John Bulow Campbell Memorial Librar Bulletin COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Decatur, Georgia Y f f Dedication of John Bulow Campbell Library Memorials in the Library Dedicatory Address Dr. E. D. Kerr VOL. XLVI SEPTEMBER, 1953 No. 2 RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED Entered as second-class matter, May 9, 1928, at the post office at Decatur, Georgia under the Act of August 24, 1912. PUBLISHED QUARTERLY AT DECATUR, GEORGIA 1 i 1 Dedication of John Bulow Campbell Library On May 19, 1953, Columbia Seminary's John Bulow Campbell Library, named in honor of a distinguished elder of the Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Ga., was formally dedicated to the glory of God and for the service of the Church. Dr. Stuart R. Oglesby, a member of the Board of Directors of the seminary and former pastor of Mr. Campbell, presided at the service and led the audience in the Ritual of Dedication. Dr. J. McDowell Richards, President of the seminary, made brief remarks expressing appreciation for the many gifts which had made the new building possible and presented for the archives of the seminary a handsome "Book of Remembrance" which contains the name of every known contributor to the building fund. He paid especial tribute to Mr. Campbell as a man without whose aid the present work of Columbia Seminary would not have been possible. Mr. Campbell became greatly interested in this institution at the time of the campaign for its re- moval from Columbia, S. C. to Decatur, Ga. in 1925. The administration building of the seminary was given by him as a memorial to his mother. He was a Director of the Seminary from 1926 until the time of his death in 1940, serving during most of that period as Chairman of both its Executive and its Investment Committees. On repeated occasions he made generous contributions to its work. In speaking of him and of his part in the life of Columbia Seminary Dr. Richards borrowed the famous phrase inscribed to Sir Christopher Wren on the wall of St. Paul's Cathedral in London: "Reader, if you would see his monument, look about you." The monument in this case, he said, was not merely the library building but also the seminary as a whole. Dr. S. A. Cartledge, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, offered the invocation and pronounced the benediction. Mr. Harold B. Prince, librarian, read the Scripture and accepted the memo- rials. Dr. E. D. Kerr, Professor of Old Testament Language and Litera- ture, made the dedicatory address and Dr. Wm. C. Robinson, Professor of Church History and Polity, offered the dedicatory prayer. Plans for the library, which was erected and equipped at a cost of approximately $350,000, were drawn by the firm of Logan and Williams, Architects, Atlanta, Ga. The building is of brick and limestone construc- tion, is fire-proof and air-conditioned throughout, and, like other build- ings of the seminary, is of academic Gothic design. Space is provided for a collection of 100,000 volumes on the two stack levels which lie immediately under the beautiful and well lighted Gothic reading room. Thirty-six study carrels have been provided on the north side of the stack rooms. The building also contains the librarian's office, work rooms, seminar rooms, an audio-visual classroom, a typing room, rooms for special collections of books and magazines, and rest rooms. It has al- ready come to occupy a place of indispensable importance in the life of the seminary. Memorials in Connection with the Library As the name of the building implies, the new library is first of all a memorial to Mr. Campbell. This fact is indicated on the bronze plaque placed in its entrance way and bearing the following inscription: The John Bulow Campbell Library erected in grateful tribute to a noble christian gentleman. JOHN BULOW CAMPBELL 1870-1940 BUSINESS MAN - PHILANTHROPIST - PATRIOT FOR THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS A RULING ELDER OF THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GA. A DIRECTOR AND BENEFACTOR OF COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, WITHOUT WHOSE AID THE PRESENT WORK OF THIS INSTITUTION WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. A FAITHFUL SERVANT OF CHRIST "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." The library also contains many other individual memorials. Opposite the tribute to Mr. Campbell in the entrance way is another bronze plaque on which have been inscribed the names of 161 individuals or churches who had a part of special importance in making the building possible. The reading room is a gift of the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta in honor of the late Dr. J. Sprole Lyons and a bronze plaque upon its east wall bears the following appropriate legend: THIS READING ROOM WAS GIVEN BY THE CONGREGATION OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GA. IN MEMORY OF REV. J. SPROLE LYONS, D. D., LL. D. 1861-1942 FOR TWENTY-TWO YEARS A BELOVED PASTOR OF THAT CHURCH GREAT EXPOSITORY PREACHER ECCLESIASTICAL STATESMAN MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, u.s. 1913 A LEADER OF THE MOVEMENT WHICH BROUGHT COLUMBIA SEMINARY TO GEORGIA A DIRECTOR OF COLUMBIA SEMINARY 1926-1942 CHAIRMAN OF ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS 1933-1941 "He Being Dead Yet Liveth" The following portions of the building or its equipment bear bronze plates indicating that they are named in honor of the persons or the groups indicated: The Charge Desk: Mr. John McLeod Seminar Room: Dr. John McSween Librarian's Office: James Harvey Whitten, Jr. Stacks Mrs. Eliza Newton Conyers Dr. and Mrs. Ray Evers Miss C. Virginia Harrison Rev. and Mrs. Edgar D. Kerr Mr. Wm. M. Morgan Mr. John M. Saunders Mr. Wm. A. L. Sibley Rev. Alexander Sprunt, D.D. Mr. and Mrs. George White Mr. and Mrs. H. Lane Young Carrels Rev. J. H. Alexander Mrs. Susan Ann Newton Bennett Central Presbyterian Church, Athens, Ga. Mrs. Mary Small Cunningham Rev. James Lanier Doom Easley Presbyterian Church, Easley, S. C. Faculty and Students of Columbia Seminary First Presbyterian Church, Bessemer, Ala. Mrs. Gussie Parkhurst