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+Project Gutenberg's History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7), by Adolph Harnack
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7)
+
+Author: Adolph Harnack
+
+Translator: Neil Buchanan
+
+Release Date: October 24, 2006 [EBook #19612]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF DOGMA, VOLUME 1 (OF 7) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Maddock, David King, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION LIBRARY
+
+EDITED BY THE REV. T. K. CHEYNE MA DD, ORIET PROFESSOR OF INTERPRETATION
+OXFORD AND THE REV. A. B. BRUCE, DD PROFESSOR OF APOLOGETICS AND NEW
+TESTAMENT: EXEGESIS, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE GLASGOW
+
+
+VOL II
+HARNACKS HISTORY OF DOGMA. VOL. I
+
+[Greek: To dogmatos onoma tes anthropines echetai boules te kai gnomes.
+Hoti de touth' houtos echei, marturei men hikanos he dogmatike ton
+iatron techne, martyrei de kai ta ton philosophon kaloumena dogmata.
+Hoti de kai ta synkleto doxanta eti kai nun dogmata synkletou legetai,
+oudena agnoein oimai.]
+
+MARCELLUS OF ANCYRA.
+
+
+Die Christliche Religion hat nichts in der Philosophie zu thun, Sie ist
+ein machtiges Wesen fuer sich, woran die gesunkene und leidende
+Menschheit von Zeit zu Zeit sich immer wieder emporgearbeitet hat, und
+indem man ihr diese Wirkung zugesteht, ist sie ueber aller Philosophie
+erhaben und bedarf von ihr keine Stuetze.
+
+Gesprache mit GOETHE von ECKERMANN,
+2 Th p 39.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF DOGMA
+
+BY
+
+DR. ADOLPH HARNACK
+
+ORDINARY PROF. OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY, AND FELLOW OF THE
+ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, BERLIN
+
+_TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION_
+
+BY
+
+NEIL BUCHANAN
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+BOSTON
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
+1901
+
+
+
+
+VORWORT ZUR ENGLISCHEN AUSGABE.
+
+Ein theologisches Buch erhaelt erst dadurch einen Platz in der
+Weltlitteratur, dass es Deutsch und Englisch gelesen werden kann. Diese
+beiden Sprachen zusammen haben auf dem Gebiete der Wissenschaft vom
+Christenthum das Lateinische abgeloest. Es ist mir daher eine grosse
+Freude, dass mein Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte in das Englische
+uebersetzt worden ist, und ich sage dem Uebersetzer sowie den Verlegern
+meinen besten Dank.
+
+Der schwierigste Theil der Dogmengeschichte ist ihr Anfang, nicht nur
+weil in dem Anfang die Keime fuer alle spaeteren Entwickelungen liegen,
+und daher ein Beobachtungsfehler beim Beginn die Richtigkeit der ganzen
+folgenden Darstellung bedroht, sondern auch desshalb, weil die Auswahl
+des wichtigsten Stoffs aus der Geschichte des Urchristenthums und der
+biblischen Theologie ein schweres Problem ist. Der Eine wird finden,
+dass ich zu viel in das Buch aufgenommen habe, und der Andere zu
+wenig--vielleicht haben Beide recht; ich kann dagegen nur anfuehren, dass
+sich mir die getroffene Auswahl nach wiederholtem Nachdenken und
+Experimentiren auf's Neue erprobt hat.
+
+Wer ein theologisches Buch aufschlaegt, fragt gewoehnlich zuerst nach dem
+"Standpunkt" des Verfassers. Bei geschichtlichen Darstellungen sollte
+man so nicht fragen. Hier handelt es sich darum, ob der Verfasser einen
+Sinn hat fuer den Gegenstand den er darstellt, ob er Originales und
+Abgeleitetes zu unterscheiden versteht, ob er seinen Stoff volkommen
+kennt, ob er sich der Grenzen des geschichtlichen Wissens bewusst ist,
+und ob er wahrhaftig ist. Diese Forderungen enthalten den kategorischen
+Imperativ fuer den Historiker; aber nur indem man rastlos an sich selber
+arbeitet, sind sie zu erfullen,--so ist jede geschichtliche Darstellung
+eine ethische Aufgabe. Der Historiker soll in jedem Sinn _treu_ sein: ob
+er das gewesen ist, darnach soll mann fragen.
+
+_Berlin_, am 1. Mai, 1894.
+
+ADOLF HARNACK.
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
+
+
+No theological book can obtain a place in the literature of the world
+unless it can be read both in German and in English. These two languages
+combined have taken the place of Latin in the sphere of Christian
+Science. I am therefore greatly pleased to learn that my "History of
+Dogma" has been translated into English, and I offer my warmest thanks
+both to the translator and to the publishers.
+
+The most difficult part of the history of dogma is the beginning, not
+only because it contains the germs of all later developments, and
+therefore an error in observation here endangers the correctness of the
+whole following account, but also because the selection of the most
+important material from the history of primitive Christianity and
+biblical theology is a hard problem. Some will think that I have
+admitted too much into the book, others too little. Perhaps both are
+right. I can only reply that after repeated consideration and experiment
+I continue to be satisfied with my selection.
+
+In taking up a theological book we are in the habit of enquiring first
+of all as to the "stand-point" of the Author. In a historical work there
+is no room for such enquiry. The question here is, whether the Author is
+in sympathy with the subject about which he writes, whether he can
+distinguish original elements from those that are derived, whether he
+has a thorough acquaintance with his material, whether he is conscious
+of the limits of historical knowledge, and whether he is truthful. These
+requirements constitute the categorical imperative for the historian:
+but they can only be fulfilled by an unwearied self-discipline. Hence
+every historical study is an ethical task. The historian ought to be
+faithful in every sense of the word; whether he has been so or not is
+the question on which his readers have to decide.
+
+_Berlin_, 1st May, 1894.
+
+ADOLF HARNACK.
+
+
+
+
+FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+The task of describing the genesis of ecclesiastical dogma which I have
+attempted to perform in the following pages, has hitherto been proposed
+by very few scholars, and, properly speaking, undertaken by one only. I
+must therefore crave the indulgence of those acquainted with the subject
+for an attempt which no future historian of dogma can avoid.
+
+At first I meant to confine myself to narrower limits, but I was unable
+to carry out that intention, because the new arrangement of the material
+required a more detailed justification. Yet no one will find in the
+book, which presupposes the knowledge of Church history so far as it is
+given in the ordinary manuals, any repertory of the theological thought
+of Christian antiquity. The diversity of Christian ideas, or of ideas
+closely related to Christianity, was very great in the first centuries.
+For that very reason a selection was necessary; but it was required,
+above all, by the aim of the work. The history of dogma has to give an
+account, only of those doctrines of Christian writers which were
+authoritative in wide circles, or which furthered the advance of the
+development; otherwise it would become a collection of monographs, and
+thereby lose its proper value. I have endeavoured to subordinate
+everything to the aim of exhibiting the development which led to the
+ecclesiastical dogmas, and therefore have neither, for example,
+communicated the details of the gnostic systems, nor brought forward in
+detail the theological ideas of Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, etc. Even a
+history of Paulinism will be sought for in the book in vain. It is a
+task by itself, to trace the aftereffects of the theology of Paul in the
+post-Apostolic age. The History of Dogma can only furnish fragments
+here; for it is not consistent with its task to give an accurate account
+of the history of a theology the effects of which were at first very
+limited. It is certainly no easy matter to determine what was
+authoritative in wide circles at the time when dogma was first being
+developed, and I may confess that I have found the working out of the
+third chapter of the first book very difficult. But I hope that the
+severe limitation in the material will be of service to the subject. If
+the result of this limitation should be to lead students to read
+connectedly the manual which has grown out of my lectures, my highest
+wish will be gratified.
+
+There can be no great objection to the appearance of a text-book on the
+history of dogma at the present time. We now know in what direction we
+have to work; but we still want a history of Christian theological ideas
+in their relation to contemporary philosophy. Above all, we have not got
+an exact knowledge of the Hellenistic philosophical terminologies in
+their development up to the fourth century. I have keenly felt this
+want, which can only be remedied by well-directed common labour. I have
+made a plentiful use of the controversial treatise of Celsus against
+Christianity, of which little use has hitherto been made for the history
+of dogma. On the other hand, except in a few cases, I have deemed it
+inadmissible to adduce parallel passages, easy to be got, from Philo,
+Seneca, Plutarch, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Porphyry, etc.; for only a
+comparison strictly carried out would have been of value here. I have
+been able neither to borrow such from others, nor to furnish it myself.
+Yet I have ventured to submit my work, because, in my opinion, it is
+possible to prove the dependence of dogma on the Greek spirit, without
+being compelled to enter into a discussion of all the details.
+
+The Publishers of the Encyclopaedia Britannica have allowed me to print
+here, in a form but slightly altered, the articles on Neoplatonism and
+Manichaeism which I wrote for their work, and for this I beg to thank
+them.
+
+It is now eighty-three years since my grandfather, Gustav Ewers, edited
+in German the excellent manual on the earliest history of dogma by
+Muenter, and thereby got his name associated with the history of the
+founding of the new study. May the work of the grandson be found not
+unworthy of the clear and disciplined mind which presided over the
+beginnings of the young science.
+
+_Giessen_, 1st August, 1885.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
+
+
+In the two years that have passed since the appearance of the first
+edition I have steadily kept in view the improvement of this work, and
+have endeavoured to learn from the reviews of it that have appeared. I
+owe most to the study of Weizsaecker's work, on the Apostolic Age, and
+his notice of the first edition of this volume in the Goettinger gelehrte
+Anzeigen, 1886, No. 21. The latter, in several decisive passages
+concerning the general conception, drew my attention to the fact that I
+had emphasised certain points too strongly, but had not given due
+prominence to others of equal importance, while not entirely overlooking
+them. I have convinced myself that these hints were, almost throughout,
+well founded, and have taken pains to meet them in the new edition. I
+have also learned from Heinrici's commentary on the Second Epistle to
+the Corinthians, and from Bigg's "Lectures on the Christian Platonists
+of Alexandria." Apart from these works there has appeared very little
+that could be of significance for my historical account; but I have once
+more independently considered the main problems, and in some cases,
+after repeated reading of the sources, checked my statements, removed
+mistakes and explained what had been too briefly stated. Thus, in
+particular, Chapter II. Sec.Sec. 1-3 of the "Presuppositions", also the Third
+Chapter of the First Book (especially Section 6), also in the Second
+Book, Chapter I. and Chapter II. (under B), the Third Chapter
+(Supplement 3 and excursus on "Catholic and Romish"), the Fifth Chapter
+(under 1 and 3) and the Sixth Chapter (under 2) have been subjected to
+changes and greater additions. Finally, a new excursus has been added on
+the various modes of conceiving pre-existence, and in other respects
+many things have been improved in detail. The size of the book has
+thereby been increased by about fifty pages. As I have been
+misrepresented by some as one who knew not how to appreciate the
+uniqueness of the Gospel history and the evangelic faith, while others
+have conversely reproached me with making the history of dogma proceed
+from an "apostasy" from the Gospel to Hellenism, I have taken pains to
+state my opinions on both these points as clearly as possible. In doing
+so I have only wrought out the hints which were given in the first
+edition, and which, as I supposed, were sufficient for readers. But it
+is surely a reasonable desire when I request the critics in reading the
+paragraphs which treat of the "Presuppositions", not to forget how
+difficult the questions there dealt with are, both in themselves and
+from the nature of the sources, and how exposed to criticism the
+historian is who attempts to unfold his position towards them in a few
+pages. As is self-evident, the centre of gravity of the book lies in
+that which forms its subject proper, in the account of the origin of
+dogma within the Graeco-Roman empire. But one should not on that account,
+as many have done, pass over the beginning which lies before the
+beginning, or arbitrarily adopt a starting-point of his own; for
+everything here depends on where and how one begins. I have not
+therefore been able to follow the well-meant counsel to simply strike
+out the "Presuppositions."
+
+I would gladly have responded to another advice to work up the notes
+into the text; but I would then have been compelled to double the size
+of some chapters. The form of this book, in many respects awkward, may
+continue as it is so long as it represents the difficulties by which the
+subject is still pressed. When they have been removed--and the smallest
+number of them lie in the subject matter--I will gladly break up this
+form of the book and try to give it another shape. For the friendly
+reception given to it I have to offer my heartiest thanks. But against
+those who, believing themselves in possession of a richer view of the
+history here related, have called my conception meagre, I appeal to the
+beautiful words of Tertullian; "Malumus in scripturis minus, si forte,
+sapere quam contra."
+
+_Marburg_, 24th December, 1887.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
+
+
+In the six years that have passed since the appearance of the second
+edition I have continued to work at the book, and have made use of the
+new sources and investigations that have appeared during this period, as
+well as corrected and extended my account in many passages. Yet I have
+not found it necessary to make many changes in the second half of the
+work. The increase of about sixty pages is almost entirely in the first
+half.
+
+_Berlin_, 31st December, 1893
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY DIVISION.
+
+CHAPTER I.--PROLEGOMENA TO THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA
+
+Sec. 1. The Idea and Task of the History of Dogma
+
+Definition
+
+Limits and Divisions
+
+Dogma and Theology
+
+Factors in the formation of Dogma
+
+Explanation as to the conception and task of the History of Dogma
+
+Sec. 2. History of the History of Dogma
+
+The Early, the Mediaeval, and the Roman Catholic Church
+
+The Reformers and the 17th Century
+
+Mosheim, Walch, Ernesti
+
+Lessing, Semler, Lange, Muenscher, Baumgarten-Crusius, Meier Baur,
+Neander, Kliefoth, Thomasius,
+
+Nitzsch, Ritschl, Renan, Loofs
+
+CHAPTER II.--THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA
+
+Sec. 1. Introductory
+
+The Gospel and the Old Testament
+
+The Detachment of the Christians from the Jewish Church
+
+The Church and the Graeco-Roman World
+
+The Greek spirit an element of the Ecclesiastical Doctrine of Faith
+
+The Elements connecting Primitive Christianity and the growing Catholic
+Church
+
+The Presuppositions of the origin of the Apostolic Catholic Doctrine of
+Faith
+
+Sec. 2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to His own Testimony
+concerning Himself
+
+Fundamental Features
+
+Details
+
+Supplements
+
+Literature
+
+Sec. 3. The Common Preaching concerning Jesus Christ in the first
+generation of believers.
+
+General Outline
+
+The faith of the first Disciples
+
+The beginnings of Christology
+
+Conceptions of the Work of Jesus
+
+Belief in the Resurrection
+
+Righteousness and the Law
+
+Paul
+
+The Self-consciousness of being the Church of God
+
+Supplement 1. Universalism
+
+Supplement 2. Questions as to the value of the Law; the four main
+tendencies at the close of the Apostolic Age
+
+Supplement 3. The Pauline Theology.
+
+Supplement 4. The Johannine Writings
+
+Supplement 5. The Authorities in the Church
+
+Sec. 4. The current Exposition of the Old Testament and the Jewish hopes of
+the future in their significance for the Earliest types of Christian
+preaching
+
+The Rabbinical and Exegetical Methods
+
+The Jewish Apocalyptic literature
+
+Mythologies and poetical ideas, notions of pre-existence and their
+application to Messiah
+
+The limits of the explicable Literature
+
+Sec. 5. The Religious Conceptions and the Religious Philosophy of the
+Hellenistic Jews in their significance for the later formulation of the
+Gospel
+
+Spiritualising and Moralising of the Jewish Religion
+
+Philo
+
+The Hermeneutic principles of Philo
+
+Sec. 6. The religious dispositions of the Greeks and Romans in the first
+two centuries, and the current Graeco-Roman philosophy of religion
+
+The new religious needs and the old worship (Excursus on [Greek: theos])
+
+The System of associations, and the Empire
+
+Philosophy and its acquisitions
+
+Platonic and Stoic Elements in the philosophy of religion
+
+Greek culture and Roman ideas in the Church
+
+The Empire and philosophic schools (the Cynics)
+
+Literature
+
+SUPPLEMENTARY.
+
+(1) The twofold conception of the blessing of Salvation in its
+significance for the following period
+
+(2) Obscurity in the origin of the most important Christian ideas and
+Ecclesiastical forms
+
+(3) Significance of the Pauline theology for the legitimising and
+reformation of the doctrine of the Church in the following period
+
+DIVISION I.--THE GENESIS OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA, OR THE GENESIS OF THE
+CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, AND THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC
+ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE.
+
+BOOK I.
+
+THE PREPARATION.
+
+CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL SURVEY
+
+CHAPTER II.--THE ELEMENT COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS AND THE BREACH WITH
+JUDAISM
+
+CHAPTER III. THE COMMON FAITH AND THE BEGINNINGS OF KNOWLEDGE IN GENTILE
+CHRISTIANITY AS IT WAS BEING DEVELOPED INTO CATHOLICISM
+
+(1) The Communities and the Church
+
+(2) The Foundations of the Faith; the Old Testament, and the traditions
+about Jesus (sayings of Jesus, the _Kerygma_ about Jesus), the
+significance of the "Apostolic"
+
+(3) The main articles of Christianity and the conceptions of salvation.
+The new law. Eschatology.
+
+(4) The Old Testament as source of the knowledge of faith
+
+(5) The knowledge of God and of the world, estimate of the world
+(Demons)
+
+(6) Faith in Jesus Christ
+
+Jesus the Lord.
+
+Jesus the Christ
+
+Jesus the Son of God, the _Theologia Christi_
+
+The Adoptian and the Pneumatic Christology
+
+Ideas of Christ's work
+
+(7) The Worship, the sacred actions, and the organisation of the
+Churches
+
+The Worship and Sacrifice
+
+Baptism and the Lord's Supper
+
+The organisation
+
+SUPPLEMENTARY.
+
+The premises of Catholicism
+
+Doctrinal diversities of the Apostolical Fathers
+
+CHAPTER IV.--THE ATTEMPTS OF THE GNOSTICS TO CREATE AN APOSTOLIC
+DOGMATIC, AND A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY; OR THE ACUTE SECULARISING OF
+CHRISTIANITY
+
+(1) The conditions for the rise of Gnosticism.
+
+(2) The nature of Gnosticism
+
+(3) History of Gnosticism and the forms in which it appeared
+
+(4) The most important Gnostic doctrines
+
+CHAPTER V.--THE ATTEMPT OF MARCION TO SET ASIDE THE OLD TESTAMENT
+FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY, TO PURIFY THE TRADITION AND REFORM
+CHRISTENDOM ON THE BASIS OF THE PAULINE GOSPEL
+
+Characterisation of Marcion's attempt
+
+(1) His estimate of the Old Testament and the god of the Jews
+
+(2) The God of the Gospel
+
+(3) The relation of the two Gods according to Marcion. The Gnostic woof
+in Marcion's Christianity
+
+(4)  The Christology
+
+(5) Eschatology and Ethics
+
+(6) Criticism of the Christian tradition, the Marcionite Church
+
+Remarks
+
+CHAPTER VI.--THE CHRISTIANITY OF JEWISH CHRISTIANS, DEFINITION OF THE
+NOTION JEWISH CHRISTIANITY
+
+(1) General conditions for the development of Jewish Christianity
+
+(2) Jewish Christianity and the Catholic Church, insignificance of
+Jewish Christianity, "Judaising" in Catholicism
+
+Alleged documents of Jewish Christianity (Apocalypse of John, Acts of
+the Apostles, Epistle to the Hebrews, Hegesippus)
+
+History of Jewish Christianity
+
+The witness of Justin
+
+The witness of Celsus
+
+The witness of Irenaeus and Origen
+
+The witness of Eusebius and Jerome
+
+The Gnostic Jewish Christianity
+
+The Elkesaites and Ebionites of Epiphanius
+
+Estimate of the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies, their want
+of significance for the question as to the genesis of Catholicism and
+its doctrine
+
+APPENDICES.
+
+I. On the different notions of Pre-existence.
+
+II. On Liturgies and the genesis of Dogma.
+
+III. On Neoplatonism Literature
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+PROLEGOMENA TO THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
+
+II
+
+THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PROLEGOMENA TO THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
+
+Sec. 1. _The Idea and Task of the History of Dogma_.
+
+
+1. The History of Dogma is a discipline of general Church History, which
+has for its object the dogmas of the Church. These dogmas are the
+doctrines of the Christian faith logically formulated and expressed for
+scientific and apologetic purposes, the contents of which are a
+knowledge of God, of the world, and of the provisions made by God for
+man's salvation. The Christian Churches teach them as the truths
+revealed in Holy Scripture, the acknowledgment of which is the condition
+of the salvation which religion promises. But as the adherents of the
+Christian religion had not these dogmas from the beginning, so far, at
+least, as they form a connected system, the business of the history of
+dogma is, in the first place, to ascertain the origin of Dogmas (of
+Dogma), and then secondly, to describe their development (their
+variations).
+
+2. We cannot draw any hard and fast line between the time of the origin
+and that of the development of dogma; they rather shade off into one
+another. But we shall have to look for the final point of division at
+the time when an article of faith logically formulated and
+scientifically expressed, was first raised to the _articulus
+constitutivus ecclesiae_, and as such was universally enforced by the
+Church. Now that first happened when the doctrine of Christ, as the
+pre-existent and personal Logos of God, had obtained acceptance
+everywhere in the confederated Churches as the revealed and fundamental
+doctrine of faith, that is, about the end of the third century or the
+beginning of the fourth. We must therefore, in our account, take this as
+the final point of division.[1] As to the development of dogma, it seems
+to have closed in the Eastern Church with the seventh Oecumenical
+Council (787). After that time no further dogmas were set up in the East
+as revealed truths. As to the Western Catholic, that is, the Romish
+Church, a new dogma was promulgated as late as the year 1870, which
+claims to be, and in point of form really is, equal in dignity to the
+old dogmas. Here, therefore, the History of Dogma must extend to the
+present time. Finally, as regards the Protestant Churches, they are a
+subject of special difficulty in the sphere of the history of dogma; for
+at the present moment there is no agreement within these Churches as to
+whether, and in what sense, dogmas (as the word was used in the ancient
+Church) are valid. But even if we leave the present out of account and
+fix our attention on the Protestant Churches of the 16th century, the
+decision is difficult. For, on the one hand, the Protestant faith, the
+Lutheran as well as the Reformed (and that of Luther no less), presents
+itself as a doctrine of faith which, resting on the Catholic canon of
+scripture, is, in point of form, quite analogous to the Catholic
+doctrine of faith, has a series of dogmas in common with it, and only
+differs in a few. On the other hand, Protestantism has taken its stand
+in principle on the Gospel exclusively, and declared its readiness at
+all times to test all doctrines afresh by a true understanding of the
+Gospel. The Reformers, however, in addition to this, began to unfold a
+conception of Christianity which might be described, in contrast with
+the Catholic type of religion, as a new conception, and which indeed
+draws support from the old dogmas, but changes their original
+significance materially and formally. What this conception was may still
+be ascertained from those writings received by the Church, the
+Protestant symbols of the 16th century, in which the larger part of the
+traditionary dogmas are recognised as the appropriate expression of the
+Christian religion, nay, as the Christian religion itself.[2]
+Accordingly, it can neither be maintained that the expression of the
+Christian faith in the form of dogmas is abolished in the Protestant
+Churches--the very acceptance of the Catholic canon as the revealed
+record of faith is opposed to that view--nor that its meaning has
+remained absolutely unchanged.[3] The history of dogma has simply to
+recognise this state of things, and to represent it exactly as it lies
+before us in the documents.
+
+But the point to which the historian should advance here still remains
+an open question. If we adhere strictly to the definition of the idea of
+dogma given above, this much is certain, that dogmas were no longer set
+up after the Formula of Concord, or in the case of the Reformed Church,
+after the decrees of the Synod of Dort. It cannot, however, be
+maintained that they have been set aside in the centuries that have
+passed since then; for apart from some Protestant National and
+independent Churches, which are too insignificant and whose future is
+too uncertain to be taken into account here, the ecclesiastical
+tradition of the 16th century, and along with it the tradition of the
+early Church, have not been abrogated in authoritative form. Of course,
+changes of the greatest importance with regard to doctrine have appeared
+everywhere in Protestantism from the 17th century to the present day.
+But these changes cannot in any sense be taken into account in a history
+of dogma, because they have not as yet attained a form valid for the
+Church. However we may judge of these changes, whether we regard them as
+corruptions or improvements, or explain the want of fixity in which the
+Protestant Churches find themselves, as a situation that is forced on
+them, or the situation that is agreeable to them and for which they are
+adapted, in no sense is there here a development which could be
+described as history of dogma.
+
+These facts would seem to justify those who, like Thomasius and Schmid,
+carry the history of dogma in Protestantism to the Formula of Concord,
+or, in the case of the Reformed Church, to the decrees of the Synod of
+Dort. But it may be objected to this boundary line; (1) That those
+symbols have at all times attained only a partial authority in
+Protestantism; (2) That as noted above, the dogmas, that is, the
+formulated doctrines of faith have different meanings on different
+matters in the Protestant and in the Catholic Churches. Accordingly, it
+seems advisable within the frame-work of the history of dogma, to
+examine Protestantism only so far as this is necessary for obtaining a
+knowledge of its deviations from the Catholic dogma materially and
+formally, that is, to ascertain the original position of the Reformers
+with regard to the doctrine of the Church, a position which is beset
+with contradictions. The more accurately we determine the relation of
+the Reformers to Catholicism, the more intelligible will be the
+developments which Protestantism has passed through in the course of its
+history. But these developments themselves (retrocession and advance) do
+not belong to the sphere of the history of dogma, because they stand in
+no comparable relation to the course of the history of dogma within the
+Catholic Church. As history of Protestant doctrines they form a peculiar
+independent province of Church history.
+
+As to the division of the history of dogma, it consists of two main
+parts. The first has to describe the origin of dogma, that is, of the
+Apostolic Catholic system of doctrine based on the foundation of the
+tradition authoritatively embodied in the creeds and Holy scripture, and
+extends to the beginning of the fourth century. This may be conveniently
+divided into two parts, the first of which will treat of the
+preparation, the second of the establishment of the ecclesiastical
+doctrine of faith. The second main part, which has to portray the
+development of dogma, comprehends three stages. In the first stage the
+doctrine of faith appears as Theology and Christology. The Eastern
+Church has never got beyond this stage, although it has to a large
+extent enriched dogma ritually and mystically (see the decrees of the
+seventh council). We will have to shew how the doctrines of faith formed
+in this stage have remained for all time in the Church dogmas [Greek:
+kat' exochen]. The second stage was initiated by Augustine. The doctrine
+of faith appears here on the one side completed, and on the other
+re-expressed by new dogmas, which treat of the relation of sin and
+grace, freedom and grace, grace and the means of grace. The number and
+importance of the dogmas that were, in the middle ages, really fixed
+after Augustine's time, had no relation to the range and importance of
+the questions which they raised, and which emerged in the course of
+centuries in consequence of advancing knowledge, and not less in
+consequence of the growing power of the Church. Accordingly, in this
+second stage which comprehends the whole of the middle ages, the Church
+as an institution kept believers together in a larger measure than was
+possible to dogmas. These in their accepted form were too poor to enable
+them to be the expression of religious conviction and the regulator of
+Church life. On the other hand, the new decisions of Theologians,
+Councils and Popes, did not yet possess the authority which could have
+made them incontestable truths of faith. The third stage begins with the
+Reformation, which compelled the Church to fix its faith on the basis of
+the theological work of the middle ages. Thus arose the Roman Catholic
+dogma which has found in the Vatican decrees its provisional settlement.
+This Roman Catholic dogma, as it was formulated at Trent, was moulded in
+express opposition to the Theses of the Reformers. But these Theses
+themselves represent a peculiar conception of Christianity, which has
+its root in the theology of Paul and Augustine, and includes either
+explicitly or implicitly a revision of the whole ecclesiastical
+tradition, and therefore of dogma also. The History of Dogma in this
+last stage, therefore, has a twofold task. It has, on the one hand, to
+present the Romish dogma as a product of the ecclesiastical development
+of the middle ages under the influence of the Reformation faith which
+was to be rejected, and on the other hand, to portray the conservative
+new formation which we have in original Protestantism, and determine its
+relation to dogma. A closer examination, however, shews that in none of
+the great confessions does religion live in dogma, as of old. Dogma
+everywhere has fallen into the background; in the Eastern Church it has
+given place to ritual, in the Roman Church to ecclesiastical
+instructions, in the Protestant Churches, so far as they are mindful of
+their origin, to the Gospel. At the same time, however, the paradoxical
+fact is unmistakable that dogma as such is nowhere at this moment so
+powerful as in the Protestant Churches, though by their history they are
+furthest removed from it. Here, however, it comes into consideration as
+an object of immediate religious interest, which, strictly speaking, in
+the Catholic Church is not the case.[4] The Council of Trent was simply
+wrung from the Romish Church, and she has made the dogmas of that
+council in a certain sense innocuous by the Vatican decrees.[5] In this
+sense, it may be said that the period of development of dogma is
+altogether closed, and that therefore our discipline requires a
+statement such as belongs to a series of historical phenomena that has
+been completed.
+
+3. The church has recognised her faith, that is religion itself, in her
+dogmas. Accordingly, one very important business of the History of Dogma
+is to exhibit the unity that exists in the dogmas of a definite period,
+and to shew how the several dogmas are connected with one another and
+what leading ideas they express. But, as a matter of course, this
+undertaking has its limits in the degree of unanimity which actually
+existed in the dogmas of the particular period. It may be shewn without
+much difficulty, that a strict though by no means absolute unanimity is
+expressed only in the dogmas of the Greek Church. The peculiar character
+of the western post-Augustinian ecclesiastical conception of
+Christianity, no longer finds a clear expression in dogma, and still
+less is this the case with the conception of the Reformers. The reason
+of this is that Augustine, as well as Luther, disclosed a new conception
+of Christianity, but at the same time appropriated the old dogmas.[6]
+But neither Baur's nor Kliefoth's method of writing the history of dogma
+has done justice to this fact. Not Baur's, because, notwithstanding the
+division into six periods, it sees a uniform process in the development
+of dogma, a process which begins with the origin of Christianity and has
+run its course, as is alleged, in a strictly logical way. Not
+Kliefoth's, because, in the dogmas of the Catholic Church which the East
+has never got beyond, it only ascertains the establishment of one
+portion of the Christian faith, to which the parts still wanting have
+been successively added in later times.[7] In contrast with this, we may
+refer to the fact that we can clearly distinguish three styles of
+building in the history of dogma, but only three; the style of Origen,
+that of Augustine, and that of the Reformers. But the dogma of the
+post-Augustinian Church, as well as that of Luther, does not in any way
+represent itself as a new building, not even as the mere extension of an
+old building, but as a complicated rebuilding, and by no means in
+harmony with former styles, because neither Augustine nor Luther ever
+dreamed of building independently.[8] This perception leads us to the
+most peculiar phenomenon which meets the historian of dogma, and which
+must determine his method.
+
+Dogmas arise, develop themselves and are made serviceable to new aims;
+this in all cases takes place through Theology. But Theology is
+dependent on innumerable factors, above all, on the spirit of the time;
+for it lies in the nature of theology that it desires to make its object
+intelligible. Dogmas are the product of theology, not inversely; of a
+theology of course which, as a rule, was in correspondence with the
+faith of the time. The critical view of history teaches this: first we
+have the Apologists and Origen, then the councils of Nice and Chalcedon;
+first the Scholastics, then the Council of Trent. In consequence of
+this, dogma bears the mark of all, the factors on which the theology was
+dependent. That is one point. But the moment in which the product of
+theology became dogma, the way which led to it must be obscured; for,
+according to the conception of the Church, dogma can be nothing else
+than the revealed faith itself. Dogma is regarded not as the exponent,
+but as the basis of theology, and therefore the product of theology
+having passed into dogma limits, and criticises the work of theology
+both past and future.[9] That is the second point. It follows from this
+that the history of the Christian religion embraces a very complicated
+relation of ecclesiastical dogma and theology, and that the
+ecclesiastical conception of the significance of theology cannot at all
+do justice to this significance. The ecclesiastical scheme which is here
+formed and which denotes the utmost concession that can be made to
+history, is to the effect that theology gives expression only to the
+form of dogma, while so far as it is ecclesiastical theology, it
+presupposes the unchanging dogma, i.e., the substance of dogma. But this
+scheme, which must always leave uncertain what the form really is, and
+what the substance, is in no way applicable to the actual circumstances.
+So far, however, as it is itself an article of faith it is an object of
+the history of dogma. Ecclesiastical dogma when put on its defence must
+at all times take up an ambiguous position towards theology, and
+ecclesiastical theology a corresponding position towards dogma; for they
+are condemned to perpetual uncertainty as to what they owe each other,
+and what they have to fear from each other. The theological Fathers of
+dogma have almost without exception failed to escape being condemned by
+dogma, either because it went beyond them, or lagged behind their
+theology. The Apologists, Origen and Augustine may be cited in support
+of this; and even in Protestantism, _mutatis mutandis_, the same thing
+has been repeated, as is proved by the fate of Melanchthon and
+Schleiermacher. On the other hand, there have been few theologians who
+have not shaken some article of the traditional dogma. We are wont to
+get rid of these fundamental facts by hypostatising the ecclesiastical
+principle or the common ecclesiastical spirit, and by this normal
+hypostasis, measuring, approving or condemning the doctrines of the
+theologians, unconcerned about the actual conditions and frequently
+following a hysteron-proteron. But this is a view of history which
+should in justice be left to the Catholic Church, which indeed cannot
+dispense with it. The critical history of dogma has, on the contrary, to
+shew above all how an ecclesiastical theology has arisen; for it can
+only give account of the origin of dogma in connection with this main
+question. The horizon must be taken here as wide as possible; for the
+question as to the origin of theology can only be answered by surveying
+all the relations into which the Christian religion has entered in
+naturalising itself in the world and subduing it. When ecclesiastical
+dogma has once been created and recognised as an immediate expression of
+the Christian religion, the history of dogma has only to take the
+history of theology into account so far as it has been active in the
+formation of dogma. Yet it must always keep in view the peculiar claim
+of dogma to be a criterion and not a product of theology. But it will
+also be able to shew how, partly by means of theology and partly by
+other means--for dogma is also dependent on ritual, constitution, and
+the practical ideals of life, as well as on the letter, whether of
+Scripture, or of tradition no longer understood--dogma in its
+development and re-expression has continually changed, according to the
+conditions under which the Church was placed. If dogma is originally the
+formulation of Christian faith as Greek culture understood it and
+justified it to itself, then dogma has never indeed lost this character,
+though it has been radically modified in later times. It is quite as
+important to keep in view the tenacity of dogma as its changes, and in
+this respect the Protestant way of writing history, which, here as
+elsewhere in the history of the Church, is more disposed to attend to
+differences than to what is permanent, has much to learn from the
+Catholic. But as the Protestant historian, as far possible, judges of
+the progress of development in so far as it agrees with the Gospel in
+its documentary form, he is still able to shew, with all deference to
+that tenacity, that dogma has been so modified and used to the best
+advantage by Augustine and Luther, that its Christian character has in
+many respects gained, though in other respects it has become further and
+further alienated from that character. In proportion as the traditional
+system of dogmas lost its stringency it became richer. In proportion as
+it was stripped by Augustine and Luther of its apologetic philosophic
+tendency, it was more and more filled with Biblical ideas, though, on
+the other hand, it became more full of contradictions and less
+impressive.
+
+This outlook, however, has already gone beyond the limits fixed for
+these introductory paragraphs and must not be pursued further. To treat
+_in abstracto_ of the method of the history of dogma in relation to the
+discovery, grouping and interpretation of the material is not to be
+recommended; for general rules to preserve the ignorant and half
+instructed from overlooking the important, and laying hold of what is
+not important, cannot be laid down. Certainly everything depends on the
+arrangement of the material; for the understanding of history is to find
+the rules according to which the phenomena should be grouped, and every
+advance in the knowledge of history is inseparable from an accurate
+observance of these rules. We must, above all, be on our guard against
+preferring one principle at the expense of another in the interpretation
+of the origin and aim of particular dogmas. The most diverse factors
+have at all times been at work in the formation of dogmas. Next to the
+effort to determine the doctrine of religion according to the _finis
+religionis_, the blessing of salvation, the following may have been the
+most important. (1) The conceptions and sayings contained in the
+canonical scriptures. (2) The doctrinal tradition originating in earlier
+epochs of the church, and no longer understood. (3) The needs of worship
+and organisation. (4) The effort to adjust the doctrine of religion to
+the prevailing doctrinal opinions. (5) Political and social
+circumstances. (6) The changing moral ideals of life. (7) The so-called
+logical consistency, that is the abstract analogical treatment of one
+dogma according to the form of another. (8) The effort to adjust
+different tendencies and contradictions in the church. (9) The endeavour
+to reject once for all a doctrine regarded as erroneous. (10) The
+sanctifying power of blind custom. The method of explaining everything
+wherever possible by "the impulse of dogma to unfold itself," must be
+given up as unscientific, just as all empty abstractions whatsoever must
+be given up as scholastic and mythological. Dogma has had its history in
+the individual living man and nowhere else. As soon as one adopts this
+statement in real earnest, that mediaeval realism must vanish to which a
+man so often thinks himself superior while imbedded in it all the time.
+Instead of investigating the actual conditions in which believing and
+intelligent men have been placed, a system of Christianity has been
+constructed from which, as from a Pandora's box, all doctrines which in
+course of time have been formed, are extracted, and in this way
+legitimised as Christian. The simple fundamental proposition that that
+only is Christian which can be established authoritatively by the
+Gospel, has never yet received justice in the history of dogma. Even the
+following account will in all probability come short in this point; for
+in face of a prevailing false tradition the application of a simple
+principle to every detail can hardly succeed at the first attempt.
+
+
+_Explanation as to the Conception and Task of the History of Dogma_.
+
+No agreement as yet prevails with regard to the conception of the
+history of dogma. Muenscher (Handbuch der Christl. D.G. 3rd ed. I. p. 3
+f.) declared that the business of the history of dogma is "To represent
+all the changes which the theoretic part of the Christian doctrine of
+religion has gone through from its origin up to the present, both in
+form and substance," and this definition held sway for a long time. Then
+it came to be noted that the question was not about changes that were
+accidental, but about those that were historically necessary, that dogma
+has a relation to the church, and that it represents a rational
+expression of the faith. Emphasis was put sometimes on one of these
+elements and sometimes on the other. Baur, in particular, insisted on
+the first; V. Hofmann, after the example of Schleiermacher, on the
+second, and indeed exclusively (Encyklop. der theol. p. 257 f.: "The
+history of dogma is the history of the Church confessing the faith in
+words"). Nitzsch (Grundriss der Christl. D.G. I. p. 1) insisted on the
+third: "The history of dogma is the scientific account of the origin and
+development of the Christian system of doctrine, or that part of
+historical theology which presents the history of the expression of the
+Christian faith in notions, doctrines and doctrinal systems." Thomasius
+has combined the second and third by conceiving the history of dogma as
+the history of the development of the ecclesiastical system of doctrine.
+But even this conception is not sufficiently definite, inasmuch as it
+fails to do complete justice to the special peculiarity of the subject.
+
+Ancient and modern usage does certainly seem to allow the word dogma to
+be applied to particular doctrines, or to a uniform system of doctrine,
+to fundamental truths, or to opinions, to theoretical propositions or
+practical rules, to statements of belief that have not been reached by a
+process of reasoning, as well as to those that bear the marks of such a
+process. But this uncertainty vanishes on closer examination. We then
+see that there is always an authority at the basis of dogma, which gives
+it to those who recognise that authority the signification of a
+fundamental truth "_quae sine scelere prodi non poterit_" (Cicero Quaest.
+Acad. IV. 9). But therewith at the same time is introduced into the idea
+of dogma a social element (see Biedermann, Christl. Dogmatik. 2. Edit.
+I. p. 2 f.); the confessors of one and the same dogma form a community.
+
+There can be no doubt that these two elements are also demonstrable in
+Christian dogma, and therefore we must reject all definitions of the
+history of dogma which do not take them into account. If we define it as
+the history of the understanding of Christianity by itself, or as the
+history of the changes of the theoretic part of the doctrine of religion
+or the like, we shall fail to do justice to the idea of dogma in its
+most general acceptation. We cannot describe as dogmas, doctrines such
+as the Apokatastasis, or the Kenosis of the Son of God, without coming
+into conflict with the ordinary usage of language and with
+ecclesiastical law.
+
+If we start, therefore, from the supposition that Christian dogma is an
+ecclesiastical doctrine which presupposes revelation as its authority,
+and therefore claims to be strictly binding, we shall fail to bring out
+its real nature with anything like completeness. That which Protestants
+and Catholics call dogmas, are not only ecclesiastical doctrines, but
+they are also: (1) theses expressed in abstract terms, forming together
+a unity, and fixing the contents of the Christian religion as a
+knowledge of God, of the world, and of the sacred history under the
+aspect of a proof of the truth. But (2) they have also emerged at a
+definite stage of the history of the Christian religion; they show in
+their conception as such, and in many details, the influence of that
+stage, viz., the Greek period, and they have preserved this character in
+spite of all their reconstructions and additions in after periods. This
+view of dogma cannot be shaken by the fact that particular historical
+facts, miraculous or not miraculous are described as dogmas; for here
+they are regarded as such, only in so far as they have got the value of
+doctrines which have been inserted in the complete structure of
+doctrines and are, on the other hand, members of a chain of proofs,
+viz., proofs from prophecy.
