IS THE REVOLUTION
science was still far in the distance. The historical criticism of the books of the Bible, without which Biblical theology is impossible, made little way in Holland before the middle of the century. When the usually placid Van der Palm heard in his old age that a pupil of his had adopted the theory of a Second Isaiah, he is said to have broken his pipe in conster— nation. The school of thought represented by the theologians I have named was in vogue until well into the second quarter of the century. It is known as that of rationalistic- supernaturalism, and its main defects in the eyes oflater Dutch theologians are its “ halfness and its indefiniteness.” La Saussaye, who began his theological studies at Leiden in 1836 under Clarisse, Van Henge], and later under Van Oordt, a representative of the rising Groningen school, describes this theology as a mitigated orthodoxy. The Bible was regarded, he says, as the supreme authority; the historical character of its narratives and the infallibility of its teaching were maintained ; only it neglected to show precisely the nature of that authority and the essence of those