Hill Mr. and Mrs. Arthur E. Holman Mrs. R. J. Knight and Mrs. C. M. Richards Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Ludlam Frederick Bennett Montanus Mrs. C. E. Neisler Rev. Ewell Lee Nelson Mr. J. F. Schroeter David Charles Shaw, Sr. John Richard Snodgrass H. L. Smith Dr. J. Holmes Smith, Jr. Rev. Ellison Adger Smyth Lulu and Lamar Wescott Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Woolfolk Many other memorials, smaller in size, but of no less sacred signifi- cance and no less deeply appreciated, are recorded in "The Book of Remembrance" which is on display in the library. The Place and Importance of Books in the Quest for Knowledge (Dedicatory Address Delivered by Dr. E. D. Kerr J The desire to know seems to be universal in the human race. But what one desires or aspires to know is properly a matter of great concern. To know many incidental and unimportant details of the daily life of neighbors near or far is of no consequence. But to know as much as possible of the course of human history; of the progress and content of the best human thought; of the vision and sacrificial devotion of heroes and martyrs who have given themselves and their all that men might be enlightened and blessed; of the message of God and righteousness and redemption granted to men through prophets and seers such things as these are vital to any full and satisfying intellectual and spiritual life. In pursuit of the interests just indicated books are essential. But it is often plausibly maintained that our generation is little concerned with such interests. To quote: "What do we as a nation care about books?" How much do we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our amusements, or our needless or harmful indulgences? Even with regard to shrines of higher thought consider the following. The story was recently published of a large state university that found itself with $1,500,000 of undesignated surplus money. It was earnestly recom- mended that this money be used to improve the library facilities. But the governing board in cavalier assembly resolved to add 20,000 seats to the athletic stadium. In contrast, Dean Roberts of Princeton Theological Semi- nary has declared that next to the faculty the library is the most important concern of any theological school; and the same applies to any worthy educational institution. Books, then, are essential to all who aspire beyond the simplest material and animal interests. Few would deny that a book that is merely innocently amusing may have a proper place in our interest. But from this point we shall have in mind only books of serious purpose, books in which are stored the treasures of knowledge, thought, aspiration and discovery of the ages. Books are not absolutely dead things. They impel the soul of the reader to be as active as the soul that produced them. A book that comes from the heart will reach other hearts. Great is the power of books and their worth immeasurable. Ralph Waldo Emerson, no doubt with a library in mind, says: "I am the owner of the sphere, Of the seven stars and the solar year, Of Caesar's hand and Plato's brain, Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain." He proceeds: "There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought he may think; what a saint has felt he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man he can understand. He who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent." What should be our mental attitude in the use of books? A French philos- opher used to remark, "Nobody ever grew wise from mere reading." Read- ing has its place, but it must be supplemented by meditation and analysis, especially self-analysis. So no one will develop a well-rounded Christian life by merely reading the Bible. That is necessary. But to attain the best results the truths of the Bible must be incorporated into life and applied in our daily thought, word and deed. It is often suggested that it is important to use books with our minds open, courageous and teachable. Already mention has been made of the frequently alleged superficial, secular disposition of our generation. We would not condemn a whole people of any age but there is a spirit here against which it behooves one to be on guard. A recent writer has characterized our generation as gnostic. Gnosticism in his mind is, of course, not the gnosticism of the early Christian centuries, but a disposition comparable thereto. It may be defined as (alleged) knowl- edge mystically acquired, and therefore easily acquired and, strange to say, most tenaciously held. A young student once said that he held to a dis- pensational theory of the plan of the ages because it represented the realiza- tion of his childhood dreams. So, much knowledge, falsely so-called, rests upon one's subjective determination not to face bitter facts or unwelcome truths. This is a sort of gnosticism. This baseless self-assurance readily develops into arrogant and bigoted intolerance with a most pernicious per- secuting complex. It thrives upon disregard for realty, ignorance of facts, fallacious misconstruction and falsification of history, and irresponsible opining on the basis of sincere, but untested, conviction. This kind of error a discerning and receptive use of relevant and sensible books should obviate. We may note some obstacles to enlightening quest for knowledge and truth. One, endemic in the human race is mental indolence which readily suggests that effort in the sphere of higher thought is futile. It is said of the whole problem of the invisible, "Nothing can be known of it; why worry?" Thinkers realize that they hardly know their conclusions in the region of higher intellectual activity in the same way that a material fact is known. Yet, firm, satisfying and sustaining convictions may be reached. One may well emulate the courage of Plato. When an interlocutor objected that the goals of philosophical quest were unattainable, the philosopher responded: "Many of my conclusions I hold only tentatively, but of this I am sure, if we give our best efforts to discover truth we shall be better and braver, less idle and useless." Francis