TH PREFACE HE lecture with which this volume opens was first given at the Harvard University Summer School of Theology in July, 1899. It has been given since at the University of Chicago, and a part of it was read at the meeting of the American Historical Association held in Detroit in December, 1900. The lecture is printed substantially in its original form, though at a few points changes have been made as a result of further study. Its publication has been deferred until the present time because it contains some conclusions at variance with those commonly accepted by modern scholars, which it seemed best to withhold until the reasons for them could be stated in detail. Those reasons will be found in the critical notes, which fill the greater part of the volume, and contain discussions of the most important questions connected with the origin, the text, the purpose and historical interpretation of the creed. Since the appearance last year of the final volume of Kattenbusch's elabo rate monograph on the Apostles' Creed I have worked over the whole subject again and have tested my conclusions in its light. As I am compelled to disagree with Kattenbusch at many points I wish to bear testimony here to the value of his work, which is the most exhaustive treatment of the subject we have and, in spite of some serious defects in method, will be indispensable to all future workers in this particular field. It will be seen that the notes deal largely with the Old Roman Symbol and not with the present text of the creed. This is due not only to the greater relative importance of the former, but also to the fact that my own independent investigations have been confined to questions connected with the older symbol, and I have not cared to burden the notes with secondhand results. The conclusions touching the origin and history of the present text of the creed which are given in the latter part of the lecture are based wholly upon the investigations of others, especially Caspari and Kattenbusch. To my colleague, Prof. James Everett Frame, my hearty thanks are due for the valuable assistance he has rendered me in connection with the revision of the proof sheets. |