"That we may apply the medicine of the scripture..."

Image: William Tyndale (1494-1536)

Though a man had a precious and rich jewel, yet if he knew not the value thereof, nor wherefore it served, he were neither the better nor richer of a straw. Even so though we read the scripture, and babble of it ever so much, yet if we know not the use of it, and wherefore it was given, and what is therein to be sought, it profits us nothing at all. It is not enough, therefore, to read and talk of it only, but we must also desire God, day and night, instantly, to open our eyes, and to make us understand and feel wherefore scripture was given, that we may apply the medicine of the scripture, every man to his own sores. Unless we intend to be idle disputers, and brawlers about vain words, ever gnawing upon the bitter bark without, and never attaining unto the sweet pith within; and persecuting one another in defending of wicked imaginations, and phantasies of our own invention.”

William Tyndale, prefixed to the translation of the Pentateuch (1530)  

When Christians & Jews Cleaned Up Hollywood

Image: Paramount photographer "Whitey" Schafer's "Thou Shalt Not" (1940)

“The Storm of ’34"

As Protestant clergy urged their congregations “to unite with Catholics in their campaign to raise the moral standards of pictures,” the Central Conference of American Rabbis called for cooperation “with other religious and civic bodies in bringing home to the picture producers their responsibility for taking immediate steps to elevate the standards of pictures.” American Jews had special reason to work shoulder to shoulder with Christian America. An antisemitism that was never too thinly veiled lay behind at least some of the attacks on Hollywood as the Sodom on the Pacific. Largely ruled and disproportionately populated by American Jews, the motion picture industry was a conspicuous national stage for a people whose every historical instinct counseled against conspicuous displays. Perhaps noting the significant omission of the “Judeo” from the possessive “our Christian civilization” in Cardinal Dougherty’s pastoral letter, Rabbi Sidney E. Goldstein of the Central Conference of American Rabbis averred that Jews should be more concerned than other religious groups in making sure movies were wholesome, “for if the screen is not kept clean, the disgrace will fall on the shoulders of the Jews.”

Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934 (p. 322)

The first attempts at modern New Testament scholarship

Image: Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

Breaking with the medieval tradition, failing to anticipate the Reformation style, the humanists exhibited continuity instead with the modern world with respect to New Testament scholarship. Humanist philology came to dominate New Testament study and created a new brand of scholarship that has worked a profound influence on modern culture. Humanist philology not only made possible a more accurate understanding of the New Testament, but also led to a new vision of Christian antiquity itself. With the humanists works, the New Testament world began to retreat into history, and the Christian scriptures would figure in later centuries less as the arbiter of doctrine, more as the object of professional philological and historical analysis. By no means do I wish by this interpretation to try to restore currency to the old, discredited notion that the Renaissance humanists posed a secular or anti-religious alternative to a supposedly spiritual, Christian worldview developed in the Middle Ages. The fundamentally Christian character of the humanists’ thought is now well established. Far from weakening the Christian tradition, the humanists took philological studies as a new way to express their devotion to that tradition. One can only take at face value the refrain Erasmus often repeated in his prefatory and apologetic works, that he undertook his scholarly labors not in order to harm religion, but rather to provide purer texts and an improved understanding of the New Testament.

Yet one must also recognize in the humanists’ works the first attempts to apply philological criteria in establishing accurate texts, producing sensitive translations, and providing sound, historical explanations of the New Testament. That is to say, in their efforts one finds the first attempts at modern New Testament scholarship.

Jerry H. Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ: New Testament Scholarship in the Renaissance  (pp. 218-19)