+
+But as soon as we perceive this, the parallel between the ecclesiastical
+dogmas and those of ancient schools of philosophy appears to be in point
+of form complete. The only difference is that revelation is here put as
+authority in the place of human knowledge, although the later
+philosophic schools appealed to revelation also. The theoretical as well
+as the practical doctrines which embraced the peculiar conception of the
+world and the ethics of the school, together with their rationale, were
+described in these schools as dogmas. Now, in so far as the adherents of
+the Christian religion possess dogmas in this sense, and form a
+community which has gained an understanding of its religious faith by
+analysis and by scientific definition and grounding, they appear as a
+great philosophic school in the ancient sense of the word. But they
+differ from such a school in so far as they have always eliminated the
+process of thought which has led to the dogma, looking upon the whole
+system of dogma as a revelation and therefore, even in respect of the
+reception of the dogma, at least at first, they have taken account not
+of the powers of human understanding, but of the Divine enlightenment
+which is bestowed on all the willing and the virtuous. In later times,
+indeed, the analogy was far more complete, in so far as the Church
+reserved the full possession of dogma to a circle of consecrated and
+initiated individuals. Dogmatic Christianity is therefore a definite
+stage in the history of the development of Christianity. It corresponds
+to the antique mode of thought, but has nevertheless continued to a very
+great extent in the following epochs, though subject to great
+transformations. Dogmatic Christianity stands between Christianity as
+the religion of the Gospel, presupposing a personal experience and
+dealing with disposition and conduct, and Christianity as a religion of
+cultus, sacraments, ceremonial and obedience, in short of superstition,
+and it can be united with either the one or the other. In itself and in
+spite of all its mysteries it is always intellectual Christianity, and
+therefore there is always the danger here that as knowledge it may
+supplant religious faith, or connect it with a doctrine of religion,
+instead of with God and a living experience.
+
+If then the discipline of the history of dogma is to be what its name
+purports, its object is the very dogma which is so formed, and its
+fundamental problem will be to discover how it has arisen. In the
+history of the canon our method of procedure has for long been to ask
+first of all, how the canon originated, and then to examine the changes
+through which it has passed. We must proceed in the same way with the
+history of dogma, of which the history of the canon is simply a part.
+Two objections will be raised against this. In the first place, it will
+be said that from the very first the Christian religion has included a
+definite religious faith as well as a definite ethic, and that therefore
+Christian dogma is as original as Christianity itself, so that there can
+be no question about a genesis, but only as to a development or
+alteration of dogma within the Church. Again it will be said, in the
+second place, that dogma as defined above, has validity only for a
+definite epoch in the history of the Church, and that it is therefore
+quite impossible to write a comprehensive history of dogma in the sense
+we have indicated.
+
+As to the first objection, there can of course be no doubt that the
+Christian religion is founded on a message, the contents of which are a
+definite belief in God and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and that
+the promise of salvation is attached to this belief. But faith in the
+Gospel and the later dogmas of the Church are not related to each other
+as theme and the way in which it is worked out, any more than the dogma
+of the New Testament canon is only the explication of the original
+reliance of Christians on the word of their Lord and the continuous
+working of the Spirit; but in these later dogmas an entirely new element
+has entered into the conception of religion. The message of religion
+appears here clothed in a knowledge of the world and of the ground of
+the world which had already been obtained without any reference to it,
+and therefore religion itself has here become a doctrine which has,
+indeed, its certainty in the Gospel, but only in part derives its
+contents from it, and which can also be appropriated by such as are
+neither poor in spirit nor weary and heavy laden. Now, it may of course
+be shewn that a philosophic conception of the Christian religion is
+possible, and began to make its appearance from the very first, as in
+the case of Paul. But the Pauline gnosis has neither been simply
+identified with the Gospel by Paul himself (1 Cor. III. 2 f.; XII. 3;
+Phil. I. 18) nor is it analogous to the later dogma, not to speak of
+being identical with it. The characteristic of this dogma is that it
+represents itself in no sense as foolishness, but as wisdom, and at the
+same time desires to be regarded as the contents of revelation itself.
+Dogma in its conception and development is a work of the Greek spirit on
+the soil of the Gospel. By comprehending in itself and giving excellent
+expression to the religious conceptions contained in Greek philosophy
+and the Gospel, together with its Old Testament basis; by meeting the
+search for a revelation as well as the desire for a universal knowledge;
+by subordinating itself to the aim of the Christian religion to bring a
+Divine life to humanity as well as to the aim of philosophy to know the
+world: it became the instrument by which the Church conquered the
+ancient world and educated the modern nations. But this dogma--one
+cannot but admire its formation or fail to regard it as a great
+achievement of the spirit, which never again in the history of
+Christianity has made itself at home with such freedom and boldness in
+religion--is the product of a comparatively long history which needs to
+be deciphered; for it is obscured by the completed dogma. The Gospel
+itself is not dogma, for belief in the Gospel provides room for
+knowledge only so far as it is a state of feeling and course of action,
+that is a definite form of life. Between practical faith in the Gospel
+and the historico-critical account of the Christian religion and its
+history, a third element can no longer be thrust in without its coming
+into conflict with faith, or with the historical data--the only thing
+left is the practical task of defending the faith. But a third element
+has been thrust into the history of this religion, viz., dogma, that is,
+the philosophical means which were used in early times for the purpose
+of making the Gospel intelligible have been fused with the contents of
+the Gospel and raised to dogma. This dogma, next to the Church, has
+become a real world power, the pivot in the history of the Christian
+religion. The transformation of the Christian faith into dogma is indeed
+no accident, but has its reason in the spiritual character of the
+Christian religion, which at all times will feel the need of a
+scientific apologetic.[10] But the question here is not as to something
+indefinite and general, but as to the definite dogma formed in the first
+centuries, and binding even yet.
+
+This already touches on the second objection which was raised above,
+that dogma, in the given sense of the word, was too narrowly conceived,
+and could not in this conception be applied throughout the whole history
+of the Church. This objection would only be justified, if our task were
+to carry the history of the development of dogma through the whole
+history of the Church. But the question is just whether we are right in
+proposing such a task. The Greek Church has no history of dogma after
+the seven great Councils, and it is incomparably more important to
+recognise this fact than to register the theologoumena which were later
+on introduced by individual Bishops and scholars in the East, who were
+partly influenced by the West. Roman Catholicism in its dogmas, though,
+as noted above, these at present do not very clearly characterise it, is
+to-day essentially--that is, so far as it is religion--what it was 1500
+years ago, viz., Christianity as understood by the ancient world. The
+changes which dogma has experienced in the course of its development in
+western Catholicism are certainly deep and radical: they have, in point
+of fact, as has been indicated in the text above, modified the position
+of the Church towards Christianity as dogma. But as the Catholic Church
+herself maintains that she adheres to Christianity in the old dogmatic
+sense, this claim of hers cannot be contested. She has embraced new
+things and changed her relations to the old, but still preserved the
+old. But she has further developed new dogmas according to the scheme of
+the old. The decrees of Trent and of the Vatican are formally analogous
+to the old dogmas. Here, then, a history of dogma may really be carried
+forward to the present day without thereby shewing that the definition
+of dogma given above is too narrow to embrace the new doctrines.
+Finally, as to Protestantism, it has been briefly explained above why
+the changes in Protestant systems of doctrine are not to be taken up
+into the history of dogma. Strictly speaking, dogma, as dogma, has had
+no development in Protestantism, inasmuch as a secret note of
+interrogation has been here associated with it from the very beginning.
+But the old dogma has continued to be a power in it, because of its
+tendency to look back and to seek for authorities in the past, and
+partly in the original unmodified form. The dogmas of the fourth and
+fifth centuries have more influence to-day in wide circles of Protestant
+Churches than all the doctrines which are concentrated around
+justification by faith. Deviations from the latter are borne
+comparatively easy, while as a rule, deviations from the former are
+followed by notice to quit the Christian communion, that is, by
+excommunication. The historian of to-day would have no difficulty in
+answering the question whether the power of Protestantism as a Church
+lies at present in the elements which it has in common with the old
+dogmatic Christianity, or in that by which it is distinguished from it.
+Dogma, that is to say, that type of Christianity which was formed in
+ecclesiastical antiquity, has not been suppressed even in Protestant
+Churches, has really not been modified or replaced by a new conception
+of the Gospel. But, on the other hand, who could deny that the
+Reformation began to disclose such a conception, and that this new
+conception was related in a very different way to the traditional dogma
+from that of the new propositions of Augustine to the dogmas handed down
+to him? Who could further call in question that, in consequence of the
+reforming impulse in Protestantism, the way was opened up for a
+conception which does not identify Gospel and dogma, which does not
+disfigure the latter by changing or paring down its meaning while
+failing to come up to the former? But the historian who has to describe
+the formation and changes of dogma can take no part in these
+developments. It is a task by itself more rich and comprehensive than
+that of the historian of dogma, to portray the diverse conceptions that
+have been formed of the Christian religion, to portray how strong men
+and weak men, great and little minds have explained the Gospel outside
+and inside the frame-work of dogma, and how under the cloak, or in the
+province of dogma, the Gospel has had its own peculiar history. But the
+more limited theme must not be put aside. For it can in no way be
+conducive to historical knowledge to regard as indifferent the peculiar
+character of the expression of Christian faith as dogma, and allow the
+history of dogma to be absorbed in a general history of the various
+conceptions of Christianity. Such a "liberal" view would not agree
+either with the teaching of history or with the actual situation of the
+Protestant Churches of the present day: for it is, above all, of crucial
+importance to perceive that it is a peculiar stage in the development of
+the human spirit which is described by dogma. On this stage, parallel
+with dogma and inwardly united with it, stands a definite psychology,
+metaphysic and natural philosophy, as well as a view of history of a
+definite type. This is the conception of the world obtained by antiquity
+after almost a thousand years' labour, and it is the same connection of
+theoretic perceptions and practical ideals which it accomplished. This
+stage on which the Christian religion has also entered we have in no way
+as yet transcended, though science has raised itself above it.[11] But
+the Christian religion, as it was not born of the culture of the ancient
+world, is not for ever chained to it. The form and the new contents
+which the Gospel received when it entered into that world have only the
+same guarantee of endurance as that world itself. And that endurance is
+limited. We must indeed be on our guard against taking episodes for
+decisive crises. But every episode carries us forward, and
+retrogressions are unable to undo that progress. The Gospel since the
+Reformation, in spite of retrograde movements which have not been
+wanting, is working itself out of the forms which it was once compelled
+to assume, and a true comprehension of its history will also contribute
+to hasten this process.
+
+1. The definition given above, p. 17: "Dogma in its conception and
+development is a work of the Greek spirit on the soil of the Gospel,"
+has frequently been distorted by my critics, as they have suppressed the
+words "on the soil of the Gospel." But these words are decisive. The
+foolishness of identifying dogma and Greek philosophy never entered my
+mind; on the contrary, the peculiarity of ecclesiastical dogma seemed to
+me to lie in the very fact that, on the one hand, it gave expression to
+Christian Monotheism and the central significance of the person of
+Christ, and, on the other hand, comprehended this religious faith and
+the historical knowledge connected with it in a philosophic system. I
+have given quite as little ground for the accusation that I look upon
+the whole development of the history of dogma as a pathological process
+within the history of the Gospel. I do not even look upon the history of
+the origin of the Papacy as such a process, not to speak of the history
+of dogma. But the perception that "everything must happen as it has
+happened" does not absolve the historian from the task of ascertaining
+the powers which have formed the history, and distinguishing between
+original and later, permanent and transitory, nor from the duty of
+stating his own opinion.
+
+2. Sabatier has published a thoughtful treatise on "Christian Dogma: its
+Nature and its Development." I agree with the author in this, that in
+dogma--rightly understood--two elements are to be distinguished, the
+religious proceeding from the experience of the individual or from the
+religious spirit of the Church, and the intellectual or theoretic. But I
+regard as false the statement which he makes, that the intellectual
+element in dogma is only the symbolical expression of religious
+experience. The intellectual element is itself again to be
+differentiated. On the one hand, it certainly is the attempt to give
+expression to religious feeling, and so far is symbolical; but, on the
+other hand, within the Christian religion it belongs to the essence of
+the thing itself, inasmuch as this not only awakens feeling, but has a
+quite definite content which determines and should determine the
+feeling. In this sense Christianity without dogma, that is, without a
+clear expression of its content, is inconceivable. But that does not
+justify the unchangeable permanent significance of that dogma which has
+once been formed under definite historical conditions.
+
+3. The word "dogmas" (Christian dogmas) is, if I see correctly, used
+among us in three different senses, and hence spring all manner of
+misconceptions and errors. By dogmas are denoted: (1) The historical
+doctrines of the Church. (2) The historical facts on which the Christian
+religion is reputedly or actually founded. (3) Every definite exposition
+of the contents of Christianity is described as dogmatic. In contrast
+with this the attempt has been made in the following presentation to use
+dogma only in the sense first stated. When I speak, therefore, of the
+decomposition of dogma, I mean by that, neither the historical facts
+which really establish the Christian religion, nor do I call in question
+the necessity for the Christian and the Church to have a creed. My
+criticism refers not to the general genus dogma, but to the species,
+viz., the defined dogma, as it was formed on the soil of the ancient
+world, and is still a power, though under modifications.
+
+
+2. _History of the History of Dogma._
+
+The history of dogma as a historical and critical discipline had its
+origin in the last century through the works of Mosheim, C. W. F. Walch,
+Ernesti, Lessing and Semler. Lange gave to the world in 1796 the first
+attempt at a history of dogma as a special branch of theological study.
+The theologians of the Early and Mediaeval Churches have only transmitted
+histories of Heretics and of Literature, regarding dogma as
+unchangeable.[12] This presupposition is so much a part of the nature of
+Catholicism that it has been maintained till the present day. It is
+therefore impossible for a Catholic to make a free, impartial and
+scientific investigation of the history of dogma.[13] There have,
+indeed, at almost all times before the Reformation, been critical
+efforts in the domain of Christianity, especially of western
+Christianity, efforts which in some cases have led to the proof of the
+novelty and inadmissibility of particular dogmas. But, as a rule, these
+efforts were of the nature of a polemic against the dominant Church.
+They scarcely prepared the way for, far less produced a historical view
+of, dogmatic tradition.[14] The progress of the sciences[15] and the
+conflict with Protestantism could here, for the Catholic Church, have no
+other effect than that of leading to the collecting, with great
+learning, of material for the history of dogma, the establishing of the
+_consensus patrum et doctorum_, the exhibition of the necessity of a
+continuous explication of dogma, and the description of the history of
+heresies pressing in from without, regarded now as unheard-of novelties,
+and again as old enemies in new masks. The modern Jesuit-Catholic
+historian indeed exhibits, in certain circumstances, a manifest
+indifference to the task of establishing the _semper idem_ in the faith
+of the Church, but this indifference is at present regarded with
+disfavour, and, besides, is only an apparent one, as the continuous
+though inscrutable guidance of the Church by the infallible teaching of
+the Pope is the more emphatically maintained.[16]
+
+It may be maintained that the Reformation opened the way for a critical
+treatment of the history of dogma.[17] But even in Protestant Churches,
+at first, historical investigations remained under the ban of the
+confessional system of doctrine and were used only for polemics.[18]
+Church history itself up to the 18th century was not regarded as a
+theological discipline in the strict sense of the word, and the history
+of dogma existed only within the sphere of dogmatics as a collection of
+testimonies to the truth, _theologia patristica_. It was only after the
+material had been prepared in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries
+by scholars of the various Church parties, and, above all, by excellent
+editions of the Fathers,[19] and after Pietism had exhibited the
+difference between Christianity and Ecclesiasticism, and had begun to
+treat the traditional confessional structure of doctrine with
+indifference,[20] that a critical investigation was entered on.
+
+The man who was the Erasmus of the 18th century, neither orthodox nor
+pietistic, nor rationalistic, but capable of appreciating all these
+tendencies, familiar with English, French and Italian literature,
+influenced by the spirit of the new English Science,[21] while avoiding
+all statements of it that would endanger positive Christianity. John
+Lorenz Mosheim, treated Church history in the spirit of his great
+teacher Leibnitz,[22] and by impartial analysis, living reproduction,
+and methodical artistic form raised it for the first time to the rank of
+a science. In his monographic works also, he endeavours to examine
+impartially the history of dogma, and to acquire the historic
+stand-point between the estimate of the orthodox dogmatists and that of
+Gottfried Arnold Mosheim, averse to all fault-finding and polemic, and
+abhorring theological crudity as much as pietistic narrowness and
+undevout Illuminism, aimed at an actual correct knowledge of history, in
+accordance with the principle of Leibnitz, that the valuable elements
+which are everywhere to be found in history must be sought out and
+recognised. And the richness and many-sidedness of his mind qualified
+him for gaining such a knowledge. But his latitudinarian dogmatic
+stand-point as well as the anxiety to awaken no controversy or endanger
+the gradual naturalising of a new science and culture, caused him to put
+aside the most important problems of the history of dogma and devote his
+attention to political Church history as well as to the more indifferent
+historical questions. The opposition of two periods which he endeavoured
+peacefully to reconcile could not in this way be permanently set
+aside.[23] In Mosheim's sense, but without the spirit of that great man,
+C.W.F. Walch taught on the subject and described the religious
+controversies of the Church with an effort to be impartial, and has thus
+made generally accessible the abundant material collected by the
+diligence of earlier scholars.[24] Walch, moreover, in the "Gedanken von
+der Geschichte der Glaubenslehre," 1756, gave the impulse that was
+needed to fix attention on the history of dogma as a special discipline.
+The stand-point which he took up was still that of subjection to
+ecclesiastical dogma, but without confessional narrowness. Ernesti in
+his programme of the year 1759. "De theologiae historicae et dogmaticae
+conjungendae necessitate," gave eloquent expression to the idea that
+Dogmatic is a positive science which has to take its material from
+history, but that history itself requires a devoted and candid study, on
+account of our being separated from the earlier epochs by a complicated
+tradition.[25] He has also shewn in his celebrated "Antimuratorius" that
+an impartial and critical investigation of the problems of the history
+of dogma, might render the most effectual service to the polemic against
+the errors of Romanism. Besides, the greater part of the dogmas were
+already unintelligible to Ernesti, and yet during his lifetime the way
+was opened up for that tendency in theology, which prepared in Germany
+by Chr. Thomasius, supported by English writers, drew the sure
+principles of faith and life from what is called reason, and therefore
+was not only indifferent to the system of dogma, but felt it more and
+more to be the tradition of unreason and of darkness. Of the three
+requisites of a historian, knowledge of his subject, candid criticism,
+and a capacity for finding himself at home in foreign interests and
+ideas, the Rationalistic Theologians who had outgrown Pietism and passed
+through the school of the English Deists and of Wolf, no longer
+possessed the first, a knowledge of the subject, to the same extent as
+some scholars of the earlier generation. The second, free criticism,
+they possessed in the high degree guaranteed by the conviction of having
+a rational religion; the third, the power of comprehension, only in a
+very limited measure. They had lost the idea of positive religion, and
+with it a living and just conception of the history of religion.
+
+In the history of thought there is always need for an apparently
+disproportionate expenditure of power, in order to produce an advance in
+the development. And it would appear as if a certain self-satisfied
+narrow-mindedness within the progressing ideas of the present, as well
+as a great measure of inability even to understand the past and
+recognise its own dependence on it, must make its appearance, in order
+that a whole generation may be freed from the burden of the past. It
+needed the absolute certainty which Rationalism had found in the
+religious philosophy of the age, to give sufficient courage to subject
+to historical criticism the central dogmas on which the Protestant
+system as well as the Catholic finally rests, the dogmas of the canon
+and inspiration on the one hand, and of the Trinity and Christology on
+the other. The work of Lessing in this respect had no great results. We
+to-day see in his theological writings the most important contribution
+to the understanding of the earliest history of dogma, which that period
+supplies; but we also understand why its results were then so trifling.
+This was due, not only to the fact that Lessing was no theologian by
+profession, or that his historical observations were couched in
+aphorisms, but because like Leibnitz and Mosheim, he had a capacity for
+appreciating the history of religion which forbade him to do violence to
+that history or to sit in judgment on it, and because his philosophy in
+its bearings on the case allowed him to seek no more from his materials
+than an assured understanding of them, in a word again, because he was
+no theologian. The Rationalists, on the other hand, who within certain
+limits were no less his opponents than the orthodox, derived the
+strength of their opposition to the systems of dogma, as the Apologists
+of the second century had already done with regard to polytheism, from
+their religious belief and their inability to estimate these systems
+historically. That, however, is only the first impression which one gets
+here from the history, and it is everywhere modified by other
+impressions. In the first place, there is no mistaking a certain
+latitudinarianism in several prominent theologians of the rationalistic
+tendency. Moreover, the attitude to the canon was still frequently, in
+virtue of the Protestant principle of scripture, an uncertain one, and
+it was here chiefly that the different types of rational supernaturalism
+were developed. Then, with all subjection to the dogmas of Natural
+religion, the desire for a real true knowledge was unfettered and
+powerfully excited. Finally, very significant attempts were made by some
+rationalistic theologians to explain in a real historical way the
+phenomena of the history of dogma, and to put an authentic and
+historical view of that history in the place of barren pragmatic or
+philosophic categories.
+
+The special zeal with which the older rationalism applied itself to the
+investigation of the canon, either putting aside the history of dogma,
+or treating it merely in the frame-work of Church history, has only been
+of advantage for the treatment of our subject. It first began to be
+treated with thoroughness when the historical and critical interests had
+become more powerful than the rationalistic. After the important labours
+of Semler which here, above all, have wrought in the interests of
+freedom,[26] and after some monographs on the history of dogma,[27] S.G.
+Lange for the first time treated the history of dogma as a special
+subject.[28] Unfortunately, his comprehensively planned and carefully
+written work, which shews a real understanding of the early history of
+dogma, remains incomplete. Consequently, W. Muenscher, in his learned
+manual, which was soon followed by his compendium of the history of
+dogma, was the first to produce a complete presentation of our
+subject.[29] Muenscher's compendium is a counterpart to Giesler's Church
+history; it shares with that the merit of drawing from the sources,
+intelligent criticism and impartiality, but with a thorough knowledge of
+details it fails to impart a real conception of the development of
+ecclesiastical dogma. The division of the material into particular
+_loci_, which, in three sections, is carried through the whole history
+of the Church, makes insight into the whole Christian conception of the
+different epochs impossible, and the prefixed "General History of
+Dogma," is far too sketchily treated to make up for that defect.
+Finally, the connection between the development of dogma and the general
+ideas of the time is not sufficiently attended to. A series of manuals
+followed the work of Muenscher, but did not materially advance the
+study.[30] The compendium of Baumgarten Crusius,[31] and that of F.K.
+Meier,[32] stand out prominently among them. The work of the former is
+distinguished by its independent learning as well as by the discernment
+of the author that the centre of gravity of the subject lies in the
+so-called general history of dogma.[33] The work of Meier goes still
+further, and accurately perceives that the division into a general and
+special history of dogma must be altogether given up, while it is also
+characterised by an accurate setting and proportional arrangement of the
+facts.[34]
+
+The great spiritual revolution at the beginning of our century, which
+must in every respect be regarded as a reaction against the efforts of
+the rationalistic epoch, changed also the conceptions of the Christian
+religion and its history. It appears therefore plainly in the treatment
+of the history of dogma. The advancement and deepening of Christian
+life, the zealous study of the past, the new philosophy which no longer
+thrust history aside, but endeavoured to appreciate it in all its
+phenomena as the history of the spirit, all these factors co-operated in
+begetting a new temper, and accordingly, a new estimate of religion
+proper and of its history. There were three tendencies in theology that
+broke up rationalism; that which was identified with the names of
+Schleiermacher and Neander, that of the Hegelians, and that of the
+Confessionalists. The first two were soon divided into a right and a
+left, in so far as they included conservative and critical interests
+from their very commencement. The conservative elements have been used
+for building up the modern confessionalism, which in its endeavours to
+go back to the Reformers has never actually got beyond the theology of
+the Formula of Concord, the stringency of which it has no doubt
+abolished by new theologoumena and concessions of all kinds. All these
+tendencies have in common the effort to gain a real comprehension of
+history and be taught by it, that is, to allow the idea of development
+to obtain its proper place, and to comprehend the power and sphere of
+the individual. In this and in the deeper conception of the nature and
+significance of positive religion, lay the advance beyond Rationalism.
+And yet the wish to understand history, has in great measure checked the
+effort to obtain a true knowledge of it, and the respect for history as
+the greatest of teachers, has not resulted in that supreme regard for
+facts which distinguished the critical rationalism. The speculative
+pragmatism, which, in the Hegelian School, was put against the "lower
+pragmatism," and was rigorously carried out with the view of exhibiting
+the unity of history, not only neutralised the historical material, in
+so far as its concrete definiteness was opposed, as phenomenon, to the
+essence of the matter, but also curtailed it in a suspicious way, as may
+be seen, for example, in the works of Baur. Moreover, the universal
+historical suggestions which the older history of dogma had given were
+not at all, or only very little regarded. The history of dogma was, as
+it were, shut out by the watchword of the immanent development of the
+spirit in Christianity. The disciples of Hegel, both of the right and of
+the left, were, and still are, agreed in this watch-word,[35] the
+working out of which, including an apology for the course of the history
+of dogma, must be for the advancement of conservative theology. But at
+the basis of the statement that the history of Christianity is the
+history of the spirit, there lay further a very one-sided conception of
+the nature of religion, which confirmed the false idea that religion is
+theology. It will always, however, be the imperishable merit of Hegel's
+great disciple, F. Chr. Baur, in theology, that he was the first who
+attempted to give a uniform general idea of the history of dogma, and to
+live through the whole process in himself, without renouncing the
+critical acquisitions of the 18th century.[36] His brilliantly written
+manual of the history of dogma, in which the history of this branch of
+theological science is relatively treated with the utmost detail, is,
+however, in material very meagre, and shews in the very first
+proposition of the historical presentation an abstract view of
+history.[37] Neander, whose "Christliche Dogmengeschichte," 1857, is
+distinguished by the variety of its points of view, and keen
+apprehension of particular forms of doctrine, shews a far more lively
+and therefore a far more just conception of the Christian religion. But
+the general plan of the work, (General history of dogma--_loci_, and
+these according to the established scheme), proves that Neander has not
+succeeded in giving real expression to the historical character of the
+study, and in attaining a clear insight into the progress of the
+development.[38]
+
+Kliefoth's thoughtful and instructive, "Einleitung in die
+Dogmengeschichte," 1839, contains the programme for the conception of
+the history of dogma characteristic of the modern confessional theology.
+In this work the Hegelian view of history, not without being influenced
+by Schleiermacher, is so represented as to legitimise a return to the
+theology of the Fathers. In the successive great epochs of the Church
+several circles of dogmas have been successively fixed, so that the
+respective doctrines have each time been adequately formulated.[39]
+Disturbances of the development are due to the influence of sin. Apart
+from this, Kliefoth's conception is in point of form equal to that of
+Baur and Strauss, in so far as they also have considered the theology
+represented by themselves as the goal of the whole historical
+development. The only distinction is that, according to them, the next
+following stage always cancels the preceding, while according to
+Kliefoth, who, moreover, has no desire to give effect to mere
+traditionalism, the new knowledge is added to the old. The new edifice
+of true historical knowledge, according to Kliefoth, is raised on the
+ruins of Traditionalism, Scholasticism, Pietism, Rationalism and
+Mysticism. Thomasius (Das Bekenntniss der evang-luth. Kirche in der
+Consequenz seines Princips, 1848) has, after the example of Sartorius,
+attempted to justify by history the Lutheran confessional system of
+doctrine from another side, by representing it as the true mean between
+Catholicism and the Reformed Spiritualism. This conception has found
+much approbation in the circles of Theologians related to Thomasius, as
+against the Union Theology. But Thomasius is entitled to the merit of
+having produced a Manual of the history of dogma which represents in the
+most worthy manner,[40] the Lutheran confessional view of the history of
+dogma. The introduction, as well as the selection and arrangement of his
+material, shews that Thomasius has learned much from Baur. The way in
+which he distinguishes between central and peripheral dogmas is,
+accordingly, not very appropriate, especially for the earliest period.
+The question as to the origin of dogma and theology is scarcely even
+touched by him. But he has an impression that the central dogmas contain
+for every period the whole of Christianity, and that they must therefore
+be apprehended in this sense.[41] The presentation is dominated
+throughout by the idea of the self-explication of dogma, though a
+malformation has to be admitted for the middle ages;[42] and therefore
+the formation of dogma is almost everywhere justified as the testimony
+of the Church represented as completely hypostatised, and the outlook on
+the history of the time is put into the background. But narrow and
+insufficient as the complete view here is, the excellences of the work
+in details are great, in respect of exemplary clearness of presentation,
+and the discriminating knowledge and keen comprehension of the author
+for religious problems. The most important work done by Thomasius is
+contained in his account of the history of Christology.
+
+In his outlines of the history of Christian dogma (Grundriss der
+Christl. Dogmengesch. 1870), which unfortunately has not been carried
+beyond the first part (Patristic period), F. Nitzsch, marks an advance
+in the history of our subject. The advance lies, on the one hand, in the
+extensive use he makes of monographs on the history of dogma, and on the
+other hand, in the arrangement. Nitzsch has advanced a long way on the
+path that was first entered by F.K. Meier, and has arranged his material
+in a way that far excels all earlier attempts. The general and special
+aspects of the history of dogma are here almost completely worked into
+one,[43] and in the main divisions, "Grounding of the old Catholic
+Church doctrine," and "Development of the old Catholic Church doctrine,"
+justice is at last done to the most important problem which the history
+of dogma presents, though in my opinion the division is not made at the
+right place, and the problem is not so clearly kept in view in the
+execution as the arrangement would lead one to expect.[44] Nitzsch has
+freed himself from that speculative view of the history of dogma which
+reads ideas into it. No doubt idea and motive on the one hand, form and
+expression on the other, must be distinguished for every period. But the
+historian falls into vagueness as soon as he seeks and professes to find
+behind the demonstrable ideas and aims which have moved a period, others
+of which, as a matter of fact, that period itself knew nothing at all.
+Besides, the invariable result of that procedure is to concentrate the
+attention on the theological and philosophical points of dogma, and
+either neglect or put a new construction on the most concrete and
+important, the expression of the religious faith itself. Rationalism has
+been reproached with "throwing out the child with the bath," but this is
+really worse, for here the child is thrown out while the bath is
+retained. Every advance in the future treatment of our subject will
+further depend on the effort to comprehend the history of dogma without
+reference to the momentary opinions of the present, and also on keeping
+it in closest connection with the history of the Church, from which it
+can never be separated without damage. We have something to learn on
+this point from rationalistic historians of dogma.[45] But progress is
+finally dependent on a true perception of what the Christian religion
+originally was, for this perception alone enables us to distinguish that
+which sprang out of the inherent power of Christianity from that which
+it has assimilated in the course of its history. For the historian,
+however, who does not wish to serve a party, there are two standards in
+accordance with which he may criticise the history of dogma. He may
+either, as far as this is possible, compare it with the Gospel, or he
+may judge it according to the historical conditions of the time and the
+result. Both ways can exist side by side, if only they are not mixed up
+with one another. Protestantism has in principle expressly recognised
+the first, and it will also have the power to bear its conclusions; for
+the saying of Tertullian still holds good in it; "Nihil veritas
+erubescit nisi solummodo abscondi." The historian who follows this
+maxim, and at the same time has no desire to be wiser than the facts,
+will, while furthering science, perform the best service also to every
+Christian community that desires to build itself upon the Gospel.
+
+After the appearance of the first and second editions of this Work,
+Loofs published, "Leitfaden fuer seine Vorlesungen ueber
+Dogmengeschichte," Halle, 1889, and in the following year, "Leitfaden
+zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte, zunaechst fuer seine Vorlesungen,"
+(second and enlarged edition of the first-named book). The work in its
+conception of dogma and its history comes pretty near that stated above,
+and it is distinguished by independent investigation and excellent
+selection of material. I myself have published a "Grundriss der
+Dogmengeschichte," 2 Edit, in one vol. 1893. (Outlines of the history of
+dogma, English translation, Hodder and Stoughton). That this has not
+been written in vain, I have the pleasure of seeing from not a few
+notices of professional colleagues. I may mention the Church history of
+Herzog in the new revision by Koffmane, the first vol. of the Church
+history of Karl Mueller, the first vol. of the Symbolik of Kattenbusch,
+and Kaftan's work, "The truth of the Christian religion." Wilhelm
+Schmidt, "Der alte Glaube und die Wahrheit des Christenthums," 1891, has
+attempted to furnish a refutation in principle of Kaftan's work.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Weizsaecker, Goett. Gel. Anz. 1886, p. 823 f., says, "It is a
+question whether we should limit the account of the genesis of Dogma to
+the Antenicene period and designate all else as a development of that.
+This is undoubtedly correct so long as our view is limited to the
+history of dogma of the Greek Church in the second period, and the
+development of it by the Oecumenical Synods. On the other hand, the
+Latin Church, in its own way and in its own province, becomes productive
+from the days of Augustine onwards; the formal signification of dogma in
+the narrower sense becomes different in the middle ages. Both are
+repeated in a much greater measure through the Reformation. We may
+therefore, in opposition to that division into genesis and development,
+regard the whole as a continuous process, in which the contents as well
+as the formal authority of dogma are in process of continuous
+development." This view is certainly just, and I think is indicated by
+myself in what follows. We have to decide here, as so often elsewhere in
+our account, between rival points of view. The view favoured by me has
+the advantage of making the nature of dogma clearly appear as a product
+of the mode of thought of the early church, and that is what it has
+remained, in spite of all changes both in form and substance, till the
+present day.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Kattenbusch. Luther's Stellung zu den oekumenischen
+Symbolen, 1883.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus. I. p. 80 ff., 93 ff.
+II. p. 60 f.: 88 f. "The Lutheran view of life did not remain pure and
+undefiled, but was limited and obscured by the preponderance of dogmatic
+interests. Protestantism was not delivered from the womb of the western
+Church of the middle ages in full power and equipment, like Athene from
+the head of Jupiter. The incompleteness of its ethical view, the
+splitting up of its general conceptions into a series of particular
+dogmas, the tendency to express its beliefs as a hard and fast whole;
+are defects which soon made Protestantism appear to disadvantage in
+comparison with the wealth of Mediaeval theology and asceticism ... The
+scholastic form of pure doctrine is really only the provisional, and not
+the final form of Protestantism."]
+
+[Footnote 4: It is very evident how the mediaeval and old catholic dogmas
+were transformed in the view which Luther originally took of them. In
+this view we must remember that he did away with all the presuppositions
+of dogma, the infallible Apostolic Canon of Scripture, the infallible
+teaching function of the Church, and the infallible Apostolic doctrine
+and constitution. On this basis dogmas can only be utterances which do
+not support faith, but are supported by it. But, on the other hand, his
+opposition to all the Apocryphal saints which the Church had created,
+compelled him to emphasise faith alone, and to give it a firm basis in
+scripture, in order to free it from the burden of tradition. Here then,
+very soon, first by Melanchthon, a summary of _articuli fidei_ was
+substituted for the faith, and the scriptures recovered their place as a
+rule. Luther himself, however, is responsible for both, and so it came
+about that very soon the new evangelic standpoint was explained almost
+exclusively by the "abolition of abuses", and by no means so surely by
+the transformation of the whole doctrinal tradition. The classic
+authority for this is the Augsburg confession ("haec fere summa est
+doctrina apud suos, in qua cerni potest nihil inesse, quod discrepet a
+scripturis vel ab ecclesia Catholica vel ab ecclesia Romana ... sed
+dissensio est de quibusdam abusibus"). The purified catholic doctrine
+has since then become the palladium of the Reformation Churches. The
+refuters of the Augustana have justly been unwilling to admit the mere
+"purifying," but have noted in addition that the Augustana does not say
+everything that was urged by Luther and the Doctors (see Ficker, Die
+Konfutation des Augsburgischen Bekenntnisse, 1891). At the same time,
+however, the Lutheran Church, though not so strongly as the English,
+retained the consciousness of being the true Catholics. But, as the
+history of Protestantism proves, the original impulse has not remained
+inoperative. Though Luther himself all his life measured his personal
+Christian standing by an entirely different standard than subjection to
+a law of faith; yet, however presumptuous the words may sound, we might
+say that in the complicated struggle that was forced on him, he did not
+always clearly understand his own faith.]
+
+[Footnote 5: In the modern Romish Church, Dogma is, above all, a
+judicial regulation which one has to submit to, and in certain
+circumstances submission alone is sufficient, _fides implicita_. Dogma
+is thereby just as much deprived of its original sense and its original
+authority as by the demand of the Reformers, that every thing should be
+based upon a clear understanding of the Gospel. Moreover, the changed
+position of the Romish Church towards dogma is also shewn by the fact
+that it no longer gives a plain answer to the question as to what dogma
+is. Instead of a series of dogmas definitely defined, and of equal
+value, there is presented an infinite multitude of whole and half
+dogmas, doctrinal directions, pious opinions, probable theological
+propositions, etc. It is often a very difficult question whether a
+solemn decision has or has not already been taken on this or that
+statement, or whether such a decision is still necessary. Everything
+that must be believed is nowhere stated, and so one sometimes hears in
+Catholic circles the exemplary piety of a cleric praised with the words
+that "he believes more than is necessary." The great dogmatic conflicts
+within the Catholic Church, since the Council of Trent, have been
+silenced by arbitrary Papal pronouncements and doctrinal directions.
+Since one has simply to accommodate oneself to these as laws, it once
+more appears clear that dogma has become a judicial regulation,
+administered by the Pope, which is carried out in an administrative way
+and loses itself in an endless casuistry. We do not mean by this to deny
+that dogma has a decided value for the pious Catholic as a Summary of
+the faith. But in the Catholic Church it is no longer piety, but
+obedience that is decisive. The solidarity with the orthodox Protestants
+may be explained by political reasons, in order from political reasons
+again, to condemn, where it is necessary, all Protestants as heretics
+and revolutionaries.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See the discussions of Biedermann (Christliche Dogmatik. 2
+Ed. p. 150 f.) about what he calls the law of stability in the history
+of religion.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See Ritschl's discussion of the methods of the early
+histories of dogma in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theologie. 1871, p. 181
+ff.]
+
+[Footnote 8: In Catholicism, the impulse which proceeded from Augustine
+has finally proved powerless to break the traditional conception of
+Christianity, as the Council of Trent and the decrees of the Vatican
+have shewn. For that very reason the development of the Roman Catholic
+Church doctrine belongs to the history of dogma. Protestantism must,
+however, under all circumstances be recognised as a new thing, which
+indeed in none of its phases has been free from contradictions.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Here then begins the ecclesiastical theology which takes as
+its starting-point the finished dogma it strives to prove or harmonise,
+but very soon, as experience has shewn, loses its firm footing in such
+efforts and so occasions new crises.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Weizsaecker, Apostolic Age, Vol. I. p. 123. "Christianity
+as religion is absolutely inconceivable without theology; first of all,
+for the same reasons which called forth the Pauline theology. As a
+religion it cannot be separated from the religion of its founder, hence
+not from historical knowledge. And as Monotheism and belief in a world
+purpose, it is the religion of reason with the inextinguishable impulse
+of thought. The first gentile Christians therewith gained the proud
+consciousness of a gnosis." But of ecclesiastical Christianity which
+rests on dogma ready made, as produced by an earlier epoch, this
+conception holds good only in a very qualified way; and of the vigorous
+Christian piety of the earliest and of every period, it may also be said
+that it no less feels the impulse to think against reason than with
+reason.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this sense it is correct to class dogmatic theology as
+historical theology, as Schleiermacher has done. If we maintain that for
+practical reasons it must be taken out of the province of historical
+theology, then we must make it part of practical theology. By dogmatic
+theology here, we understand the exposition of Christianity in the form
+of Church doctrine, as it has been shaped since the second century. As
+distinguished from it, a branch of theological study must be conceived
+which harmonises the historical exposition of the Gospel with the
+general state of knowledge of the time. The Church can as little
+dispense with such a discipline as there can be a Christianity which
+does not account to itself for its basis and spiritual contents.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Eusebius' preface to his Church History. Eusebius in
+this work set himself a comprehensive task, but in doing so he never in
+the remotest sense thought of a history of dogma. In place of that we
+have a history of men "who from generation to generation proclaimed the
+word of God orally or by writing," and a history of those who by their
+passion for novelties, plunged themselves into the greatest errors.]
+
+[Footnote 13: See for example, B. Schwane, Dogmengesch. d.
+Vornicaenischen Zeit, 1862, where the sense in which dogmas have no
+historical side is first expounded, and then it is shewn that dogmas,
+"notwithstanding, present a certain side which permits a historical
+consideration, because in point of fact they have gone through
+historical developments." But these historical developments present
+themselves simply either as solemn promulgations and explications, or as
+private theological speculations.]
