Brief Mention
1911
The American Journal of Theology
OLD TESTAMENT BEER, GEORG. Pascha oder das jiidische Osterfest. [Sammlung gemeinverstandlicher Vortriige und Schriften aus dem Gebiet der Theologie und Religionsgeschichte. No. 64.] Tiibingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1911. vii+ 44 pages. M. I. 20. Beer declares the Passover to have been originally a pastoral feast and like the Sabbath held in honor of the moon-god, thus having no relation to Yahweh-worship. This feast upon the soil of Canaan was consolidated with the feast of Unleavened Bread and
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... rated into the religion of Yahweh, where it is given historical significance. This pamphlet is the forerunner of a larger discussion of the same subject which will present the facts in full upon which these opinions are based. 651 Pietist, since Pietism, technically so called, began in I666 and she died in 1664. Newton did not die in 1722. One can hardly say that "from his [Locke's] theory of religion came Deism," since Deism antedated Locke, as the author indicates later, and Hume was probably not throwing bricks at Spinoza, as one might infer from the statement on p. 88. On the other hand it was Hume himself who used the expression "hideous hypothesis," meaning Spinoza's. Berkeley's work was the Principles of Human Knowledge and not as stated on pp. I72 and i77. It is but a half-truth to call Samuel Johnson "an Episcopal missionary," and Jonathan Edwards probably did not get the Berkeleian idealism from Johnson. (Cf. I. Woodbridge Riley, American Philosophy, 1907, p. 146.) Such a moot question demanded a footnote. The references to Hegel's Logic and Encyclopaedia on pp. 318 and 338 should have been consistent, and the statement in the concluding paragraph that "at the beginning of the twentieth century there seems to be a reaction from the scientific positivism" should have been expanded to avoid misinterpretation. One further word of criticism might be added. The handling of the scientific development would have been improved, if the Democritan influence had been pointed out more at length. The basis for this was laid in Vol. I, p. i16, but this early promise was not fulfilled. In spite of these flaws, however, the work as a whole is admirable and deserves wide adoption for classroom purposes.
doi:10.1086/479051
fatcat:yov7r35qvrfiteax46c7l7zn4u