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FIRST PERIOD.

FROM THE APOSTOLIC AGE TO THE DEATH OF ORIGEN, OR FROM THE YEAR 70 TO THE YEAR 254.

THE AGE OF APOLOGETICS.

A. GENERAL HISTORY OF DOCTRINES DURING THE FIRST PERIOD.

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Christ and Christianity.

On the Life of Christ in general, see the earlier Harmonies of the Gospels [William Newcome, Eng. Harmony, repr. Phil. 1809; Greswell (ed. 4) and Slatter, in Greek, 1845 and 1878; E. Robinson, in Greek, 1831, in English, 1846; L. Carpenter, Lond. 1835; J. G. Palfrey, Bost. 1831; Stroud's New Greek Harmony, 1853; Harmony, in Eng., R. Tract Soc. and S. P. C. K. Comp. S. Davidson in Kitto, 1. c. sub voce], and the modern works of Hess, Hase (newest ed. 1865), Paulus, Strauss, and (in reference to the latter) Weisse, Neander, Wilke, Kuhn, Theile, Lange, Ebrard, etc. Since 1863, Renan, Vie de Jésus (1863); the new edition of Strauss' Leben Jesu (1864); Schenkel, Characterbild Jesu (1873); Schleiermacher, Leben Jesu, ed. by Rütenick (1864), and the controversial writings occasioned by the works of Renan, Strauss, and Schenkel, which, however, deal less with the doctrinal than the historical aspect of the subject, and therefore have only an indirect bearing upon the History of Doctrine. [Seeley, Ecce Homo, Lond. and Camb. 1866; Keim, Geschichte Jesu von Nazara, 3 vols., Zürich 1867-72, and new ed.; Farrar, Life of Christ, 2 vols. London 1874; Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, London 1876, etc.] Concerning the internal or apologetico-dogmatic aspect of his life, which forms the basis of the History of Doctrines, comp. (Reinhard) Versuch über den Plan, den der Stifter der christlichen Religion zum Besten der Menschheit entwarf, Wittenberg 1781, new ed., with additions by Heubner, Wittenb. 1830 (primarily a reply to the Wolfenbüttel Fragments). [Plan of the Founder of Christ., from the German, by O. W. Taylor, 12mo, Andover 1831.] *J. G. Herder, Vom Erlöser der Menschen, nach den drei ersten HAGENB. HIST. DOCT. 1. D

Evangelien, Riga 1796. By the same: vom Sohne Gottes, der Welt Heiland, nach Johannes, Riga 1797. (Comp. Werke zur Religion und Theologie, vol. xi., or Christliche Schriften, part 1.) Ch. F. Böhme, die Religion Jesu Christi, aus ihren Urkunden dargestellt, Halle 1825-27. *Ullmann, über die Sündlosigkeit Jesu, in the Studien und Kritiken, 1828, part 1, reprinted, Hamb. 1833, 5th ed. 1845. [Dr. Ullmann on the Sinless Character of Jesus, Edinr.] By the same: Was setzt die Stiftung der christlichen Kirche durch einen Gekreuzigten voraus? in the Studien und Kritiken, 1832, s. 579-596, and reprinted in his treatise: Historisch oder mythisch? Beiträge zur Beantwortung der gegenwärtigen Lebensfrage der Theologie, Hamb. 1838. Ch. F. Fritzsche, de ávaμaprnoia Jesu Christi, Commentationes 4 (repr. in Fritzschiorum Opuscula Academica, Lips. 1838, p. 48 seq.). *Alex. Schweizer, über die Dignität des Religionsstifters, in the Studien und Kritiken, 1834. F. Lücke, two programmes (against Hase): Examinatur, quæ speciosus nuper commendata est sententia de mutato per eventa adeoque sensim emendato Christi consilio, Gött. 1831, 4to. On the other side: Hase, Streitschriften, Leipz. 1834.-Strauss and his opponents. (The Literature in Theile and elsewhere.) [Neander's Life of Christ, transl. from 4th ed. by J. McClintock and C. E. Blumenthal, New York 1848; London, Bohn. Hase's Life of Jesus, transl. by J. F. Clarke, Boston 1860. Strauss' Life, transl. 2 vols. Lond. 1854. W. H. Furness, History of Jesus, Boston 1850; ibid., Jesus and His Biographers, 1838.-+ Sepp, Das Leben Jesu, 4 vols. Regensb. 1843 sq.; in French, 1854. J. P. Lange, Das Leben Jesu, 3 vols. Heidelb. 1847, and in English (Clark, Edinr.). A. Ebrard, Kritik d. evang. Gesch., 3d ed. Erlangen 1868. C. F. Von Ammon, 3 vols. 1847. B. Bauer, Evang. Gesch., 3 vols., 2d ed. 1855. +J. Bucher, Leben Jesu, 1859. Paulus, 2 Bde. 1828. Krabbe, 1838. Weisse, Evang. Gesch., 2 vols. 1828, 29. Ewald, Gesch. Jesu u. seiner Zeit, 1855. A. Tholuck, Glaubwürdigkeit, 1837. T. Young, The Christ of History, 1855. Alexander, Christ and Christianity, 1854. (Isaac Taylor) Restoration of Belief, 1855. W. H. Mill, Christian Advocate Sermons, Camb. 1844, 49.] G. Volkmar, Die Religion Jesu und ihre erste Entwicklung, Leipz. 1857. [Gess, Lehre von der Person Christi, 1856.]