+
+[Footnote 14: If we leave out of account the Marcionite gnostic
+criticism of ecclesiastical Christianity, Paul of Samosata and Marcellus
+of Ancyra may be mentioned as men who, in the earliest period,
+criticised the apologetic Alexandrian theology which was being
+naturalised (see the remarkable statement of Marcellus in Euseb. C.
+Marc. I.4: [Greek: to tou dogmatos onoma tes anthropines echetai boules
+te kai gnomes k.t.l.] which I have chosen as the motto of this book). We
+know too little of Stephen Gobarus (VI. cent.) to enable us to estimate
+his review of the doctrine of the Church and its development (Photius
+Bibl. 232). With regard to the middle ages (Abelard "Sic et Non"), see
+Reuter, Gesch. der relig. Aufklaerung im MA., 1875. Hahn Gesch, der
+Ketzer, especially in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, 3 vols., 1845.
+Keller, Die Reformation und die alteren Reform-Parteien, 1885.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums.
+2 vols., 1881, especially vol. II p. 1 ff. 363 ff. 494 ff. ("Humanism
+and the science of history"). The direct importance of humanism for
+illuminating the history of the middle ages is very little, and least of
+all for the history of the Church and of dogma. The only prominent works
+here are those of Saurentius Valla and Erasmus. The criticism of the
+scholastic dogmas of the Church and the Pope began as early as the 12th
+century. For the attitude of the Renaissance to religion, see
+Burckhardt, Die Cultur der Renaissance. 2 vols., 1877.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See Holtzmann, Kanon und Tradition, 1859, Hase, Handbuch
+der protest. Polemik, 1878. Joh Delitszch, Das Lehrsystem der roem.
+Kirche, 1875. New revelations, however, are rejected, and bold
+assumptions leading that way are not favoured: See Schwane, above work
+p. 11: "The content of revelation is not enlarged by the decisions or
+teaching of the Church, nor are new revelations added in course of time
+... Christian truth cannot therefore in its content be completed by the
+Church, nor has she ever claimed the right of doing so, but always where
+new designations or forms of dogma became necessary for the putting down
+of error or the instruction of the faithful, she would always teach what
+she had received in Holy scripture or in the oral tradition of the
+Apostles." Recent Catholic accounts of the history of dogma are Klee,
+Lehrbuch der D.G. 2 vols, 1837, (Speculative). Schwane, Dogmengesch. der
+Vornicaenischen Zeit, 1862, der patrist Zeit, 1869; der Mittleren Zeit,
+1882. Bach, Die D.G. des MA. 1873. There is a wealth of material for the
+history of dogma in Kuhn's Dogmatik, as well as in the great
+controversial writings occasioned by the celebrated work of Bellarmin;
+Disputationes de controversiis Christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis
+haereticos, 1581-1593. It need not be said that, in spite of their
+inability to treat the history of dogma historically and critically,
+much may be learned from these works, and some other striking monographs
+of Roman Catholic scholars. But everything in history that is fitted to
+shake the high antiquity and unanimous attestation of the Catholic
+dogmas, becomes here a problem, the solution of which is demanded,
+though indeed its carrying out often requires a very exceptional
+intellectual subtlety.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Historical interest in Protestantism has grown up around
+the questions as to the power of the Pope, the significance of Councils,
+or the Scripturalness of the doctrines set up by them, and about the
+meaning of the Lord's supper, of the conception of it by the Church
+Fathers; (see Oecolampadius and Melanchthon.) Protestants were too sure
+that the doctrine of justification was taught in the scriptures to feel
+any need of seeking proofs for it by studies in the history of dogma,
+and Luther also dispensed with the testimony of history for the dogma of
+the Lord's supper. The task of shewing how far and in what way Luther
+and the Reformers compounded with history has not even yet been taken
+up. And yet there may be found in Luther's writings surprising and
+excellent critical comments on the history of dogma and the theology of
+the Fathers, as well as genial conceptions which have certainly remained
+inoperative; see especially the treatise "Von den Conciliis und
+Kirchen," and his judgment on different Church Fathers. In the first
+edition of the _Loci_ of Melanchthon we have also critical material for
+estimating the old systems of dogma. Calvin's depreciatory estimate of
+the Trinitarian and Christological Formula, which, however, he retracted
+at a later period is well known.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Protestant Church history was brought into being by the
+Interim, Flacius being its father, see his Catalogus Testium Veritatis,
+and the so called Magdeburg Centuries 1559-1574, also Jundt Les
+Centuries de Magdebourg Paris, 1883 Von Engelhardt (Christenthum
+Justins, p. 9 ff.) has drawn attention to the estimate of Justin in the
+Centuries, and has justly insisted on the high importance of this first
+attempt at a criticism of the Church Fathers Khefoth (Eml. in. d. D.G.
+1839) has the merit of pointing out the somewhat striking judgment of A.
+Hyperius on the history of dogma Chemnitz, Examen concilii Tridentini,
+1565 Forbesius a Corse (a Scotsman) Instructiones historico-theologiae de
+doctrina Christiana 1645.]
+
+[Footnote 19: The learning, the diligence in collecting, and the
+carefulness of the Benedictines and Maurians, as well as of English
+Dutch and French theologians, such as Casaubon, Vossius, Pearson,
+Dallaus Spanheim, Grabe, Basnage, etc. have never since been equalled,
+far less surpassed. Even in the literary historical and higher criticism
+these scholars have done splendid work, so far as the confessional
+dogmas did not come into question]
+
+[Footnote 20: See especially, G. Arnold, Unpartheyische Kirchen- und
+Ketzerhistorie, 1699, also Baur, Epochen der kirchlichen
+Geschichtsschreibung p. 84 ff., Floring G. Arnold als Kirchenhistoriker
+Darmstadt, 1883. The latter determines correctly the measure of Arnold's
+importance. His work was the direct preparation for an impartial
+examination of the history of dogma however partial it was in itself
+Pietism, here and there, after Spener, declared war against scholastic
+dogmatics as a hindrance to piety, and in doing so broke the ban under
+which the knowledge of history lay captive.]
+
+[Footnote 21: The investigations of the so-called English Deists about
+the Christian religion contain the first, and to some extent a very
+significant free-spirited attempt at a critical view of the history of
+dogma (see Lechler, History of English Deism, 1841). But the criticism
+is an abstract rarely a historical one. Some very learned works bearing
+on the history of dogma were written in England against the position of
+the Deists especially by Lardner; see also at an earlier time Bull,
+Defensio fidei nic.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Calixtus of Helmstadt was the forerunner of Leibnitz with
+regard to Church history. But the merit of having recognised the main
+problem of the history of dogma does not belong to Calixtus. By pointing
+out what Protestantism and Catholicism had in common he did not in any
+way clear up the historico-critical problem. On the other hand, the
+_Consensus repetitus_ of the Wittenberg theologians shews what
+fundamental questions Calixtus had already stirred.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Among the numerous historical writings of Mosheim may be
+mentioned specially his Dissert ad hist Eccles pertinentes 2 vols.
+1731-1741, as well as the work "De rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum
+M Commentarii," 1753; see also "Institutiones hist Eccl" last Edition,
+1755.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Walch, "Entwurf einer vollstaendigen Historie der
+Ketzereien, Spaltungen und Religionsstreitigkeiten bis auf die Zeiten
+der Reformation." 11 Thle (incomplete), 1762-1785. See also his "Entwurf
+einer vollstaendigen Historie der Kirchenversammlungen" 1759, as well as
+numerous monographs on the history of dogma. Such were already produced
+by the older Walch, whose "Histor. theol Einleitung in die
+Religionsstreitigkeiten der Ev. Luth. Kirche," 5 vols. 1730-1739, and
+"Histor.-theol. Einleit. in die Religionsstreitigkeiten welche
+sonderlich ausser der Ev Luth. Kirche entstanden sind 5 Thle",
+1733-1736, had already put polemics behind the knowledge of history (see
+Gass. "Gesch. der protest. Dogmatik," 3rd Vol. p. 205 ff).]
+
+[Footnote 25: Opusc. p. 576 f.: "Ex quo fit, ut nullo modo in
+theologicis, quae omnia e libris antiquis hebraicis, grascis, latinis
+ducuntur, possit aliquis bene in definiendo versari et a peccatis multis
+et magnis sibi cavere, nisi litteras et historiam assumat." The title of
+a programme of Crusius, Ernesti's opponent, "De dogmatum Christianorum
+historia cum probatione dogmatum non confundenda," 1770, is significant
+of the new insight which was steadily making way.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Semler, Einleitung zu Baumgartens evang. Glaubenslehre,
+1759: also Geschichte der Glaubenslehre, zu Baumgartens Untersuch.
+theol. Streitigkeiten, 1762-1764. Semler paved the way for the view that
+dogmas have arisen and been gradually developed under definite
+historical conditions. He was the first to grasp the problem of the
+relation of Catholicism to early Christianity, because he freed the
+early Christian documents from the fetters of the Canon. Schroeckh
+(Christl. Kirchengesch., 1786,) in the spirit of Semler described with
+impartiality and care the changes of the dogmas.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Roessler, Lehrbegriff der Christlichen Kirche in den 3
+ersten Jahrh. 1775; also, Arbeiten by Burscher, Heinrich, Staeudlin,
+etc., see especially, Loeffler's "Abhandlung welche eine kurze
+Darstellung der Entstehungsart der Dreieinigkeit enthaelt," 1792, in the
+translation of Souverain's Le Platonisme devoile, 1700. The question as
+to the Platonism of the Fathers, this fundamental question of the
+history of dogma, was raised even by Luther and Flacius, and was very
+vigorously debated at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th
+centuries, after the Socinians had already affirmed it strongly. The
+question once more emerges on German soil in the church history of G.
+Arnold, but cannot be said to have received the attention it deserves in
+the 150 years that have followed (see the literature of the controversy
+in Tzschirner, Fall des Heidenthums, p. 580 f.). Yet the problem was
+first thrust aside by the speculative view of the history of
+Christianity.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Lange. Ausfuehr. Gesch. der Dogmen, oder der Glaubenslehre
+der Christl. Kirche nach den Kirchenvaeter ausgearbeitet. 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Muenscher, Handb. d. Christl. D.G. 4 vols. first 6
+Centuries 1797-1809; Lehrbuch, 1st Edit. 1811; 3rd. Edit. edited by v
+Coelln, Hupfeld and Neudecker, 1832-1838. Planck's epoch-making work:
+Gesch. der Veraenderungen und der Bildung unseres protestantischen
+Lehrbegriffs. 6 vols. 1791-1800, had already for the most part appeared.
+Contemporary with Muenscher are Wundemann, Gesch. d. Christl.
+Glaubenslehren vom Zeitalter des Athanasius bis auf Gregor. d. Gr. 2
+Thle. 1789-1799; Muenter, Handbuch der alteren Christl. D.G. hrsg. von
+Ewers, 2 vols. 1802-1804; Staeudlin, Lehrbuch der Dogmatik und
+Dogmengeschichte, 1800, last Edition 1822, and Beck, Comment, hist.
+decretorum religionis Christianae, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Augusti, Lehrb. d. Christl. D.G. 1805. 4 Edit. 1835.
+Berthold, Handb. der D.G. 2 vols. 1822-1823. Schickedanz, Versuch einer
+Gesch. d. Christl. Glaubenslehre etc. 1827. Ruperti, Geschichte der
+Dogmen, 1831. Lenz, Gesch. der Christl. Dogmen. 2 parts. 1834-1835.
+J.G.V. Engelhardt, Dogmengesch. 1839. See also Giesler, Dogmengesch. 2
+vols. edited by Redepenning, 1855: also Illgen, Ueber den Werth der
+Christl. D.G. 1817.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Baumgarten Crusius, Lehrb. d. Christl. D.G. 1852: also
+compendium d. Christl. D.G. 2 parts 1830-1846, the second part edited by
+Hase.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Meier, Lehrb. d. D.G. 1840. 2nd Edit. revised by G. Baur
+1854.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The "Special History of Dogma" in Baumgarten Crusius, in
+which every particular dogma is by itself pursued through the whole
+history of the Church, is of course entirely unfruitful. But even the
+opinions which are given in the "General History of Dogma," are
+frequently very far from the mark, (Cf., e.g., Sec. 14 and p. 67), which is
+the more surprising as no one can deny that he takes a scholarly view of
+history.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Meier's Lehrbuch is formally and materially a very
+important piece of work, the value of which has not been sufficiently
+recognised, because the author followed neither the track of Neander nor
+of Baur. Besides the excellences noted in the text, may be further
+mentioned, that almost everywhere Meier has distinguished correctly
+between the history of dogma and the history of theology, and has given
+an account only of the former.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Biedermann (Christl Dogmatik 2 Edit 1 vol. p. 332 f) says,
+"The history of the development of the Dogma of the Person of Christ
+will bring before us step by step the ascent of faith in the Gospel of
+Jesus Christ to its metaphysical basis in the nature of his person."
+This was the quite normal and necessary way of actual faith and is not
+to be reckoned as a confused mixture of heterogeneous philosophical
+opinions. The only thing taken from the ideas of contemporary philosophy
+was the special material of consciousness in which the doctrine of
+Christ's Divinity was at any time expressed. The process of this
+doctrinal development was an inward necessary one.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Baur, Lehrbuch der Christl D.G. 1847 3rd Edit. 1867, also
+Vorles uber die Christl D.G. edited by F. Baur 1865-68. Further the
+Monographs, "Ueber die Christl Lehre v.d. Versohnung in ihrergesch Entw.
+1838." Ueber die Christl Lehre v.d. Dreieinigkeit u.d. Menschwerdung,
+1841, etc. D.F. Strauss preceded him with his work Die Christl
+Glaubenslehre in ihrer gesch Entw 2 vols 1840-41. From the stand-point
+of the Hegelian right we have Marheineke Christl D.G. edited by Matthias
+and Vatke 1849. From the same stand-point though at the same time
+influenced by Schleiermacher Dorner wrote "The History of the Person of
+Christ."]
+
+[Footnote 37: See p. 63: "As Christianity appeared in contrast with
+Judaism and Heathenism, and could only represent a new and peculiar form
+of the religious consciousness in distinction from both reducing the
+contrasts of both to a unity in itself, so also the first difference of
+tendencies developing themselves within Christianity, must be determined
+by the relation in which it stood to Judaism on the one hand, and to
+Heathenism on the other." Compare also the very characteristic
+introduction to the first volume of the Vorlesungen.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Hagenbach's Manual of the history of dogma might be put
+alongside of Neander's work. It agrees with it both in plan and spirit.
+But the material of the history of dogma which it offers in
+superabundance, seems far less connectedly worked out than by Neander.
+In Shedd's history of Christian doctrine the Americans possess a
+presentation of the history of dogma worth noting 2 vols 3 Edit 1883.
+The work of Fr. Bonifas Hist des Dogmes 2 vols 1886 appeared after the
+death of the author and is not important.]
+
+[Footnote 39: No doubt Kliefoth also maintains for each period a stage
+of the disintegration of dogma but this is not to be understood in the
+ordinary sense of the word. Besides there are ideas in this introduction
+which hardly obtain the approval of their author to-day.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Thomasius' Die Christl. Dogmengesch. als Entwickel. Gesch.
+des Kirchl. Lehrbegriffs. 2 vols. 1874-76. 2nd Edit intelligently and
+carefully edited by Bonwetsch. and Seeberg, 1887. (Seeberg has produced
+almost a new work in vol. II). From the same stand-point is the manual
+of the history of dogma by H. Schmid, 1859, (in 4th Ed. revised and
+transformed into an excellent collection of passages from the sources by
+Hauck, 1887), as well as the Luther. Dogmatik (Vol. II 1864: Der
+Kirchenglaube) of Kahnis, which, however, subjects particular dogmas to
+a freer criticism.]
+
+[Footnote 41: See Vol. 1. p. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 42: See Vol. 1. p. 11. "The first period treats of the
+development of the great main dogmas which were to become the basis of
+the further development (the Patristic age). The problem of the second
+period was, partly to work up this material theologically, and partly to
+develop it. But this development, under the influence of the Hierarchy,
+fell into false paths, and became partly, at least, corrupt (the age of
+Scholasticism), and therefore a reformation was necessary. It was
+reserved for this third period to carry back the doctrinal formation
+which had become abnormal, to the old sound paths, and on the other
+hand, in virtue of the regeneration of the Church which followed, to
+deepen it and fashion it according to that form which it got in the
+doctrinal systems of the Evangelic Church, while the remaining part
+fixed its own doctrine in the decrees of Trent (period of the
+Reformation)." This view of history, which, from the Christian
+stand-point, will allow absolutely nothing to be said against the
+doctrinal formation of the early Church, is a retrogression from the
+view of Luther and the writers of the "Centuries," for these were well
+aware that the corruption did not first begin in the middle ages.]
+
+[Footnote 43: This fulfils a requirement urged by Weizsaecker (Jahrb. f.
+Deutsche Theol 1866 p. 170 ff.)]
+
+[Footnote 44: See Ritschl's Essay, "Ueber die Methode der aelteren
+Dogmengeschichte" (Jahrb. f. deutsche Theol. 1871 p. 191 ff.) in which
+the advance made by Nitzsch is estimated, and at the same time, an
+arrangement proposed for the treatment of the earlier history of dogma
+which would group the material more clearly and more suitably than has
+been done by Nitzsch. After having laid the foundation for a correct
+historical estimate of the development of early Christianity in his work
+"Entstehung der Alt-Katholischen Kirche", 1857, Ritschl published an
+epoch-making study in the history of dogma in his "History of the
+doctrine of justification and reconciliation" 2 edit. 1883. We have no
+superabundance of good monographs on the history of dogma. There are few
+that give such exact information regarding the Patristic period as that
+of Von Engelhardt "Ueber das Christenthum Justin's", 1878, and Zahn's
+work on Marcellus, 1867. Among the investigators of our age, Renan above
+all has clearly recognised that there are only two main periods in the
+history of dogma, and that the changes which Christianity experienced
+after the establishment of the Catholic Church bear no proportion to the
+changes which preceded. His words are as follows (Hist. des origin. du
+Christianisme T. VII. p. 503 f.):--the division about the year 180 is
+certainly placed too early, regard being had to what was then really
+authoritative in the Church.--"Si nous comparons maintenant le
+Christianisme, tel qu'il existait vers l'an 180, au Christianisme du IVe
+et du Ve, siecle, au Christianisme du moyen age, au Christianisme de nos
+jours, nous trouvons qu'en realite il s'est augmente des tres peu de
+chose dans les siecles qui ont suivis. En 180, le Nouveau Testament est
+clos: il ne s'y ajoutera plus un seul livre nouveau(?). Lentement, les
+Epitres de Paul out conquis leur place a la suite des Evangiles, dans le
+code sacre et dans la liturgie. Quant aux dogmes, rien n'est fixe; mais
+le germe de tout existe; presque aucune idee n'apparaitra qui ne puisse
+faire valoir des autorites du 1er et du 2e siecles. Il y a du trop, il y
+a des contradictions; le travail theologique consistera bien plus a
+emonder, a ecarter des superfluites qu'a inventer du nouveau. L'Eglise
+laissera tomber une foule de choses mal commencees, elle sortira de bien
+des impasses. Elle a encore deux coeurs, pour ainsi dire; elle a
+plusieurs tetes; ces anomalies tomberont; mais aucun dogme vraiment
+original ne se formera plus." Also the discussions in chapters 28-34, of
+the same volume. H. Thiersch (Die Kirche im Apostolischen Zeitalter,
+1852) reveals a deep insight into the difference between the spirit of
+the New Testament writers and the post-Apostolic Fathers, but he has
+overdone these differences and sought to explain them by the
+mythological assumption of an Apostasy. A great amount of material for
+the history of dogma may be found in the great work of Boehringer, Die
+Kirche Christi und ihre Zeugen, oder die Kirchengeschichte in
+Biographien. 2 Edit. 1864.]
+
+[Footnote 45: By the connection with general church history we must,
+above all, understand, a continuous regard to the world within which the
+church has been developed. The most recent works on the history of the
+church and of dogma, those of Renan, Overbeck (Anfaenge der patristischen
+Litteratur), Aube, Von Engelhardt (Justin), Kuehn (Minucius Felix). Hatch
+("Organization of the early church," and especially his posthumous work
+"The influence of Greek ideas and usages upon the Christian Church,"
+1890, in which may be found the most ample proof for the conception of
+the early history of dogma which is set forth in the following pages),
+are in this respect worthy of special note. Deserving of mention also is
+R. Rothe, who, in his "Vorlesungen ueber Kirchengeschichte", edited by
+Weingarten, 1875, 2 vols, gave most significant suggestions towards a
+really historical conception of the history of the church and of dogma.
+To Rothe belongs the undiminished merit of realising thoroughly the
+significance of nationality in church history. But the theology of our
+century is also indebted for the first scientific conception of
+Catholicism, not to Marheineke or Winer, but to Rothe. (See Vol II. pp.
+1-11 especially p. 7 f.). "The development of the Christian Church in
+the Graeco-Roman world was not at the same time a development of that
+world by the Church and further by Christianity. There remained, as the
+result of the process, nothing but the completed Church. The world which
+had built it had made itself bankrupt in doing so." With regard to the
+origin and development of the Catholic cultus and constitution, nay,
+even of the Ethic (see Luthardt, Die antike Ethik, 1887, preface), that
+has been recognised by Protestant scholars, which one always hesitates
+to recognise with regard to catholic dogma: see the excellent remarks of
+Schwegler, Nachapostolisches Zeitalter. Vol. 1. p. 3 ff. It may be hoped
+that an intelligent consideration of early Christian literature will
+form the bridge to a broad and intelligent view of the history of dogma.
+The essay of Overbeck mentioned above (Histor. Zeitschrift. N. F. XII p.
+417 ff.) may be most heartily recommended in this respect. It is very
+gratifying to find an investigator so conservative as Sohm, now fully
+admitting that "Christian theology grew up in the second and third
+centuries, when its foundations were laid for all time (?), the last
+great production of the Hellenic Spirit." (Kirchengeschichte im
+Grundriss, 1888. p. 37). The same scholar in his very important
+Kirchenrecht. Bd. I. 1892, has transferred to the history of the origin
+of Church law and Church organization, the points of view which I have
+applied in the following account to the consideration of dogma. He has
+thereby succeeded in correcting many old errors and prejudices; but in
+my opinion he has obscured the truth by exaggerations connected with a
+conception, not only of original Christianity, but also of the Gospel in
+general, which is partly a narrow legal view, partly an enthusiastic
+one. He has arrived _ex errore per veritatem ad errorem_; but there are
+few books from which so much may be learned about early church history
+as from this paradoxical "Kirchenrecht."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA
+
+Sec. 1. _Introductory._
+
+
+The Gospel presents itself as an Apocalyptic message on the soil of the
+Old Testament, and as the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, and
+yet is a new thing, the creation of a universal religion on the basis of
+that of the Old Testament. It appeared when the time was fulfilled, that
+is, it is not without a connection with the stage of religious and
+spiritual development which was brought about by the intercourse of Jews
+and Greeks, and was established in the Roman Empire; but still it is a
+new religion because it cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. When the
+traditional religion has become too narrow the new religion usually
+appears as something of a very abstract nature; philosophy comes upon
+the scene, and religion withdraws from social life and becomes a private
+matter. But here an overpowering personality has appeared--the Son of
+God. Word and deed coincide in that personality, and as it leads men
+into a new communion with God, it unites them at the same time
+inseparably with itself, enables them to act on the world as light and
+leaven, and joins them together in a spiritual unity and an active
+confederacy.
+
+2. Jesus Christ brought no new doctrine, but he set forth in his own
+person a holy life with God and before God, and gave himself in virtue
+of this life to the service of his brethren in order to win them for the
+Kingdom of God, that is, to lead them out of selfishness and the world
+to God, out of the natural connections and contrasts to a union in love,
+and prepare them for an eternal kingdom and an eternal life. But while
+working for this Kingdom of God he did not withdraw from the religious
+and political communion of his people, nor did he induce his disciples
+to leave that communion. On the contrary, he described the Kingdom of
+God as the fulfilment of the promises given to the nation, and himself
+as the Messiah whom that nation expected. By doing so he secured for his
+new message, and with it his own person, a place in the system of
+religious ideas and hopes, which by means of the Old Testament were
+then, in diverse forms, current in the Jewish nation. The origin of a
+doctrine concerning the Messianic hope, in which the Messiah was no
+longer an unknown being, but Jesus of Nazareth, along with the new
+temper and disposition of believers was a direct result of the
+impression made by the person of Jesus. The conception of the Old
+Testament in accordance with the _analogia fidei_, that is, in
+accordance with the conviction that this Jesus of Nazareth is the
+Christ, was therewith given. Whatever sources of comfort and strength
+Christianity, even in its New Testament, has possessed or does possess
+up to the present, is for the most part taken from the Old Testament,
+viewed from a Christian stand-point, in virtue of the impression of the
+person of Jesus. Even its dross was changed into gold; its hidden
+treasures were brought forth, and while the earthly and transitory were
+recognised as symbols of the heavenly and eternal, there rose up a world
+of blessings, of holy ordinances, and of sure grace prepared by God from
+eternity. One could joyfully make oneself at home in it; for its long
+history guaranteed a sure future and a blessed close, while it offered
+comfort and certainty in all the changes of life to every individual
+heart that would only raise itself to God. From the positive position
+which Jesus took up towards the Old Testament, that is, towards the
+religious traditions of his people, his Gospel gained a footing which,
+later on, preserved it from dissolving in the glow of enthusiasm, or
+melting away in the ensnaring dream of antiquity, that dream of the
+indestructible Divine nature of the human spirit, and the nothingness
+and baseness of all material things.[46] But from the positive attitude
+of Jesus to the Jewish tradition, there followed also, for a generation
+that had long been accustomed to grope after the Divine active in the
+world, the summons to think out a theory of the media of revelation, and
+so put an end to the uncertainty with which speculation had hitherto
+been afflicted. This, like every theory of religion, concealed in itself
+the danger of crippling the power of faith; for men are ever prone to
+compound with religion itself by a religious theory.
+
+3. The result of the preaching of Jesus, however, in the case of the
+believing Jews, was not only the illumination of the Old Testament by
+the Gospel and the confirmation of the Gospel by the Old Testament, but
+not less, though indirectly, the detachment of believers from the
+religious community of the Jews from the Jewish Church. How this came
+about cannot be discussed here: we may satisfy ourselves with the fact
+that it was essentially accomplished in the first two generations of
+believers. The Gospel was a message for humanity even where there was no
+break with Judaism: but it seemed impossible to bring this message home
+to men who were not Jews in any other way than by leaving the Jewish
+Church. But to leave that Church was to declare it to be worthless, and
+that could only be done by conceiving it as a malformation from its very
+commencement, or assuming that it had temporarily or completely
+fulfilled its mission. In either case it was necessary to put another in
+its place, for, according to the Old Testament, it was unquestionable
+that God had not only given revelations, but through these revelations
+had founded a nation, a religious community. The result, also, to which
+the conduct of the unbelieving Jews and the social union of the
+disciples of Jesus required by that conduct, led, was carried home with
+irresistible power: believers in Christ are the community of God, they
+are the true Israel, the [Greek: ekklesia tou theou]: but the Jewish
+Church persisting in its unbelief is the Synagogue of Satan. Out of this
+consciousness sprang--first as a power in which one believed, but which
+immediately began to be operative, though not as a commonwealth--the
+christian church, a special communion of hearts on the basis of a
+personal union with God, established by Christ and mediated by the
+Spirit; a communion whose essential mark was to claim as its own the Old
+Testament and the idea of being the people of God, to sweep aside the
+Jewish conception of the Old Testament and the Jewish Church, and
+thereby gain the shape and power of a community that is capable of a
+mission for the world.
+
+4. This independent Christian community could not have been formed had
+not Judaism, in consequence of inner and outer developments, then
+reached a point at which it must either altogether cease to grow or
+burst its shell. This community is the presupposition of the history of
+dogma, and the position which it took up towards the Jewish tradition
+is, strictly speaking, the point of departure for all further
+developments, so far as with the removal of all national and ceremonial
+peculiarities it proclaimed itself to be what the Jewish Church wished
+to be. We find the Christian Church about the middle of the third
+century, after severe crisis, in nearly the same position to the Old
+Testament and to Judaism as it was 150 or 200 years earlier.[47] It
+makes the same claim to the Old Testament, and builds its faith and hope
+upon its teaching. It is also, as before, strictly anti-national; above
+all, anti-judaic, and sentences the Jewish religious community to the
+abyss of hell. It might appear, then, as though the basis for the
+further development of Christianity as a church was completely given
+from the moment in which the first breach of believers with the
+synagogue and the formation of independent Christian communities took
+place. The problem, the solution of which will always exercise this
+church, so far as it reflects upon its faith, will be to turn the
+Old Testament more completely to account in its own sense, so as to
+condemn the Jewish Church with its particular and national forms.
+
+5. But the rule even for the Christian use of the Old Testament lay
+originally in the living connection in which one stood with the Jewish
+people and its traditions, and a new religious community, a religious
+commonwealth, was not yet realised, although it existed for faith and
+thought. If again we compare the Church about the middle of the third
+century with the condition of Christendom 150 or 200 years before, we
+shall find that there is now a real religious commonwealth, while at the
+earlier period there were only communities who believed in a heavenly
+Church, whose earthly image they were, endeavoured to give it expression
+with the simplest means, and lived in the future as strangers and
+pilgrims on the earth, hastening to meet the Kingdom of whose existence
+they had the surest guarantee. We now really find a new commonwealth,
+politically formed and equipped with fixed forms of all kinds. We
+recognise in these forms few Jewish, but many Graeco-Roman features, and
+finally, we perceive also in the doctrine of faith on which this
+commonwealth is based, the philosophic spirit of the Greeks. We find a
+Church as a political union and worship institute, a formulated faith
+and a sacred learning; but one thing we no longer find, the old
+enthusiasm and individualism which had not felt itself fettered by
+subjection to the authority of the Old Testament. Instead of
+enthusiastic independent Christians, we find a new literature of
+revelation, the New Testament, and Christian priests. When did these
+formations begin? How and by what influence was the living faith
+transformed into the creed to be believed, the surrender to Christ into
+a philosophic Christology, the Holy Church into the _corpus permixtum_,
+the glowing hope of the Kingdom of heaven into a doctrine of immortality
+and deification, prophecy into a learned exegesis and theological
+science, the bearers of the spirit into clerics, the brethren into laity
+held in tutelage, miracles and healings into nothing, or into
+priestcraft, the fervent prayers into a solemn ritual, renunciation of
+the world into a jealous dominion over the world, the "spirit" into
+constraint and law?
+
+There can be no doubt about the answer: these formations are as old in
+their origin as the detachment of the Gospel from the Jewish Church. A
+religious faith which seeks to establish a communion of its own in
+opposition to another, is compelled to borrow from that other what it
+needs. The religion which is life and feeling of the heart cannot be
+converted into a knowledge determining the motley multitude of men
+without deferring to their wishes and opinions. Even the holiest must
+clothe itself in the same existing earthly forms as the profane if it
+wishes to found on earth a confederacy which is to take the place of
+another, and if it does not wish to enslave, but to determine the
+reason. When the Gospel was rejected by the Jewish nation, and had
+disengaged itself from all connection with that nation, it was already
+settled whence it must take the material to form for itself a new body
+and be transformed into a Church and a theology. National and
+particular, in the ordinary sense of the word, these forms could not be:
+the contents of the Gospel were too rich for that; but separated from
+Judaism, nay, even before that separation, the Christian religion came
+in contact with the Roman world and with a culture which had already
+mastered the world, viz., the Greek. The Christian Church and its
+doctrine were developed within the Roman world and Greek culture in
+opposition to the Jewish Church. This fact is just as important for the
+history of dogma as the other stated above, that this Church was
+continuously nourished on the Old Testament. Christendom was of course
+conscious of being in opposition to the empire and its culture, as well
+as to Judaism; but this from the beginning--apart from a few
+exceptions--was not without reservations. No man can serve two masters;
+but in setting up a spiritual power in this world one must serve an
+earthly master, even when he desires to naturalise the spiritual in the
+world. As a consequence of the complete break with the Jewish Church
+there followed not only the strict necessity of quarrying the stones for
+the building of the Church from the Graeco-Roman world, but also the idea
+that Christianity has a more positive relation to that world than to the
+synagogue. And, as the Church was being built, the original enthusiasm
+must needs vanish. The separation from Judaism having taken place, it
+was necessary that the spirit of another people should be admitted, and
+should also materially determine the manner of turning the Old Testament
+to advantage.
+
+6. But an inner necessity was at work here no less than an outer.
+Judaism and Hellenism in the age of Christ were opposed to each other,
+not only as dissimilar powers of equal value, but the latter having its
+origin among a small people, became a universal spiritual power, which,
+severed from its original nationality, had for that very reason
+penetrated foreign nations. It had even laid hold of Judaism, and the
+anxious care of her professional watchmen to hedge round the national
+possession, is but a proof of the advancing decomposition within the
+Jewish nation. Israel, no doubt, had a sacred treasure which was of
+greater value than all the treasures of the Greeks,--the living God--but
+in what miserable vessels was this treasure preserved, and how much
+inferior was all else possessed by this nation in comparison with the
+riches, the power, the delicacy and freedom of the Greek spirit and its
+intellectual possessions. A movement like that of Christianity, which
+discovered to the Jew the soul whose dignity was not dependent on its
+descent from Abraham, but on its responsibility to God, could not
+continue in the framework of Judaism however expanded, but must soon
+recognise in that world which the Greek spirit had discovered and
+prepared, the field which belonged to it: [Greek: eikotos Ioudaiois men
+nomos, Hellesi de philosophia mechris tes parousias enteuthen de he
+klesis he katholike] [to the Jews the law, to the Greeks Philosophy, up
+to the Parousia; from that time the catholic invitation.] But the Gospel
+at first was preached exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of
+Israel, and that which inwardly united it with Hellenism did not yet
+appear in any doctrine or definite form of knowledge.
+
+On the contrary, the Church doctrine of faith, in the preparatory stage,
+from the Apologists up to the time of Origen, hardly in any point shews
+the traces, scarcely even the remembrance of a time in which the Gospel
+was not detached from Judaism. For that very reason it is absolutely
+impossible to understand this preparation and development solely from
+the writings that remain to us as monuments of that short earliest
+period. The attempts at deducing the genesis of the Church's doctrinal
+system from the theology of Paul, or from compromises between Apostolic
+doctrinal ideas, will always miscarry; for they fail to note that to the
+most important premises of the Catholic doctrine of faith belongs an
+element which we cannot recognise as dominant in the New Testament,[48]
+viz., the Hellenic spirit.[49] As far backwards as we can trace the
+history of the propagation of the Church's doctrine of faith, from the
+middle of the third century to the end of the first, we nowhere perceive
+a leap, or the sudden influx of an entirely new element. What we
+perceive is rather the gradual disappearance of an original element, the
+Enthusiastic and Apocalyptic, that is, of the sure consciousness of an
+immediate possession of the Divine Spirit, and the hope of the future
+conquering the present; individual piety conscious of itself and
+sovereign, living in the future world, recognising no external authority
+and no external barriers. This piety became ever weaker and passed away:
+the utilising of the Codex of Revelation, the Old Testament,
+proportionally increased with the Hellenic influences which controlled
+the process, for the two went always hand in hand. At an earlier period
+the Churches made very little use of either, because they had in
+individual religious inspiration on the basis of Christ's preaching and
+the sure hope of his Kingdom which was near at hand, much more than
+either could bestow. The factors whose co-operation we observe in the
+second and third centuries, were already operative among the earliest
+Gentile Christians. We nowhere find a yawning gulf in the great
+development which lies between the first Epistle of Clement and the work
+of Origen, [Greek: Peri archon]. Even the importance which the
+"Apostolic" was to obtain, was already foreshadowed by the end of the
+first century, and enthusiasm always had its limits.[50] The most
+decisive division, therefore, falls before the end of the first century;
+or more correctly, the relatively new element, the Greek, which is of
+importance for the forming of the Church as a commonwealth, and
+consequently for the formation of its doctrine, is clearly present in
+the churches even in the Apostolic age. Two hundred years, however,
+passed before it made itself completely at home in the Gospel, although
+there were points of connection inherent in the Gospel.
+
+7. The cause of the great historical fact is clear. It is given in the
+fact that the Gospel, rejected by the majority of the Jews, was very
+soon proclaimed to those who were not Jews, that after a few decades the
+greater number of its professors were found among the Greeks, and that,
+consequently, the development leading to the Catholic dogma took place
+within Graeco-Roman culture. But within this culture there was lacking
+the power of understanding either the idea of the completed Old
+Testament theocracy, or the idea of the Messiah. Both of these essential
+elements of the original proclamation, therefore, must either be
+neglected or remodelled.[51] But it is hardly allowable to mention
+details however important, where the whole aggregate of ideas, of
+religious historical perceptions and presuppositions, which were based
+on the old Testament, understood in a Christian sense, presented itself
+as something new and strange. One can easily appropriate words, but not
+practical ideas. Side by side with the Old Testament religion as the
+presupposition of the Gospel, and using its forms of thought, the moral
+and religious views and ideals dominant in the world of Greek culture
+could not but insinuate themselves into the communities consisting of
+Gentiles. From the enormous material that was brought home to the hearts
+of the Greeks, whether formulated by Paul or by any other, only a few
+rudimentary ideas could at first be appropriated. For that very reason,
+the Apostolic Catholic doctrine of faith in its preparation and
+establishment, is no mere continuation of that which, by uniting things
+that are certainly very dissimilar, is wont to be described as "Biblical
+Theology of the New Testament." Biblical Theology, even when kept within
+reasonable limits, is not the presupposition of the history of dogma.
+The Gentile Christians were little able to comprehend the controversies
+which stirred the Apostolic age within Jewish Christianity. The
+presuppositions of the history of dogma are given in certain fundamental
+ideas, or rather motives of the Gospel, (in the preaching concerning
+Jesus Christ, in the teaching of Evangelic ethics and the future life,
+in the Old Testament capable of any interpretation, but to be
+interpreted with reference to Christ and the Evangelic history), and in
+the Greek spirit.[52]
+
+8. The foregoing statements involve that the difference between the
+development which led to the Catholic doctrine of religion and the
+original condition, was by no means a total one. By recognising the Old
+Testament as a book of Divine revelation, the Gentile Christians
+received along with it the religious speech which was used by Jewish
+Christians, were made dependent upon the interpretation which had been
+used from the very beginning, and even received a great part of the
+Jewish literature which accompanied the Old Testament. But the
+possession of a common religious speech and literature is never a mere
+outward bond of union, however strong the impulse be to introduce the
+old familiar contents into the newly acquired speech. The Jewish, that
+is, the Old Testament element, divested of its national peculiarity, has
+remained the basis of Christendom. It has saturated this element with
+the Greek spirit, but has always clung to its main idea, faith in God as
+the creator and ruler of the world. It has in the course of its
+development rejected important parts of that Jewish element, and has
+borrowed others at a later period from the great treasure that was
+transmitted to it. It has also been able to turn to account the least
+adaptable features, if only for the external confirmation of its own
+ideas. The Old Testament applied to Christ and his universal Church has
+always remained the decisive document, and it was long ere Christian
+writings received the same authority, long ere individual doctrines and
+sayings of Apostolic writings obtained an influence on the formation of
+ecclesiastical doctrine.
+
+9. From yet another side there makes its appearance an agreement between
+the circles of Palestinian believers in Jesus and the Gentile Christian
+communities, which endured for more than a century, though it was of
+course gradually effaced. It is the enthusiastic element which unites
+them, the consciousness of standing in an immediate union with God
+through the Spirit, and receiving directly from God's hand miraculous
+gifts, powers and revelations, granted to the individual that he may
+turn them to account in the service of the Church. The depotentiation of
+the Christian religion, where one may believe in the inspiration of
+another, but no longer feels his own, nay, dare not feel it, is not
+altogether coincident with its settlement on Greek soil. On the
+contrary, it was more than two centuries ere weakness and reflection
+suppressed, or all but suppressed, the forms in which the personal
+consciousness of God originally expressed itself.[53] Now it certainly
+lies in the nature of enthusiasm, that it can assume the most diverse
+forms of expression, and follow very different impulses, and so far it
+frequently separates instead of uniting. But so long as criticism and
+reflection are not yet awakened, and a uniform ideal hovers before one,
+it does unite, and in this sense there existed an identity of
+disposition between the earliest Jewish Christians and the still
+enthusiastic Gentile Christian communities.
