Essays and Reviews 1702067 223707205 2008-07-05T10:54:55Z DOI bot 6652755 Citation maintenance. Formatted: year. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]]. {{Anglican Portal}} '''''Essays and Reviews''''', published in March [[1860]],<ref name=brown112>{{Harv|Browne|2003| p=112}}</ref> is a [[Broad church|broad-church]] volume of seven [[essays]] on [[religion]].<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidences of [[Christianity]], religious thought in [[England]], and the cosmology of [[Genesis]]. == Background == Each essay was authored independently by one of seven [[Church of England]] churchmen but had no overall editorial policy.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> Each contributor chose his own theme.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> The seven essayists were: [[Frederick Temple]] who later became [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]; [[Rowland Williams (theologian)|Rowland Williams]] then tutor at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and later Professor and Vice-Principal of [[St David's University College]], Lampeter; [[Baden Powell (mathematician)|Baden Powell]], clergyman and Professor of Geometry at [[Oxford University|Oxford]]; [[Henry Bristow Wilson]], fellow of [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]], Oxford; [[Charles Wycliffe Goodwin]]; [[Mark Pattison]], tutor at [[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln College]], Oxford; and [[Benjamin Jowett]], Master of [[Balliol College]] and Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford University. == Significance == The book was important because of its date and its authors. Appearing four months after [[Charles Darwin]]'s ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'',<ref name=brown112/> it summed up a three-quarter-century-long challenge to biblical history by the [[higher criticism|higher critics]] and to biblical prehistory by scientists working in the new fields of geology and biology. [[Baden Powell (mathematician)|Baden Powell]] restated his argument that God is a lawgiver, miracles break the lawful edicts issued at the creation, therefore belief in miracles is atheistic, and wrote of "Mr Darwin's masterly volume" that the ''Origin of Species'' "must soon bring about an entire revolution in opinion in favour of the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature."<ref name=dm500>{{Harv|Desmond|Moore|1991| p=500}}</ref> == Seven articles == === ‘On the interpretation of scripture’ === [[Image:Benjamin Jowett.JPG|thumb|right|200px|'''Benjamin Jowett''']] The essay ‘On the interpretation of scripture’ was contributed by Benjamin Jowett.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> When asked to contribute, Jowett saw the opportunity to challenge traditionalists. <ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> He was a rationalist and insisted that the bible ought to be treated as scholars treated classical texts.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> Jowett was a proponent of [[Progressive revelation (Christian)|progressive revelation]].<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> The books of the Bible written later were seen to be closer to the ultimate [[revelation]] of God as seen in [[Jesus Christ]] as revealed in the [[Gospels]]. The epistles and other New Testament writings were seen to look back.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> The implication of Jowett's essay (and his other writings) — that revelation was ongoing and that scripture was always subject to re-interpretion as each generation encountered them — was the target of his traditionalist foes."<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> Jowett was slandered for his honesty concerning his beliefs but he suffered no actual penalty. However, in 1863 Jowett was brought before the vice-chancellor's court for teaching contrary to the doctrines of the Church of England; the case was eventually dropped.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> {{clear}} == Reception == [[Image:Frederic Harrison.jpg|thumbnail|150px|left|'''Frederic Harrison''']] Hardly known outside academic theological circles today, ''Essays'' sold 22,000 copies in two years, more than ''Origin'' sold in its first twenty years. It sparked five years of increasingly polarized debate with books and pamphlets furiously contesting the issues.<ref name=dm500>{{Harv|Desmond|Moore|1991| p=500}}</ref> [[Image:WilberforceVanityFair.jpg|thumbnail|150px|right|'''Samuel Wilberforce''']] The first attack came from the reviewer [[Frederic Harrison]] in the [[Westminster Review]] in 1860.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> Harrison saw the essays as neither religious nor rational which was a double blow to the seven who saw the essays as promoting rational religion.<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> In January 1861, an anonymous review was published in the [[Quarterly Review]]. The author was later revealed as [[Samuel Wilberforce]] [[Bishop of Oxford]].<ref name=Hinch1> {{Harv |Hinchliff|Prest|2004|}}</ref> The ''Quarterly'' review was followed up by a letter to [[The Times]] co-signed by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and 25 [[bishop]]s which threatened the theologians with the ecclesiastical courts. Darwin quoted a proverb: "A bench of bishops is the devil's flower garden", and joined others including the eminent geologist [[Charles Lyell]], and the mathematician and Queen's printer [[William Spottiswoode]], in signing a counter-letter supporting ''Essays and Reviews'' for trying to "establish religious teachings on a firmer and broader foundation".