Bacon is indebted to Plato's image of the cave for his famous pericope of the idols. Idols here are not graven images, but, in a more original sense of the word, delusions, false appearances such as the mirage of the desert. Omar Khayyam, slightly altered, says in substance: "Indeed the idols I have loved so long Have done my credit in truth's eyes much wrong: Have drowned my glory in a shallow cup, And sold my reputation for a song." Bacon lists four types of delusion that militate against the quest for truth. Idols of the tribe are delusions widely prevalent among mankind generally. For instance, the mind of man is more readily affected by affirmations than by negations. "If you tell a lie often enough and big enough, it will be widely believed." How else can we account for the rapid spread of absurd and irrational cults in religion and economics? Idols of the den may be untested traditional ideas held and transmitted by individuals or groups. These ideas are commonly rigorously opposed to all progress in knowledge or in ethics. For illustration we may use the fol- lowing story. Boerhaave, about 1700 A. D., in his History of Chemistry writes of one of his predecessors that, when a book was published containing reports of experiments which were out of line with own ideas, he would not read these "lest his system become untwisted." (For the following comment credit is due to Dr. Kenneth Foreman.) Many theologians are much like that ancient alchemist. They have a tightly twisted system, a fabric they took a long time to knit. Unpleasant facts, inconsistent facts, any fact that would necessitate their going back and doing the system over, anything that would untwist the fabric a trifle, they decline to consider at all. A student of the Bible who is acquainted with theological systems any system is constantly struck by numerous facts and ideas in that book which have been left out of the systems not to mention facts in ordinary life. Theologians, it sometimes appears, are more interested in maintaining a closely knit system than in getting to grips with that elusive thing called life. Which is worse, a tapestry of thought which is closely woven, but a monochrome, or a tapestry which, though but loosely put together, yet reflects the varied and even clashing colors of the real world? Idols of the market-place, of popular and informal associations of men, Bacon declares to be most troublesome of all. Names are imposed which insinuate themselves into the understanding of men, names given according to crude popular conception and giving no proper grasp of realities. Names (words) are often deceptive. It is assumed that their mistakenly supposed meaning properly describes the object to which they are casually applied. The remedy must begin in definition. But definition is in words: and the real remedy can be approached only through most careful and discriminating thought. The idols of the theater Bacon dismisses from consideration very lightly, and no attempt at elaboration of his suggestion will be made here. One may think of all the world as a stage and ourselves as players thereon, where any sham deceives no others so much as ourselves. A bit of preachment suggesting the nature of high truth and its applica- tion in the true life will hardly be out of place in this company. Thomas Carlyle was a valiant foe of idols and seeker for truth. Teufelsdroeckh, his hero in Sartar Resartus, had his own notions about human dignity. The graces of palaces did not make him forget the humble cottages of the poor. Carlyle's words may imply a poorer economic system than now prevails in some more fortunate and more enlightened parts of the world; but the picture is still essentially true. He speaks: "Two men I honor and no third. First the toil-worn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth and makes her man's. "Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein notwithstand- ing lies a cunning virture, indefeasibly royal, as of the sceptre of this planet. "Oh, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because we must pity as well as love thee. Hardly entreated brother! For us was thy back so bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed: thou wert our conscript on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so marred. For in thee too lay a God-created form, but it was not to be unfolded; en- crusted must it stand with the thick adhesions and defacements of labor, and thy body, like thy soul, was not to know freedom. "Yet toil on, toil on: thou art in thy duty, be out of it who may; thou toilest for the altogether indispensable, for daily bread. "A second man 1 honor, and still more highly: Him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable: not daily bread, but the bread of life. Is not he too in his duty; endeavoring towards inward harmony; revealing this by act or by word, through all his outward endeavors, be they high or low? "Highest of all, when his outward and his inward endeavors are one: when we can name him artist; not earthly craftsman only, but inspired thinker, who with heaven-made implement conquers heaven for us! "If the poor and humble toil that we may have food, must not the high and glorious toil for him in return that he may have light, have guidance, freedom, immortality? "These two in all their degrees I honor: All else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. "Unspeakably touching is it, however, when I find both dignities united; and he that must toil outwardly for the lowest of man's wants is also toiling inwardly for the highest. "Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint, could such now anywhere be met with. "Such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself, and thou wilt see the splendor of heaven spring forth from the humblest depths of earth like a light shining in great darkness." "Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?" Along with all other suggestions, we need the teachable spirit, openness to conviction, and submissiveness to all discovered truth. Books are an in- dispensable tool. May we use them in the true spirit of humble and reverent inquiry!