+
+10. But, finally, there is a still further uniting element between the
+beginnings of the development to Catholicism, and the original condition
+of the Christian religion as a movement within Judaism, the importance
+of which cannot be overrated, although we have every reason to complain
+here of the obscurity of the tradition. Between the Graeco-Roman world
+which was in search of a spiritual religion, and the Jewish commonwealth
+which already possessed such a religion as a national property, though
+vitiated by exclusiveness, there had long been a Judaism which,
+penetrated by the Greek spirit, was, _ex professo_, devoting itself to
+the task of bringing a new religion to the Greek world, the Jewish
+religion, but that religion in its kernel Greek, that is,
+philosophically moulded, spiritualised and secularised. Here then was
+already consummated an intimate union of the Greek spirit with the Old
+Testament religion, within the Empire and to a less degree in Palestine
+itself. If everything is not to be dissolved into a grey mist, we must
+clearly distinguish this union between Judaism and Hellenism and the
+spiritualising of religion it produced, from the powerful but
+indeterminable influences which the Greek spirit exercised on all things
+Jewish, and which have been a historical condition of the Gospel. The
+alliance, in my opinion, was of no significance at all for the _origin_
+of the Gospel, but was of the most decided importance, first, for the
+propagation of Christianity, and then, for the development of
+Christianity to Catholicism, and for the genesis of the Catholic
+doctrine of faith.[54] We cannot certainly name any particular
+personality who was specially active in this, but we can mention three
+facts which prove more than individual references. (1) The propaganda of
+Christianity in the Diaspora followed the Jewish propaganda and partly
+took its place, that is, the Gospel was at first preached to those
+Gentiles who were already acquainted with the general outlines of the
+Jewish religion, and who were even frequently viewed as a Judaism of a
+second order, in which Jewish and Greek elements had been united in a
+peculiar mixture. (2) The conception of the Old Testament, as we find it
+even in the earliest Gentile Christian teachers, the method of
+spiritualising it, etc., agrees in the most surprising way with the
+methods which were used by the Alexandrian Jews. (3) There are Christian
+documents in no small number and of unknown origin, which completely
+agree in plan, in form and contents with Graeco-Jewish writings of the
+Diaspora, as for example, the Christian Sibylline Oracles, and the
+pseudo-Justinian treatise, "de Monarchia." There are numerous tractates
+of which it is impossible to say with certainty whether they are of
+Jewish or of Christian origin.
+
+The Alexandrian and non-Palestinian Judaism is still Judaism. As the
+Gospel seized and moved the whole of Judaism, it must also have been
+operative in the non Palestinian Judaism. But that already foreshadowed
+the transition of the Gospel to the non-Jewish Greek region, and the
+fate which it was to experience there. For that non-Palestinian Judaism
+formed the bridge between the Jewish Church and the Roman Empire,
+together with its culture.[55] The Gospel passed into the world chiefly
+by this bridge. Paul indeed had a large share in this, but his own
+Churches did not understand the way he led them, and were not able on
+looking back to find it.[56] He indeed became a Greek to the Greeks, and
+even began the undertaking of placing the treasures of Greek knowledge
+at the service of the Gospel. But the knowledge of Christ crucified, to
+which he subordinated all other knowledge as only of preparatory value,
+had nothing in common with Greek philosophy, while the idea of
+justification and the doctrine of the Spirit (Rom. VIII), which together
+formed the peculiar contents of his Christianity, were irreconcilable
+with the moralism and the religious ideals of Hellenism. But the great
+mass of the earliest Gentile Christians became Christians because they
+perceived in the Gospel the sure tidings of the benefits and obligations
+which they had already sought in the fusion of Jewish and Greek
+elements. It is only by discerning this that we can grasp the
+preparation and genesis of the Catholic Church and its dogma.
+
+From the foregoing statements it appears that there fall to be
+considered as presuppositions of the origin of the Catholic Apostolic
+doctrine of faith, the following topics, though of unequal importance as
+regards the extent of their influence:
+
+(a) The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
+
+(b) The common preaching of Jesus Christ in the first generation of
+believers.
+
+(c) The current exposition of the Old Testament, the Jewish speculations
+and hopes of the future, in their significance for the earliest types of
+Christian preaching.[57]
+
+(d) The religious conceptions, and the religious philosophy of the
+Hellenistic Jews, in their significance for the later restatement of the
+Gospel.
+
+(e) The religious dispositions of the Greeks and Romans of the first two
+centuries, and the current Graeco-Roman philosophy of religion.
+
+
+Sec. 2. _The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to His own testimony
+concerning Himself._
+
+I. The Fundamental Features.
+
+The Gospel entered into the world as an apocalyptic eschatological
+message, apocalyptical and eschatological not only in its form, but also
+in its contents. But Jesus announced that the kingdom of God had already
+begun with his own work, and those who received him in faith became
+sensible of this beginning; for the "apocalyptical" was not merely the
+unveiling of the future, but above all the revelation of God as the
+Father, and the "eschatological" received its counterpoise in the view
+of Jesus' work as Saviour, in the assurance of being certainly called to
+the kingdom, and in the conviction that life and future dominion is hid
+with God the Lord and preserved for believers by him. Consequently, we
+are following not only the indications of the succeeding history, but
+also the requirement of the thing itself, when, in the presentation of
+the Gospel, we place in the foreground, not that which unites it with
+the contemporary disposition of Judaism, but that which raises it above
+it. Instead of the hope of inheriting the kingdom, Jesus had also spoken
+simply of preserving the soul, or the life. In this one substitution
+lies already a transformation of universal significance, of political
+religion into a religion that is individual and therefore holy; for the
+life is nourished by the word of God, but God is the Holy One.
+
+The Gospel is the glad message of the government of the world and of
+every individual soul by the almighty and holy God, the Father and
+Judge. In this dominion of God, which frees men from the power of the
+Devil, makes them rulers in a heavenly kingdom in contrast with the
+kingdoms of the world, and which will also be sensibly realised in the
+future aeon just about to appear, is secured life for all men who yield
+themselves to God, although they should lose the world and the earthly
+life. That is, the soul which is pure and holy in connection with God,
+and in imitation of the Divine perfection is eternally preserved with
+God, while those who would gain the world, and preserve their life, fall
+into the hands of the Judge who sentences them to Hell. This dominion of
+God imposes on men a law, an old and yet a new law, viz., that of the
+Divine perfection and therefore of undivided love to God and to our
+neighbour. In this love, where it sways the inmost feeling, is presented
+the better righteousness (better not only with respect to the Scribes
+and Pharisees, but also with respect to Moses, see Matt. V.), which
+corresponds to the perfection of God. The way to attain it is a change
+of mind, that is, self-denial, humility before God, and heartfelt trust
+in him. In this humility and trust in God there is contained a
+recognition of one's own unworthiness; but the Gospel calls to the
+kingdom of God those very sinners who are thus minded, by promising the
+forgiveness of the sins which hitherto have separated them from God. But
+the Gospel which appears in these three elements, the dominion of God, a
+better righteousness embodied in the law of love, and the forgiveness of
+sin, is inseparably connected with Jesus Christ; for in preaching this
+Gospel Jesus Christ everywhere calls men to himself. In him the Gospel
+is word and deed; it has become his food, and therefore his personal
+life, and into this life of his he draws all others. He is the Son who
+knows the Father. In him men are to perceive the kindness of the Lord;
+in him they are to feel God's power and government of the world, and to
+become certain of this consolation; they are to follow him the meek and
+lowly, and while he, the pure and holy one, calls sinners to himself,
+they are to receive the assurance that God through him forgiveth sin.
+
+Jesus Christ has by no express statement thrust this connection of his
+Gospel with his Person into the foreground. No words could have
+certified it unless his life, the overpowering impression of his Person,
+had created it. By living, acting and speaking from the riches of that
+life which he lived with his Father, he became for others the revelation
+of the God of whom they formerly had heard, but whom they had not known.
+He declared his Father to be their Father and they understood him. But
+he also declared himself to be Messiah, and in so doing gave an
+intelligible expression to his abiding significance for them and for his
+people. In a solemn hour at the close of his life, as well as on special
+occasions at an earlier period, he referred to the fact that the
+surrender to his Person which induced them to leave all and follow him,
+was no passing element in the new position they had gained towards God
+the Father. He tells them, on the contrary, that this surrender
+corresponds to the service which he will perform for them and for the
+many, when he will give his life a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
+By teaching them to think of him and of his death in the breaking of
+bread and the drinking of wine, and by saying of his death that it takes
+place for the remission of sins, he has claimed as his due from all
+future disciples what was a matter of course so long as he sojourned
+with them, but what might fade away after he was parted from them. He
+who in his preaching of the kingdom of God raised the strictest
+self-examination and humility to a law, and exhibited them to his
+followers in his own life, has described with clear consciousness his
+life crowned by death as the imperishable service by which men in all
+ages will be cleansed from their sin and made joyful in their God. By so
+doing he put himself far above all others, although they were to become
+his brethren; and claimed a unique and permanent importance as Redeemer
+and Judge. This permanent importance as the Lord he secured, not by
+disclosures about the mystery of his Person, but by the impression of
+his life and the interpretation of his death. He interprets it, like all
+his sufferings, as a victory, as the passing over to his glory, and in
+spite of the cry of God-forsakenness upon the cross, he has proved
+himself able to awaken in his followers the real conviction that he
+lives and is Lord and Judge of the living and the dead.
+
+The religion of the Gospel is based on this belief in Jesus Christ, that
+is, by looking to him, this historical person, it becomes certain to the
+believer that God rules heaven and earth, and that God, the Judge, is
+also Father and Redeemer. The religion of the Gospel is the religion
+which makes the highest moral demands, the simplest and the most
+difficult, and discloses the contradiction in which every man finds
+himself towards them. But it also procures redemption from such misery,
+by drawing the life of men into the inexhaustible and blessed life of
+Jesus Christ, who has overcome the world and called sinners to himself.
+
+In making this attempt to put together the fundamental features of the
+Gospel, I have allowed myself to be guided by the results of this Gospel
+in the case of the first disciples. I do not know whether it is
+permissible to present such fundamental features apart from this
+guidance. The preaching of Jesus Christ was in the main so plain and
+simple, and in its application so manifold and rich, that one shrinks
+from attempting to systematise it, and would much rather merely narrate
+according to the Gospel. Jesus searches for the point in every man on
+which he can lay hold of him and lead him to the Kingdom of God. The
+distinction of good and evil--for God or against God--he would make a
+life question for every man, in order to shew him for whom it has become
+this, that he can depend upon the God whom he is to fear. At the same
+time he did not by any means uniformly fall back upon sin, or even the
+universal sinfulness, but laid hold of individuals very diversely, and
+led them to God by different paths. The doctrinal concentration of
+redemption on sin was certainly not carried out by Paul alone; but, on
+the other hand, it did not in any way become the prevailing form for the
+preaching of the Gospel. On the contrary, the antitheses, night, error,
+dominion of demons, death and light, truth, deliverance, life, proved
+more telling in the Gentile Churches. The consciousness of universal
+sinfulness was first made the negative fundamental frame of mind of
+Christendom by Augustine.
+
+
+II. Details.
+
+1. Jesus announced the Kingdom of God which stands in opposition to the
+kingdom of the devil, and therefore also to the kingdom of the world, as
+a future Kingdom, and yet it is presented in his preaching as present;
+as an invisible, and yet it was visible--for one actually saw it. He
+lived and spoke within the circle of eschatological ideas which Judaism
+had developed more than two hundred years before: but he controlled them
+by giving them a new content and forcing them into a new direction.
+Without abrogating the law and the prophets he, on fitting occasions,
+broke through the national, political and sensuous eudaemonistic forms in
+which the nation was expecting the realisation of the dominion of God,
+but turned their attention at the same time to a future near at hand, in
+which believers would be delivered from the oppression of evil and sin,
+and would enjoy blessedness and dominion. Yet he declared that even now,
+every individual who is called into the kingdom may call on God as his
+Father, and be sure of the gracious will of God, the hearing of his
+prayers, the forgiveness of sin, and the protection of God even in this
+present life.[58] But everything in this proclamation is directed to the
+life beyond: the certainty of that life is the power and earnestness of
+the Gospel.
+
+2. The conditions of entrance to the kingdom are, in the first place, a
+complete change of mind, in which a man renounces the pleasures of this
+world, denies himself, and is ready to surrender all that he has in
+order to save his soul; then, a believing trust in God's grace which he
+grants to the humble and the poor, and therefore hearty confidence in
+Jesus as the Messiah chosen and called by God to realise his kingdom on
+the earth. The announcement is therefore directed to the poor, the
+suffering, those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, not to those
+who live, but to those who wish to be healed and redeemed, and finds
+them prepared for entrance into, and reception of the blessings of the
+kingdom of God,[59] while it brings down upon the self-satisfied, the
+rich and those proud of their righteousness, the judgment of obduracy
+and the damnation of Hell.
+
+3. The commandment of undivided love to God and the brethren, as the
+main commandment, in the observance of which righteousness is realised,
+and forming the antithesis to the selfish mind, the lust of the world,
+and every arbitrary impulse,[60] corresponds to the blessings of the
+Kingdom of God, viz., forgiveness of sin, righteousness, dominion and
+blessedness. The standard of personal worth for the members of the King
+is self-sacrificing labour for others, not any technical mode of worship
+or legal preciseness. Renunciation of the world together with its goods,
+even of life itself in certain circumstances, is the proof of a man's
+sincerity and earnest in seeking the Kingdom of God; and the meekness
+which renounces every right, bears wrong patiently, requiting it with
+kindness, is the practical proof of love to God, the conduct that
+answers to God's perfection.
+
+4. In the proclamation and founding of this kingdom, Jesus summoned men
+to attach themselves to him, because he had recognised himself to be the
+helper called by God, and therefore also the Messiah who was
+promised.[61] He gradually declared himself to the people as such by the
+names he assumed,[62] for the names "Anointed," "King," "Lord," "Son of
+David," "Son of Man," "Son of God," all denote the Messianic office, and
+were familiar to the greater part of the people.[63] But though, at
+first, they express only the call, office, and power of the Messiah, yet
+by means of them and especially by the designation Son of God, Jesus
+pointed to a relation to God the Father, then and in its immediateness
+unique, as the basis of the office with which he was entrusted. He has,
+however, given no further explanation of the mystery of this relation
+than the declaration that the Son alone knoweth the Father, and that
+this knowledge of God and Sonship to God are secured for all others by
+the sending of the Son.[64] In the proclamation of God as Father,[65] as
+well as in the other proclamation that all the members of the kingdom
+following the will of God in love, are to become one with the Son and
+through him with the Father,[66] the message of the realised kingdom of
+God receives its richest, inexhaustible content: the Son of the Father
+will be the first-born among many brethren.
+
+5. Jesus as the Messiah chosen by God has definitely distinguished
+himself from Moses and all the Prophets: as his preaching and his work
+are the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, so he himself is not a
+disciple of Moses, but corrects that law-giver; he is not a Prophet, but
+Master and Lord. He proves this Lordship during his earthly ministry in
+the accomplishment of the mighty deeds given him to do, above all in
+withstanding the Devil and his kingdom,[67] and--according to the law of
+the Kingdom of God--for that very reason in the service which he
+performs. In this service Jesus also reckoned the sacrifice of his life,
+designating it as a [Greek: lutron] which he offered for the redemption
+of man.[68] But he declared at the same time that his Messianic work was
+not yet fulfilled in his subjection to death. On the contrary, the close
+is merely initiated by his death; for the completion of the kingdom will
+only appear when he returns in glory in the clouds of heaven to
+judgment. Jesus seems to have announced this speedy return a short time
+before his death, and to have comforted his disciples at his departure,
+with the assurance that he would immediately enter into a supramundane
+position with God.[69]
+
+6. The instructions of Jesus to his disciples are accordingly dominated
+by the thought that the end, the day and hour of which, however, no one
+knows, is at hand. In consequence of this, also, the exhortation to
+renounce all earthly good takes a prominent place. But Jesus does not
+impose ascetic commandments as a new law, far less does he see in
+asceticism as such, sanctification[70]--he himself did not live as an
+ascetic, but was reproached as a wine-bibber--but he prescribed a
+perfect simplicity and purity of disposition, and a singleness of heart
+which remains invariably the same in trouble and renunciation, in
+possession and use of earthly good. A uniform equality of all in the
+conduct of life is not commanded: "To whom much is given, of him much
+shall be required." The disciples are kept as far from fanaticism and
+overrating of spiritual results as from asceticism. "Rejoice not that
+the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written
+in heaven." When they besought him to teach them to pray, he taught them
+the "Lord's prayer", a prayer which demands such a collected mind, and
+such a tranquil, childlike elevation of the heart to God, that it cannot
+be offered at all by minds subject to passion or preoccupied by any
+daily cares.
+
+7. Jesus himself did not found a new religious community, but gathered
+round him a circle of disciples, and chose Apostles whom he commanded to
+preach the Gospel. His preaching was universalistic inasmuch as it
+attributed no value to ceremonialism as such, and placed the fulfilment
+of the Mosaic law in the exhibition of its moral contents, partly
+against or beyond the letter. He made the law perfect by harmonising its
+particular requirements with the fundamental moral requirements which
+were also expressed in the Mosaic law. He emphasised the fundamental
+requirements more decidedly than was done by the law itself, and taught
+that all details should be referred to them and deduced from them. The
+external righteousness of Pharisaism was thereby declared to be not only
+an outer covering, but also a fraud, and the bond which still united
+religion and nationality in Judaism was sundered.[71] Political and
+national elements may probably have been made prominent in the hopes of
+the future, as Jesus appropriated them for his preaching. But from the
+conditions to which the realising of the hopes for the individual was
+attached, there already shone the clearer ray which was to eclipse those
+elements, and one saying such as Matt. XXII. 21, annulled at once
+political religion and religious politics.
+
+_Supplement_ 1.--The idea of the inestimable inherent value of every
+individual human soul, already dimly appearing in several psalms, and
+discerned by Greek Philosophers, though as a rule developed in
+contradiction to religion, stands out plainly in the preaching of Jesus.
+It is united with the idea of God as Father, and is the complement to
+the message of the communion of brethren realising itself in love. In
+this sense the Gospel is at once profoundly individualistic and
+Socialistic. The prospect of gaining life, and preserving it for ever,
+is therefore also the highest which Jesus has set forth, it is not,
+however, to be a motive, but a reward of grace. In the certainty of this
+prospect, which is the converse of renouncing the world, he has
+proclaimed the sure hope of the resurrection, and consequently the most
+abundant compensation for the loss of the natural life. Jesus put an end
+to the vacillation and uncertainty which in this respect still prevailed
+among the Jewish people of his day. The confession of the Psalmist,
+"Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon the earth that I
+desire beside thee", and the fulfilling of the Old Testament
+commandment, "Love thy neighbour as thyself", were for the first time
+presented in their connection in the person of Jesus. He himself
+therefore is Christianity, for the "impression of his person convinced
+the disciples of the facts of forgiveness of sin and the second birth,
+and gave them courage to believe in and to lead a new life." We cannot
+therefore state the "doctrine" of Jesus; for it appears as a
+supramundane life which must be felt in the person of Jesus, and its
+truth is guaranteed by the fact that such a life can be lived.
+
+_Supplement_ 2.--The history of the Gospel contains two great
+transitions, both of which, however, fall within the first century; from
+Christ to the first generation of believers, including Paul, and from
+the first, Jewish Christian, generation of these believers to the
+Gentile Christians, in other words: from Christ to the brotherhood of
+believers in Christ, and from this to the incipient Catholic Church. No
+later transitions in the Church can be compared with these in
+importance. As to the first, the question has frequently been asked, Is
+the Gospel of Christ to be the authority or the Gospel concerning
+Christ? But the strict dilemma here is false. The Gospel certainly is
+the Gospel of Christ. For it has only, in the sense of Jesus, fulfilled
+its Mission when the Father has been declared to men as he was known by
+the Son, and where the life is swayed by the realities and principles
+which ruled the life of Jesus Christ. But it is in accordance with the
+mind of Jesus and at the same time a fact of history, that this Gospel
+can only be appropriated and adhered to in connection with a believing
+surrender to the person of Jesus Christ. Yet every dogmatic formula is
+suspicious, because it is fitted to wound the spirit of religion; it
+should not at least be put before the living experience in order to
+evoke it; for such a procedure is really the admission of the half
+belief which thinks it necessary that the impression made by the person
+must be supplemented. The essence of the matter is a personal life which
+awakens life around it as the fire of one torch kindles another. Early
+as weakness of faith is in the Church of Christ, it is no earlier than
+the procedure of making a formulated and ostensibly proved confession
+the foundation of faith, and therefore demanding, above all, subjection
+to this confession. Faith assuredly is propagated by the testimony of
+faith, but dogma is not in itself that testimony.
+
+The peculiar character of the Christian religion is conditioned by the
+fact that every reference to God is at the same time a reference to
+Jesus Christ, and _vice versa_. In this sense the Person of Christ is
+the central point of the religion, and inseparably united with the
+substance of piety as a sure reliance on God. Such a union does not, as
+is supposed, bring a foreign element into the pure essence of religion.
+The pure essence of religion rather demands such a union; for "the
+reverence for persons, the inner bowing before the manifestation of
+moral power and goodness is the root of all true religion" (W.
+Herrmann). But the Christian religion knows and names only one name
+before which it bows. In this rests its positive character, in all else,
+as piety, it is by its strictly spiritual and inward attitude, not a
+positive religion alongside of others, but religion itself. But just
+because the Person of Christ has this significance is the knowledge and
+understanding of the "historical Christ" required: for no other comes
+within the sphere of our knowledge. "The historical Christ" that, to be
+sure, is not the powerless Christ of contemporary history shewn to us
+through a coloured biographical medium, or dissipated in all sorts of
+controversies, but Christ as a power and as a life which towers above
+our own life, and enters into our life as God's Spirit and God's Word,
+(see Herrmann, Der Verkehr des Christen mit Gott. 2. Edit. 1892, (i.e.,
+"The Fellowship of the Christian with God", an important work included
+in the present series of translations. Ed.) Kaehler, Der sog. historische
+Jesus und der geschichtliche biblische Christus, 1892). But historical
+labour and investigation are needed in order to grasp this Jesus Christ
+ever more firmly and surely.
+
+As to the second transition, it brought with it the most important
+changes, which, however, became clearly manifest only after the lapse of
+some generations. They appear, first, in the belief in holy
+consecrations, efficacious in themselves, and administered by chosen
+persons; further, in the conviction, that the relation of the individual
+to God and Christ is, above all, conditioned on the acceptance of a
+definite divinely attested law of faith and holy writings; further, in
+the opinion that God has established Church arrangements, observance of
+which is necessary and meritorious, as well as in the opinion that a
+visible earthly community is the people of a new covenant. These
+assumptions, which formally constitute the essence of Catholicism as a
+religion, have no support in the teaching of Jesus, nay, offend against
+that teaching.
+
+_Supplement_ 3.--The question as to what new thing Christ has brought,
+answered by Paul in the words, "If any man be in Christ he is a new
+creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new",
+has again and again been pointedly put since the middle of the second
+century by Apologists, Theologians and religious Philosophers, within
+and without the Church, and has received the most varied answers. Few of
+the answers have reached the height of the Pauline confession. But where
+one cannot attain to this confession, one ought to make clear to oneself
+that every answer which does not lie in the line of it is altogether
+unsatisfactory; for it is not difficult to set over against every
+article from the preaching of Jesus an observation which deprives it of
+its originality. It is the Person, it is the fact of his life that is
+new and creates the new. The way in which he called forth and
+established a people of God on earth, which has become sure of God and
+of eternal life; the way in which he set up a new thing in the midst of
+the old and transformed the religion of Israel into _the religion_ that
+is the mystery of his Person, in which lies his unique and permanent
+position in the history of humanity.
+
+_Supplement_ 4.--The conservative position of Jesus towards the
+religious traditions of his people had the necessary result that his
+preaching and his Person were placed by believers in the frame-work of
+this tradition, which was thereby very soon greatly expanded. But,
+though this way of understanding the Gospel was certainly at first the
+only possible way, and though the Gospel itself could only be preserved
+by such means (see Sec. 1), yet it cannot be mistaken that a displacement
+in the conception of the Person and preaching of Jesus, and a burdening
+of religious faith, could not but forthwith set in, from which
+developments followed, the premises of which would be vainly sought for
+in the words of the Lord (see Sec.Sec. 3, 4). But here the question arises as
+to whether the Gospel is not inseparably connected with the
+eschatological world-renouncing element with which it entered into the
+world, so that its being is destroyed where this is omitted. A few words
+may be devoted to this question. The Gospel possesses properties which
+oppose every positive religion, because they depreciate it, and these
+properties form the kernel of the Gospel. The disposition which is
+devoted to God, humble, ardent and sincere in its love to God and to the
+brethren, is, as an abiding habit, law, and at the same time, a gift of
+the Gospel, and also finally exhausts it. This quiet, peaceful element
+was at the beginning strong and vigorous, even in those who lived in the
+world of ecstasy and expected the world to come. One may be named for
+all, Paul. He who wrote 1 Cor. XIII. and Rom. VIII. should not, in spite
+of all that he has said elsewhere, be called upon to witness that the
+nature of the Gospel is exhausted in its world-renouncing, ecstatic and
+eschatological elements, or at least, that it is so inseparably united
+with these as to fall along with them. He who wrote those chapters, and
+the greater than he who promised the kingdom of heaven to children, and
+to those who were hungering and thirsting for righteousness, he to whom
+tradition ascribes the words: "Rejoice not that the spirits are subject
+to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven"--both
+attest that the Gospel lies above the antagonisms between this world and
+the next, work and retirement from the world, reason and ecstasy,
+Judaism and Hellenism. And because it lies above them it may be united
+with either, as it originally unfolded its powers under the ruins of the
+Jewish religion. But still more; it not only can enter into union with
+them, it must do so if it is otherwise the religion of the living and is
+itself living. It has only one aim; that man may find God and have him
+as his own God, in order to gain in him humility and patience, peace,
+joy and love. How it reaches this goal through the advancing centuries,
+whether with the co-efficients of Judaism or Hellenism, of renunciation
+of the world or of culture, of mysticism or the doctrine of
+predestination, of Gnosticism or Agnosticism, and whatever other
+incrustations there may yet be which can defend the kernel, and under
+which alone living elements can grow--all that belongs to the centuries.
+However each individual Christian may reckon to the treasure itself the
+earthly vessel in which he hides his treasure; it is the duty and the
+right, not only of the religious, but also of the historical estimate to
+distinguish between the vessel and the treasure; for the Gospel did not
+enter into the world as a positive statutory religion, and cannot
+therefore have its classic manifestation in any form of its intellectual
+or social types, not even in the first. It is therefore the duty of the
+historian of the first century of the Church, as well as that of those
+which follow, not to be content with fixing the changes of the Christian
+religion, but to examine how far the new forms were capable of
+defending, propagating and impressing the Gospel itself. It would
+probably have perished if the forms of primitive Christianity had been
+scrupulously maintained in the Church; but now primitive Christianity
+has perished in order that the Gospel might be preserved. To study this
+progress of the development, and fix the significance of the newly
+received forms for the kernel of the matter, is the last and highest
+task of the historian who himself lives in his subject. He who
+approaches from without must be satisfied with the general view that in
+the history of the Church some things have always remained, and other
+things have always been changing.
+
+_Literature._--Weiss. Biblical Theology of the New Testament. T. and T.
+Clark. Wittichen. Beitr. z. bibl. Theol. 3. Thle. 1864-72.
+
+Schuereer. Die Predigt Jesu in ihrem Verhaltniss z. A.T.u. z. Judenthum,
+1882.
+
+Wellhausen. Abriss der Gesch. Israels u. Juda's (Skizzen u. Vorarbeiten)
+I. Heft. 1884.
+
+Baldensperger. Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu im Licht der Messianischen
+Hoffnungen seiner Zeit, 1888, (2 Aufl. 1891). The prize essays of
+Schmoller and Issel, Ueber die Lehre vom Reiche Gottes im N. Test. 1891
+(besides Gunkel in d. Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1893. N deg.. 2).
+
+Wendt. Die Lehre Jesu. (The teaching of Jesus. T. and T. Clark. English
+translation.)
+
+Joh. Weiss. Die Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Gottes, 1892.
+
+Bousset. Jesu Predigt in ihrem Gegensatz zum Judenthum, 1892.
+
+C. Holtzman. Die Offenbarung durch Christus und das Neue Testament
+(Zeitschr. f. Theol. und Kirche I. p. 367 ff.) The special literature in
+the above work of Weiss, and in the recent works on the life of Jesus,
+and the Biblical Theology of the New Testament by Beyschlag. (T.T.
+Clark)
+
+
+Sec. 3. _The Common Preaching concerning Jesus Christ in the First
+Generation of Believers._
+
+Men had met with Jesus Christ and in him had found the Messiah. They
+were convinced that God had made him to be wisdom and righteousness,
+sanctification and redemption. There was no hope that did not seem to be
+certified in him, no lofty idea which had not become in him a living
+reality. Everything that one possessed was offered to him. He was
+everything lofty that could be imagined. Everything that can be said of
+him was already said in the first two generations after his appearance.
+Nay, more: he was felt and known to be the ever living one, Lord of the
+world and operative principle of one's own life. "To me to live is
+Christ and to die is gain;" "He is the way, the truth and the life." One
+could now for the first time be certain of the resurrection and eternal
+life, and with that certainty the sorrows of the world melted away like
+mist before the sun, and the residue of this present time became as a
+day. This group of facts which the history of the Gospel discloses in
+the world, is at the same time the highest and most unique of all that
+we meet in that history; it is its seal and distinguishes it from all
+other universal religions. Where in the history of mankind can we find
+anything resembling this, that men who had eaten and drunk with their
+Master should glorify him, not only as the revealer of God, but as the
+Prince of life, as the Redeemer and Judge of the world, as the living
+power of its existence, and that a choir of Jews and Gentiles, Greeks
+and Barbarians, wise and foolish, should along with them immediately
+confess that out of the fulness of this one man they have received grace
+for grace? It has been said that Islam furnishes the unique example of a
+religion born in broad daylight, but the community of Jesus was also
+born in the clear light of day. The darkness connected with its birth is
+occasioned not only by the imperfection of the records, but by the
+uniqueness of the fact, which refers us back to the uniqueness of the
+Person of Jesus.
+
+But though it certainly is the first duty of the historian to signalise
+the overpowering impression made by the Person of Jesus on the
+disciples, which is the basis of all further developments, it would
+little become him to renounce the critical examination of all the
+utterances which have been connected with that Person with the view of
+elucidating and glorifying it; unless he were with Origen to conclude
+that Jesus was to each and all whatever they fancied him to be for their
+edification. But this would destroy the personality. Others are of
+opinion that we should conceive him, in the sense of the early
+communities, as the second God who is one in essence with the Father, in
+order to understand from this point of view all the declarations and
+judgments of these communities. But this hypothesis leads to the most
+violent distortion of the original declarations, and the suppression or
+concealment of their most obvious features. The duty of the historian
+rather consists in fixing the common features of the faith of the first
+two generations, in explaining them as far as possible from the belief
+that Jesus is Messiah, and in seeking analogies for the several
+assertions. Only a very meagre sketch can be given in what follows. The
+presentation of the matter in the frame-work of the history of dogma
+does not permit of more, because as noted above, Sec. 1, the presupposition
+of dogma forming itself in the Gentile Church is not the whole
+infinitely rich abundance of early Christian views and perceptions. That
+presupposition is simply a proclamation of the one God and of Christ
+transferred to Greek soil, fixed merely in its leading features and
+otherwise very plastic, accompanied by a message regarding the future,
+and demands for a holy life. At the same time the Old Testament and the
+early Christian Palestinian writings with the rich abundance of their
+contents, did certainly exercise a silent mission in the earliest
+communities, till by the creation of the canon they became a power in
+the Church.
+
+I. The contents of the faith of the disciples,[72] and the common
+proclamation which united them, may be comprised in the following
+propositions. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah promised by the prophets.
+Jesus after his death is by the Divine awakening raised to the right
+hand of God, and will soon return to set up his kingdom visibly upon the
+earth. He who believes in Jesus, and has been received into the
+community of the disciples of Jesus, who, in virtue of a sincere change
+of mind, calls on God as Father, and lives according to the commandments
+of Jesus, is a saint of God, and as such can be certain of the
+sin-forgiving grace of God, and of a share in the future glory, that is,
+of redemption.[73]
+
+A community of Christian believers was formed within the Jewish national
+community. By its organisation, the close brotherly union of its
+members, it bore witness to the impression which the Person of Jesus had
+made on it, and drew from faith in Jesus and hope of his return, the
+assurance of eternal life, the power of believing in God the Father and
+of fulfilling the lofty moral and social commands which Jesus had set
+forth. They knew themselves to be the true Israel of the Messianic time
+(see Sec. 1), and for that very reason lived with all their thoughts and
+feelings in the future. Hence the Apocalyptic hopes which in manifold
+types were current in the Judaism of the time, and which Jesus had not
+demolished, continued to a great extent in force (see Sec. 4). One
+guarantee for their fulfilment was supposed to be possessed in the
+various manifestations of the Spirit,[74] which were displayed in the
+members of the new communities at their entrance, with which an act of
+baptism seems to have been united from the very first[75], and in their
+gatherings. They were a guarantee that believers really were the [Greek:
+ekklesia tou theou], those called to be saints, and, as such, kings and
+priests unto God[76] for whom the world, death and devil are overcome,
+although they still rule the course of the world. The confession of the
+God of Israel as the Father of Jesus, and of Jesus as Christ and
+Lord[77] was sealed by the testimony of the possession of the Spirit,
+which as Spirit of God assured every individual of his call to the
+kingdom, united him personally with God himself and became to him the
+pledge of future glory[78].
+
+2. As the Kingdom of God which was announced had not yet visibly
+appeared, as the appeal to the Spirit could not be separated from the
+appeal to Jesus as Messiah, and as there was actually nothing possessed
+but the reality of the Person of Jesus, so in preaching all stress must
+necessarily fall on this Person. To believe in him was the decisive
+fundamental requirement, and, at first, under the presupposition of the
+religion of Abraham and the Prophets, the sure guarantee of salvation.
+It is not surprising then to find that in the earliest Christian
+preaching Jesus Christ comes before us as frequently as the Kingdom of
+God in the preaching of Jesus himself. The image of Jesus, and the power
+which proceeded from it, were the things which were really possessed.
+Whatever was expected was expected only from Jesus the exalted and
+returning one. The proclamation that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand
+must therefore become the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, and
+that in him the revelation of God is complete. He who lays hold of Jesus
+lays hold in him of the grace of God, and of a full salvation. We
+cannot, however, call this in itself a displacement: but as soon as the
+proclamation that Jesus is the Christ ceased to be made with the same
+emphasis and the same meaning that it had in his own preaching, and what
+sort of blessings they were which he brought, not only was a
+displacement inevitable, but even a dispossession. But every
+dispossession requires the given forms to be filled with new contents.
+Simple as was the pure tradition of the confession: "Jesus is the
+Christ," the task of rightly appropriating and handing down entire the
+peculiar contents which Jesus had given to his self-witnessing and
+preaching was nevertheless great, and in its limit uncertain. Even the
+Jewish Christian could perform this task only according to the measure
+of his spiritual understanding and the strength of his religious life.
+Moreover, the external position of the first communities in the midst of
+contemporaries who had crucified and rejected Jesus, compelled them to
+prove, as their main duty, that Jesus really was the Messiah who was
+promised. Consequently, everything united to bring the first communities
+to the conviction that the proclamation of the Gospel with which they
+were entrusted, resolved itself into the proclamation that Jesus is the
+Christ. The [Greek: didaskein terein panta hota eneteilato ho Iesous]
+(teaching to observe all that Jesus had commanded), a thing of heart and
+life, could not lead to reflection in the same degree, as the [Greek:
+didaskein hoti outos estin ho christos tou theou] (teaching that this is
+the Christ of God): for a community which possesses the Spirit does not
+reflect on whether its conception is right, but, especially a missionary
+community, on what the certainty of its faith rests.
+
+The proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, though rooted entirely in the
+Old Testament, took its start from the exaltation of Jesus, which again
+resulted from his suffering and death. The proof that the entire Old
+Testament points to him, and that his person, his deeds and his destiny
+are the actual and precise fulfilment of the Old Testament predictions,
+was the foremost interest of believers, so far as they at all looked
+backwards. This proof was not used in the first place for the purpose of
+making the meaning and value of the Messianic work of Jesus more
+intelligible, of which it did not seem to be in much need, but to
+confirm the Messiahship of Jesus. Still, points of view for
+contemplating the Person and work of Jesus could not fail to be got from
+the words of the Prophets. The fundamental conception of Jesus
+dominating everything was, according to the Old Testament, that God had
+chosen him and through him the Church. God had chosen him and made him
+to be both Lord and Christ. He had made over to him the work of setting
+up the Kingdom, and had led him through death and resurrection to a
+supra-mundane position of sovereignty, in which he would soon visibly
+appear and bring about the end. The hope of Christ's speedy return was
+the most important article in the "Christology," inasmuch as his work
+was regarded as only reaching its conclusion by that return. It was the
+most difficult, inasmuch as the Old Testament contained nothing of a
+second advent of Messiah. Belief in the second advent became the
+specific Christian belief.
+
+But the searching in the scriptures of the Old Testament, that is, in
+the prophetic texts, had already, in estimating the Person and dignity
+of Christ, given an important impulse towards transcending the
+frame-work of the idea of the theocracy completed solely in and for
+Israel. Moreover, belief in the exaltation of Christ to the right hand
+of God, caused men to form a corresponding idea of the beginning of his
+existence. The missionary work among the Gentiles, so soon begun and so
+rich in results, threw a new light on the range of Christ's purpose and
+work, and led to the consideration of its significance for the whole
+human race. Finally, the self-testimony of Jesus summoned them to ponder
+his relation to God the Father, with the presuppositions of that
+relation, and to give it expression in intelligible statements.
+Speculation had already begun on these four points in the Apostolic age,
+and had resulted in very different utterances as to the Person and
+dignity of Jesus (Sec. 4).[79]
+
+3. Since Jesus had appeared and was believed on as the Messiah promised
+by the Prophets, the aim and contents of his mission seemed already to
+be therewith stated with sufficient clearness. Further, as the work of
+Christ was not yet completed, the view of those contemplating it was,
+above all, turned to the future. But in virtue of express words of
+Jesus, and in the consciousness of having received the Spirit of God,
+one was already certain of the forgiveness of sin dispensed by God, of
+righteousness before him, of the full knowledge of the Divine will, and
+of the call to the future Kingdom as a present possession. In the
+procuring of these blessings not a few perceived with certainty the
+results of the first advent of Messiah, that is, his work. This work
+might be seen in the whole activity of Christ. But as the forgiveness of
+sins might be conceived as _the_ blessing of salvation which included
+with certainty every other blessing, as Jesus had put his death in
+express relation with this blessing, and as the fact of this death so
+mysterious and offensive required a special explanation, there appeared
+in the foreground from the very beginning the confession, in 1 Cor. XV.
+3: [Greek: paredoxa humin en protois, ho kai parelabon, hoti christos
+apethanen huper ton hamartion hemon.] "I delivered unto you first of all
+that which I also received, that _Christ died for our sins_." Not only
+Paul, for whom, in virtue of his special reflections and experiences,
+the cross of Christ had become the central point of all knowledge, but
+also the majority of believers, must have regarded the preaching of the
+death of the Lord as an essential article in the preaching of
+Christ[80], seeing that, as a rule, they placed it somehow under the
+aspect of a sacrifice offered to God. Still, there were very different
+conceptions of the value of the death as a means of procuring salvation,
+and there may have been many who were satisfied with basing its
+necessity on the fact that it had been predicted, ([Greek: apethanen
+kata tas graphas]: "he died for our sins _according to the
+scriptures_"), while their real religious interests were entirely
+centered in the future glory to be procured by Christ. But it must have
+been of greater significance for the following period that, from the
+first, a short account of the destiny of Jesus lay at the basis of all
+preaching about him (see a part of this in 1 Cor. XV. 1-11). Those
+articles in which the identity of the Christ who had appeared with the
+Christ who had been promised stood out with special clearness, must have
+been taken up into this report, as well as those which transcended the
+common expectations of Messiah, which for that very reason appeared of
+special importance, viz., his death and resurrection. In putting
+together this report, there was no intention of describing the "work" of
+Christ. But after the interest which occasioned it had been obscured,
+and had given place to other interests, the customary preaching of those
+articles must have led men to see in them Christ's real performance, his
+"work."[81]
+
+4. The firm confidence of the disciples in Jesus was rooted in the
+belief that he did not abide in death, but was raised by God. That
+Christ had risen was, in virtue of what they had experienced in him,
+certainly only after they had seen him, just as sure as the fact of his
+death, and became the main article of their preaching about him.[82] But
+in the message of the risen Lord was contained not only the conviction
+that he lives again, and now lives for ever, but also the assurance that
+his people will rise in like manner and live eternally. Consequently,
+the resurrection of Jesus became the sure pledge of the resurrection of
+all believers, that is of their real personal resurrection. No one at
+the beginning thought of a mere immortality of the spirit, not even
+those who assumed the perishableness of man's sensuous nature. In
+conformity with the uncertainty which yet adhered to the idea of
+resurrection in Jewish hopes and speculations, the concrete notions of
+it in the Christian communities were also fluctuating. But this could
+not affect the certainty of the conviction that the Lord would raise his
+people from death. This conviction, whose reverse side is the fear of
+that God who casts into hell, has become the mightiest power through
+which the Gospel has won humanity.[83]
+
+5. After the appearance of Paul, the earliest communities were greatly
+exercised by the question as to how believers obtain the righteousness
+which they possess, and what significance a precise observance of the
+law of the Fathers may have in connection with it. While some would hear
+of no change in the regulations and conceptions which had hitherto
+existed, and regarded the bestowal of righteousness by God as possible
+only on condition of a strict observance of the law, others taught that
+Jesus as Messiah had procured righteousness for his people, had
+fulfilled the law once for all, and had founded a new covenant, either
+in opposition to the old, or as a stage above it. Paul especially saw in
+the death of Christ the end of the law, and deduced righteousness solely
+from faith in Christ, and sought to prove from the Old Testament itself,
+by means of historical speculation, the merely temporary validity of the
+law and therewith the abrogation of the Old Testament religion. Others,
+and this view, which is not everywhere to be explained by Alexandrian
+influences (see above p. 72 f.), is not foreign to Paul, distinguished
+between spirit and letter in the Mosaic law, giving to everything a
+spiritual significance, and in this sense holding that the whole law as
+[Greek: nomos pneumatikos] was binding. The question whether
+righteousness comes from the works of the law or from faith, was
+displaced by this conception, and therefore remained in its deepest
+grounds unsolved, or was decided in the sense of a spiritualised
+legalism. But the detachment of Christianity from the political forms of
+the Jewish religion, and from sacrificial worship, was also completed by
+this conception, although it was regarded as identical with the Old
+Testament religion rightly understood. The surprising results of the
+direct mission to the Gentiles would seem to have first called forth
+those controversies (but see Stephen) and given them the highest
+significance. The fact that one section of Jewish Christians, and even
+some of the Apostles, at length recognised the right of the Gentile
+Christians to be Christians without first becoming Jews, is the clearest
+proof that what was above all prized was faith in Christ and surrender
+to him as the saviour. In agreeing to the direct mission to the Gentiles
+the earliest Christians, while they themselves observed the law, broke
+up the national religion of Israel, and gave expression to the
+conviction that Jesus was not only the Messiah of his people, but the
+redeemer of humanity.[84] The establishment of the universal character
+of the Gospel, that is, of Christianity as a religion for the world,
+became now, however, a problem, the solution of which, as given by Paul,
+but few were able to understand or make their own.
