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November 1891 A.D. Charles
A. Briggs Called on Heresy Charges—Presbyterian Church
Graves,
Dan. “Charles A. Briggs Called on Heresy.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/charles-a-briggs-called-on-heresy-11630631.html. Accessed 6 Jun 2014.
Is the Bible the inspired word of God? Throughout
history the church has answered yes. But in the nineteenth century, Julius
Wellhausen, a German history professor, claimed that virtually the entire Old
Testament was a forgery. There never had been a tabernacle. Moses, if he
existed at all, was the spokesman for a local mountain god and probably
worshipped a piece of rock. Israelite religion had evolved from such simple beginnings. The Bible
was a fusion of several earlier documents heavily edited by priests to
establish their own power and influence.
Charles Augustus Briggs studied theology in Germany when Wellhausen's
ideas were at their height. Briggs returned to the United States confirmed in a
belief that the Bible was full of errors. While it contained the germ of
inspiration, it was not verbally inspired he thought.
Briggs was appointed head of a newly endowed
Department of Biblical Theology at Union Seminary in New York. In his
inauguration speech on January 20, 1891, he openly attacked the Bible.
"There is nothing divine in the text--in its letters, words, or
clauses," he said. Higher Criticism had found errors, he said, and we must
meet them.
Union Seminary was friendly to Briggs's ideas. The
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was not. In a hearing they refused
his appointment. Consequently, Union Seminary broke from the Assembly. The New
York Presbytery appointed a committee to consider Briggs's inaugural address.
He refused to appear before them but made comments to the press saying the
liberals would fight with all their might. The committee decided Briggs must be
tried. He was called to present himself on this day, November 4, 1891.
At his trial, Briggs changed tactics. Instead of
defending Wellhausen's theories, he apologized if he had caused any pain to his
denomination. He defended himself less on his ideas than by claiming the charges
against him were improperly filed under church rules. Although even one of his
own allies declared that his final statements "could no more be squared
with the Westminister Confession than you could square a circle" the New
York Presbytery exonerated him.
Two years later, the General Assembly
excommunicated Briggs, declaring his views heretical.. Looking back we can see
that Briggs abandoned the bedrock of faith for a theory that turned out to be
false. Within sixty years of the publication of Wellhausen's Higher Criticism,
archaeology had debunked most of its key ideas. Few read the entire work today.
Meanwhile, he did much damage to men of weak faith such as Briggs. Repair of
the damage has not been obtained to this day.
Bibliography:
1. "Briggs, Charles Augustus."
Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Scribner, 1958 - 1964.
2. Lindsell, Harold. The Battle for
the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1976.
3. Various encyclopedia and internet
articles.
Last updated April, 2007.
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