The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study, Thomas Henry Huxley [best inspirational books .TXT] 📗

in a Norse Saga as where they are; and if the varnish-brush of later respectability has passed over these memoirs ofthe mighty men of a wild age, here and there, it has notsucceeded in effacing, or even in seriously obscuring, theessential characteristics of the theology traditionally ascribedto their epoch.

There is nothing that I have met with in the results of Biblicalcriticism inconsistent with the conviction that these books giveus a fairly trustworthy account of Israelitic life and thoughtin the times which they cover; and, as such, apart from thegreat literary merit of many of their episodes, they possess theinterest of being, perhaps, the oldest genuine history, as apartfrom mere chronicles on the one hand and mere legends on theother, at present accessible to us.

But it is often said with exultation by writers of one party,and often admitted, more or less unwillingly, by theiropponents, that these books are untrustworthy, by reason ofbeing full of obviously unhistoric tales. And