+
+6. In the conviction that salvation is entirely bound up with faith in
+Jesus Christ, Christendom gained the consciousness of being a new
+creation of God. But while the sense of being the true Israel was
+thereby, at the same time, held fast, there followed, on the one hand,
+entirely new historical perspectives, and on the other, deep problems
+which demanded solution. As a new creation of God, [Greek: he ekklesia
+tou theou], the community was conscious of having been chosen by God in
+Jesus before the foundation of the world. In the conviction of being the
+true Israel, it claimed for itself the whole historical development
+recorded in the Old Testament, convinced that all the divine activity
+there recorded had the new community in view. The great question which
+was to find very different answers, was how, in accordance with this
+view, the Jewish nation, so far as it had not recognised Jesus as
+Messiah, should be judged. The detachment of Christianity from Judaism
+was the most important preliminary condition, and therefore the most
+important preparation, for the Mission among the Gentile nations, and
+for union with the Greek spirit.
+
+_Supplement_ 1.--Renan and others go too far when they say that Paul
+alone has the glory of freeing Christianity from the fetters of Judaism.
+Certainly the great Apostle could say in this connection also: [Greek:
+perissoteron auton panton ekopiasa], but there were others beside him
+who, in the power of the Gospel, transcended the limits of Judaism.
+Christian communities, it may now be considered certain, had arisen in
+the empire, in Rome for example, which were essentially free from the
+law without being in any way determined by Paul's preaching. It was
+Paul's merit that he clearly formulated the great question, established
+the universalism of Christianity in a peculiar manner, and yet in doing
+so held fast the character of Christianity as a positive religion, as
+distinguished from Philosophy and Moralism. But the later development
+presupposes neither his clear formulation nor his peculiar establishment
+of universalism, but only the universalism itself.
+
+_Supplement_ 2.--The dependence of the Pauline Theology on the Old
+Testament or on Judaism is overlooked in the traditional contrasting of
+Paulinism and Jewish Christianity, in which Paulinism is made equivalent
+to Gentile Christianity. This theology, as we might _a priori_ suppose,
+could, apart from individual exceptions, be intelligible as a whole to
+born Jews, if to any, for its doctrinal presuppositions were strictly
+Pharisaic, and its boldness in criticising the Old Testament, rejecting
+and asserting the law in its historical sense, could be as little
+congenial to the Gentile Christians as its piety towards the Jewish
+people. This judgment is confirmed by a glance at the fate of Pauline
+Theology in the 120 years that followed. Marcion was the only Gentile
+Christian who understood Paul, and even he misunderstood him: the rest
+never got beyond the appropriation of particular Pauline sayings, and
+exhibited no comprehension especially of the theology of the Apostle, so
+far as in it the universalism of Christianity as a religion is proved,
+even without recourse to Moralism and without putting a new construction
+on the Old Testament religion. It follows from this, however, that the
+scheme "Jewish Christianity"-"Gentile Christianity" is insufficient. We
+must rather, in the Apostolic age, at least at its close, distinguish
+four main tendencies that may have crossed each other here and
+there,[85] (within which again different shades appear). (1) The Gospel
+has to do with the people of Israel, and with the Gentile world only on
+the condition that believers attach themselves to the people of Israel.
+The punctilious observance of the law is still necessary and the
+condition on which the messianic salvation is bestowed (particularism
+and legalism, in practice and in principle, which, however, was not to
+cripple the obligation to prosecute the work of the Mission). (2) The
+Gospel has to do with Jews and Gentiles: the first, as believers in
+Christ, are under obligation as before to observe the law, the latter
+are not; but for that reason they cannot on earth fuse into one
+community with the believing Jews. Very different judgments in details
+were possible on this stand-point; but the bestowal of salvation could
+no longer be thought of as depending simply on the keeping of the
+ceremonial commandments of the law[86] (universalism in principle,
+particularism in practice; the prerogative of Israel being to some
+extent clung to). (3) The Gospel has to do with both Jews and Gentiles;
+no one is any longer under obligation to observe the law; for the law is
+abolished (or fulfilled), and the salvation which Christ's death has
+procured is appropriated by faith. The law (that is the Old Testament
+religion) in its literal sense is of divine origin, but was intended
+from the first only for a definite epoch of history. The prerogative of
+Israel remains, and is shewn in the fact that salvation was first
+offered to the Jews, and it will be shewn again at the end of all
+history. That prerogative refers to the nation as a whole, and has
+nothing to do with the question of the salvation of individuals
+(Paulinism: universalism in principle and in practice, and Antinomianism
+in virtue of the recognition of a merely temporary validity of the whole
+law; breach with the traditional religion of Israel; recognition of the
+prerogative of the people of Israel; the clinging to the prerogative of
+the people of Israel was not, however, necessary on this stand-point:
+see the epistle to the Hebrews and the Gospel of John). (4) The Gospel
+has to do with Jews and Gentiles: no one need therefore be under
+obligation to observe the ceremonial commandments and sacrificial
+worship, because these commandments themselves are only the wrappings of
+moral and spiritual commandments which the Gospel has set forth as
+fulfilled in a more perfect form (universalism in principle and in
+practice in virtue of a neutralising of the distinction between law and
+Gospel, old and new; spiritualising and universalising of the law).[87]
+
+_Supplement_ 3.--The appearance of Paul is the most important fact in
+the history of the Apostolic age. It is impossible to give in a few
+sentences an abstract of his theology and work; and the insertion here
+of a detailed account is forbidden, not only by the external limits, but
+by the aim of this investigation. For, as already indicated (Sec. 1), the
+doctrinal formation in the Gentile Church is not connected with the
+whole phenomenon of the Pauline theology, but only with certain leading
+thoughts which were only in part peculiar to the Apostle. His most
+peculiar thoughts acted on the development of Ecclesiastical doctrine
+only by way of occasional stimulus. We can find room here only for a few
+general outlines.[88]
+
+(1) The inner conviction that Christ had revealed himself to him, that
+the Gospel was the message of the crucified and risen Christ, and that
+God had called him to proclaim that message to the world, was the power
+and the secret of his personality and his activity. These three elements
+were a unity in the consciousness of Paul, constituting his conversion
+and determining his after-life. (2) In this conviction he knew himself
+to be a new creature, and so vivid was this knowledge that he was
+constrained to become a Jew to the Jews, and a Greek to the Greeks in
+order to gain them. (3) The crucified and risen Christ became the
+central point of his theology, and not only the central point, but the
+one source and ruling principle. The Christ was not in his estimation
+Jesus of Nazareth now exalted, but the mighty personal spiritual being
+in divine form who had for a time humbled himself, and who as Spirit has
+broken up the world of law, sin, and death, and continues to overcome
+them in believers. (4) Theology therefore was to him, looking forwards,
+the doctrine of the liberating power of the Spirit (of Christ) in all
+the concrete relations of human life and need. The Christ who has
+already overcome law, sin and death, lives as Spirit, and through his
+Spirit lives in believers, who for that very reason know him not after
+the flesh. He is a creative power of life to those who receive him in
+faith in his redeeming death upon the cross, that is to say, to those
+who are justified. The life in the Spirit, which results from union with
+Christ, will at last reveal itself also in the body (not in the flesh).
+(5) Looking backwards, theology was to Paul a doctrine of the law and of
+its abrogation; or more accurately, a description of the old system
+before Christ in the light of the Gospel, and the proof that it was
+destroyed by Christ. The scriptural proof, even here, is only a
+superadded support to inner considerations which move entirely within
+the thought that that which is abrogated has already had its due, by
+having its whole strength made manifest that it might then be
+annulled,--the law, the flesh of sin, death: by the law the law is
+destroyed, sin is abolished in sinful flesh, death is destroyed by
+death. (6) The historical view which followed from this begins, as
+regards Christ, with Adam and Abraham; as regards the law, with Moses.
+It closes, as regards Christ, with the prospect of a time when he shall
+have put all enemies beneath his feet, when God will be all in all; as
+regards Moses and the promises given to the Jewish nation, with the
+prospect of a time when all Israel will be saved. (7) Paul's doctrine of
+Christ starts from the final confession of the primitive Church, that
+Christ is with the Father as a heavenly being and as Lord of the living
+and the dead. Though Paul must have accurately known the proclamation
+concerning the historical Christ, his theology in the strict sense of
+the word does not revert to it: but springing over the historical, it
+begins with the pre-existent Christ (the Man from heaven), whose moral
+deed it was to assume the flesh in self-denying love, in order to break
+for all men the powers of nature and the doom of death. But he has
+pointed to the words and example of the historical Christ in order to
+rule the life in the Spirit. (8) Deductions, proofs, and perhaps also
+conceptions, which in point of form betray the theology of the Pharisaic
+schools, were forced from the Apostle by Christian opponents, who would
+only grant a place to the message of the crucified Christ beside the
+[Greek: dikaiosune ex ergon]. Both as an exegete and as a typologist he
+appears as a disciple of the Pharisees. But his dialectic about law,
+circumcision and sacrifice, does not form the kernel of his religious
+mode of thought, though, on the other hand, it was unquestionably his
+very Pharisaism which qualified him for becoming what he was. Pharisaism
+embraced nearly everything lofty which Judaism apart from Christ at all
+possessed, and its doctrine of providence, its energetic insistence on
+making manifest the religious contrasts, its Messianic expectations, its
+doctrines of sin and predestination, were conditions for the genesis of
+a religious and Christian character such as Paul.[89] This first
+Christian of the second generation is the highest product of the Jewish
+spirit under the creative power of the Spirit of Christ. Pharisaism had
+fulfilled its mission for the world when it produced this man. (9) But
+Hellenism also had a share in the making of Paul, a fact which does not
+conflict with his Pharisaic origin, but is partly given with it. In
+spite of all its exclusiveness the desire for making proselytes,
+especially in the Diaspora, was in the blood of Pharisaism. Paul
+continued the old movement in a new way, and he was qualified for his
+work among the Greeks by an accurate knowledge of the Greek translation
+of the Old Testament, by considerable dexterity in the use of the Greek
+language, and by a growing insight into the spiritual life of the
+Greeks. But the peculiarity of his Gospel as a message from the Spirit
+of Christ, which was equally near to and equally distant from every
+religious and moral mode of thought among the nations of the world,
+signified much more than all this. This Gospel--who can say whether
+Hellenism had already a share in its conception--required that the
+missionary to the Greeks should become a Greek and that believers should
+come to know, "all things are yours, and ye are Christ's." Paul, as no
+doubt other missionaries besides him, connected the preaching of Christ
+with the Greek mode of thought; he even employed philosophic doctrines
+of the Greeks as presuppositions in his apologetic,[90] and therewith
+prepared the way for the introduction of the Gospel to the Graeco-Roman
+world of thought. But, in my opinion, he has nowhere allowed that world
+of thought to influence his doctrine of salvation. This doctrine,
+however, was so fashioned in its practical aims that it was not
+necessary to become a Jew in order to appropriate it. (10) Yet we cannot
+speak of any total effect of Paulinism, as there was no such thing. The
+abundance of its details was too great and the greatness of its
+simplicity too powerful, its hope of the future too vivid, its doctrine
+of the law too difficult, its summons to a new life in the spirit too
+mighty to be comprehended and adhered to even by those communities which
+Paul himself had founded. What they did comprehend was its Monotheism,
+its universalism, its redemption, its eternal life, its asceticism; but
+all this was otherwise combined than by Paul. The style became Hellenic,
+and the element of a new kind of knowledge from the very first, as in
+the Church of Corinth, seems to have been the ruling one. The Pauline
+doctrine of the incarnate heavenly Man was indeed apprehended; it fell
+in with Greek notions, although it meant something very different from
+the notions which Greeks had been able to form of it.
+
+_Supplement_ 4.--What we justly prize above all else in the New
+Testament is that it is a union of the three groups, Synoptic Gospels,
+Pauline Epistles,[91] and Johannine writings, in which are expressed the
+richest contents of the earliest history of the Gospel. In the Synoptic
+Gospels and the epistles of Paul are represented two types of preaching
+the Gospel which mutually supplement each other. The subsequent history
+is dependent on both, and would have been other than it is had not both
+existed alongside of each other. On the other hand, the peculiar and
+lofty conception of Christ and of the Gospel, which stands out in the
+writings of John, has directly exercised no demonstrable influence on
+the succeeding development--with the exception of one peculiar movement,
+the Montanistic, which, however, does not rest on a true understanding
+of these writings--and indeed partly for the same reason that has
+prevented the Pauline theology as a whole from having such an influence.
+What is given in these writings is a criticism of the Old Testament as
+religion, or the independence of the Christian religion, in virtue of an
+accurate knowledge of the Old Testament through development of its
+hidden germs. The Old Testament stage of religion is really transcended
+and overcome in the Johannine Christianity, just as in Paulinism, and in
+the theology of the epistle to the Hebrews. "The circle of disciples who
+appropriated this characterisation of Jesus is," says Weizsaecker, "a
+revived Christ-party in the higher sense." But this transcending of the
+Old Testament religion was the very thing that was unintelligible,
+because there were few ripe for such a conception. Moreover, the origin
+of the Johannine writings is, from the stand-point of a history of
+literature and dogma, the most marvellous enigma which the early history
+of Christianity presents: Here we have portrayed a Christ who clothes
+the indescribable with words, and proclaims as his own self-testimony
+what his disciples have experienced in him, a speaking, acting, Pauline
+Christ, walking on the earth, far more human than the Christ of Paul and
+yet far more Divine, an abundance of allusions to the historical Jesus,
+and at the same time the most sovereign treatment of the history. One
+divines that the Gospel can find no loftier expression than John XVII.:
+one feels that Christ himself put these words into the mouth of the
+disciple, who gives them back to him, but word and thing, history and
+doctrine are surrounded by a bright cloud of the suprahistorical. It is
+easy to shew that this Gospel could as little have been written without
+Hellenism, as Luther's treatise on the freedom of a Christian man could
+have been written without the "Deutsche Theologie." But the reference to
+Philo and Hellenism is by no means sufficient here, as it does not
+satisfactorily explain even one of the external aspects of the problem.
+The elements operative in the Johannine theology were not Greek
+Theologoumena--even the Logos has little more in common with that of
+Philo than the name, and its mention at the beginning of the book is a
+mystery, not the solution of one[92]--but the Apostolic testimony
+concerning Christ has created from the old faith of Psalmists and
+Prophets, a new faith in a man who lived with the disciples of Jesus
+among the Greeks. For that very reason, in spite of his abrupt
+Anti-judaism, we must without doubt regard the Author as a born Jew.
+
+_Supplement_ 5.--The authorities to which the Christian communities were
+subjected in faith and life, were these: (1) The Old Testament
+interpreted in the Christian sense. (2) The tradition of the Messianic
+history of Jesus. (3) The words of the Lord: see the epistles of Paul,
+especially 1 Corinthians. But every writing which was proved to have
+been given by the Spirit had also to be regarded as an authority, and
+every tested Christian Prophet and Teacher inspired by the Spirit could
+claim that his words be received and regarded as the words of God.
+Moreover, the twelve whom Jesus had chosen had a special authority, and
+Paul claimed a similar authority for himself ([Greek: diataxeis ton
+apostolon]). Consequently, there were numerous courts of appeal in the
+earliest period of Christendom, of diverse kinds and by no means
+strictly defined. In the manifold gifts of the spirit was given a fluid
+element indefinable in its range and scope, an element which guaranteed
+freedom of development, but which also threatened to lead the
+enthusiastic communities to extravagance.
+
+_Literature._--Weiss, Biblical Theology of the New Testament, 1884.
+Beyschlag, New Testament Theology, 1892. Ritschl, Entstehung der
+Alt-Katholischen Kirche, 2 Edit. 1857. Reuss, History of Christian
+Theology in the Apostolic Age, 1864. Baur, The Apostle Paul, 1866.
+Holsten, Zum Evangelium des Paulus und Petrus, 1868. Pfleiderer,
+Paulinism, 1873: also, Das Urchristenthum, 1887. Schenkel, Das
+Christusbild der Apostel, 1879. Renan, Origins of Christianity Vols.
+II.-IV. Havet, Le Christianisme et ses orig. T, IV. 1884. Lechler, The
+Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Age, 1885. Weizsaecker, The Apostolic Age,
+1892. Hatch, Article "Paul" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Everett, The
+Gospel of Paul. Boston, 1893. On the origin and earliest history of the
+Christian proofs from prophecy, see my "Texte und Unters. z. Gesch. der
+Alt-Christl." Lit. I. 3, p. 56 f.
+
+Sec. 4. _The Current Exposition of the Old Testament, and the Jewish hopes
+of the future, in their significance for the earliest types of Christian
+preaching._
+
+Instead of the frequently very fruitless investigations about
+"Jewish-Christian," and "Gentile-Christian," it should be asked, What
+Jewish elements have been naturalised in the Christian Church, which
+were in no way demanded by the contents of the Gospel? have these
+elements been simply weakened in course of the development, or have some
+of them been strengthened by a peculiar combination with the Greek? We
+have to do here, in the first instance, with the doctrine of Demons and
+Angels, the view of history, the growing exclusiveness, the fanaticism;
+and on the other hand, with the cultus, and the Theocracy, expressing
+itself in forms of law.
+
+1. Although Jesus had in principle abolished the methods of pedantry,
+the casuistic treatment of the law, and the subtleties of prophetic
+interpretation, yet the old Scholastic exegesis remained active in the
+Christian communities above all the unhistorical local method in the
+exposition of the Old Testament, both allegoristic and Haggadic; for in
+the exposition of a sacred text--and the Old Testament was regarded as
+such--one is always required to look away from its historical
+limitations and to expound it according to the needs of the present.[93]
+The traditional view exercised its influence on the exposition of the
+Old Testament, as well as on the representations of the person, fate and
+deeds of Jesus, especially in those cases where the question was about
+the proof of the fulfilment of prophecy, that is, of the Messiahship of
+Jesus. (See above Sec. 3, 2). Under the impression made by the history of
+Jesus it gave to many Old Testament passages a sense that was foreign to
+them, and, on the other hand, enriched the life of Jesus with new facts,
+turning the interest at the same time to details which were frequently
+unreal and seldom of striking importance.[94]
+
+2. The Jewish Apocalyptic literature, especially as it flourished since
+the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and was impregnated with new elements
+borrowed from an ethico-religious philosophy, as well as with Babylonian
+and Persian myths (Greek myths can only be detected in very small
+number), was not banished from the circles of the first professors of
+the Gospel, but was rather held fast, eagerly read, and even extended
+with the view of elucidating the promises of Jesus.[95] Though their
+contents seem to have been modified on Christian soil, and especially
+the uncertainty about the person of the Messiah exalted to victory and
+coming to judgment,[96] yet the sensuous earthly hopes were in no way
+repressed. Green fat meadows and sulphurous abysses, white horses and
+frightful beasts, trees of life, splendid cities, war and bloodshed
+filled the fancy,[97] and threatened to obscure the simple and yet, at
+bottom, much more affecting maxims about the judgment which is certain
+to every individual soul, and drew the confessors of the Gospel into a
+restless activity, into politics, and abhorrence of the State. It was an
+evil inheritance which the Christians took over from the Jews,[98] an
+inheritance which makes it impossible to reproduce with certainty the
+eschatological sayings of Jesus. Things directly foreign were mixed up
+with them, and, what was most serious, delineations of the hopes of the
+future could easily lead to the undervaluing of the most important gifts
+and duties of the Gospel.[99]
+
+3. A wealth of mythologies and poetic ideas was naturalised and
+legitimised[100] in the Christian communities, chiefly by the reception
+of the Apocalyptic literature, but also by the reception of artificial
+exegesis and Haggada. Most important for the following period were the
+speculations about Messiah, which were partly borrowed from expositions
+of the Old Testament and from the Apocalypses, partly formed
+independently, according to methods the justice of which no one
+contested, and the application of which seemed to give a firm basis to
+religious faith.
+
+Some of the Jewish Apocalyptists had already attributed pre-existence to
+the expected Messiah, as to other precious things in the Old Testament
+history and worship, and, without any thought of denying his human
+nature, placed him as already existing before his appearing in a series
+of angelic beings.[101] This took place in accordance with an
+established method of speculation, so far as an attempt was made thereby
+to express the special value of an empiric object, by distinguishing
+between the essence and the inadequate form of appearance, hypostatising
+the essence, and exalting it above time and space. But when a later
+appearance was conceived as the aim of a series of preparations, it was
+frequently hypostatised and placed above these preparations even in
+time. The supposed aim was, in a kind of real existence, placed, as
+first cause, before the means which were destined to realise it on
+earth.[102]
+
+Some of the first confessors of the Gospel, though not all the writers
+of the New Testament, in accordance with the same method, went beyond
+the declarations which Jesus himself had made about his person, and
+endeavoured to conceive its value and absolute significance abstractly
+and speculatively. The religious convictions (see Sec. 3. 2): (1) That the
+founding of the Kingdom of God on earth, and the mission of Jesus as the
+perfect mediator, were from eternity based on God's plan of Salvation,
+as his main purpose; (2) that the exalted Christ was called into a
+position of Godlike Sovereignty belonging to him of right; (3) that God
+himself was manifested in Jesus, and that he therefore surpasses all
+mediators of the Old Testament, nay, even all angelic powers,--these
+convictions with some took the form that Jesus pre-existed, and that in
+him has appeared and taken flesh a heavenly being fashioned like God,
+who is older than the world, nay, its creative principle.[103] The
+conceptions of the old Teachers, Paul, the author of the Epistle to the
+Hebrews, the Apocalypse, the author of the first Epistle of Peter, the
+fourth Evangelist, differ in many ways when they attempt to define these
+convictions more closely. The latter is the only one who has recognised
+with perfect clearness that the premundane Christ must be assumed to be
+[Greek: theos hon en arche pros ton theon], so as not to endanger by
+this speculation the contents and significance of the revelation of God
+which was given in Christ. This, in the earliest period, was essentially
+a religious problem, that is, it was not introduced for the explanation
+of cosmological problems, (see, especially, Epistle to the Ephesians, I
+Peter; but also the Gospel of John), and there stood peacefully beside
+it, such conceptions as recognised the equipment of the man Jesus for
+his office in a communication of the Spirit at his baptism,[104] or in
+virtue of Isaiah VII., found the germ of his unique nature in his
+miraculous origin.[105] But as soon as that speculation was detached
+from its original foundation, it necessarily withdrew the minds of
+believers from the consideration of the work of Christ, and from the
+contemplation of the revelation of God which was given in the ministry
+of the historical person Jesus. The mystery of the person of Jesus in
+itself, would then necessarily appear as the true revelation.[106]
+
+A series of theologoumena and religious problems for the future doctrine
+of Christianity lay ready in the teaching of the Pharisees and in the
+Apocalypses (see especially the fourth book of Ezra), and was really
+fitted for being of service to it; e.g., doctrines about Adam, universal
+sinfulness, the fall, predestination, Theodicy, etc., besides all kinds
+of ideas about redemption. Besides these spiritual doctrines there were
+not a few spiritualised myths which were variously made use of in the
+Apocalypses. A rich, spiritual, figurative style, only too rich and
+therefore confused, waited for the theological artist to purify, reduce
+and vigorously fashion. There really remained very little of the
+Cosmico-Mythological in the doctrine of the great Church.
+
+_Supplement._--The reference to the proof from prophecy, to the current
+exposition of the Old Testament, the Apocalyptic and the prevailing
+methods of speculation, does not suffice to explain all the elements
+which are found in the different types of Christian preaching. We must
+rather bear in mind here that the earliest communities were
+enthusiastic, and had yet among them prophets and ecstatic persons. Such
+circumstances will always directly produce facts in the history. But, in
+the majority of cases, it is absolutely impossible to account
+subsequently for the causes of such productions, because their formation
+is subject to no law accessible to the understanding. It is therefore
+inadmissible to regard as proved the reality of what is recorded and
+believed to be a fact, when the motive and interest which led to its
+acceptance can no longer be ascertained.[107]
+
+Moreover, if we consider the conditions, outer and inner, in which the
+preaching of Christ in the first decades was placed, conditions which in
+every way threatened the Gospel with extravagance, we shall only see
+cause to wonder that it continued to shine forth amid all its wrappings.
+We can still, out of the strangest "fulfilments", legends and
+mythological ideas, read the religious conviction that the aim and goal
+of history is disclosed in the history of Christ, and that the Divine
+has now entered into history in a pure form.
+
+_Literature._--The Apocalypses of Daniel, Enoch, Moses, Baruch, Ezra;
+Schuerer, History of the Jewish People in the time of Christ;
+Baldensperger, in the work already mentioned. Weber, System der
+Altsynagogalen palaestinischen Theologie, 1880, Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures,
+1883. Hilgenfeld, Die juedische Apokalyptik, 1857. Wellhausen, Sketch of
+the History of Israel and Judah, 1887. Diestel, Gesch. des A. T. in der
+Christl. Kirche, 1869. Other literature in Schuerer. The essay of Hellwag
+in the Theol. Jahrb. von Baur and Zeller, 1848, "Die Vorstellung von der
+Praeexistenz Christi in der aeltesten Kirche", is worth noting; also Joel,
+Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des 2 Christl. Jahrhunderts,
+1880-1883.
+
+
+Sec. 5. _The Religious Conceptions and the Religious Philosophy of the
+Hellenistic Jews, in their significance for the later formulation of the
+Gospel_.
+
+1. From the remains of the Jewish Alexandrian literature and the Jewish
+Sibylline writings, also from the work of Josephus, and especially from
+the great propaganda of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman world, we may gather
+that there was a Judaism in the Diaspora, for the consciousness of which
+the cultus and ceremonial law were of comparatively subordinate
+importance; while the monotheistic worship of God, apart from images,
+the doctrines of virtue and belief in a future reward beyond the grave,
+stood in the foreground as its really essential marks. Converted
+Gentiles were no longer everywhere required to be even circumcised; the
+bath of purification was deemed sufficient. The Jewish religion here
+appears transformed into a universal human ethic and a monotheistic
+cosmology. For that reason, the idea of the Theocracy as well as the
+Messianic hopes of the future faded away or were uprooted. The latter,
+indeed, did not altogether pass away; but as the oracles of the Prophets
+were made use of mainly for the purpose of proving the antiquity and
+certainty of monotheistic belief, the thought of the future was
+essentially exhausted in the expectation of the dissolution of the Roman
+empire, the burning of the world, and the eternal recompense. The
+specific Jewish element, however, stood out plainly in the assertion
+that the Old Testament, and especially the books of Moses, were the
+source of all true knowledge of God, and the sum total of all doctrines
+of virtue for the nations, as well as in the connected assertion that
+the religious and moral culture of the Greeks was derived from the Old
+Testament, as the source from which the Greek Poets and Philosophers had
+drawn their inspiration.[108]
+
+These Jews and the Greeks converted by them formed, as it were, a
+Judaism of a second order without law, i.e., ceremonial law, and with a
+minimum of statutory regulations. This Judaism prepared the soil for the
+Christianising of the Greeks, as well as for the genesis of a great
+Gentile Church in the empire, free from the law; and this the more that,
+as it seems, after the second destruction of Jerusalem, the punctilious
+observance of the law[109] was imposed more strictly than before on all
+who worshipped the God of the Jews.[110]
+
+The Judaism just portrayed, developed itself, under the influence of the
+Greek culture with which it came in contact, into a kind of
+Cosmopolitanism. It divested itself, as religion, of all national forms,
+and exhibited itself as the most perfect expression of that "natural"
+religion which the stoics had disclosed. But in proportion as it was
+enlarged and spiritualised to a universal religion for humanity, it
+abandoned what was most peculiar to it, and could not compensate for
+that loss by the assertion of the thesis that the Old Testament is the
+oldest and most reliable source of that natural religion, which in the
+traditions of the Greeks had only witnesses of the second rank. The
+vigour and immediateness of the religious feeling was flattened down to
+a moralism, the barrenness of which drove some Jews even into Gnosis,
+mysticism and asceticism.[111]
+
+2. The Jewish Alexandrian philosophy of religion, of which Philo gives
+us the clearest conception,[112] is the scientific theory which
+corresponded to this religious conception. The theological system which
+Philo, in accordance with the example of others, gave out as the Mosaic
+system revealed by God, and proved from the Old Testament by means of
+the allegoric exegetic method, is essentially identical with the system
+of Stoicism, which had been mixed with Platonic elements and had lost
+its Pantheistic materialistic impress. The fundamental idea from which
+Philo starts is a Platonic one; the dualism of God and the world, spirit
+and matter. The idea of God itself is therefore abstractly and
+negatively conceived (God, the real substance which is not finite), and
+has nothing more in common with the Old Testament conception. The
+possibility, however, of being able to represent God as acting on
+matter, which as the finite is the non-existent, and therefore the evil,
+is reached, with the help of the Stoic [Greek: logos] as working powers
+and of the Platonic doctrine of archetypal ideas, and in outward
+connection with the Jewish doctrine of angels and the Greek doctrine of
+demons, by the introduction of intermediate spiritual beings which, as
+personal and impersonal powers proceeding from God, are to be thought of
+as operative causes and as Archetypes. All these beings are, as it were,
+comprehended in the Logos. By the Logos Philo understands the operative
+reason of God, and consequently also the power of God. The Logos is to
+him the thought of God and at the same time the product of his thought,
+therefore both idea and power. But further, the Logos is God himself on
+that side of him which is turned to the world, as also the ideal of the
+world and the unity of the spiritual forces which produce the world and
+rule in it. He can therefore be put beside God and in opposition to the
+world; but he can also, so far as the spiritual contents of the world
+are comprehended in him, be put with the world in contrast with God. The
+Logos accordingly appears as the Son of God, the foremost creature, the
+representative, Viceroy, High Priest, and Messenger of God; and again as
+principle of the world, spirit of the world, nay, as the world itself.
+He appears as a power and as a person, as a function of God and as an
+active divine being. Had Philo cancelled the contradiction which lies in
+this whole conception of the Logos, his system would have been
+demolished; for that system with its hard antithesis of God and the
+world, needed a mediator who was, and yet was not God, as well as world.
+From this contrast, however, it further followed that we can only think
+of a world-formation by the Logos, not of a world-creation.[113] Within
+this world man is regarded as a microcosm, that is, as a being of Divine
+nature according to his spirit, who belongs to the heavenly world, while
+the adhering body is a prison which holds men captive in the fetters of
+sense, that is, of sin.
+
+The Stoic and Platonic ideals and rules of conduct (also the
+Neo-pythagorean) were united by Philo in the religious Ethic as well as
+in the Cosmology. Rationalistic moralism is surmounted by the injunction
+to strive after a higher good lying above virtue. But here, at the same
+time, is the point at which Philo decidedly goes beyond Platonism, and
+introduces a new thought into Greek Ethics, and also in correspondence
+therewith into theoretic philosophy. This thought, which indeed lay
+altogether in the line of the development of Greek philosophy, was not,
+however, pursued by Philo into all its consequences, though it was the
+expression of a new frame of mind. While the highest good is resolved by
+Plato and his successors into knowledge of truth, which truth, together
+with the idea of God, lies in a sphere really accessible to the
+intellectual powers of the human spirit, the highest good, the Divine
+original being, is considered by Philo, though not invariably, to be
+above reason, and the power of comprehending it is denied to the human
+intellect. This assumption, a concession which Greek speculation was
+compelled to make to positive religion for the supremacy which was
+yielded to it, was to have far-reaching consequences in the future. _A
+place was now for the first time provided in philosophy for a mythology
+to be regarded as revelation._ The highest truths which could not
+otherwise be reached, might be sought for in the oracles of the Deity;
+for knowledge resting on itself had learnt by experience its inability
+to attain to the truth in which blessedness consists. _In this very
+experience the intellectualism of Greek Ethics was, not indeed
+cancelled, but surmounted._ The injunction to free oneself from sense
+and strive upwards by means of knowledge, remained; but the wings of the
+thinking mind bore it only to the entrance of the sanctuary. Only
+ecstasy produced by God himself was able to lead to the reality above
+reason. The great novelties in the system of Philo, though in a certain
+sense the way had already been prepared for them, are the introduction
+of the idea of a philosophy of revelation and the advance beyond the
+absolute intellectualism of Greek philosophy, an advance based on
+scepticism, but also on the deep-felt needs of life. Only the germs of
+these are found in Philo, but they are already operative. They are
+innovations of world-wide importance: for in them the covenant between
+the thoughts of reason on the one hand, and the belief in revelation and
+mysticism on the other, is already so completed that neither by itself
+could permanently maintain the supremacy. Thought about the world was
+henceforth dependent, not only on practical motives, it is always that,
+but on the need of a blessedness and peace which is higher than all
+reason. It might, perhaps, be allowable to say that Philo was the first
+who, as a philosopher, plainly expressed that need, just because he was
+not only a Greek, but also a Jew.[114]
+
+Apart from the extremes into which the ethical counsels of Philo run,
+they contain nothing that had not been demanded by philosophers before
+him. The purifying of the affections, the renunciation of sensuality,
+the acquisition of the four cardinal virtues, the greatest possible
+simplicity of life, as well as a cosmopolitan disposition are
+enjoined.[115] But the attainment of the highest morality by our own
+strength is despaired of, and man is directed beyond himself to God's
+assistance. Redemption begins with the spirit reflecting on its own
+condition; it advances by a knowledge of the world and of the Logos, and
+it is perfected, after complete asceticism, by mystic ecstatic
+contemplation in which a man loses himself, but in return is entirely
+filled and moved by God.[116] In this condition man has a foretaste of
+the blessedness which shall be given him when the soul, freed from the
+body, will be restored to its true existence as a heavenly being.
+
+This system, notwithstanding its appeal to revelation, has, in the
+strict sense of the word, no place for Messianic hopes, of which nothing
+but very insignificant rudiments are found in Philo. But he was really
+animated by the hope of a glorious time to come for Judaism. The
+synthesis of the Messiah and the Logos did not lie within his
+horizon.[117]
+
+3. Neither Philo's philosophy of religion, nor the mode of thought from
+which it springs, exercised any appreciable influence on the first
+generation of believers in Christ.[118] But its practical
+ground-thoughts, though in different degrees, must have found admission
+very early into the Jewish Christian circles of the Diaspora, and
+through them to Gentile Christian circles also. Philo's philosophy of
+religion became operative among Christian teachers from the beginning of
+the second century,[119] and at a later period actually obtained the
+significance of a standard of Christian theology, Philo gaining a place
+among Christian writers. The systems of Valentinus and Origen presuppose
+that of Philo. It can no longer, however, be shewn with certainty how
+far the direct influence of Philo reached, as the development of
+religious ideas in the second century took a direction which necessarily
+led to views similar to those which Philo had anticipated (see Sec. 6, and
+the whole following account).
+
+_Supplement._--The hermeneutic principles (the "Biblicalalchemy"), above
+all, became of the utmost importance for the following period. These
+were partly invented by Philo himself, partly traditional,--the Haggadic
+rules of exposition and the hermeneutic principles of the Stoics having
+already at an earlier period been united in Alexandria. They fall into
+two main classes; "first, those according to which the literal sense is
+excluded, and the allegoric proved to be the only possible one, and
+then, those according to which the allegoric sense is discovered as
+standing beside and above the literal sense."[120] That these rules
+permitted the discovery of a new sense by minute changes within a word,
+was a point of special importance.[121] Christian teachers went still
+further in this direction, and, as can be proved, altered the text of
+the Septuagint in order to make more definite what suggested itself to
+them as the meaning of a passage, or in order to give a satisfactory
+meaning to a sentence which appeared to them unmeaning or
+offensive.[122] Nay, attempts were not wanting among Christians in the
+second century--they were aided by the uncertainty that existed about
+the extent of the Septuagint, and by the want of plain predictions about
+the death upon the cross--to determine the Old Testament canon in
+accordance with new principles; that is, to alter the text on the plea
+that the Jews had corrupted it, and to insert new books into the Old
+Testament, above all, Jewish Apocalypses revised in a Christian sense.
+Tertullian (de cultu fem. I. 3,) furnishes a good example of the latter.
+"Scio scipturam Enoch, quae hunc ordinem angelis dedit, non recipi a
+quibusdam, quia nee in armorium Judaicum admittitur ... sed cum Enoch
+eadem scriptura etiam de domino praedicarit, a nobis quidem nihil omnino
+reiciendum est quod pertinet ad nos. Et legimus omnem scripturam
+aedificationi habilem divinitus inspirari. A Judaeis potest jam videri
+propterea reiecta, sicut et cetera fere quae Christum sonant.... Eo
+accedit quod Enoch apud Judam apostolum testimonium possidet." Compare
+also the history of the Apocalypse of Ezra in the Latin Bible (Old
+Testament). Not only the genuine Greek portions of the Septuagint, but
+also many Apocalypses were quoted by Christians in the second century as
+of equal value with the Old Testament. It was the New Testament that
+slowly put an end to these tendencies towards the formation of a
+Christian Old Testament.
+
+To find the spiritual meaning of the sacred text, partly beside the
+literal, partly by excluding it, became the watchword for the
+"scientific" Christian theology which was possible only on this basis,
+as it endeavoured to reduce the immense and dissimilar material of the
+Old Testament to unity with the Gospel, and both with the religious and
+scientific culture of the Greeks,--yet without knowing a relative
+standard, the application of which would alone have rendered possible in
+a loyal way the solution of the task. Here, Philo was the master; for he
+first to a great extent poured the new wine into old bottles. Such a
+procedure is warranted by its final purpose; for history is a unity. But
+applied in a pedantic and stringently dogmatic way it is a source of
+deception, of untruthfulness, and finally of total blindness.
+
+_Literature._--Gefroerer, Das Jahr des Heils, 1838. Parthey, Das
+Alexandr. Museum, 1838. Matter, Hist. de l'ecole d'Alex. 1840. Daehne,
+Gesch. Darstellung der jued.-alex. Religions-philos. 1834. Zeller, Die
+Philosophie der Griechen, III. 2. 3rd Edition. Mommsen, History of Rome,
+Vol. V. Siegfried, Philo von Alex. 1875. Massebieau, Le Classement des
+Oeuvres de Philon. 1889. Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, 1889.
+Drummond, Philo Judaeus, 1888. Bigg, The Christian Platonists of
+Alexandria, 1886. Schuerer, History of the Jewish People. The
+investigations of Freudenthal (Hellenistische Studien), and Bernays
+(Ueber das phokylideische Gedicht; Theophrastos' Schrift ueber
+Froemmigkeit; Die heraklitischen Briefe). Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures:
+"Christian Theology could have made and has made much use of Hellenism.
+But the Christian religion cannot have sprung from this source." Havet
+thinks otherwise, though in the fourth volume of his "Origines" he has
+made unexpected admissions.
