At the English universities rationalism exer cised a greater influence than pietism. This was largely the result of the zealous cultivation of natural science. The idea that revelation itself is to stand or fall by the test of reason was ac cepted by the apologists as well as by the Deists, by Lardner and Paley not less than by Collins and Toland. From England this rationalistic movement spread to the Continent, In the school of the Remonstrants at Amsterdam, Le Clerc expounded to theological students the principles of Collins and Locke. Giittingen was established in 1737, largely to serve as a bulwark against supernaturalism, and other centres of rationalism were Jena, Helmstedt, and Heidel berg. Theological students came under the in fluence not only of Eichhorn, Paulus, and Henke, but also of such men as Reimarus and Lessing, Herder and Goethe, Kant and Fichte. If the effect of pietism upon theological education was that much stress was laid upon the conscious experience of an inner change, and the nourish ment of religious emotion, rationalism put the emphasis upon the reasonableness of true reli gion and the supremacy of morality.
During the nineteenth century certain impor tant changes occurred. A large number of schools grew up in Europe and America. in Germany the most important additions were the Univer sities of Berlin (1810), Bonn 11818), and Strass burg (reorganized 1871). In Switzerland schools unsupported by the State have been established at Geneva. Lausanne. Neuchatel, Basel, Bern, and Zurich, and State universities teaching the ology at Fribourg and Neuchatel. In France the theological faculty of the University of Strass burg was removed to Paris in 1877, and the Ecole des Ratites Etudes was founded in 1868. The University of Amsterdam was established in 1877, and universities were founded in Chris tiania in 1813, and Helsingfors in 1827, Besides Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham, the Church of England has twenty-three theological schools, the English .Methodists ten, the Congregation alists eleven, the Baptists nine, the Presby terians three, the Unitarians one, and two are undenominational. Except the Dutch Reformed Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J. (1784), and the United Presbyterian Seminary at Xenia, Ohio (1794), all Protestant schools of theology in the United States have been founded in the nineteenth century. They number about 120. When the large extent of territory, the numerous denominations, and the special needs of the colored and the foreign churches are considered, the number is not excessive. Concerning ninny of them, however, it must be said that they are very inadequately equipped, both as to teach ing force and library facilities, and they do not represent a high grade of scholarship. Some of these are connected with universities. any are located in or near important educational centres, The course is generally three years in length, and a collegiate training is as a rule re quired for admission.
A tendency to seek independence of educa tional control is characteristic of the period. In Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and France the principle of academic freedom has won gen eral recognition. Berlin at the outset repudi ated all attachment to any particular creed or school. While pressure is often brought to hear
in the matter of appointments, the tradition of a German university is generally the determining feature. In Holland the relations between pul pit and chair are more cordial. In England and Scotland freedom of investigation is now gen erally granted to the biblical teachers. All higher institutions of learning in the United States were for a long time either founded by religious bodies or privately endowed. The former were naturally controlled by the denomi nations supporting them: the latter either give no theological instruction or are affiliated with some ecclesiastical organization. Theology is not taught in any of the State universities founded in the latter part of the century. But as it is widely felt that the various disciplines that enter into the theological currieulum have a universal human interest, and should be stud ied in an atmosphere of scientific research and free from ecclesiastical dictation, many of them have found a way into such universities as Johns Hopkins. Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California. and others. Harvard by making its school undenominational has taken an important step in this direction.
The most significant change in theological education during the century was the general introduction of historieo-critical methods of in vestigation. In the interpretation of Hebrew and early Christian literature, and the study of Church history, German theological teachers have been the chief leaders; but, owing to the relations of the faculties to the Christian State as well as to the Church, no provision is yet made in any German university for the comparative study of the religions of mankind. Paris offers the amplest facilities for such study, but Leyden and Amsterdam also pay considerable attention to it. Critical methods prevail in Old Testament exegesis in Great Britain and America, as well as in the European universities. There is less consistency in their application to New Testa ment exegesis. The treatment of ecclesiastical history is characterized by increasing fairness and objectivity. While many contributions have been made to dogmatics by theological teachers, the acceptance of the results of criticism has tended to render impossible the old type of sys tematic theology. In so far as it concerned itself with the Bible and the creeds, biblical theology, embracing the religious views of the biblical writers and the history and philosophy of Chris tian dogma, has taken its place. In so far as it attempted to bring all truth into one system, it can survive only as comparative theology studies all the religious phenomena of man's life. For this there is no adequate provision in any theological school in the English-speaking world. though at some universities there are chairs for the history and philosophy of reli gion. The introduction of such a course is likely to cause a profound change not only in the theo logical curriculum, but in the spirit of theo logical study. Consult : K. A. Schmid, Ge sehichte der Erziehung (Stuttgart, 1884-92) ; K. Schmidt, Geschichte der Erziehung ( 1876) W. Lexis, Die deutschen Unicersitiiten (Berlin, 1893).