The New Testament in the Light of the Higher Criticism (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905. Excerpt: ... VIII THE CONTRIBUTION OF PAUL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. (I) HIS LIFE AND WORK. Galatians i. I.--"Paul, an Apostle, not from man, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father." Philippians iii. 12, 13.--"Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but, .... Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." It is a very widely accepted belief that orthodox Christianity, or the doctrines and system of worship which it represents, sprang ready made from the life and teaching of Jesus, or, at any rate, that these doctrines and this system of worship were implicitly contained in that life and teaching. So far is that from being the case that we might say that the far larger part of orthodox Christianity is an after-growth, springing, not from the teachings of Jesus, but from the theorisings of others about Jesus. No, Christianity, as we know it to day, is a vast scheme of thought and life which Jesus would hardly recognise as a development of his own teaching--a scheme the outcome of generation after generation of theorisers and workers. Centuries passed ere it became formulated and crystallised into the Roman Catholic system of faith and worship; many centuries more passed away ere that system was broken down, or partially broken down, by Protestantism; many centuries more will pass ere the after-growths of Protestantism are swept away and humanity is pene trated by the spirit and the consciousness of Jesus. Within the covers of the New Testament we can see the beginnings of some of these developments taking place, but they are so limited in their scope and tendency that we can lay o...