+
+
+Sec. 6. _The Religious Dispositions of the Greeks and Romans in the first
+two centuries, and the current Graeco-Roman Philosophy of Religion._
+
+1. After the national religion and the religious sense generally in
+cultured circles had been all but lost in the age of Cicero and
+Augustus, there is noticeable in the Graeco-Roman world from the
+beginning of the second century a revival of religious feeling which
+embraced all classes of society, and appears, especially from the middle
+of that century, to have increased from decennium to decennium.[123]
+Parallel with it went the not altogether unsuccessful attempt to restore
+the old national worship, religious usages, oracles, etc. In these
+attempts, however, which were partly superficial and artificial, the new
+religious needs found neither vigorous nor clear expression. These needs
+rather sought new forms of satisfaction corresponding to the wholly
+changed conditions of the time, including intercourse and mixing of the
+nations; decay of the old republican orders, divisions and ranks;
+monarchy and absolutism and social crises; pauperism; influence of
+philosophy on the domain of public morality and law; cosmopolitanism and
+the rights of man; influx of Oriental cults into the West; knowledge of
+the world and disgust with it. The decay of the old political cults and
+syncretism produced a disposition in favour of monotheism both among the
+cultured classes who had been prepared for it by philosophy, and also
+gradually among the masses. Religion and individual morality became more
+closely connected. There was developed a corresponding attempt at
+spiritualising the worship alongside of and within the ceremonial forms,
+and at giving it a direction towards the moral elevation of man through
+the ideas of moral personality, conscience, and purity. The ideas of
+repentance and of expiation and healing of the soul became of special
+importance, and consequently such Oriental cults came to the front as
+required the former and guaranteed the latter. But what was sought above
+all, was to enter into an inner union with the Deity, to be saved by him
+and become a partaker in the possession and enjoyment of his life. The
+worshipper consequently longed to find a "praesens numen" and the
+revelation of him in the cultus, and hoped to put himself in possession
+of the Deity by asceticism and mysterious rites. This new piety longed
+for health and purity of soul, and elevation above earthly things, and
+in connection with these a divine, that is, a painless and eternal life
+beyond the grave ("renatus in aeternum taurobolio"). A world beyond was
+desired, sought for and viewed with an uncertain eye. By detachment from
+earthly things and the healing of its diseases (the passions) the freed,
+new born soul should return to its divine nature and existence. It is
+not a hope of immortality such as the ancients had dreamed of for their
+heroes, where they continue, as it were, their earthly existence in
+blessed enjoyment. To the more highly pitched self-consciousness this
+life had become a burden, and in the miseries of the present, one hoped
+for a future life in which the pain and vulgarity of the unreal life of
+earth would be completely laid aside ([Greek: Enkrateia] and [Greek:
+anastasis]). If the new moralistic feature stood out still more
+emphatically in the piety of the second century, it vanished more and
+more behind the religious feature, the longing after life[124] and after
+a Redeemer God. No one could any longer be a God who was not also a
+saviour.[125]
+
+With all this Polytheism was not suppressed, but only put into a
+subordinate place. On the contrary, it was as lively and active as ever.
+For the idea of a _numen supremum_ did not exclude belief in the
+existence and manifestation of subordinate deities. Apotheosis came into
+currency. The old state religion first attained its highest and most
+powerful expression in the worship of the emperor, (the emperor
+glorified as "dominus ac deus noster",[126] as "praesens et corporalis
+deus", the Antinous cult, etc.)., and in many circles an incarnate ideal
+in the present or the past was sought, which might be worshipped as
+revealer of God and as God, and which might be an example of life and an
+assurance of religious hope. Apotheosis became less offensive in
+proportion as, in connection with the fuller recognition of the
+spiritual dignity of man, the estimate of the soul, the spirit, as of
+supramundane nature, and the hope of its eternal continuance in a form
+of existence befitting it, became more general. That was the import of
+the message preached by the Cynics and the Stoics, that the truly wise
+man is Lord, Messenger of God, and God upon the earth. On the other
+hand, the popular belief clung to the idea that the gods could appear
+and be visible in human form, and this faith, though mocked by the
+cultured, gained numerous adherents, even among them, in the age of the
+Antonines.[127]
+
+The new thing which was here developed, continued to be greatly obscured
+by the old forms of worship which reasons of state and pious custom
+maintained. And the new piety, dispensing with a fixed foundation,
+groped uncertainly around, adapting the old rather than rejecting it.
+The old religious practices of the Fathers asserted themselves in public
+life generally, and the reception of new cults by the state, which was
+certainly effected, though with many checks, did not disturb them. The
+old religious customs stood out especially on state holidays, in the
+games in honour of the Gods, frequently degenerating into shameless
+immorality, but yet protecting the institutions of the state. The
+patriot, the wise man, the sceptic, and the pious man compounded with
+them, for they had not really at bottom outgrown them, and they knew of
+nothing better to substitute for the services they still rendered to
+society (see the [Greek: logos alethes] of Celsus).
+
+2. The system of associations, naturalised centuries before among the
+Greeks, was developed under the social and political pressure of the
+empire, and was greatly extended by the change of moral and religious
+ideas. The free unions, which, as a rule, had a religious element and
+were established for mutual help, support, or edification, balanced to
+some extent the prevailing social cleavage, by a free democratic
+organisation. They gave to many individuals in their small circle the
+rights which they did not possess in the great world, and were
+frequently of service in obtaining admission for new cults. Even the new
+piety and cosmopolitan disposition seem to have turned to them in order
+to find within them forms of expression. But the time had not come for
+the greater corporate unions, and of an organised connection of
+societies in one city with those of another we know nothing. The state
+kept these associations under strict control. It granted them only to
+the poorest classes (_collegia tenuiorum_) and had the strictest laws in
+readiness for them. These free unions, however, did not in their
+historical importance approach the fabric of the Roman state in which
+they stood. That represented the union of the greater part of humanity
+under one head, and also more and more under one law. Its capital was
+the capital of the world, and also, from the beginning of the third
+century, of religious syncretism. Hither migrated all who desired to
+exercise an influence on the great scale: Jew, Chaldean, Syrian priest,
+and Neoplatonic teacher. Law and Justice radiated from Rome to the
+provinces, and in their light nationalities faded away, and a
+cosmopolitanism was developed which pointed beyond itself, because the
+moral spirit can never find its satisfaction in that which is realised.
+When that spirit finally turned away from all political life, and after
+having laboured for the ennobling of the empire, applied itself, in
+Neoplatonism, to the idea of a new and free union of men, this certainly
+was the result of the felt failure of the great creation, but it
+nevertheless had that creation for its presupposition. The Church
+appropriated piecemeal the great apparatus of the Roman state, and gave
+new powers, new significance and respect to every article that had been
+depreciated. But what is of greatest importance is that the Church by
+her preaching would never have gained whole circles, but only
+individuals, had not the universal state already produced a neutralising
+of nationalities and brought men nearer each other in temper and
+disposition.
+
+3. Perhaps the most decisive factor in bringing about the revolution of
+religious and moral convictions and moods, was philosophy, which in
+almost all its schools and representatives, had deepened ethics, and set
+it more and more in the foreground. After Possidonius, Seneca,
+Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius of the Stoical school, and men like
+Plutarch of the Platonic, attained to an ethical view, which, though not
+very clear in principle (knowledge, resignation, trust in God), is
+hardly capable of improvement in details. Common to them all, as
+distinguished from the early Stoics, is the value put upon the soul,
+(not the entire human nature), while in some of them there comes clearly
+to the front a religious mood, a longing for divine help, for redemption
+and a blessed life beyond the grave, the effort to obtain and
+communicate a religious philosophical therapeutic of the soul. From
+the beginning of the second century, however, already announced itself
+that eclectic philosophy based on Platonism which after two or three
+generations appeared in the form of a school, and after three
+generations more was to triumph over all other schools. The several
+elements of the Neoplatonic philosophy, as they were already
+foreshadowed in Philo, are clearly seen in the second century, viz., the
+dualistic opposition of the divine and the earthly, the abstract
+conception of God, the assertion of the unknowableness of God,
+scepticism with regard to sensuous experience, and distrust with regard
+to the powers of the understanding, with a greater readiness to examine
+things and turn to account the result of former scientific labour;
+further, the demand of emancipation from sensuality by means of
+asceticism, the need of authority, belief in a higher revelation, and
+the fusion of science and religion. The legitimising of religious fancy
+in the province of philosophy was already begun. The myth was no longer
+merely tolerated and re-interpreted as formerly, but precisely the
+mythic form with the meaning imported into it was the precious
+element.[128] There were, however, in the second century numerous
+representatives of every possible philosophic view. To pass over the
+frivolous writers of the day, the Cynics criticised the traditional
+mythology in the interests of morality and religion.[129] But there were
+also men who opposed the "ne quid nimis" to every form of practical
+scepticism, and to religion at the same time, and were above all intent
+on preserving the state and society, and on fostering the existing
+arrangements which appeared to be threatened far more by an intrusive
+religious than by a nihilistic philosophy.[130] Yet men whose interest
+was ultimately practical and political, became ever more rare,
+especially as from the death of Marcus Aurelius, the maintenance of the
+state had to be left more and more to the sword of the Generals. The
+general conditions from the end of the second century were favourable to
+a philosophy which no longer in any respect took into real consideration
+the old forms of the state.
+
+The theosophic philosophy which was prepared for in the second
+century,[131] was, from the stand-point of enlightenment and knowledge
+of nature, a relapse: but it was the expression of a deeper religious
+need, and of a self-knowledge such as had not been in existence at an
+earlier period. The final consequences of that revolution in philosophy
+which made consideration of the inner life the starting-point of thought
+about the world, only now began to be developed. The ideas of a divine,
+gracious providence, of the relationship of all men, of universal
+brotherly love, of a ready forgiveness of wrong, of forbearing patience,
+of insight into one's own weakness--affected no doubt with many
+shadows--became, for wide circles, a result of the practical philosophy
+of the Greeks as well as, the conviction of inherent sinfulness, the
+need of redemption, and the eternal value and dignity of a human soul
+which finds rest only in God. These ideas, convictions and rules, had
+been picked up in the long journey from Socrates to Ammonius Saccas: at
+first, and for long afterwards, they crippled the interest in a rational
+knowledge of the world; but they deepened and enriched the inner life,
+and therewith the source of all knowledge. Those ideas, however, lacked
+as yet the certain coherence, but, above all, the authority which could
+have raised them above the region of wishes, presentiments, and
+strivings, and have given them normative authority in a community of
+men. There was no sure revelation, and no view of history which could be
+put in the place of the no longer prized political history of the nation
+or state to which one belonged.[132] There was, in fact, no such thing
+as certainty. In like manner, there was no power which might overturn
+idolatry and abolish the old, and therefore one did not get beyond the
+wavering between self-deification, fear of God, and deification of
+nature. The glory is all the greater of those statesmen and jurists who,
+in the second and third centuries, introduced human ideas of the Stoics
+into the legal arrangements of the empire, and raised them to standards.
+And we must value all the more the numerous undertakings and
+performances, in which it appeared that the new view of life was
+powerful enough in individuals to beget a corresponding practice even
+without a sure belief in revelation.[133]
+
+_Supplement._--For the correct understanding of the beginning of
+Christian theology, that is, for the Apologetic and Gnosis, it is
+important to note where they are dependent on Stoic, and where on
+Platonic lines of thought. Platonism and Stoicism, in the second
+century, appeared in union with each other: but up to a certain point
+they may be distinguished in the common channel in which they flow.
+Wherever Stoicism prevailed in religious thought and feeling, as for
+example, in Marcus Aurelius, religion gains currency as _natural_
+religion in the most comprehensive sense of the word. The idea of
+revelation or redemption scarcely emerges. To this rationalism, the
+objects of knowledge are unvarying, ever the same: even cosmology
+attracts interest only in a very small degree. Myth and history are
+pageantry and masks. Moral ideas (virtues and duties) dominate even the
+religious sphere, which in its final basis has no independent authority.
+The interest in psychology and apologetic is very pronounced. On the
+other hand, the emphasis, which, in principle, is put on the contrast of
+spirit and matter, God and the world, had for results: inability to rest
+in the actual realities of the cosmos, efforts to unriddle the history
+of the universe backwards and forwards, recognition of this process as
+the essential task of theoretic philosophy, and a deep, yearning
+conviction that the course of the world needs assistance. Here were
+given the conditions for the ideas of revelation, redemption, etc., and
+the restless search for powers from whom help might come, received here
+also a scientific justification. The rationalistic apologetic interests
+thereby fell into the background: contemplation and historical
+description predominated.[134]
+
+The stages in the ecclesiastical history of dogma, from the middle of
+the first to the middle of the fifth century, correspond to the stages
+in the history of the ancient religion during the same period. The
+Apologists, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus; the Alexandrians;
+Methodius, and the Cappadocians; Dionysius, the Areopagite, have their
+parallels in Seneca, Marcus Aurelius; Plutarch, Epictetus, Numenius;
+Plotinus, Porphyry; Iamblichus and Proclus.
+
+But it is not only Greek philosophy that comes into question for the
+history of Christian dogma. The whole of Greek culture must be taken
+into account. In his posthumous work, Hatch has shewn in a masterly way
+how that is to be done. He describes the Grammar, the Rhetoric, the
+learned Profession, the Schools, the Exegesis, the Homilies, etc., of
+the Greeks, and everywhere shews how they passed over into the Church,
+thus exhibiting the Philosophy, the Ethic, the speculative Theology, the
+Mysteries, etc., of the Greeks, as the main factors in the process of
+forming the ecclesiastical mode of thought.
+
+But, besides the Greek, there is no mistaking the special influence of
+Romish ideas and customs upon the Christian Church. The following points
+specially claim attention: (1) The conception of the contents of the
+Gospel and its application as "salus legitima," with the results which
+followed from the naturalising of this idea. (2) The conception of the
+word of Revelation, the Bible, etc., as "lex." (3) The idea of tradition
+in its relation to the Romish idea. (4) The Episcopal constitution of
+the Church, including the idea of succession, of the Primateship and
+universal Episcopate, in their dependence on Romish ideas and
+institutions (the Ecclesiastical organisation in its dependence on the
+Roman Empire). (5) The separation of the idea of the "sacrament" from
+that of the "mystery", and the development of the forensic discipline of
+penance. The investigation has to proceed in a historical line,
+described by the following series of chapters: Rome and Tertullian; Rome
+and Cyprian; Rome, Optatus and Augustine; Rome and the Popes of the
+fifth century. We have, to shew how, by the power of her constitution
+and the earnestness and consistency of her policy, Rome a second time,
+step by step, conquered the world, but this time the Christian
+world.[135]
+
+Greek philosophy exercised the greatest influence not only on the
+Christian mode of thought, but also through that, on the institutions of
+the Church. The Church never indeed became a philosophic school: but yet
+in her was realised in a peculiar way, that which the Stoics and the
+Cynics had aimed at. The Stoic (Cynic) Philosopher also belonged to the
+factors from which the Christian Priests or Bishops were formed. That
+the old bearers of the Spirit--Apostles, Prophets, Teachers--have been
+changed into a class of professional moralists and preachers, who bridle
+the people by counsel and reproof [Greek: nouthetein kai elenchein],
+that this class considers itself and desires to be considered as a
+mediating Kingly Divine class, that its representatives became "Lords"
+and let themselves be called "Lords", all this was prefigured in the
+Stoic wise man and in the Cynic Missionary. But so far as these several
+"Kings and Lords" are united in the idea and reality of the Church and
+are subject to it, the Platonic idea of the republic goes beyond the
+Stoic and Cynic ideals, and subordinates them to it. But this Platonic
+ideal has again obtained its political realisation in the Church through
+the very concrete laws of the Roman Empire, which were more and more
+adopted, or taken possession of. Consequently, in the completed Church
+we find again the philosophic schools and the Roman Empire.
+
+_Literature._--Besides the older works of Tzschirner, Doellinger,
+Burckhardt, Preller, see Friedlaender, Darstellungen aus der Sittengesch.
+Roms. in der Zeit von August bis zum Ausgang der Antonine, 3 Bd. Aufl.
+Boissier, La Religion Romaine d'Auguste aux Antonins, 2 Bd. 1874.
+Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before 170. London, 1893.
+Reville, La Religion a Rome sous les Severes, 1886. Schiller, Geschichte
+der Roem. Kaiserzeit, 1883. Marquardt, Roemische Staatsverwaltung, 3 Bde.
+1878. Foucart, Les Associations Relig. chez les Grecs, 1873. Liebeman,
+Z. Gesch. u. Organisation d. Roem. Vereinswesen, 1890. K.J. Neumann, Der
+Roem. Staat und die allg. Kirche, Bd. I. 1890. Leopold Schmidt, Die Ethik
+der alten Griechen, 2 Bd. 1882. Heinrici, Die Christengemeinde Korinth's
+und die religioesen Genossenschaften der Griechen, in der Ztschr. f.
+wissensch. Theol. 1876-77. Hatch, The Influence of Greek Ideas and
+Usages upon the Christian Church. Buechner, De neocoria, 1888.
+Hirschfeld, Z. Gesch. d. roem. Kaisercultus. The Histories of Philosophy
+by Zeller, Erdmann, Ueberweg, Struempell, Windelband, etc. Heinze, Die
+Lehre vom Logos in der Griech. Philosophie, 1872. By same Author, Der
+Eudaemonismus in der Griech. Philosophie, 1883. Hirzel, Untersuchungen zu
+Cicero's philos. Schriften, 3 Thle. 1877-1883. These investigations are
+of special value for the history of dogma, because they set forth with
+the greatest accuracy and care, the later developments of the great
+Greek philosophic schools, especially on Roman soil. We must refer
+specially to the discussions on the influence of the Roman on the Greek
+Philosophy. Volkmann, Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Roemer, 1872.
+
+
+_Supplementary._
+
+Perhaps the most important fact for the following development of the
+history of Dogma, the way for which had already been prepared in the
+Apostolic age, is the twofold conception of the aim of Christ's
+appearing, or of the religious blessing of salvation. The two
+conceptions were indeed as yet mutually dependent on each other, and
+were twined together in the closest way, just as they are presented in
+the teaching of Jesus himself; but they began even at this early period
+to be differentiated. Salvation, that is to say, was conceived, on the
+one hand, as sharing in the glorious kingdom of Christ soon to appear,
+and everything else was regarded as preparatory to this sure prospect;
+on the other hand, however, attention was turned to the conditions and
+to the provisions of God wrought by Christ, which first made men capable
+of attaining that portion, that is, of becoming sure of it. Forgiveness
+of sin, righteousness, faith, knowledge, etc., are the things which come
+into consideration here, and these blessings themselves, so far as they
+have as their sure result life in the kingdom of Christ, or more
+accurately eternal life, may be regarded as salvation. It is manifest
+that these two conceptions need not be exclusive. The first regards the
+final effect as the goal and all else as a preparation, the other
+regards the preparation, the facts already accomplished by Christ and
+the inner transformation of men as the main thing, and all else as the
+natural and necessary result. Paul, above all, as may be seen especially
+from the arguments in the epistle to the Romans, unquestionably favoured
+the latter conception and gave it vigorous expression. The peculiar
+conflicts with which he saw himself confronted, and, above all, the
+great controversy about the relation of the Gospel and the new
+communities to Judaism, necessarily concentrated the attention on
+questions as to the arrangements on which the community of those
+sanctified in Christ should rest, and the conditions of admission to
+this community. But the centre of gravity of Christian faith might also
+for the moment be removed from the hope of Christ's second advent, and
+would then necessarily be found in the first advent, in virtue of which
+salvation was already prepared for man, and man for salvation (Rom.
+III.-VIII.). The dual development of the conception of Christianity
+which followed from this, rules the whole history of the Gospel to the
+present day. The eschatological view is certainly very severely
+repressed, but it always breaks out here and there, and still guards the
+spiritual from the secularisation which threatens it. But the
+possibility of uniting the two conceptions in complete harmony with each
+other, and on the other hand, of expressing them antithetically, has
+been the very circumstance that has complicated in an extraordinary
+degree the progress of the development of the history of dogma. From
+this follows the antithesis, that from that conception which somehow
+recognises salvation itself in a present spiritual possession, eternal
+life in the sense of immortality may be postulated as final result,
+though not a glorious kingdom of Christ on earth; while, conversely, the
+eschatological view must logically depreciate every blessing which can
+be possessed in the present life.
+
+It is now evident that the theology, and, further, the Hellenising, of
+Christianity, could arise and has arisen in connection, not with the
+eschatological, but only with the other conception. Just because the
+matters here in question were present spiritual blessings, and because,
+from the nature of the case, the ideas of forgiveness of sin,
+righteousness, knowledge, etc., were not so definitely outlined in the
+early tradition, as the hopes of the future, conceptions entirely new
+and very different, could, as it were, be secretly naturalised. The
+spiritual view left room especially for the great contrast of a
+religious and a moralistic conception, as well as for a frame of mind
+which was like the eschatological in so far as, according to it, faith
+and knowledge were to be only preparatory blessings in contrast with the
+peculiar blessing of immortality, which of course was contained in them.
+In this frame of mind the illusion might easily arise that this hope of
+immortality was the very kernel of those hopes of the future for which
+old concrete forms of expression were only a temporary shell. But it
+might further be assumed that contempt for the transitory and finite as
+such, was identical with contempt for the kingdom of the world which the
+returning Christ would destroy.
+
+The history of dogma has to shew how the old eschatological view was
+gradually repressed and transformed in the Gentile Christian
+communities, and how there was finally developed and carried out a
+spiritual conception in which a strict moralism counterbalanced a
+luxurious mysticism, and wherein the results of Greek practical
+philosophy could find a place. But we must here refer to the fact, which
+is already taught by the development in the Apostolic age, that
+Christian dogmatic did not spring from the eschatological, but from the
+spiritual mode of thought. The former had nothing but sure hopes and the
+guarantee of these hopes by the Spirit, by the words of prophecy and by
+the apocalyptic writings. One does not think, he lives and dreams, in
+the eschatological mode of thought; and such a life was vigorous and
+powerful till beyond the middle of the second century. There can be no
+external authorities here; for one has at every moment the highest
+authority in living operation in the Spirit. On the other hand, not only
+does the ecclesiastical christology essentially spring from the
+spiritual way of thinking, but very specially also the system of
+dogmatic guarantees. The co-ordination of [Greek: logos theou, didache
+kuriou, kerygma ton dodeka apostolon] [word of God, teaching of the
+Lord, preaching of the twelve Apostles], which lay at the basis of all
+Gentile Christian speculation almost from the very beginning, and which
+was soon directed against the enthusiasts, originated in a conception
+which regarded as the essential thing in Christianity, the sure
+knowledge which is the condition of immortality. If, however, in the
+following sections of this historical presentation, the pervading and
+continuous opposition of the two conceptions is not everywhere clearly
+and definitely brought into prominence, that is due to the conviction
+that the historian has no right to place the factors and impelling ideas
+of a development in a clearer light than they appear in the development
+itself. He must respect the obscurities and complications as they come
+in his way. A clear discernment of the difference of the two conceptions
+was very seldom attained to in ecclesiastical antiquity, because they
+did not look beyond their points of contact, and because certain
+articles of the eschatological conception could never be suppressed or
+remodelled in the Church. Goethe (Dichtung und Wahrheit, II. 8,) has
+seen this very clearly. "The Christian religion wavers between its own
+historic positive element and a pure Deism, which, based on morality, in
+its turn offers itself as the foundation of morality. The difference of
+character and mode of thought shew themselves here in infinite
+gradations, especially as another main distinction cooperates with them,
+since the question arises, what share the reason, and what the feelings,
+can and should have in such convictions." See, also, what immediately
+follows.
+
+2. The origin of a series of the most important Christian customs and
+ideas is involved in an obscurity which in all probability will never be
+cleared up. Though one part of those ideas may be pointed out in the
+epistles of Paul, yet the question must frequently remain unanswered,
+whether he found them in existence or formed them independently, and
+accordingly the other question, whether they are exclusively indebted to
+the activity of Paul for their spread and naturalisation in Christendom.
+What was the original conception of baptism? Did Paul develop
+independently his own conception? What significance had it in the
+following period? When and where did baptism in the name of the Father,
+Son and Holy Spirit arise, and how did it make its way in Christendom?
+In what way were views about the saving value of Christ's death
+developed alongside of Paul's system? When and how did belief in the
+birth of Jesus from a Virgin gain acceptance in Christendom? Who first
+distinguished Christendom, as [Greek: ekklesia tou theou], from Judaism,
+and how did the concept [Greek: ekklesia] become current? How old is the
+triad: Apostles, Prophets and Teachers? When were Baptism and the Lord's
+Supper grouped together? How old are our first three Gospels? To all
+these questions and many more of equal importance there is no sure
+answer. But the greatest problem is presented by Christology, not indeed
+in its particular features doctrinally expressed, these almost
+everywhere may be explained historically, but in its deepest roots as it
+was preached by Paul as the principle of a new life (2 Cor. V. 17), and
+as it was to many besides him the expression of a personal union with
+the exalted Christ (Rev. II. 3). But this problem exists only for the
+historian who considers things only from the outside, or seeks for
+objective proofs. Behind and in the Gospel stands the Person of Jesus
+Christ who mastered men's hearts, and constrained them to yield
+themselves to him as his own, and in whom they found their God. Theology
+attempted to describe in very uncertain and feeble outline what the mind
+and heart had grasped. Yet it testifies of a new life which, like all
+higher life, was kindled by a Person, and could only be maintained by
+connection with that Person. "I can do all things through Christ who
+strengtheneth me." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." These
+convictions are not dogmas and have no history, and they can only be
+propagated in the manner described by Paul, Gal. I. 15, 16.
+
+3. It was of the utmost importance for the legitimising of the later
+development of Christianity as a system of doctrine, that early
+Christianity had an Apostle who was a theologian, and that his Epistles
+were received into the canon. That the doctrine about Christ has become
+the main article in Christianity is not of course the result of Paul's
+preaching, but is based on the confession that Jesus is the Christ. The
+theology of Paul was not even the most prominent ruling factor in the
+transformation of the Gospel to the Catholic doctrine of faith, although
+an earnest study of the Pauline Epistles by the earliest Gentile
+Christian theologians, the Gnostics, and their later opponents, is
+unmistakable. But the decisive importance of this theology lies in the
+fact that, as a rule, it formed the boundary and the foundation--just as
+the words of the Lord himself--for those who in the following period
+endeavoured to ascertain original Christianity, because the Epistles
+attesting it stood in the canon of the New Testament. Now, as this
+theology comprised both speculative and apologetic elements, as it can
+be thought of as a system, as it contained a theory of history and a
+definite conception of the Old Testament, finally, as it was composed of
+objective and subjective ethical considerations and included the
+realistic elements of a national religion (wrath of God, sacrifice,
+reconciliation, Kingdom of glory), as well as profound psychological
+perceptions and the highest appreciation of spiritual blessings, the
+Catholic doctrine of faith as it was formed in the course of time,
+seemed, at least in its leading features, to be related to it, nay,
+demanded by it. For the ascertaining of the deep-lying distinctions,
+above all for the perception that the question in the two cases is about
+elements quite differently conditioned, that even the method is
+different, in short, that the Pauline Gospel is not identical with the
+original Gospel and much less with any later doctrine of faith, there is
+required such historical judgment and such honesty of purpose not to be
+led astray in the investigation by the canon of the New Testament,[136]
+that no change in the prevailing ideas can be hoped for for long years
+to come. Besides, critical theology has made it difficult, to gain an
+insight into the great difference that lies between the Pauline and the
+Catholic theology, by the one-sided prominence it has hitherto given to
+the antagonism between Paulinism and Judaistic Christianity. In contrast
+with this view the remark of Havet, though also very one-sided, is
+instructive, "Quand on vient de relire Paul, on ne peut meconnaitre le
+caractere eleve de son oeuvre. Je dirai en un mot, qu'il a agrandi dans
+une proportion extraordinaire l'attrait que le judaisme exercait sur le
+monde ancien" (Le Christianisme, T. IV. p. 216). That, however, was only
+very gradually the case and within narrow limits. The deepest and most
+important writings of the New Testament are incontestably those in which
+Judaism is understood as religion, but spiritually overcome and
+subordinated to the Gospel as a new religion,--the Pauline Epistles, the
+Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Gospel and Epistle of John. There is set
+forth in these writings a new and exalted world of religious feelings,
+views and judgments, into which the Christians of succeeding centuries
+got only meagre glimpses. Strictly speaking, the opinion that the New
+Testament in its whole extent comprehends a unique literature is not
+tenable; but it is correct to say that between its most important
+constituent parts, and the literature of the period immediately
+following there is a great gulf fixed.
+
+But Paulinism especially has had an immeasurable and blessed influence
+on the whole course of the history of dogma, an influence it could not
+have had, if the Pauline Epistles had not been received into the canon.
+Paulinism is a religious and Christocentric doctrine, more inward and
+more powerful than any other which has ever appeared in the Church. It
+stands in the clearest opposition to all merely natural moralism, all
+righteousness of works, all religious ceremonialism, all Christianity
+without Christ. It has therefore become the conscience of the Church,
+until the Catholic Church in Jansenism killed this her conscience. "The
+Pauline reactions describe the critical epochs of theology and the
+Church."[137] One might write a history of dogma as a history of the
+Pauline reactions in the Church, and in doing so would touch on all the
+turning points of the history. Marcion after the Apostolic Fathers;
+Irenaeus, Clement and Origen after the Apologists; Augustine after the
+Fathers of the Greek Church;[138] the great Reformers of the middle ages
+from Agobard to Wessel in the bosom of the mediaeval Church; Luther after
+the Scholastics; Jansenism after the council of Trent:--Everywhere it
+has been Paul, in these men, who produced the Reformation. Paulinism has
+proved to be a ferment in the history of dogma, a basis it has never
+been.[139] Just as it had that significance in Paul himself, with
+reference to Jewish Christianity, so it has continued to work through
+the history of the Church.
+
+
+[Footnote 46: The Old Testament of itself alone could not have convinced
+the Graeco-Roman world. But the converse question might perhaps be raised
+as to what results the Gospel would have had in that world without its
+union with the Old Testament. The Gnostic Schools and the Marcionite
+Church are to some extent the answer. But would they ever have arisen
+without the presupposition of a Christian community which recognised the
+Old Testament?]
+
+[Footnote 47: We here leave out of account learned attempts to expound
+Paulinism. Nor do we take any notice of certain truths regarding the
+relation of the Old Testament to the New, and regarding the Jewish
+religion, stated by the Antignostic church teachers, truths which are
+certainly very important, but have not been sufficiently utilised.]
+
+[Footnote 48: There is indeed no single writing of the new Testament
+which does not betray the influence of the mode of thought and general
+conditions of the culture of the time which resulted from the
+Hellenising of the east: even the use of the Greek translation of the
+Old Testament attests this fact. Nay, we may go further, and say that
+the Gospel itself is historically unintelligible, so long as we compare
+it with an exclusive Judaism as yet unaffected by any foreign influence.
+But on the other hand, it is just as clear that, specifically, Hellenic
+ideas form the presuppositions neither for the Gospel itself, nor for
+the most important New Testament writings. It is a question rather as to
+a general spiritual atmosphere created by Hellenism, which above all
+strengthened the individual element, and with it the idea of completed
+personality, in itself living and responsible. On this foundation we
+meet with a religious mode of thought in the Gospel and the early
+Christian writings, which so far as it is at all dependent on an earlier
+mode of thought, is determined by the spirit of the Old Testament
+(Psalms and Prophets) and of Judaism. But it is already otherwise with
+the earliest Gentile Christian writings. The mode of thought here is so
+thoroughly determined by the Hellenic spirit that we seem to have
+entered a new world when we pass from the synoptists, Paul and John, to
+Clement, Barnabas, Justin or Valentinus. We may therefore say,
+especially in the frame-work of the history of dogma, that the Hellenic
+element has exercised an influence on the Gospel first on Gentile
+Christian soil, and by those who were Greek by birth, if only we reserve
+the general spiritual atmosphere above referred to. Even Paul is no
+exception; for in spite of the well-founded statements of Weizsaecker
+(Apostolic Age, vol. I. Book 11) and Heinrici (Das 2 Sendschreiben an
+die Korinthier, 1887, p. 578 ff), as to the Hellenism of Paul, it is
+certain that the Apostle's mode of religious thought, in the strict
+sense of the word, and therefore also the doctrinal formation peculiar
+to him, are but little determined by the Greek spirit. But it is to be
+specially noted that as a missionary and an Apologist he made use of
+Greek ideas (Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians). He was not afraid
+to put the Gospel into Greek modes of thought. To this extent we can
+already observe in him the beginning of the development which we can
+trace so clearly in the Gentile Church from Clement to Justin, and from
+Justin to Irenaeus.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The complete universalism of salvation is given in the
+Pauline conception of Christianity. But this conception is singular.
+Because: (1) the Pauline universalism is based on a criticism of the
+Jewish religion as religion, including the Old Testament, which was not
+understood and therefore not received by Christendom in general. (2)
+Because Paul not only formulated no national anti-Judaism, but always
+recognised the prerogative of the people of Israel as a people. (3)
+Because his idea of the Gospel, with all his Greek culture, is
+independent of Hellenism in its deepest grounds. This peculiarity of the
+Pauline Gospel is the reason why little more could pass from it into the
+common consciousness of Christendom than the universalism of salvation,
+and why the later development of the Church cannot be explained from
+Paulinism. Baur, therefore, was quite right when he recognised that we
+must exhibit another and more powerful element in order to comprehend
+the post-Pauline formations. In the selection of this element, however,
+he has made a fundamental mistake, by introducing the narrow national
+Jewish Christianity, and he has also given much too great scope to
+Paulinism by wrongly conceiving it as Gentile Christian doctrine. One
+great difficulty for the historian of the early Church is that he cannot
+start from Paulinism, the plainest phenomenon of the Apostolic age, in
+seeking to explain the following development, that in fact the premises
+for this development are not at all capable of being indicated in the
+form of outlines, just because they were too general. But, on the other
+hand, the Pauline Theology, this theology of one who had been a
+Pharisee, is the strongest proof of the independent and universal power
+of the impression made by the Person of Jesus.]
+
+[Footnote 50: In the main writings of the New Testament itself we have a
+twofold conception of the Spirit. According to the one he comes upon the
+believer fitfully, expresses himself in visible signs, deprives men of
+self-consciousness, and puts them beside themselves. According to the
+other, the spirit is a constant possession of the Christian, operates in
+him by enlightening the conscience and strengthening the character, and
+his fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, etc. (Gal. V.
+22). Paul above all taught Christians to value these fruits of the
+spirit higher than all the other effects of his working. But he has not
+by any means produced a perfectly clear view on this point: for "he
+himself spoke with more tongues than they all." As yet "Spirit" lay
+within "Spirit." One felt in the spirit of sonship a completely new gift
+coming from God and recreating life, a miracle of God; further, this
+spirit also produced sudden exclamations--"Abba, Father;" and thus
+shewed himself in a way patent to the senses. For that very reason, the
+spirit of ecstasy and of miracle appeared identical with the spirit of
+sonship. (See Gunkel, Die Wirkungen d. h. Geistes nach der populaeren
+Anschauung der Apostol. Zeit. Goettingen, 1888).]
+
+[Footnote 51: It may even be said here that the [Greek: athanasia (zoe
+aionios)], on the one hand, and the [Greek: ekklesia], on the other,
+have already appeared in place of the [Greek: Basileia tou theou], and
+that the idea of Messiah has been finally replaced by that of the Divine
+Teacher and of God manifest in the flesh.]
+
+[Footnote 52: It is one of the merits of Bruno Bauer (Christus und die
+Caesaren, 1877), that he has appreciated the real significance of the
+Greek element in the Gentile Christianity which became the Catholic
+Church and doctrine, and that he has appreciated the influence of the
+Judaism of the Diaspora as a preparation for this Gentile Christianity.
+But these valuable contributions have unfortunately been deprived of
+their convincing power by a baseless criticism of the early Christian
+literature, to which Christ and Paul have fallen a sacrifice. Somewhat
+more cautious are the investigations of Havet in the fourth volume of Le
+Christianisme, 1884; Le Nouveau Testament. He has won great merit by the
+correct interpretation of the elements of Gentile Christianity
+developing themselves to catholicism, but his literary criticism is
+often unfortunately entirely abstract, reminding one of the criticism of
+Voltaire, and therefore his statements in detail are, as a rule,
+arbitrary and untenable. There is a school in Holland at the present
+time closely related to Bruno Bauer and Havet, which attempts to banish
+early Christianity from the world. Christ and Paul are creations of the
+second century: the history of Christianity begins with the passage of
+the first century into the second--a peculiar phenomenon on the soil of
+Hellenised Judaism in quest of a Messiah. This Judaism created Jesus
+Christ just as the later Greek religious philosophers created their
+Saviour (Apollonius, for example). The Marcionite Church produced Paul
+and the growing Catholic Church completed him. See the numerous
+treatises of Loman, the Verisimilia of Pierson and Naber (1886), and the
+anonymous English work "Antiqua Mater" (1887), also the works of Steck
+(see especially his Untersuchung ueber den Galaterbrief). Against these
+works see P.V. Schmidt's, "Der Galaterbrief," 1892. It requires a deep
+knowledge of the problems which the first two centuries of the Christian
+Church present, in order not to thrust aside as simply absurd these
+attempts, which as yet have failed to deal with the subject in a
+connected way. They have their strength in the difficulties and riddles
+which are contained in the history of the formation of the Catholic
+tradition in the second century. But the single circumstance that we are
+asked to regard as a forgery such a document as the first Epistle of
+Paul to the Corinthians, appears to me, of itself, to be an unanswerable
+argument against the new hypotheses.]
+
+[Footnote 53: It would be a fruitful task, though as yet it has not been
+undertaken, to examine how long visions, dreams and apocalypses, on the
+one hand, and the claim of speaking in the power and name of the Holy
+Spirit, on the other, played a _role_ in the early Church; and further
+to shew how they nearly died out among the laity, but continued to live
+among the clergy and the monks, and how, even among the laity, there
+were again and again sporadic outbreaks of them. The material which the
+first three centuries present is very great. Only a few may be mentioned
+here: Ignat. ad. Rom. VII. 2; ad. Philad. VII; ad Eph. XX. 1, etc.; 1
+Clem. LXIII. 2; Martyr. Polyc.; Acta Perpet. et Felic; Tertull de animo
+XLVII.; "Major paene vis hominum e visionibus deum discunt." Orig. c.
+Celsum. i. 46: [Greek: polloi hosperei akontes proseleluthasi
+christianismo, pneumatos tinos trepsantos ... kai phantasiosantos autous
+hupar e onar] (even Arnobius was ostensibly led to Christianity by a
+dream). Cyprian makes the most extensive use of dreams, visions, etc.,
+in his letters, see for example Ep. XI. 3-5; XVI. 4 ("praeter nocturnas
+visiones per dies quoque impletur apud nos spiritu sancto puerorum
+innocens aetas, quae in ecstasi videt," etc.); XXXIX. 1; LXVI 10 (very
+interesting: "quamquam sciam somnia ridicula et visiones ineptas
+quibusdam videri, sed utique illis, qui malunt contra sacerdotes credere
+quam sacerdoti, sed nihil mirum, quando de Joseph fratres sui dixerunt:
+ecce somniator ille," etc.). One who took part in the baptismal
+controversy in the great Synod of Carthage writes, "secundum motum animi
+mei et spiritus sancti." The enthusiastic element was always evoked with
+special power in times of persecution, as the genuine African
+martyrdoms, from the second half of the third century, specially shew.
+Cf. especially the passio Jacobi, Mariani, etc. But where the enthusiasm
+was not convenient it was called, as in the case of the Montanists,
+daemonic. Even Constantine operated with dreams and visions of Christ
+(see his Vita).]
+
+[Footnote 54: As to the first, the recently discovered "Teaching of the
+Apostles" in its first moral part, shews a great affinity with the moral
+philosophy which was set up by Alexandrian Jews and put before the Greek
+world as that which had been revealed: see Massebieau, L'enseignement
+des XII. Apotres, Paris, 1884, and in the Journal "Le Temoignage," 7
+Febr. 1885. Usener, in his Preface to the Ges. Abhandl. Jacob Bernays',
+which he edited, 1885, p.v.f., has, independently of Massebieau, pointed
+out the relationship of chapters 1-5 of the "Teaching of the Apostles"
+with the Phocylidean poem (see Bernays' above work, p. 192 ff.). Later
+Taylor, "The teaching of the twelve Apostles", 1886, threw out the
+conjecture that the Didache had a Jewish foundation, and I reached the
+same conclusion independently of him: see my Treatise: Die Apostellehre
+und die judischen beiden Wege, 1886.]
+
+[Footnote 55: It is well known that Judaism at the time of Christ
+embraced a great many different tendencies. Beside Pharisaic Judaism as
+the stem proper there was a motley mass of formations which resulted
+from the contact of Judaism with foreign ideas, customs, and
+institutions (even with Babylonian and Persian), and which attained
+importance for the development of the predominant church as well as for
+the formation of the so-called gnostic Christian communions. Hellenic
+elements found their way even into Pharisaic theology. Orthodox Judaism
+itself has marks which shew that no spiritual movement was able to
+escape the influence which proceeded from the victory of the Greeks over
+the east. Besides who would venture to exhibit definitely the origin and
+causes of that spiritualising of religions and that limitation of the
+moral standard of which we can find so many traces in the Alexandrian
+age? The nations who inhabited the eastern shore of the Mediterranean
+sea had from the fourth century B.C. a common history and therefore had
+similar convictions. Who can decide what each of them acquired by its
+own exertions and what it obtained through interchange of opinions? But
+in proportion as we see this we must be on our guard against jumbling
+the phenomena together and effacing them. There is little meaning in
+calling a thing Hellenic, as that really formed an element in all the
+phenomena of the age. All our great political and ecclesiastical parties
+to-day are dependent on the ideas of 1789 and again on romantic ideas.
