Ebook The Life of Jesus Critically Examined

It is intelligible enough that the criticism of the Bible could not arise amongst the orthodox theo logians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They were restrained by a rigid doctrine of inspir ation from an unprejudiced treatment of the Bible, and were moreover too much absorbed in dogmatic controversies and the defence of their confessions Of faith, to feel the need of more searching Biblical studies. It was amongst English Free-thinkers and Deists that the credibility of the Biblical narratives was first seriously assailed, and with so much tem per as to greatly detract from the scientific value Of the result. Thomas Woolston's Discourses on [be Miracles (y' our Saviour (six in number, 172 7 — 1 729)