PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT

For some time past there has been a growing conviction of the need of a more complete and comprehensive study of the Bible in all the colleges. Quite recently the matter has received new emphasis and practical direction. A complete course of Bible study has been outlined by a joint committee representing the Eastern and Western sections of the Association of College Instructors in the Bible, the departments of colleges and universities and of teacher training of the Religious Education Association, the Student Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., and Sunday School Council.

In harmony with the action just noted The Abingdon Press has arranged for the prompt publication of a series of Bible study texts. The complete course will include the following books: Old Testament History, by Prof. Ismar J. Peritz, of Syracuse University; New Testament History, by Dr. Harris Franklin Rall, President of Iliff School of Theology; The Bible as Literature, by Prof. Irving F. Wood and Prof. Elihu Grant, of Smith College; Social Institutions and Ideals of the Bible, by Prof. Theodore G. Soares, University of Chicago; and The History and Principles of Religious Education, by Prof. F. H. Swift, University of Minnesota.

The volumes on New Testament History and The Bible as Literature have been in use during the college year 19141915. Professor Peritz's volume on Old Testament History and Professor Soares' Social Institutions and Ideals of the Bible are now published. The last book in the series, The History and Principles of Religious Education by Professor Swift, is in preparation and will be ready for use in the second semester of 1915-1916. These books have been prepared with a view to the requirements of the college course

and the needs of the students. The authors are acknowledged experts in their respective fields-scholars and teachers of wide repute. The publishers cordially commend this course to the attention of Bible students and teachers everywhere.

THE ABINGDON PRESS.

PREFACE

THE title of this volume is somewhat more extensive than the contents would strictly warrant. A full discussion of the institutions and ideals of the Bible should include those of the apostolic age, particularly the life and organization of the Christian community and the social teachings of the apostles. It is with no sense of the unimportance of these subjects that they have been omitted, but solely in order to meet the conditions of a suitable textbook for two semesters of college work. In the practical study of the subject one semester may well be devoted to a consideration of the development of social institutions in Israel up to the time of Christ, and a second semester to the social teachings of the prophets, of the sages, and of Jesus. The study of the apostolic age as a whole would naturally be a separate subject.

There is a decided advantage in devoting considerable time to the study of the actual social life of Israel. As a matter of fact, this is one of the best means of introducing the student to the study of human society, for in the fascinating biblical stories he has actually in his hands the original source material on the basis of which the social study must be made. He is able to secure a comprehension of the social process as he sees the development of the fundamental institutions of society passing before his eyes in the unfolding biblical narrative. Here is the opportunity to secure the social imagination and the social sympathy which are essential to any significant attempt to understand the problems of modern life.

Furthermore, the only way to appreciate the development of religion is to realize how it enters into the social life of a people and relates itself to their institutions. As one follows

the process of the developing Hebrew life, he can see the unfolding of that religion which began as a tribal cult and reached its culmination in the experience of Jesus.

But the chief reason for the study of Hebrew society is that it affords the absolutely necessary background for an understanding of the prophets and of Jesus. The study of the social teachings of the Bible may easily be misleading. If we simply search the prophetic books and the Gospels for passages which have some connection with the various social problems of to-day we shall quite likely be led astray. There is no such thing as absolute social teaching. Morals are not static to be delivered by accredited teachers once and for all. Any social teaching involves adaptation to a specific social situation. The prophets can be understood only against the background of the actual living conditions of their time. We must have the patience to reconstruct that old life-a most fascinating and fruitful study-in order that the glowing words of those great tribunes of the people may yield their inspiration for our own tasks. And the teaching of Jesus especially requires for its comprehension an appreciation of the whole social development that preceded him, and a careful understanding of the various currents of thought in the complex times in which he lived.

The method employed in the presentation of the various social institutions involves a certain amount of repetition. We start again and again from the nomadic stage and work onward. We start very often from the exile and note the influence of that critical experience upon the various phases of Hebrew social life. But the very repetition may be advantageous, as it compels the student repeatedly to see that social institutions can be studied only genetically, and thus habituates him to seek always the history of any social problem with which he has to deal.

The endeavor has been made to send the student constantly to the sources. The text abounds in biblical references. These are not offered so much as authorities for the

statements of the author, as guides to the student to seek the actual source of information which he should interpret for himself. The first of the directions for study might well have been in every chapter: Look up all the references in the text and construct your conception on the basis of a careful examination of the source material. The "Directions for Study" themselves are additional suggestions to help the student first to an appreciation of the social process as it was in Israel and as it is to-day, then to an appreciation of the ideals that stirred the souls of prophets, of sages, and of Jesus in their situations, and finally to an evaluation of those ideals for our modern social life.

The principal books in English that deal with the various phases of the subject are noted in the Appendix. The chief emphasis would best be laid, however, on a thorough study of the biblical material itself. The use of the American Revised Version is strongly recommended.

THE AUTHOR. The University of Chicago, Midsummer, 1915.