+It is just as easy to verify this as it is difficult to determine the
+measure and the manner of the influence for each group. And yet the
+understanding of it turns altogether on this point. To call Pharisaism
+or the Gospel or the old Jewish Christianity Hellenic is not paradox but
+confusion.]
+
+[Footnote 56: The Acts of the Apostles is in this respect a most
+instructive book. It as well as the Gospel of Luke is a document of
+Gentile Christianity developing itself to Catholicism; Cf. Overbeck in
+his Commentar z Apostelgesch. But the comprehensive judgment of Havet in
+the work above mentioned (IV. p. 395) is correct: "L hellenisme tient
+assez peu de place dans le N.T. du moins l hellenisme voulu et reflechi.
+Ces livres sont ecrits en grec et leurs auteurs vivaient en pays grec,
+il y a donc eu chez eux infiltration des idees et des sentiments
+helleniques, quelquefois meme l imagination hellenique y a penetre comme
+dans le 3 evangile et dans les Actes. Dans son ensemble le N.T. garde le
+caractere d un livre hebraique. Le christianisme ne commence avoir une
+litterature et des doctrines vraiment helleniques qu au milieu du second
+siecle. Mais il y avait un judaisme celui d Alexandrie qui avait faite
+alliance avec l hellenisme avant meme qu il y eut des chretiens."]
+
+[Footnote 57: The right of distinguishing (b) and (c) may be contested.
+But if we surrender this we therewith surrender the right to distinguish
+kernel and husk in the original proclamation of the Gospel. The dangers
+to which the attempt is exposed should not frighten us from it for it
+has its justification in the fact that the Gospel is neither doctrine
+nor law.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Therewith are, doubtless, heavenly blessings bestowed in
+the present. Historical investigation has, notwithstanding, every reason
+for closely examining whether, and in how far, we may speak of a present
+for the Kingdom of God, in the sense of Jesus. But even if the question
+had to be answered in the negative, it would make little or no
+difference for the correct understanding of Jesus' preaching. The Gospel
+viewed in its kernel is independent of this question. It deals with the
+inner constitution and mood of the soul.]
+
+[Footnote 59: The question whether, and in what degree, a man of himself
+can earn righteousness before God is one of those theoretic questions to
+which Jesus gave no answer. He fixed his attention on all the gradations
+of the moral and religious conduct of his countrymen as they were
+immediately presented to him, and found some prepared for entrance into
+the kingdom of God, not by a technical mode of outward preparation, but
+by hungering and thirsting for it, and at the same time unselfishly
+serving their brethren. Humility and love unfeigned were always the
+decisive marks of these prepared ones. They are to be satisfied with
+righteousness before God, that is, are to receive the blessed feeling
+that God is gracious to them as sinners, and accepts them as his
+children. Jesus, however, allows the popular distinction of sinners and
+righteous to remain, but exhibits its perverseness by calling sinners to
+him and by describing the opposition of the righteous to his Gospel as a
+mark of their godlessness and hardness of heart.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The blessings of the kingdom were frequently represented
+by Jesus as a reward for work done. But this popular view is again
+broken through by reference to the fact that all reward is the gift of
+God's free grace.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Some Critics--most recently Havet, Le Christianisme et ses
+origines, 1884. T. IV. p. 15 ff.--have called in question the fact that
+Jesus called himself Messiah. But this article of the Evangelic
+tradition seems to me to stand the test of the most minute
+investigation. But, in the case of Jesus, the consciousness of being the
+Messiah undoubtedly rested on the certainty of being the Son of God,
+therefore of knowing the Father and being constrained to proclaim that
+knowledge.]
+
+[Footnote 62: We can gather with certainty from the Gospels that Jesus
+did not enter on his work with the announcement: Believe in me for I am
+the Messiah. On the contrary, he connected his work with the baptising
+movement of John, but carried that movement further, and thereby made
+the Baptist his forerunner (Mark I. 15: [Greek: peplerotai ho kairos kai
+engiken he basileia tou theou, metanoeite kai pisteuete en toi
+euaggelioi]). He was in no hurry to urge anything that went beyond that
+message, but gradually prepared, and cautiously required of his
+followers an advance beyond it. The goal to which he led them was to
+believe in him as Messiah without putting the usual political
+construction on the Messianic ideal.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Even "Son of Man" probably means Messiah: we do not know
+whether Jesus had any special reason for favouring this designation
+which springs from Dan. VII. The objection to interpreting the word as
+Messiah really resolves itself into this, that the disciples (according
+to the Gospels) did not at once recognise him as Messiah. But that is
+explained by the contrast of his own peculiar idea of Messiah with the
+popular idea. The confession of him as Messiah was the keystone of their
+confidence in him, inasmuch as by that confession they separated
+themselves from old ideas.]
+
+[Footnote 64: The distinction between the Father and the Son stands out
+just as plainly in the sayings of Jesus, as the complete obedient
+subordination of the Son to the Father. Even according to John's Gospel,
+Jesus finishes the work which the Father has given him, and is obedient
+in everything even unto death. He declares Matt. XIX. 17: [Greek: heis
+estin ho agathos]. Special notice should be given to Mark XIII. 32,
+(Matt. XXIV. 36). Behind the only manifested life of Jesus, later
+speculation has put a life in which he wrought, not in subordination and
+obedience, but in like independence and dignity with God. That goes
+beyond the utterances of Jesus even in the fourth Gospel. But it is no
+advance beyond these, especially in the religious view and speech of the
+time, when it is announced that the relation of the Father to the Son
+lies beyond time. It is not even improbable that the sayings in the
+fourth Gospel referring to this, have a basis in the preaching of Jesus
+himself.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Paul knew that the designation of God as the Father of our
+Lord Jesus Christ, was the new Evangelic confession. Origen was the
+first among the Fathers (though before him Marcion) to recognise that
+the decisive advance beyond the Old Testament stage of religion, was
+given in the preaching of God as Father; see the exposition of the
+Lord's prayer in his treatise _De oratione_. No doubt the Old Testament,
+and the later Judaism knew the designation of God as Father; but it
+applied it to the Jewish nation, it did not attach the evangelic meaning
+to the name, and it did not allow itself in any way to be guided in its
+religion by this idea.]
+
+[Footnote 66: See the farewell discourses in John, the fundamental ideas
+of which are, in my opinion, genuine, that is, proceed from Jesus.]
+
+[Footnote 67: The historian cannot regard a miracle as a sure given
+historical event: for in doing so he destroys the mode of consideration
+on which all historical investigation rests. Every individual miracle
+remains historically quite doubtful, and a summation of things doubtful
+never leads to certainty. But should the historian, notwithstanding, be
+convinced that Jesus Christ did extraordinary things, in the strict
+sense miraculous things, then, from the unique impression he has
+obtained of this person, he infers the possession by him of supernatural
+power. This conclusion itself belongs to the province of religious
+faith: though there has seldom been a strong faith which would not have
+drawn it. Moreover, the healing miracles of Jesus are the only ones that
+come into consideration in a strict historical examination. These
+certainly cannot be eliminated from the historical accounts without
+utterly destroying them. But how unfit are they of themselves, after
+1800 years, to secure any special importance to him to whom they are
+attributed, unless that importance was already established apart from
+them. That he could do with himself what he would, that he created a new
+thing without overturning the old, that he won men to himself by
+announcing the Father, that he inspired without fanaticism, set up a
+kingdom without politics, set men free from the world without
+asceticism, was a teacher without theology, at a time of fanaticism and
+politics, asceticism and theology, is the great miracle of his person,
+and that he who preached the Sermon on the Mount declared himself in
+respect of his life and death, to be the Redeemer and Judge of the
+world, is the offence and foolishness which mock all reason.]
+
+[Footnote 68: See Mark X. 45.--That Jesus at the celebration of the
+first Lord's supper described his death as a sacrifice which he should
+offer for the forgiveness of sin, is clear from the account of Paul.
+From that account it appears to be certain, that Jesus gave expression
+to the idea of the necessity and saving significance of his death for
+the forgiveness of sins, in a symbolical ordinance (based on the
+conclusion of the covenant, Exod. XXIV. 3 ff., perhaps, as Paul
+presupposes, on the Passover), in order that His disciples by repeating
+it in accordance with the will of Jesus, might be the more deeply
+impressed by it. Certain observations based on John VI., on the supper
+prayer in the Didache, nay, even on the report of Mark, and supported at
+the same time by features of the earliest practice in which it had the
+character of a real meal, and the earliest theory of the supper, which
+viewed it as a communication of eternal life and an anticipation of the
+future existence, have for years made me doubt very much whether the
+Pauline account and the Pauline conception of it, were really either the
+oldest, or the universal and therefore only one. I have been
+strengthened in this suspicion by the profound and remarkable
+investigation of Spitta (z. Gesch. u. Litt. d. Urchristenthums: Die
+urchristl. Traditionen ue. den Urspr. u. Sinnd. Abendmahls, 1893). He
+sees in the supper as not instituted, but celebrated by Jesus, the
+festival of the Messianic meal, the anticipated triumph over death, the
+expression of the perfection of the Messianic work, the symbolic
+representation of the filling of believers with the powers of the
+Messianic kingdom and life. The reference to the Passover and the death
+of Christ was attached to it later, though it is true very soon. How
+much is thereby explained that was hitherto obscure--critical,
+historical, and dogmatico-historical questions--cannot at all be stated
+briefly. And yet I hesitate to give a full recognition to Spitta's
+exposition: the words 1 Cor. XI. 23: [Greek: ego gar parelabon apo tou
+kuriou, ho kai paredoka humin k.t.l.] are too strong for me. Cf.
+besides, Weizsaecker's investigation in "The Apostolic Age." Lobstein, La
+doctrine de la s. cene. 1889. A. Harnack i.d. Texten u. Unters. VII. 2.
+p. 139 ff. Schuerer, Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1891, p. 29 ff. Juelicher Abhandl. f
+Weizsaecker, 1892, p. 215 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 69: With regard to the eschatology, no one can say in detail
+what proceeds from Jesus, and what from the disciples. What has been
+said in the text does not claim to be certain, but only probable. The
+most important, and at the same time the most certain point, is that
+Jesus made the definitive fate of the individual depend on faith,
+humility and love. There are no passages in the Gospel which conflict
+with the impression that Jesus reserved day and hour to God, and wrought
+in faith and patience as long as for him it was day.]
+
+[Footnote 70: He did not impose on every one, or desire from every one
+even the outward following of himself: see Mark V. 18-19. The "imitation
+of Jesus", in the strict sense of the word, did not play any noteworthy
+role either in the Apostolic or in the old Catholic period.]
+
+[Footnote 71: It is asserted by well-informed investigators, and may be
+inferred from the Gospels (Mark XII. 32-34; Luke X. 27, 28), perhaps
+also from the Jewish original of the Didache, that some representatives
+of Pharisaism, beside the pedantic treatment of the law, attempted to
+concentrate it on the fundamental moral commandments. Consequently, in
+Palestinian and Alexandrian Judaism at the time of Christ, in virtue of
+the prophetic word and the Thora, influenced also, perhaps, by the Greek
+spirit which everywhere gave the stimulus to inwardness, the path was
+indicated in which the future development of religion was to follow.
+Jesus entered fully into the view of the law thus attempted, which
+comprehended it as a whole and traced it back to the disposition. But he
+freed it from the contradiction that adhered to it, (because, in spite
+of and alongside the tendency to a deeper perception, men still
+persisted in deducing righteousness from a punctilious observance of
+numerous particular commandments, because in so doing they became
+self-satisfied, that is, irreligious, and because in belonging to
+Abraham they thought they had a claim of right on God). For all that, so
+far as a historical understanding of the activity of Jesus is at all
+possible, it is to be obtained from the soil of Pharisaism, as the
+Pharisees were those who cherished and developed the Messianic
+expectations, and because, along with their care for the Thora, they
+sought also to preserve, in their own way, the prophetic inheritance. If
+everything does not deceive us, there were already contained in the
+Pharisaic theology of the age, speculations which were fitted to modify
+considerably the narrow view of history, and to prepare for
+universalism. The very men who tithed mint, anise and cummin, who kept
+their cups and dishes outwardly clean, who, hedging round the Thora,
+attempted to hedge round the people, spoke also of the sum total of the
+law. They made room in their theology for new ideas which are partly to
+be described as advances, and on the other hand, they have already
+pondered the question even in relation to the law, whether submission to
+its main contents was not sufficient for being numbered among the people
+of the covenant (see Renan: _Paul_). In particular the whole sacrificial
+system, which Jesus also essentially ignored, was therewith thrust into
+the background. Baldensperger (Selbstbewusstsein Jesu. p. 46) justly
+says. "There lie before us definite marks that the certainty of the
+nearness of God in the Temple (from the time of the Maccabees) begins to
+waver, and the efficacy of the temple institutions to be called in
+question. Its recent desecration by the Romans, appears to the author of
+the Psalms of Solomon (II. 2) as a kind of Divine requital for the sons
+of Israel, themselves having been guilty of so grossly profaning the
+sacrificial gifts. Enoch calls the shewbread of the second Temple
+polluted and unclean. There had crept in among the pious a feeling of
+the insufficiency of their worship, and from this side the Essenic
+schism will certainly represent only the open outbreak of a disease
+which had already begun to gnaw secretly at the religious life of the
+nation": see here the excellent explanations of the origin of Essenism
+in Lucius (Essenism 75 ff. 109 ff.) The spread of Judaism in the world,
+the secularization and apostacy of the priestly caste, the desecration
+of the Temple, the building of the Temple at Leontopolis, the perception
+brought about by the spiritualising of religion in the empire of
+Alexander the Great, that no blood of beast can be a means of
+reconciling God--all these circumstances must have been absolutely
+dangerous and fatal, both to the local centralisation of worship, and to
+the statutory sacrificial system. The proclamation of Jesus (and of
+Stephen) as to the overthrow of the Temple, is therefore no absolutely
+new thing, nor is the fact that Judaism fell back upon the law and the
+Messianic hope, a mere result of the destruction of the Temple. This
+change was rather prepared by the inner development. Whatever point in
+the preaching of Jesus we may fix on, we shall find, that--apart from
+the writings of the Prophets and the Psalms, which originated in the
+Greek Maccabean periods--parallels can be found only in Pharisaism, but
+at the same time that the sharpest contrasts must issue from it.
+Talmudic Judaism is not in every respect the genuine continuance of
+Pharisaic Judaism, but a product of the decay which attests that the
+rejection of Jesus by the spiritual leaders of the people had deprived
+the nation, and even the Virtuosi of Religion of their best part (see
+for this the expositions of Kuenen "Judaismus und Christenthum", in his
+(Hibbert) lectures on national religions and world religions). The ever
+recurring attempts to deduce the origin of Christianity from Hellenism,
+or even from the Roman Greek culture, are there also rightly, briefly
+and tersely rejected. Also the hypotheses, which either entirely
+eliminate the person of Jesus or make him an Essene, or subordinate him
+to the person of Paul, may be regarded as definitively settled. Those
+who think they can ascertain the origin of Christian religion from the
+origin of Christian Theology will, indeed, always think of Hellenism:
+Paul will eclipse the person of Jesus with those who believe that a
+religion for the world must be born with a universalistic doctrine.
+Finally, Essenism will continue in authority with those who see in the
+position of indifference which Jesus took to the Temple worship, the
+main thing, and who, besides, create for themselves an "Essenism of
+their own finding." Hellenism, and also Essenism, can of course indicate
+to the historian some of the conditions by which the appearance of Jesus
+was prepared and rendered possible; but they explain only the
+possibility, not the reality of the appearance. But this with its
+historically not deducible power is the decisive thing. If some one has
+recently said that "the historical speciality of the person of Jesus" is
+not the main thing in Christianity, he has thereby betrayed that he does
+not know how a religion that is worthy of the name is founded,
+propagated, and maintained. For the latest attempt to put the Gospel in
+a historical connection with Buddhism (Seydel, Das Ev von Jesus in
+seinen Verhaeltnissen zur Buddha-Sage, 1882: likewise, Die Buddha-Legende
+und das Leben Jesu, 1884), see, Oldenburg, Theol. Lit-Z'g 1882. Col. 415
+f. 1884. 185 f. However much necessarily remains obscure to us in the
+ministry of Jesus when we seek to place it in a historical
+connection,--what is known is sufficient to confirm the judgment that
+his preaching developed a germ in the religion of Israel (see the
+Psalms) which was finally guarded and in many respects developed by the
+Pharisees, but which languished and died under their guardianship. The
+power of development which Jesus imported to it was not a power which he
+himself had to borrow from without; but doctrine and speculation were as
+far from him as ecstasy and visions. On the other hand, we must remember
+we do not know the history of Jesus up to his public entrance on his
+ministry, and that therefore we do not know whether in his native
+province he had any connection with Greeks.]
+
+[Footnote 72: See the brilliant investigations of Weizsaecker (Apost.
+Zeitalter. p. 36) as to the earliest significant names,
+self-designations, of the disciples. The twelve were in the first place
+"[Greek: mathetai]," (disciples and family-circle of Jesus, see also the
+significance of James and the brethren of Jesus), then witnesses of the
+resurrection and therefore Apostles; very soon there appeared beside
+them, even in Jerusalem, Prophets and Teachers.]
+
+[Footnote 73: The Christian preaching is very pregnantly described in
+Acts XXVIII. 31. as [Greek: kerussein ten Basileian tou Theou, kai
+didaskein ta peri tou Iesou Christou].]
+
+[Footnote 74: On the spirit of God (of Christ) see note, p. 50. The
+earliest Christians felt the influence of the spirit as one coming on
+them from without.]
+
+[Footnote 75: It cannot be directly proved that Jesus instituted
+baptism, for Matth. XXVIII. 19, is not a saying of the Lord. The reasons
+for this assertion are: (1) It is only a later stage of the tradition
+that represents the risen Christ as delivering speeches and giving
+commandments. Paul knows nothing of it. (2) The Trinitarian formula is
+foreign to the mouth of Jesus and has not the authority in the Apostolic
+age which it must have had if it had descended from Jesus himself. On
+the other hand, Paul knows of no other way of receiving the Gentiles
+into the Christian communities than by baptism, and it is highly
+probable that in the time of Paul all Jewish Christians were also
+baptised. We may perhaps assume that the practice of baptism was
+continued in consequence of Jesus' recognition of John the Baptist and
+his baptism, even after John himself had been removed. According to John
+IV. 2, Jesus himself baptised not, but his disciples under his
+superintendence. It is possible only with the help of tradition to trace
+back to Jesus a "Sacrament of Baptism," or an obligation to it _ex
+necessitate salutis_, though it is credible that tradition is correct
+here. Baptism in the Apostolic age was [Greek: eis aphesin hamartion],
+and indeed [Greek: eis to onoma christou] (1 Cor. I. 13; Acts XIX. 5).
+We cannot make out when the formula, [Greek: eis to onoma tou patros,
+kai tou huiou, kai tou hagiou pneumatos], emerged. The formula [Greek:
+eis to onoma] expresses that the person baptised is put into a relation
+of dependence on him into whose name he is baptised. Paul has given
+baptism a relation to the death of Christ, or justly inferred it from
+the [Greek: eis aphesin hamartion]. The descent of the spirit on the
+baptised very soon ceased to be regarded as the necessary and immediate
+result of baptism; yet Paul, and probably his contemporaries also,
+considered the grace of baptism and the communication of the spirit to
+be inseparably united. See Scholten. Die Taufformel. 1885. Holtzman, Die
+Taufe im N.T. Ztsch. f. wiss. Theol. 1879.]
+
+[Footnote 76: The designation of the Christian community as [Greek:
+ekklesia] originates perhaps with Paul, though that is by no means
+certain; see as to this "name of honour," Sohm, Kirchenrecht, Vol. I. p.
+16 ff. The words of the Lord, Matt. XVI. 18; XVIII. 17, belong to a
+later period. According to Gal. I. 22, [Greek: tais en christo] is added
+to the [Greek: tais ekklesiais tes Ioudaias]. The independence of every
+individual Christian in, and before God is strongly insisted on in the
+Epistles of Paul, and in the Epistle of Peter, and in the Christian
+portions of Revelations: [Greek: epoiesen hemas basileian, hiereis toi
+theo kai patri autou].]
+
+[Footnote 77: Jesus is regarded with adoring reverence as Messiah and
+Lord, that is, these are regarded as the names which his Father has
+given him. Christians are those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus
+Christ (1 Cor. I. 2): every creature must bow before him and confess him
+as Lord (Phil. II. 9): see Deissmann on the N.T. formula "in Christo
+Jesu."]
+
+[Footnote 78: The confession of Father, Son and Spirit is therefore the
+unfolding of the belief that Jesus is the Christ: but there was no
+intention of expressing by this confession the essential equality of the
+three persons, or even the similar relation of the Christian to them. On
+the contrary, the Father, in it, is regarded as the God and Father over
+all, the Son as revealer, redeemer and Lord, the Spirit as a possession,
+principle of the new supernatural life and of holiness. From the
+Epistles of Paul we perceive that the Formula Father, Son and Spirit
+could not yet have been customary, especially in Baptism. But it was
+approaching (2 Cor. XIII. 13).]
+
+[Footnote 79: The Christological utterances which are found in the New
+Testament writings, so far as they explain and paraphrase the confession
+of Jesus as the Christ and the Lord, may be almost entirely deduced from
+one or other of the four points mentioned in the text. But we must at
+the same time insist that these declarations were meant to be
+explanations of the confession that "Jesus is the Lord," which of course
+included the recognition that Jesus by the resurrection became a
+heavenly being (see Weizsaecker in above mentioned work, p. 110) The
+solemn protestation of Paul, 1 Cor. XII. 3 [Greek: dio gnorizo humin
+hoti oudeis en pneumati theou lalon legei ANATHEMA IESOUS, kai oudeis
+dunatai eipein KURIOS IESOUS ei me en pneumati hagio] (cf. Rom. X. 9),
+shews that he who acknowledged Jesus as the Lord, and accordingly
+believed in the resurrection of Jesus, was regarded as a full-born
+Christian. It undoubtedly excludes from the Apostolic age the
+independent authority of any christological dogma besides that
+confession and the worship of Christ connected with it. It is worth
+notice, however, that those early Christian men who recognised
+Christianity as the vanquishing of the Old Testament religion (Paul, the
+Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, John) all held that Christ was a
+being who had come down from heaven.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Compare in their fundamental features the common
+declarations about the saving value of the death of Christ in Paul, in
+the Johannine writings, in 1st Peter, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and
+in the Christian portions of the book of Revelation: [Greek: to agaponti
+hemas kai lusanti hemas ek ton hamartion en toi haimati autou, auto he
+doxa]: Compare the reference to Isaiah LIII. and the Passover lamb: the
+utterances about the "lamb" generally in the early writings: see
+Westcott, The Epistles of John, p. 34 f.: The idea of the blood of
+Christ in the New Testament.]
+
+[Footnote 81: This of course could not take place otherwise than by
+reflecting on its significance. But a dislocation was already completed
+as soon as it was isolated and separated from the whole of Jesus, or
+even from his future activity. Reflection on the meaning or the causes
+of particular facts might easily, in virtue of that isolation, issue in
+entirely new conceptions.]
+
+[Footnote 82: See the discriminating statements of Weizsaecker,
+"Apostolic Age", p. 1 f., especially as to the significance of Peter as
+first witness of the resurrection. Cf. 1 Cor. XV. 5 with Luke XXIV. 34:
+also the fragment of the "Gospel of Peter" which unfortunately breaks
+off at the point where one expects the appearance of the Lord to Peter.]
+
+[Footnote 83: It is often said that Christianity rests on the belief in
+the resurrection of Christ. This may be correct, if it is first declared
+who this Jesus Christ is, and what his life signifies. But when it
+appears as a naked report to which one must above all submit, and when
+in addition, as often happens, it is supplemented by the assertion that
+the resurrection of Christ is the most certain fact in the history of
+the world, one does not know whether he should marvel more at its
+thoughtlessness or its unbelief. We do not need to have faith in a fact,
+and that which requires religious belief, that is, trust in God, can
+never be a fact which would hold good apart from that belief. The
+historical question and the question of faith must therefore be clearly
+distinguished here. The following points are historically certain: (1)
+That none of Christ's opponents saw him after his death. (2) That the
+disciples were convinced that they had seen him soon after his death.
+(3) That the succession and number of those appearances can no longer be
+ascertained with certainty. (4) That the disciples and Paul were
+conscious of having seen Christ not in the crucified earthly body, but
+in heavenly glory--even the later incredible accounts of the appearances
+of Christ, which strongly emphasise the reality of the body, speak at
+the same time of such a body as can pass through closed doors, which
+certainly is not an earthly body. (5) That Paul does not compare the
+manifestation of Christ given to him with any of his later visions, but,
+on the other hand, describes it in the words (Gal. I. 15): [Greek: hote
+eudokesen ho theos apokalupsai ton huion autou en emoi], and yet puts it
+on a level with the appearances which the earlier Apostles had seen.
+But, as even the empty grave on the third day can by no means be
+regarded as a certain historical fact, because it appears united in the
+accounts with manifest legendary features, and further because it is
+directly excluded by the way in which Paul has portrayed the
+resurrection 1 Cor. XV. it follows: (1) That every conception which
+represents the resurrection of Christ as a simple reanimation of his
+mortal body, is far from the original conception, and (2) that the
+question generally as to whether Jesus has risen, can have no existence
+for any one who looks at it apart from the contents and worth of the
+Person of Jesus. For the mere fact that friends and adherents of Jesus
+were convinced that they had seen him, especially when they themselves
+explain that he appeared to them in heavenly glory, gives, to those who
+are in earnest about fixing historical facts not the least cause for the
+assumption that Jesus did not continue in the grave.
+
+History is therefore at first unable to bring any succour to faith here.
+However firm may have been the faith of the disciples in the appearances
+of Jesus in their midst, and it was firm, to believe in appearances
+which others have had is a frivolity which is always revenged by rising
+doubts. But history is still of service to faith; it limits its scope
+and therewith shews the province to which it belongs. The question which
+history leaves to faith is this: Was Jesus Christ swallowed up of death,
+or did he pass through suffering and the cross to glory, that is, to
+life, power and honour. The disciples would have been convinced of that
+in the sense in which Jesus meant them to understand it, though they had
+not seen him in glory (a consciousness of this is found in Luke XXIV. 26
+[Greek: ouchi tauta edei pathein ton christon kai eiselthein eis ten
+doxan autou], and Joh. XX. 29 [Greek: hoti eorakas me pepisteukas,
+makarioi hoi me idontes kai pisteusantas]) and we might probably add,
+that no appearances of the Lord could permanently have convinced them of
+his life, if they had not possessed in their hearts the impression of
+his Person. Faith in the eternal life of Christ and in our own eternal
+life is not the condition of becoming a disciple of Jesus, but is the
+final confession of discipleship. Faith has by no means to do with the
+knowledge of the form in which Jesus lives, but only with the conviction
+that he is the living Lord. The determination of the form was
+immediately dependent on the most varied general ideas of the future
+life, resurrection, restoration, and glorification of the body, which
+were current at the time. The idea of the rising again of the body of
+Jesus appeared comparatively early, because it was this hope which
+animated wide circles of pious people for their own future. Faith in
+Jesus, the living Lord, in spite of the death on the cross, cannot be
+generated by proofs of reason or authority, but only to-day in the same
+way as Paul has confessed of himself [Greek: hote eudokesen ho theos
+apokalupssai ton huion autou en emoi]. The conviction of having seen the
+Lord was no doubt of the greatest importance for the disciples and made
+them Evangelists, but what they saw cannot at first help us. It can only
+then obtain significance for us when we have gained that confidence in
+the Lord which Peter has expressed in Mark VIII. 29. The Christian even
+to-day confesses with Paul [Greek: ei en te zoe taute en christo
+elpikotes esmen monon, eleeisteroi panton anthropon esmen]. He believes
+in a future life for himself with God because he believes that Christ
+lives. That is the peculiarity and paradox of Christian faith. But these
+are not convictions that can be common and matter of course to a deep
+feeling and earnest thinking being standing amid nature and death, but
+can only be possessed by those who live with their whole hearts and
+minds in God, and even they need the prayer, I believe, help thou mine
+unbelief. To act as if faith in eternal life and in the living Christ
+was the simplest thing in the world, or a dogma to which one has just to
+submit, is irreligious. The whole question about the resurrection of
+Christ, its mode and its significance, has thereby been so thoroughly
+confused in later Christendom, that we are in the habit of considering
+eternal life as certain, even apart from Christ. That, at any rate, is
+not Christian. It is Christian to pray that God would give the Spirit to
+make us strong to overcome the feelings and the doubts of nature and
+create belief in an eternal life through the experience of dying to
+live. Where this faith obtained in this way exists, it has always been
+supported by the conviction that the Man lives who brought life and
+immortality to light. To hold fast this faith is the goal of life, for
+only what we consciously strive for is in this matter our own. What we
+think we possess is very soon lost.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Weizsaecker (Apostolic Age, p. 73) says very justly: "The
+rising of Judaism against believers put them on their own feet. They saw
+themselves for the first time persecuted in the name of the law, and
+therewith for the first time it must have become clear to them, that in
+reality the law was no longer the same to them as to the others. Their
+hope is the coming kingdom of heaven, in which it is not the law, but
+their Master from whom they expect salvation. Everything connected with
+salvation is in him. But we should not investigate the conditions of the
+faith of that early period, as though the question had been laid before
+the Apostles whether they could have part in the Kingdom of heaven
+without circumcision, or whether it could be obtained by faith in Jesus,
+with or without the observance of the law. Such questions had no
+existence for them either practically or as questions of the school. But
+though they were Jews, and the law which even their Master had not
+abolished, was for them a matter of course, that did not exclude a
+change of inner position towards it, through faith in their Master and
+hope of the Kingdom. There is an inner freedom which can grow up
+alongside of all the constraints of birth, custom, prejudice, and piety.
+But this only comes into consciousness, when a demand is made on it
+which wounds it, or when it is assailed on account of an inference drawn
+not by its own consciousness, but only by its opponents."]
+
+[Footnote 85: Only one of these four tendencies--the Pauline, with the
+Epistle to the Hebrews and the Johannine writings which are related to
+Paulinism--has seen in the Gospel the establishment of a new religion.
+The rest identified it with Judaism made perfect, or with the Old
+Testament religion rightly understood. But Paul, in connecting
+Christianity with the promise given to Abraham, passing thus beyond the
+law, that is, beyond the actual Old Testament religion, has not only
+given it a historical foundation, but also claimed for the Father of the
+Jewish nation a unique significance for Christianity. As to the
+tendencies named 1 and 2, see Book I. chap. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 86: It is clear from Gal. II. 11 ff. that Peter then and for
+long before occupied in principle the stand-point of Paul: see the
+judicious remarks of Weizsaecker in the book mentioned above, p. 75 f.]
+
+[Footnote 87: These four tendencies were represented in the Apostolic
+age by those who had been born and trained in Judaism, and they were
+collectively transplanted into Greek territory. But we cannot be sure
+that the third of the above tendencies found intelligent and independent
+representatives in this domain, as there is no certain evidence of it.
+Only one who had really been subject to it, and therefore understood it,
+could venture on a criticism of the Old Testament religion. Still, it
+may be noted that the majority of non-Jewish converts in the Apostolic
+age, had probably come to know the Old Testament beforehand--not always
+the Jewish religion, (see Havet, Le Christianisme, T. IV. p. 120: "Je ne
+sais s'il y est entre, du vivant de Paul, un seul paien: je veux dire un
+homme, qui ne connut pas deja, avant d'y entrer, le judaisme et la
+Bible"). These indications will shew how mistaken and misleading it is
+to express the different tendencies in the Apostolic age and the period
+closely following by the designations "Jewish Christianity-Gentile
+Christianity." Short watchwords are so little appropriate here that one
+might even with some justice reverse the usual conception, and maintain
+that what is usually understood by Gentile Christianity (criticism of
+the Old Testament religion) was possible only within Judaism, while that
+which is frequently called Jewish Christianity is rather a conception
+which must have readily suggested itself to born Gentiles superficially
+acquainted with the Old Testament.]
+
+[Footnote 88: The first edition of this volume could not appeal to
+Weizsaecker's work, Das Apostolische Zeitalter der Christlichen Kirche,
+1886, (second edition translated in this series). The author is now in
+the happy position of being able to refer the readers of his imperfect
+sketch to this excellent presentation, the strength of which lies in the
+delineation of Paulinism in its relation to the early Church, and to
+early Christian theology (p. 79-172). The truth of Weizsaecker's
+expositions of the inner relations (p. 85 f.), is but little affected by
+his assumptions concerning the outer relations, which I cannot
+everywhere regard as just. The work of Weizsaecker as a whole is, in my
+opinion, the most important work on Church history we have received
+since Ritschl's "Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche." (2 Aufl.
+1857.)]
+
+[Footnote 89: Kabisch, _Die Eschatologie des Paulus_, 1893, has shewn
+how strongly the eschatology of Paul was influenced by the later
+Pharisaic Judaism. He has also called attention to the close connection
+between Paul's doctrine of sin and the fall, and that of the Rabbis.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Some of the Church Fathers (see Socr. H. E. III. 16) have
+attributed to Paul an accurate knowledge of Greek literature and
+philosophy: but that cannot be proved. The references of Heinrici (2
+Kor.-Brief. p. 537-604) are worthy of our best thanks; but no certain
+judgment can be formed about the measure of the Apostles' Greek culture,
+so long as we do not know how great was the extent of spiritual ideas
+which were already precipitated in the speech of the time.]
+
+[Footnote 91: The epistle to the Hebrews and the first epistle of Peter,
+as well as the Pastoral epistles belong to the Pauline circle; they are
+of the greatest value because they shew that certain fundamental
+features of Pauline theology took effect afterwards in an original way,
+or received independent parallels, and because they prove that the
+cosmic Christology of Paul made the greatest impression and was
+continued. In Christology, the epistle to the Ephesians in particular,
+leads directly from Paul to the pneumatic Christology of the
+post-apostolic period. Its non-genuineness is by no means certain to
+me.]
+
+[Footnote 92: In the Ztschr. fuer Theol und Kirche, II. p. 189 ff. I have
+discussed the relation of the prologue of the fourth Gospel to the whole
+work and endeavoured to prove the following: "The prologue of the Gospel
+is not the key to its comprehension. It begins with a well-known great
+object, the Logos, re-adapts and transforms it--implicitly opposing
+false Christologies--in order to substitute for it Jesus Christ, the
+[Greek: monogenes theos], or in order to unveil it as this Jesus Christ.
+The idea of the Logos is allowed to fall from the moment that this takes
+place." The author continues to narrate of Jesus only with the view of
+establishing the belief that he is the Messiah, the son of God. This
+faith has for its main article the recognition that Jesus is descended
+from God and from heaven; but the author is far from endeavouring to
+work out this recognition from cosmological, philosophical
+considerations. According to the Evangelist, Jesus proves himself to be
+the Messiah, the Son of God, in virtue of his self-testimony, and
+because he has brought a full knowledge of God and of life--purely
+supernatural divine blessings (Cf. besides, and partly in opposition,
+Holtzmann, i.d. Ztschr. f. wissensch. Theol. 1893). The author's
+peculiar world of theological ideas, is not, however, so entirely
+isolated in the early Christian literature as appears on the first
+impression. If, as is probable, the Ignatian Epistles are independent of
+the Gospel of John, further, the Supper prayer in the Didache, finally,
+certain mystic theological phrases in the Epistle of Barnabas, in the
+second epistle of Clement, and in Hermas, a complex of Theologoumena may
+be put together, which reaches back to the primitive period of the
+Church, and may be conceived as the general ground for the theology of
+John. This complex has on its side a close connection with the final
+development of the Jewish Hagiographic literature under Greek
+influence.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The Jewish religion, especially since the (relative) close
+of the canon, had become more and more a religion of the Book.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Examples of both in the New Testament are numerous. See,
+above all, Matt. I. 11. Even the belief that Jesus was born of a Virgin
+sprang from Isaiah VII. 14. It cannot, however, be proved to be in the
+writings of Paul (the two genealogies in Matt. and Luke directly exclude
+it: according to Dillmann, Jahrb. f. protest. Theol. p. 192 ff. Luke I.
+34, 35 would be the addition of a redactor); but it must have arisen
+very early, as the Gentile Christians of the second century would seem
+to have unanimously confessed it (see the Romish Symbol, Ignatius,
+Aristides, Justin, etc.) For the rest, it was long before theologians
+recognised in the Virgin birth of Jesus more than fulfilment of a
+prophecy, viz., a fact of salvation. The conjecture of Usener, that the
+idea of the birth from a Virgin is a heathen myth which was received by
+the Christians, contradicts the entire earliest development of Christian
+tradition which is free from heathen myths, so far as these had not
+already been received by wide circles of Jews, (above all, certain
+Babylonian and Persian Myths), which in the case of that idea is not
+demonstrable. Besides, it is in point of method not permissible to stray
+so far when we have near at hand such a complete explanation as Isaiah
+VII. 14. Those who suppose that the reality of the Virgin birth must be
+held fast, must assume that a misunderstood prophecy has been here
+fulfilled (on the true meaning of the passage see Dillmann (Jesajas, 5
+Aufl. p. 69): "of the birth by a Virgin (i.e., of one who at the birth
+was still a Virgin.) the Hebrew text says nothing ... Immanuel as
+beginning and representative of the new generation, from which one
+should finally take possession of the king's throne"). The application
+of an unhistorical local method in the exposition of the Old
+Testament--Haggada and Rabbinic allegorism--may be found in many
+passages of Paul (see, e.g., Gal. III. 16, 19; IV. 22-31; 1 Cor. IX. 9;
+X. 4; XI. 10; Rom. IV. etc.).]
+
+[Footnote 95: The proof of this may be found in the quotations in early
+Christian writings from the Apocalypses of Enoch, Ezra, Eldad and Modad,
+the assumption of Moses and other Jewish Apocalypses unknown to us. They
+were regarded as Divine revelations beside the Old Testament; see the
+proofs of their frequent and long continued use in Schuerer's "History of
+the Jewish people in the time of our Lord." But the Christians in
+receiving these Jewish Apocalypses did not leave them intact, but
+adapted them with greater or less Christian additions (see Ezra, Enoch,
+Ascension of Isaiah). Even the Apocalypse of John is, as Vischer (Texte
+u. Unters. 3 altchristl. lit. Gesch. Bd. II. H. 4) has shown, a Jewish
+Apocalypse adapted to a Christian meaning. But in this activity, and in
+the production of little Apocalyptic prophetic sayings and articles (see
+in the Epistle to the Ephesians, and in those of Barnabas and Clement)
+the Christian labour here in the earliest period seems to have exhausted
+itself. At least we do not know with certainty of any great Apocalyptic
+writing of an original kind proceeding from Christian circles. Even the
+Apocalypse of Peter which, thanks to the discovery of Bouriant, we now
+know better, is not a completely original work as contrasted with the
+Jewish Apocalypses.]
+
+[Footnote 96: The Gospel reliance on the Lamb who was slain, very
+significantly pervades the Revelation of John, that is, its Christian
+parts. Even the Apocalypse of Peter shews Jesus Christ as the comfort of
+believers and as the Revealer of the future. In it (v. 3,) Christ says;
+"Then will God come to those who believe on me, those who hunger and
+thirst and mourn, etc."]
+
+[Footnote 97: These words were written before the Apocalypse of Peter
+was discovered. That Apocalypse confirms what is said in the text.
+Moreover, its delineation of Paradise and blessedness are not wanting in
+poetic charm and power. In its delineation of Hell, which prepares the
+way for Dante's Hell, the author is scared by no terror.]
+
+[Footnote 98: These ideas, however, encircled the earliest Christendom
+as with a wall of fire, and preserved it from a too early contact with
+the world.]
+
+[Footnote 99: An accurate examination of the eschatological sayings of
+Jesus in the synoptists shews that much foreign matter is mixed with
+them (see Weiffenbach, Der Wiederkunftsgedanke Jesu, 1875). That the
+tradition here was very uncertain because influenced by the Jewish
+Apocalyptic, is shewn by the one fact that Papias (in Iren. V. 33)
+quotes as words of the Lord which had been handed down by the disciples,
+a group of sayings which we find in the Apocalypse of Baruch, about the
+amazing fruitfulness of the earth during the time of the Messianic
+Kingdom.]
+
+[Footnote 100: We may here call attention to an interesting remark of
+Goethe. Among his Apophthegms (no. 537) is the following: "Apocrypha: It
+would be important to collect what is historically known about these
+books, and to shew that these very Apocryphal writings with which the
+communities of the first centuries of our era were flooded, were the
+real cause why Christianity at no moment of political or Church history
+could stand forth in all her beauty and purity." A historian would not
+express himself in this way, but yet there lies at the root of this
+remark a true historical insight.]
+
+[Footnote 101: See Schuerer, History of the Jewish people. Div. II. vol.
