yet all the
libraries of America, numerous as they are, would hardly be large enough
to hold all the books which have been inspired by this one little
volume. The reader will know what I am speaking of; it is the Bible, as
we are used to call it--the Book