Gue tical histories at the present time that deserve to be read and studied, viz. those of Neander and Gieseler, both ex fontibus hausti, as Bretschneider once remarked to the writer. rike's is one-sided; and Hase's, alas is too short. The Translator, on looking about for a text-book which he could put into the hands of his students as the substratum of lectures on ecclesiastical history, could find none so suitable to his purpose as the present; and he accordingly recommended the enterprising publishers to bring out a new version of the new edition, that students might not be obliged to apply to the American translation, the cost of which is very considerable. It is almost superfluous to state, that the Translator does not coincide with all the sentiments of Dr. Gieseler. He has occasionally inserted in brackets a reference to books with which the German professor is probably unacquainted. INTRODUCTION. § 1. THE CHURCH. Stäudlin über den Begriff der Kirche und Kirchengeschichte (in the Göttingen Bibliothek d. Neuesten Theolog. Literatur i. 600). C. G. Bretschneider's systemat. Entwickelung aller in der Dogmatik vorkommenden Begriffe (4te Auflage, Leipzig, 1841), S. 749. Dr. H. F. Jacobson, über die Individualität des Wortes u. Begriffes Kirche (in his Kirchenrechtlichen Versuchen, i. 58). The Christian Church1 (ý Ékkλŋoía rov Xpiorov, Matt. xvi. 18, ý έkkλŋoía to≈ Oɛоũ, 1 Cor. x. 32, Gal. i. 13) is a religiousmoral society, connected together by a common faith in Christ, and which seeks to represent in its united life the kingdom of God announced by Christ (τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, Tov oỷpavov). This kingdom it hopes to see at one time realized, and strives to prepare itself for becoming worthy of having a part in it.2 The church bears the same relation to the kingdom 1 The German word Kirche, which was originally applied to the building alone, is most probably derived from the Greek, Tò кuptakóv. Walafrid Strabo (about 840), De rebus ecclesiasticis, c. 7. Quomodo theotisce domus Dei dicatur (in Melch. Hittorp. de Divinis Cathol. Eccles. officiis varii vetust. Patrum libri. Colon. 1568, fol. p. 395): Ab ipsis autem Graecis Kyrch a Kyrios-et alia multa accepimus.--Sicut domus Dei Basilica, i. e. Regia a Rege, sic etiam Kyrica, i. e. Dominica a Domino nuncupatur.-Si autem quaeritur, qua occasione ad nos vestigia haec graecitatis advenerint, dicendum,—praecipue a Gothis, qui et Getae, cum eo tempore, quo ad fidem Christi, licet non recto itinere, perducti sunt, in Graecorum provinciis commorantes, nostrum, i. e. theotiscum sermonem habuerint. It ap pears from Ulphilas, that Greek appellations of Christian things were generally adopted by the Goths (see Zahn's Ulphilas, Th. 2, S. 69, ff.; also aikklesjon, èкêλŋσía, Phil. iii. 6. in the fragments published by Maius). The Greek origin of the word is favored not only by its occurrence in all German dialects (Swedish Kyrka, Danish Kyrke, &c.), but also in the dialects of the Slavonian nations converted by the Greeks (Bohemian cyrkew, Polish cerkiew, Russian zerkow). Other derivations of the word are Kieren (Kiesen), from the Gothic, Kelikn, a tower, &c. Compare Jacobson's work, p. 68, ff. 2 The idea of the church is an individual idea, given historically, for which we can not substitute the general notion (viz. that of a religious society) under which it falls. See Jacobson, p. 116. Ullmann in the Studien und Kritiken, 1835, iii. 607. |