ΤΟ MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER IN GRATITUDE AND LOVE AND REVERENCE I DEDICATE WHATEVER OF MY OWN WITHIN THESE PAGES MAY BE TRUE AND WISE FOR IT IS THEIRS Autrement on l'accuse de ne rien dire de nouveau. Mais si les matières qu'il traite ne sont pas nouvelles, la disposition en est nouvelle. Quand on joue à la paume, c'est une même balle dont on joue l'un et l'autre ; mais l'un la place mieux.-Pascal. The idea of the present edition The "historical" method: its double bearing The NT literature to be re-arranged in the order of its growth (i.) general nature and requirements of historical study (ii.) special nature of NT canon. I. Significance of interval between the dates of a narrative's subject Bearing of this upon the apostolic age and our knowledge of Jesus Every narrative contains a standpoint as well as a subject-" the Gospels not chronicles-their selective, interpretative element Coloured by contemporary tendencies Witness indirectly to beliefs and feelings of apostolic age Their variations and idiosyncrasies This interval inevitable-its significance for character of 13 f. Historical narratives are thus a double witness, to past and present, The gospels and the epistles: their rise and mutual relations The fact of distance an axiom of research to be recognised, for— Use and limitations of this method for and with the historical The NT literature to be taken in its sequence Resultant insight into early Christian modes of thought and life II. Canonical order of NT varying and unchronological Its object usually practical and devotional Need of a fresh arrangement of the literature on a different III. Explanation of present edition : its objects, limitations, possibility. (a) organic relations necessarily between certain docu- ments, e.g. gospels and Pauline epistles. literary dependence in relation to chronology of the place of Paulinism in early Christian develop- (b) dogmatic purpose or orderly development- the deceptiveness and inadequacy of chronology (c) undue literary prominence of Pauline epistles— Limitations of this edition . with Paul |