WITH the incarnation of the Redeemer, and the introduction of Christianity into the world, the materials of the History of Doctrines are already fully given in germ. The object of all further doctrinal statements and definitions is, in the positive point of view, to unfold this germ; in the negative, to guard it against all foreign additions and influences. We here assume, on the basis of the evidences, that what Jesus Christ brought to light, in relation to the past (1), was new and original, i.e. a revelation, and, in relation to the future, is theoretically perfect, not standing in need of correction or improvement (2). This is the principle which we are justified in placing at the very head of the History of

Doctrines, and by which we are to judge all its phenomena. We cannot, therefore, separate Christ's doctrine from His person. For the peculiar and harmonious relation in which Christ, as the Son of God, stood to His heavenly Father, the decision with which He bore witness to this relationship, and the spiritual and moral renovation which were to flow from Himself, as the Saviour, unto mankind, form the kernel and centre of His doctrine. It has not essentially the character

of a system made up of certain definitive notions, but it is a fact in the religious and moral sphere, the joyful news (εὐαγγέλιον, κήρυγμα) of which was to be proclaimed to all men for their salvation, on condition of faith, and a willingness to repent and obey in newness of life. Jesus is not the author of a dogmatic theology, but the author and finisher of faith (Heb. xii. 2); not the founder of a school, but in the most exalted sense the founder of a religion and of the Church. Hence He did not propound dogmas dressed in a scientific garb, but He taught the divine word in a simply human and popular manner, for the most part in parables and proverbs. We find these laid down in the canonical Gospels, though in a somewhat different form in the Gospel of John from that in the synoptical Gospels (3). One of the objects

shared by the evangelical interpretation of Scripture, by the histories of the life of Jesus, by apologetics and biblical theology, is to ascertain the peculiar contents of the teaching of Jesus, to reduce it to certain fundamental ideas and one uniform principle.

(1)" The office of the Saviour was not to propound doctrine, or to set forth doctrinal formulas, but to manifest Himself, and to reveal His unity with the Father. His person was a fact, and not an idea." Schwegler, Montanismus, s. 3. Jesus, indeed, adopted many of the current opinions, especially the Mosaic doctrine of one God, and also the prevailing opinions and expectations of the age concerning the doctrine of angels, the kingdom of God, etc. But to consider Him merely as the reformer of Judaism would be to take a too narrow view of

His work, and to speak of Him as an Ebionite; see Schwegler, das nachapostolische Zeitalter, s. 89 ff. (das Urchristenthum). On the relation in which the History of Doctrines stands to the teaching of Jesus and His apostles, see Dorner, Entwicklungsgeschichte der Lehre von der Person Christi, I. i. s. 68; Gieseler's Dogmengeschichte, s. 4, 29 ff.; Baur, s. 140.

(2) A perfectibility of Christianity is, from the Christian point of view, unimaginable, if we mean by this an extension or perfection of the idea of religion as taught by the Son of God; for this is complete in itself, and realized in the manifestation of the God-man. There is therefore no room within the History of Doctrines for a new revelation, which might supersede the Christianity of its founder. Compare the recent controversy aroused by Strauss upon the question whether and how far the entire religious life (and this only as the first point in the debate) can be said to be perfectly realized in any one individual. [This is the point which Strauss debated in the form, that no one individual of a species can fully realize and exhaust any general idea or conception, e.g. an incarnation, a perfect religion. See Dorner, Göschel, and others in reply.]

(3) How far the synoptical Gospels differ from each other in their accounts of the teaching of Jesus, and how this difference again is connected with the question as to the priority of Matthew or Mark, must be discussed elsewhere. So the important inquiry as to the origin of the fourth Gospel must, for the present, remain for us an open question. We may, however, set down as certain the following points:In the synoptical Gospels we find more of doctrina Christi, in John more of doctrina de Christo: hence the former are more objective, the latter is more subjective. But though we concede such a subjective colouring, on the part of the fourth evangelist, in his conception and narration of the words of Jesus, yet this does not affect the credibility of his report, or the religious truth of what he imparts; comp. Ebrard, das Evang. Johannis, Zür. 1845. Upon the extent to which the divine dignity of Christ is manifested even in the synoptic Gospels, see Dorner's work, cited above, s. 79 ff. [Comp. also W. T. Gess, Die Lehre von d. Person Christi, 1856, and Lechler in Stud. und Kritiken, 1857. Delitzsch, Bibl. Psycho

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