<ref name=dm501>{{Harv|Desmond|Moore|1991| p=501}}</ref> == Repercussion == Despite this alignment of pro-evolution scientists and [[Unitarian]]s with liberal churchmen, two of the authors were indicted for heresy and lost their jobs by [[1862]]. They appealed to the ''Judicial Committee of the Privy Council'' and in [[1864]] it overturned the judgment, "dismissing hell with costs", to the fury of Wilberforce. One hundred and thirty-seven thousand laity signed a letter of thanks to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for voting against the Committee, and a declaration in favour of biblical inspiration and eternal torments was drawn up at [[Oxford]] and circulated to the 24,800 clergy, being signed by eleven thousand of them. Wilberforce went to the Convocation of [[Canterbury]] and in June obtained "synodical condemnation" of ''Essays and Reviews''.<ref name=dm523-4>{{Harv|Desmond|Moore|1991| pp=523, 524}}</ref> Today the essay topics and conclusions may seem innocuous, but at the time, they were considered [[heresy|heretical]] and the essayists were called "The Seven Against Christ." ==See also== * [[Anglicanism]] * [[Church of England]] * [[Liberal Christianity]] ==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} *{{Citation | last = Browne | first = E. Janet | year = 2003 | title = Charles Darwin : The Power of Place | edition = | volume = | series = | publication-place = Princeton, N.J | publisher = Princeton University Press | isbn = 0691114390 }} *{{Citation | last = Desmond | first = Adrian | last2 = Moore | first2 = James | author2-link =James Moore (biographer) | year = 1991 | title = Darwin | publication-place = London | publisher =Michael Joseph, Penguin Group | isbn =0718134303 }} *{{Citation | last =Hinchliff | first =Peter | author-link = | last2 =Prest | first2 =John | author2-link = | publication-date =Sept 2004 | year = 2004 | contribution =Jowett, Benjamin (1817–1893) | title= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | edition =online edn, Jan 2006 | publisher =Oxford University Press | accessdate = | unused_data =|contribution-url http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15143}} == Further reading == *{{cite journal |last=Brock |first=W. H. |last2=Macleod |first2=R. M. |coauthors= |year= |month= |title=The Scientists' Declaration: Reflexions on Science and Belief in the Wake of "Essays and Reviews," 1864-5 |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=9 |issue= No. 1 (Mar., 1976)|pages=39–66 |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote= }} *{{cite book |author=Ellis, Ieuan|title= Seven Against Christ: A Study of `Essay's and Reviews (Studies in the History of Christian Thought , No 23) |publisher=Brill Academic Pub |location= |year=1997 |pages= |isbn=9004062009 |oclc= |doi=}} *{{cite journal |last= Francis|first=Mark |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |month= |title=The Origins of Essays and Reviews: An Interpretation of Mark Pattison in the 1850s |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=17 |issue= No. 4 (Dec., 1974)|pages= 797–811 |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote= }} *{{cite journal |last= Ghosh|first=Peter |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 2001|month= |title=Review: Essays and Reviews: The 1860 Text and Its Reading by Victor Shea, William Whitla |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=116 |issue=No. 465 (Feb., 2001) |pages= 149–151|id= |url= |accessdate= |quote=|doi=10.1093/ehr/116.465.149 }} *{{cite book |author=Knight, Mark |title=Nineteenth-century religion and literature: an introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=2006 |pages= |isbn=0199277117 |oclc= |doi=}} *{{cite book |author=Nixon, Jude V. Nixon |title=Victorian Religious Discourse: New Directions in Criticism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location= |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=1403965226 |oclc= |doi=}} *{{cite book |author=Whitla, William; Shea, Victor |title=Essays and reviews: the 1860 text and its reading |publisher=University Press of Virginia |location=Charlottesville |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=0813918693 |oclc= |doi=}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/222/1314.html |title= "Essays and Reviews". XIII. The Growth of Liberal Theology. Vol. 12. The Romantic Revival.|work=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907 (21) |publisher=Bartleby.com |accessdate=2007-11-06 |format= |work=}} *{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/essays.html |title=Summary of ''Essays and Reviews'' |accessdate= |accessmonthday= |accessdaymonth= |accessyear= |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=VictorianWeb.org |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }} * {{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/altholz/a2.html |title=The Warfare of Conscience with Theology |accessdate=2007-11-06 |author=Josef L. Altholz, Professor of History, University of Minnesota |date=1976 |work=The Mind and Art of Victorian England |publisher=VictorianWeb.org }} [[Category:1860 books]] [[Category:Anglicanism]] [[Category:History of the Church of England]] {{Anglican-stub}}