+II. p. 160 f., yet the remarks of the Jew Trypho in the dialogue of
+Justin shew that the notions of a pre-existent Messiah were by no means
+very widely spread in Judaism. (See also Orig. c. Cels. I. 49: "A Jew
+would not at all admit that any Prophet had said, the Son of God will
+come: they avoided this designation and used instead the saying: the
+anointed of God will come"). The Apocalyptists and Rabbis attributed
+pre-existence, that is, a heavenly origin to many sacred things and
+persons, such as the Patriarchs, Moses, the Tabernacle, the Temple
+vessels, the city of Jerusalem. That the true Temple and the real
+Jerusalem were with God in heaven and would come down from heaven at the
+appointed time, must have been a very wide-spread idea, especially at
+the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and even earlier than that
+(see Gal. IV. 26; Rev. XXI. 2; Heb. XII. 22). In the Assumption of Moses
+(c. 1) Moses says of himself: Dominus invenit me, qui ab initio orbis
+terrarum praeparatus sum, ut sim arbiter ([Greek: mesites]) testamenti
+illius ([Greek: tes diathekes autou]). In the Midrasch Bereschith rabba
+VIII. 2. we read, "R. Simeon ben Lakisch says, 'The law was in existence
+2000 years before the creation of the world.'" In the Jewish treatise
+[Greek: Proseuche Ioseph], which Origen has several times quoted, Jacob
+says of himself (ap. Orig. tom. II. in Joann. C. 25. Opp. IV. 84):
+"[Greek: ho gar lalon pros humas, ego Iakob kai Isrel, angelos theou
+eimi ego kai pneuma archikon kai Abraam kai Isaak proektisthesan pro
+pantos ergou, ego de Iakob ... ego protogonos pantos zoos zooumenou hupo
+theou]." These examples could easily be increased. The Jewish
+speculations about Angels and Mediators, which at the time of Christ
+grew very luxuriantly among the Scribes and Apocalyptists, and
+endangered the purity and vitality of the Old Testament idea of God,
+were also very important for the development of Christian dogmatics. But
+neither these speculations, nor the notions of heavenly Archetypes, nor
+of pre-existence, are to be referred to Hellenic influence. This may
+have co-operated here and there, but the rise of these speculations in
+Judaism is not to be explained by it; they rather exhibit the Oriental
+stamp. But, of course, the stage in the development of the nations had
+now been reached, in which the creations of Oriental fancy and Mythology
+could be fused with the ideal conceptions of Hellenic philosophy.]
+
+[Footnote 102: The conception of heavenly ideals of precious earthly
+things followed from the first naive method of speculation we have
+mentioned, that of a pre-existence of persons from the last. If the
+world was created for the sake of the people of Israel, and the
+Apocalyptists expressly taught that, then it follows, that in the
+thought of God Israel was older than the world. The idea of a kind of
+pre-existence of the people of Israel follows from this. We can still
+see this process of thought very plainly in the shepherd of Hermas, who
+expressly declares that the world was created for the sake of the
+Church. In consequence of this he maintains that the Church was very
+old, and was created before the foundation of the world. See Vis. I. 2.
+4; II. 4. 1 [Greek: Diati oun presbutera] (scil.) [Greek: he ekklesia:
+Hoti, phesin, panton prote ektisthe dia touto presbutera, kai dia tauten
+ho kosmos katertisthe]. But in order to estimate aright the bearing of
+these speculations, we must observe that, according to them, the
+precious things and persons, so far as they are now really manifested,
+were never conceived as endowed with a double nature. No hint is given
+of such an assumption; the sensible appearance was rather conceived as a
+mere wrapping which was necessary only to its becoming visible, or,
+conversely, the pre-existence or the archetype was no longer thought of
+in presence of the historical appearance of the object. That pneumatic
+form of existence was not set forth in accordance with the analogy of
+existence verified by sense, but was left in suspense. The idea of
+"existence" here could run through all the stages which, according to
+the Mythology and Meta-physic of the time, lay between what we now call
+"valid," and the most concrete being. He who nowadays undertakes to
+justify the notion of pre-existence, will find himself in a very
+different situation from these earlier times, as he will no longer be
+able to count on shifting conceptions of existence. See Appendix I. at
+the end of this Vol. for a fuller discussion of the idea of
+pre-existence.]
+
+[Footnote 103: It must be observed here that Palestinian Judaism,
+without any apparent influence from Alexandria, though not independently
+of the Greek spirit, had already created a multitude of intermediate
+beings between God and the world, avowing thereby that the idea of God
+had become stiff and rigid. "Its original aim was simply to help the God
+of Judaism in his need." Among these intermediate beings should be
+specially mentioned the Memra of God (see also the Shechina and the
+Metatron).]
+
+[Footnote 104: See Justin Dial. 48. fin: Justin certainly is not
+favourably disposed towards those who regard Christ as a "man among
+men," but he knows that there are such people.]
+
+[Footnote 105: The miraculous genesis of Christ in the Virgin by the
+Holy Spirit and the real pre-existence are of course mutually exclusive.
+At a later period, it is true, it became necessary to unite them in
+thought.]
+
+[Footnote 106: There is the less need for treating this more fully here,
+as no New Testament Christology has become the direct starting-point of
+later doctrinal developments. The Gentile Christians had transmitted to
+them, as a unanimous doctrine, the message that Christ is the Lord who
+is to be worshipped, and that one must think of him as the Judge of the
+living and the dead, that is, [Greek: hos peri theou]. But it certainly
+could not fail to be of importance for the result that already many of
+the earliest Christian writers, and therefore even Paul, perceived in
+Jesus a spiritual being come down from heaven ([Greek: pneuma]) who was
+[Greek: en morphe theou], and whose real act of love consisted in his
+very descent.]
+
+[Footnote 107: The creation of the New Testament canon first paved the
+way for putting an end, though only in part, to the production of
+Evangelic "facts" within the Church. For Hermas (Sim. IX. 16) can relate
+that the Apostles also descended to the under world and there preached.
+Others report the same of John the Baptist. Origen in his homily on 1
+Kings XXVII. says that Moses, Samuel and all the Prophets descended to
+Hades and there preached. A series of facts of Evangelic history which
+have no parallel in the accounts of our Synoptists, and are certainly
+legendary, may be put together from the epistle of Barnabas, Justin, the
+second epistle of Clement, Papias, the Gospel to the Hebrews, and the
+Gospel to the Egyptians. But the synoptic reports themselves, especially
+in the articles for which we have only a solitary witness, shew an
+extensive legendary material, and even in the Gospel of John, the free
+production of facts cannot be mistaken. Of what a curious nature some of
+these were, and that they are by no means to be entirely explained from
+the Old Testament, as for example, Justin's account of the ass on which
+Christ rode into Jerusalem, having been bound to a vine, is shewn by the
+very old fragment in one source of the Apostolic constitutions (Texte u.
+Unters II. 5. p. 28 ff.); [Greek: hote etpsen ho didaskalos ton arton
+kai to poterion kai eulogesen auta legon touto esti to soma mou kai to
+haima, ouk epetrepse tautais] (the women) [Greek: sustenai hemin ...
+Martha eipen dia Mariam, hoti eiden auten meidiosan. Maria eipen ouketi
+egelasa]. Narratives such as those of Christ's descent to Hell and
+ascent to heaven, which arose comparatively late, though still at the
+close of the first century (see Book I. Chap 3) sprang out of short
+formulae containing an antithesis (death and resurrection, first advent
+in lowliness, second advent in glory: descensus de coelo, ascensus in
+c[oe]lum; ascensus in coelum, descensus ad inferna) which appeared to be
+required by Old Testament predictions, and were commended by their
+naturalness. Just as it is still, in the same way naively inferred: if
+Christ rose bodily he must also have ascended bodily (visibly?) into
+heaven.]
+
+[Footnote 108: The Sibylline Oracles, composed by Jews, from 160 B.C. to
+189 A.D. are specially instructive here: See the Editions of Friedlieb.
+1852; Alexandre, 1869; Rzach, 1891. Delaunay, Moines et Sibylles dans
+l'antiquite judeo-grecque, 1874. Schuerer in the work mentioned above.
+The writings of Josephus also yield rich booty, especially his apology
+for Judaism in the two books against Apion. But it must be noted that
+there were Jews, enlightened by Hellenism, who were still very zealous
+in their observance of the law. "Philo urges most earnestly to the
+observance of the law in opposition to that party which drew the extreme
+inferences of the allegoristic method, and put aside the outer legality
+as something not essential for the spiritual life. Philo thinks that by
+an exact observance of these ceremonies on their material side, one will
+also come to know better their symbolical meaning" (Siegfried, Philo, p.
+157).]
+
+[Footnote 109: Direct evidence is certainly almost entirely wanting
+here, but the indirect speaks all the more emphatically: see Sec. 3,
+Supplements 1, 2.]
+
+[Footnote 110: The Jewish propaganda, though by no means effaced, gave
+way very distinctly to the Christian from the middle of the second
+century. But from this time we find few more traces of an enlightened
+Hellenistic Judaism. Moreover, the Messianic expectation also seems to
+have somewhat given way to occupation with the law. But the God of
+Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as other Jewish terms certainly played
+a great role in Gentile and Gnostic magical formulae of the third
+century, as may be seen, e.g., from many passages in Origen c. Celsum.]
+
+[Footnote 111: The prerogative of Israel was for all that clung to;
+Israel remains the chosen people.]
+
+[Footnote 112: The brilliant investigations of Bernays, however, have
+shewn how many-sided that philosophy of religion was. The proofs of
+asceticism in this Hellenistic Judaism are especially of great interest
+for the history of dogma (See Theophrastus' treatise on piety). In the
+eighth Epistle of Heraclitus, composed by a Hellenistic Jew in the first
+century, it is said (Bernays, p. 182). "So long a time before, O
+Hermodorus, saw thee that Sibyl, and even then thou wert" [Greek: eide
+se pro posoutou aionos, Ermodore he Sibulla ekeine, kai tote estha].
+Even here then the notion is expressed that foreknowledge and
+predestination invest the known and the determined with a kind of
+existence. Of great importance is the fact that even before Philo, the
+idea of the wisdom of God creating the world and passing over to men had
+been hypostatised in Alexandrian Judaism (see Sirach, Baruch, the wisdom
+of Solomon, Enoch, nay, even the book of Proverbs). But so long as the
+deutero-canonical Old Testament, and also the Alexandrine and
+Apocalyptic literature continue in the sad condition in which they are
+at present, we can form no certain judgment and draw no decided
+conclusions on the subject. When will the scholar appear who will at
+length throw light on these writings, and therewith on the section of
+inner Jewish history most interesting to the Christian theologian? As
+yet we have only a most thankworthy preliminary study in Schuerer's great
+work, and beside it particular or dilettante attempts which hardly shew
+what the problem really is, far less solve it. What disclosures even the
+fourth book of the Maccabees alone yields for the connection of the Old
+Testament with Hellenism!]
+
+[Footnote 113: "So far as the sensible world is a work of the Logos, it
+is called [Greek: neoteros huios] (quod deus immut. 6. I.277), or
+according to Prov. VIII. 22, an offspring of God and wisdom: [Greek: he
+de paradexamene to tou theou sperma telesphorois odisi ton monon kai
+agapeton aistheton huion apekuese ton de ton kosmon] (de ebriet 8 I. 361
+f). So far as the Logos is High Priest his relation to the world is
+symbolically expressed by the garment of the High Priest, to which
+exegesis the play on the word [Greek: kosmos], as meaning both ornament
+and world, lent its aid." This speculation (see Siegfried. Philo, 235)
+is of special importance; for it shews how closely the ideas [Greek:
+cosmos] and [Greek: logos] were connected.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Of all the Greek Philosophers of the second century,
+Plutarch of Chaeronea, died c. 125 A.D., and Numenius of Apamea, second
+half of the second century, approach nearest to Philo; but the latter of
+the two was undoubtedly familiar with Jewish philosophy, specially with
+Philo, and probably also with Christian writings.]
+
+[Footnote 115: As to the way in which Philo (see also 4 Maccab. V. 24)
+learned to connect the Stoic ethics with the authority of the Torah, as
+was also done by the Palestinian Midrash, and represented the Torah as
+the foundation of the world, and therewith as the law of nature: see
+Siegfried, Philo, p. 156.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Philo by his exhortations to seek the blessed life, has
+by no means broken with the intellectualism of the Greek philosophy, he
+has only gone beyond it. The way of knowledge and speculation is to him
+also the way of religion and morality. But his formal principle is
+supernatural and leads to a supernatural knowledge which finally passes
+over into sight.]
+
+[Footnote 117: But everything was now ready for this synthesis so that
+it could be, and immediately was, completed by Christian philosophers.]
+
+[Footnote 118: We cannot discover Philo's influence in the writings of
+Paul. But here again we must remember that the scripture learning of
+Palestinian teachers developed speculations which appear closely related
+to the Alexandrian, and partly are so, but yet cannot be deduced from
+them. The element common to them must, for the present at least, be
+deduced from the harmony of conditions in which the different nations of
+the East were at that time placed, a harmony which we cannot exactly
+measure.]
+
+[Footnote 119: The conception of God's relation to the world as given in
+the fourth Gospel is not Philonic. The Logos doctrine there is therefore
+essentially not that of Philo (against Kuenen and others. See p. 93).]
+
+[Footnote 120: Siegfried (Philo. p. 160-197) has presented in detail
+Philo's allegorical interpretation of scripture, his hermeneutic
+principles and their application. Without an exact knowledge of these
+principles we cannot understand the Scripture expositions of the
+Fathers, and therefore also cannot do them justice.]
+
+[Footnote 121: See Siegfried, Philo. p. 176. Yet, as a rule, the method
+of isolating and adapting passages of scripture, and the method of
+unlimited combination were sufficient.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Numerous examples of this may be found in the epistle of
+Barnabas (see c. 4-9), and in the dialogue of Justin with Trypho (here
+they are objects of controversy, see cc. 71-73, 120), but also in many
+other Christian writings, (e.g., Clem. ad. Cor. VIII. 3; XVII. 6; XXIII.
+3, 4; XXVI. 5; XLVI. 2; 2 Clem. XIII. 2). These Christian additions were
+long retained in the Latin Bible, (see also Lactantius and other Latins:
+Pseudo-Cyprian de aleat. 2 etc.), the most celebrated of them is the
+addition "a ligno" to "dominus regnavit" in Psalm XCVI., see Credner,
+Beitraege II. The treatment of the Old Testament in the epistle of
+Barnabas is specially instructive, and exhibits the greatest formal
+agreement with that of Philo. We may close here with the words in which
+Siegfried sums up his judgment on Philo. "No Jewish writer has
+contributed so much as Philo to the breaking up of particularism, and
+the dissolution of Judaism. The history of his people, though he
+believed in it literally, was in its main points a didactic allegoric
+poem for enabling him to inculcate the doctrine that man attains the
+vision of God by mortification of the flesh. The law was regarded by him
+as the best guide to this, but it had lost its exclusive value, as it
+was admitted to be possible to reach the goal without it, and it had,
+besides, its aim outside itself. The God of Philo was no longer the old
+living God of Israel, but an imaginary being who, to obtain power over
+the world, needed a Logos by whom the palladium of Israel, the unity of
+God, was taken a prey. So Israel lost everything which had hitherto
+characterised her."]
+
+[Footnote 123: Proofs in Friedlaender, Sittengeschichte, vol. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 124: See the chapter on belief in immortality in Friedlaender.
+Sittengesch. Roms. Bde. 3. Among the numerous mysteries known to us,
+that of Mythras deserves special consideration. From the middle of the
+second century the Church Fathers saw in it, above all, the caricature
+of the Church. The worship of Mithras had its redeemer, its mediator,
+hierarchy, sacrifice, baptism and sacred meal. The ideas of expiation,
+immortality, and the Redeemer God, were very vividly present in this
+cult, which of course, in later times, borrowed much from Christianity:
+see the accounts of Marquardt, Reville, and the Essay of Sayous, Le
+Taurobole in the Rev. de l'Hist. des Religions, 1887, where the earliest
+literature is also utilised. The worship of Mithras in the third century
+became the most powerful rival of Christianity. In connection with this
+should be specially noted the cult of AEsculapius, the God who helps the
+body and the soul; see my essay "Medicinisches aus der aeltesten
+Kirchengeschichte," 1892. p. 93 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Hence the wide prevalence of the cult of AEsculapius.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Dominus in certain circumstances means more than deus;
+see Tertull. Apol. It signifies more than Soter: see Irenaeus I. 1. 3:
+[Greek: ton sotera legousin, oude gar kurion onomazein auton
+thelousin--kurios] and [Greek: despotes] are almost synonymous. See
+Philo. Quis. rer. div. heres. 6: [Greek: sunonuma tauta einai legetai].]
+
+[Footnote 127: We must give special attention here to the variability
+and elasticity of the concept [Greek: theos], and indeed among the
+cultured as well as the uncultured (Orig. prolegg. in Psalm, in Pitra,
+Anal. T. II. p. 437, according to a Stoic source; [Greek: kat' allon de
+tropon legesthai theon zoion athanaton logikon opoudaion, hoste pasan
+asteian psychen theon huparchein, kan periechetai, allos de legesthai
+theon to kath' auto on zoion athanaton hos ta en anthropois
+periechomenas psychas me huparchein theous]). They still regarded the
+Gods as passionless, blessed men living for ever. The idea therefore of
+a [Greek: theopoiesis], and on the other hand, the idea of the
+appearance of the Gods in human form presented no difficulty (see Acts
+XIV. 11; XXVIII. 6). But philosophic speculation--the Platonic, as well
+as in yet greater measure the Stoic, and in the greatest measure of all
+the Cynic--had led to the recognition of something divine in man's
+spirit ([Greek: pneuma, nous]). Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations
+frequently speaks of the God who dwells in us. Clement of Alexandria
+(Strom. VI. 14. 113) says: [Greek: houtos dunamin labousa kuriaken he
+psyche meletai einai theos, kakon men ouden allo plen agnoias einai
+nomizousa.] In Bernays' Heraclitian Epistles, pp. 37 f. 135 f., will be
+found a valuable exposition of the Stoic (Heraclitian) thesis and its
+history, that men are Gods. See Norden, Beitraege zur Gesch. d. griech.
+Philos. Jahrb. f. klass Philol. XIX. Suppl. Bd. p. 373 ff., about the
+Cynic Philosopher who, contemplating the life and activity of man
+([Greek: kataskopos]), becomes its [Greek: episkopos], and further
+[Greek: kurios, angelos theou, theos en anthropois]. The passages which
+he adduces are of importance for the history of dogma in a twofold
+respect. (1) They present remarkable parallels to Christology (one even
+finds the designations, [Greek: kurios, angelos, kataskopos, episkopos,
+theos] associated with the philosophers as with Christ, e.g., in Justin;
+nay, the Cynics and Neoplatonics speak of [Greek: episkopoi daimones]);
+cf. also the remarkable narrative in Laertius VI. 102, concerning the
+Cynic Menedemus; [Greek: houtos, katha phesin Hippobotos, eis tosos ton
+terateias elasen, hoste Erinuos analabon schema perieiei, legon
+episkopos aphichthai ex Haidou ton hamartomenon, hopos palin kation
+tasta apangelloi tois ekei, daimosin.] (2) They also explain how the
+ecclesiastical [Greek: episkopoi] came to be so highly prized, inasmuch
+as these also were from a very early period regarded as mediators
+between God and man, and considered as [Greek: en anthropois theoi].
+There were not a few who in the first and second centuries, appeared
+with the claim to be regarded as a God or an organ inspired and chosen
+by God (Simon Magus [cf. the manner of his treatment in Hippol. Philos.
+VI. 8: see also Clem. Hom. II. 27], Apollonius of Tyana (?), see further
+Tacitus Hist. II. 51: "Mariccus.... iamque adsertor Galliarum et deus,
+nomen id sibi indiderat"; here belongs also the gradually developing
+worship of the Emperor: "dominus ac deus noster." cf. Augustus,
+Inscription of the year 25; 24 B.C. in Egypt [where the Ptolemies were
+for long described as Gods] [Greek: Huper Kaisaros Autokrattoros theou]
+(Zeitschrift fur Aegypt. Sprache. XXXI Bd. p. 3). Domitian: [Greek:
+theos Adrianos], Kaibel Inscr. Gr. 829. 1053. [Greek: theos Seoueros
+Eusebes]. 1061--the Antinouscult with its prophets. See also Josephus on
+Herod Agrippa. Antiq. XIX 8. 2. (Euseb. H. E. II. 10). The flatterers
+said to him, [Greek: theon prosagoreuontes; ei kai mechri nun hos
+anthropon ephobethemen, alla tounteuthen kreittona se thnetes tes
+phuseos homologoumen.] Herod himself, Sec. 7, says to his friends in his
+sickness: [Greek: ho theos humin ego ede katastrephein epitattomai ton
+bion ... ho kletheis athanatos huph' hemon ede thanein apagomai]). On
+the other hand, we must mention the worship of the founder in some
+philosophic schools, especially among the Epicureans Epictetus says
+(Moral. 15), Diogenes and Heraclitus and those like them are justly
+called Gods. Very instructive in this connection are the reproaches of
+the heathen against the Christians, and of Christian partisans against
+one another with regard to the almost divine veneration of their
+teachers. Lucian (Peregr. II) reproaches the Christians in Syria for
+having regarded Peregrinus as a God and a new Socrates. The heathen in
+Smyrna, after the burning of Polycarp, feared that the Christians would
+begin to pay him divine honours (Euseb. H. E. IV. 15 41). Caecilius in
+Minucius Felix speaks of divine honours being paid by Christians to
+priests (Octav. IX. 10). The Antimontanist (Euseb. H. E. V. 18. 6)
+asserts that the Montanists worship their prophet and Alexander the
+Confessor as divine. The opponents of the Roman Adoptians (Euseb. H. E.
+V. 28) reproach them with praying to Galen. There are many passages in
+which the Gnostics are reproached with paying Divine honours to the
+heads of their schools, and for many Gnostic schools (the Carpocratians,
+for example) the reproach seems to have been just. All this is extremely
+instructive. The genius, the hero, the founder of a new school who
+promises to shew the certain way to the _vita beata_, the emperor, the
+philosopher (numerous Stoic passages might be noted here) finally, man,
+in so far as he is inhabited by [Greek: nous]--could all somehow be
+considered as [Greek: theoi], so elastic was this concept. All these
+instances of Apotheosis in no way endangered the Monotheism which had
+been developed from the mixture of Gods and from philosophy; for the one
+supreme Godhead can unfold his inexhaustible essence in a variety of
+existences, which, while his creatures as to their origin, are parts of
+his essence as to their contents. This Monotheism does not yet exactly
+disclaim its Polytheistic origin. The Christian, Hermas, says to his
+Mistress (Vis. I 1. 7) [Greek: ou pantote se hos thean hegesamen], and
+the author of the Epistle of Diognetus writes (X. 6), [Greek: tauta tois
+epideomenois choregon], (i.e., the rich man) [Greek: theos ginetai ton
+lambanonton]. That the concept [Greek: theos] was again used only of one
+God, was due to the fact that one now started from the definition "qui
+vitam aeternam habet," and again from the definition "qui est super omnia
+et originem nescit." From the latter followed the absolute unity of God,
+from the former a plurality of Gods. Both could be so harmonised (see
+Tertull. adv. Prax. and Novat. de Trinit.) that one could assume that
+the God, _qui est super omnia_, might allow his monarchy to be
+administered by several persons, and might dispense the gift of
+immortality and with it a relative divinity.]
+
+[Footnote 128: See the so-called Neopythagorean philosophers and the
+so-called forerunners of Neoplatonism (Cf. Bigg, The Platonists of
+Alexandria, p. 250, as to Numenius). Unfortunately, we have as yet no
+sufficient investigation of the question what influence, if any, the
+Jewish Alexandrian Philosophy of religion had on the development of
+Greek philosophy in the second and third centuries. The answering of the
+question would be of the greatest importance. But at present it cannot
+even be said whether the Jewish philosophy of religion had any influence
+on the genesis of Neoplatonism. On the relation of Neoplatonism to
+Christianity and their mutual approximation, see the excellent account
+in Tzschirner, Fall des Heidenthums, pp. 574-618. Cf. also Reville, La
+Religion a Rome, 1886.]
+
+[Footnote 129: The Christians, that is the Christian preachers, were
+most in agreement with the Cynics (see Lucian's Peregrinus Proteus),
+both on the negative and on the positive side; but for that very reason
+they were hard on one another (Justin and Tatian against Crescens)--not
+only because the Christians gave a different basis for the right mode of
+life from the Cynics, but above all, because they did not approve of the
+self-conscious, contemptuous, proud disposition which Cynicism produced
+in many of its adherents. Morality frequently underwent change for the
+worse in the hands of Cynics, and became the morality of a "Gentleman,"
+such as we have also experience of in modern Cynicism.]
+
+[Footnote 130: The attitude of Celsus, the opponent of the Christians,
+is specially instructive here.]
+
+[Footnote 131: For the knowledge of the spread of the idealistic
+philosophy the statement of Origen (c. Celsum VI. 2) that Epictetus was
+admired not only by scholars, but also by ordinary people who felt in
+themselves the impulse to be raised to something higher, is well worthy
+of notice.]
+
+[Footnote 132: This point was of importance for the propaganda of
+Christianity among the cultured. There seemed to be given here a
+reliable, because revealed, Cosmology and history of the world--which
+already contained the foundation of everything worth knowing. Both were
+needed and both were here set forth in closest union.]
+
+[Footnote 133: The universalism as reached by the Stoics is certainly
+again threatened by the self-righteous and self-complacent distinction
+between men of virtue, and men of pleasure, who, properly speaking, are
+not men. Aristotle had already dealt with the virtuous elite in a
+notable way. He says (Polit. 3. 13. p. 1284), that men who are
+distinguished by perfect virtue should not be put on a level with the
+ordinary mass, and should not be subjected to the constraints of a law
+adapted to the average man. "There is no law for these elect, who are a
+law to themselves."]
+
+[Footnote 134: Notions of pre-existence were readily suggested by the
+Platonic philosophy; yet this whole philosophy rests on the fact that
+one again posits the thing (after stripping it of certain marks as
+accidental, or worthless, or ostensibly foreign to it) in order to
+express its value in this form, and hold fast the permanent in the
+change of the phenomena.]
+
+[Footnote 135: See Tzschirn. i.d. Ztschr. f. K.-Gesch. XII. p. 215 ff.
+"The genesis of the Romish Church in the second century." What he
+presents is no doubt partly incomplete, partly overdone and not proved:
+yet much of what he states is useful.]
+
+[Footnote 136: What is meant here is the imminent danger of taking the
+several constituent parts of the canon, even for historical
+investigation, as constituent parts, that is, of explaining one writing
+by the standard of another and so creating an artificial unity. The
+contents of any of Paul's epistles, for example, will be presented very
+differently if it is considered by itself and in the circumstances in
+which it was written, or if attention is fixed on it as part of a
+collection whose unity is presupposed.]
+
+[Footnote 137: See Bigg, The Christian Platonist of Alexandria, pp. 53,
+283 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Reuter (August. Studien, p. 492) has drawn a valuable
+parallel between Marcion and Augustine with regard to Paul.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Marcion of course wished to raise it to the exclusive
+basis, but he entirely misunderstood it.]
+
+
+
+
+DIVISION I.
+
+THE GENESIS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA, OR THE GENESIS OF THE CATHOLIC
+APOSTOLIC DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, AND THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC ECCLESIASTICAL
+SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE.
+
+BOOK I.
+
+THE PREPARATION.
+
+[Greek: Ean murious paidagogous echete en christoi all' ou pollous
+pateras.]
+
+1 Cor IV. 15.
+
+Eine jede Idee tritt als ein fremder Gast in die Erscheinung, und wie
+sie sich zu realisiren beginnt, ist sie kaum von Phantasie und
+Phantasterei zu unterscheiden.
+
+GOETHE, Sprueche in Prosa, 566
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_THE PREPARATION_
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HISTORICAL SURVEY
+
+
+The first century of the existence of Gentile Christian communities is
+particularly characterised by the following features:
+
+I. The rapid disappearance of Jewish Christianity.[140]
+
+II. The enthusiastic character of the religious temper; the Charismatic
+teachers and the appeal to the Spirit.[141]
+
+III. The strength of the hopes for the future, Chiliasm.[142]
+
+IV. The rigorous endeavour to fulfil the moral precepts of Christ, and
+truly represent the holy and heavenly community of God in abstinence
+from everything unclean, and in love to God and the brethren here on
+earth "in these last days."[143]
+
+V. The want of a fixed doctrinal form in relation to the abstract
+statement of the faith, and the corresponding variety and freedom of
+Christian preaching on the basis of clear formulae and an increasingly
+rich tradition.
+
+VI. The want of a clearly defined external authority in the communities,
+sure in its application, and the corresponding independence and freedom
+of the individual Christian in relation to the expression of the ideas,
+beliefs and hopes of faith.[144]
+
+VII. The want of a fixed political union of the several communities with
+each other--every _ecclesia_ is an image complete in itself, and an
+embodiment of the whole heavenly Church--while the consciousness of the
+unity of the holy Church of Christ which has the spirit in its midst,
+found strong expression.[145]
+
+VIII. A quite unique literature in which were manufactured facts for the
+past and for the future, and which did not submit to the usual literary
+rules and forms, but came forward with the loftiest pretensions.[146]
+
+IX. The reproduction of particular sayings and arguments of Apostolic
+Teachers with an uncertain understanding of them.[147]
+
+X. The rise of tendencies which endeavoured to hasten in every respect
+the inevitable process of fusing the Gospel with the spiritual and
+religious interests of the time, viz., the Hellenic, as well as attempts
+to separate the Gospel from its origins and provide for it quite foreign
+presuppositions. To the latter belongs, above all, the Hellenic idea
+that knowledge is not a charismatic supplement to the faith, or an
+outgrowth of faith alongside of others, but that it coincides with the
+essence of faith itself.[148]
+
+The sources for this period are few, as there was not much written, and
+the following period did not lay itself out for preserving a great part
+of the literary monuments of that epoch. Still we do possess a
+considerable number of writings and important fragments,[149] and
+further important inferences here are rendered possible by the monuments
+of the following period, since the conditions of the first century were
+not changed in a moment, but were partly, at least, long preserved,
+especially in certain national Churches and in remote communities.[150]
+
+_Supplement._--The main features of the message concerning Christ, of
+the matter of the Evangelic history, were fixed in the first and second
+generations of believers, and on Palestinian soil. But yet, up to the
+middle of the second century, this matter was in many ways increased in
+Gentile Christian regions, revised from new points of view, handed down
+in very diverse forms, and systematically allegorised by individual
+teachers. As a whole, the Evangelic history certainly appears to have
+been completed at the beginning of the second century. But in detail,
+much that was new was produced at a later period--and not only in
+Gnostic circles--and the old tradition was recast or rejected.[151]
+
+
+[Footnote 140: This fact must have been apparent as early as the year
+100. The first direct evidence of it is in Justin (Apol. I. 53).]
+
+[Footnote 141: Every individual was, or at least should have been
+conscious, as a Christian, of having received the [Greek: pneuma theou],
+though that does not exclude spiritual grades. A special peculiarity of
+the enthusiastic nature of the religious temper is that it does not
+allow reflection as to the authenticity of the faith in which a man
+lives. As to the Charismatic teaching, see my edition of the Didache
+(Texte u Unters. II 1. 2 p. 93 ff.).]
+
+[Footnote 142: The hope of the approaching end of the world and the
+glorious kingdom of Christ still determined men's hearts; though
+exhortations against theoretical and practical scepticism became more
+and more necessary. On the other hand, after the Epistles to the
+Thessalonians, there were not wanting exhortations to continue sober and
+diligent.]
+
+[Footnote 143: There was a strong consciousness that the Christian
+Church is, above all, a union for a holy life, as well as a
+consciousness of the obligation to help one another, and use all the
+blessings bestowed by God in the service of our neighbours. Justin (2
+Apol. in Euseb. H. E. IV. 17. 10) calls Christianity [Greek: to
+didaskalion tes theias aretes].]
+
+[Footnote 144: The existing authorities (Old Testament, sayings of the
+Lord, words of Apostles) did not necessarily require to be taken into
+account; for the living acting Spirit, partly attesting himself also to
+the senses, gave new revelations. The validity of these authorities
+therefore held good only in theory, and might in practice be completely
+set aside (cf. above all, the Shepherd of Hermas).]
+
+[Footnote 145: Zahn remarks (Ignatius, v. A. p. VII.): "I do not believe
+it to be the business of that province of historical investigation which
+is dependent on the writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers as main
+sources, to explain the origin of the universal Church in any sense of
+the term; for that Church existed before Clement and Hermas, before
+Ignatius and Polycarp. But an explanatory answer is needed for the
+question, by what means did the consciousness of the 'universal Church'
+so little favoured by outer circumstances, maintain itself unbroken in
+the post-Apostolic communities?" This way of stating it obscures, at
+least, the problem which here lies before us, for it does not take
+account of the changes which the idea "universal Church" underwent up to
+the middle of the third century--besides, we do not find the title
+before Ignatius. In so far as the "universal Church" is set forth as an
+earthly power recognisable in a doctrine or in political forms, the
+question as to the origin of the idea is not only allowable, but must be
+regarded as one of the most important. On the earliest conception of the
+"Ecclesia" and its realisation, see the fine investigations of Sohm
+"Kirchenrecht," I. p. i ff., which, however, suffer from being a little
+overdriven.]
+
+[Footnote 146: See the important essay of Overbeck: Ueber die Anfaenge d.
+patrist. Litteratur (Hist. Ztschr. N. F. Bd. XII pp. 417-472). Early
+Christian literature, as a rule, claims to be inspired writing. One can
+see, for example, in the history of the resurrection in the recently
+discovered Gospel of Peter (fragment) how facts were remodelled or
+created.]
+
+[Footnote 147: The writings of men of the Apostolic period, and that
+immediately succeeding, attained in part a wide circulation, and in some
+portions of them, often of course incorrectly understood, very great
+influence. How rapidly this literature was diffused, even the letters,
+may be studied in the history of the Epistles of Paul, the first Epistle
+of Clement, and other writings.]
+
+[Footnote 148: That which is here mentioned is of the greatest
+importance; it is not a mere reference to the so-called Gnostics. The
+foundations for the Hellenising of the Gospel in the Church were already
+laid in the first century (50-150).]
+
+[Footnote 149: We should not over-estimate the extent of early Christian
+literature. It is very probable that we know, so far as the titles of
+books are concerned, nearly all that was effective, and the greater
+part, by very diverse means, has also been preserved to us. We except,
+of course, the so-called Gnostic literature of which we have only a few
+fragments. Only from the time of Commodus, as Eusebius, H. E. V. 21. 27,
+has remarked, did the great Church preserve an extensive literature.]
+
+[Footnote 150: It is therefore important to note the locality in which a
+document originates, and the more so the earlier the document is. In the
+earliest period, in which the history of the Church was more uniform,
+and the influence from without relatively less, the differences are
+still in the background. Yet the spirit of Rome already announces itself
+in the Epistle of Clement, that of Alexandria in the Epistle of
+Barnabas, that of the East in the Epistles of Ignatius.]
+
+[Footnote 151: The history of the genesis of the four Canonical Gospels,
+or the comparison of them, is instructive on this point. Then we must
+bear in mind the old Apocryphal Gospels, and the way in which the
+so-called Apostolic Fathers and Justin attest the Evangelic history, and
+in part reproduce it independently, the Gospels of Peter, of the
+Egyptians, and of Marcion; the Diatesseron of Tatian; the Gnostic
+Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, etc. The greatest gap in our knowledge
+consists in the fact, that we know so little about the course of things
+from about the year 61 to the beginning of the reign of Trajan. The
+consolidating and remodelling process must, for the most part, have
+taken place in this period. We possess probably not a few writings which
+belong to that period; but how are we to prove this, how are they to be
+arranged? Here lies the cause of most of the differences, combinations
+and uncertainties; many scholars, therefore, actually leave these 40
+years out of account, and seek to place everything in the first three
+decennia of the second century.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE ELEMENT COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS AND THE BREACH WITH JUDAISM
+
+
+On account of the great differences among those who, in the first
+century, reckoned themselves in the Church of God, and called themselves
+by the name of Christ,[152] it seems at first sight scarcely possible to
+set up marks which would hold good for all, or even for nearly all, the
+groups. Yet the great majority had one thing in common, as is proved,
+among other things, by the gradual expulsion of Gnosticism. The
+conviction that they knew the supreme God, the consciousness of being
+responsible to him (Heaven and Hell), reliance on Jesus Christ, the hope
+of an eternal life, the vigorous elevation above the world--these are
+the elements that formed the fundamental mood. The author of the Acts of
+Thecla expresses the general view when he (c. 5-7) co-ordinates [Greek:
+ton tou christou logon] with [Greek: logos theou peri enkateias, kai
+anastaseos]. The following particulars may here be specified.[153]
+
+I. The Gospel, because it rests on revelation, is the sure manifestation
+of the supreme God, and its believing acceptance guarantees salvation
+([Greek: soteria]).
+
+II. The essential content of this manifestation (besides the revelation
+and the verification of the oneness and spirituality of God),[154] is,
+first of all, the message of the resurrection and eternal life ([Greek:
+anastasis zoe aionios]), then the preaching of moral purity and
+continence ([Greek: enkrateia]), on the basis of repentance toward God
+([Greek: metanoia]), and of an expiation once assured by baptism, with
+eye ever fixed on the requital of good and evil.[155]
+
+III. This manifestation is mediated by Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour
+([Greek: soter]) sent by God "in these last days," and who stands with
+God himself in a union special and unique, (cf. the ambiguous [Greek:
+pais theou], which was much used in the earliest period). He has brought
+the true and full knowledge of God, as well as the gift of immortality
+[Greek: gnosis kai zoe], or [Greek: gnosis tes zoes], as an expression
+for the sum of the Gospel. See the supper prayer in the Didache, c. IX.
+an X.; [Greek: eucharistoumen soi, pater hemon huper tes zoes kai
+gnoseos hes egnorisas hemin dia Iesou tou paidos sou], and is for that
+very reason the redeemer ([Greek: soter] and victor over the demons) on
+whom we are to place believing trust. But he is, further, in word and
+walk the highest example of all moral virtue, and therefore in his own
+person the law for the perfect life, and at the same time the
+God-appointed lawgiver and judge.[156]
+
+IV. Virtue as continence, embraces as its highest task, renunciation of
+temporal goods and separation from the common world; for the Christian
+is not a citizen, but a stranger on the earth, and expects its
+approaching destruction.[157]
+
+V. Christ has committed to chosen men, the Apostles (or to one Apostle),
+the proclamation of the message he received from God; consequently,
+their preaching represents that of Christ himself. But, besides, the
+Spirit of God rules in Christians, "the Saints." He bestows upon them
+special gifts, and, above all, continually raises up among them Prophets
+and spiritual Teachers who receive revelations and communications for
+the edification of others, and whose injunctions are to be obeyed.
+
+VI. Christian Worship is a service of God in spirit and in truth (a
+spiritual sacrifice), and therefore has no legal ceremonial and
+statutory rules. The value of the sacred acts and consecrations which
+are connected with the cultus, consists in the communication of
+spiritual blessings. (Didache X., [Greek: hemin de echariso, despota,
+pneumatiken trophen kai poton kai zoen aionion dia tou paidos sou]).
+
+VII. Everything that Jesus Christ brought with him, may be summed up in
+[Greek: gnosis kai zoe], or in the knowledge of immortal life.[158] To
+possess the perfect knowledge was, in wide circles, an expression for
+the sum total of the Gospel.[159]
+
+VIII. Christians, as such, no longer take into account the distinctions
+of race, age, rank, nationality and worldly culture, but the Christian
+community must be conceived as a communion resting on a divine election.
+Opinions were divided about the ground of that election.
+
+IX. As Christianity is the only true religion, and as it is no national
+religion, but somehow concerns the whole of humanity, or its best part,
+it follows that it can have nothing in common with the Jewish nation and
+its contemporary cultus. The Jewish nation in which Jesus Christ
+appeared, has, for the time at least, no special relation to the God
+whom Jesus revealed. Whether it had such a relation at an earlier period
+is doubtful (cf. here, e.g., the attitude of Marcion, Ptolemaeus the
+disciple of Valentinus, the author of the Epistle of Barnabas, Aristides
+and Justin); but certain it is that God has now cast it off, and that
+all revelations of God, so far as they took place at all before Christ,
+(the majority assumed that there had been such revelations and
+considered the Old Testament as a holy record), must have aimed solely
+at the call of the "new people", and in some way prepared for the
+revelation of God through his Son.[160]
+
+
+[Footnote 152: See, as to this, Celsus in Orig. III. 10 ff. and V. 59
+ff.]
+
+[Footnote 153: The marks adduced in the text do not certainly hold good
+for some comparatively unimportant Gnostic groups, but they do apply to
+the great majority of them, and in the main to Marcion also.]
+
+[Footnote 154: Most of the Gnostic schools know only one God, and put
+all emphasis on the knowledge of the oneness, supramundaneness, and
+spirituality of this God. The AEons, the Demiurgus, the God of matter, do
+not come near this God though they are called Gods. See the testimony of
+Hippolytus c. Noet. 11; [Greek: kai gar pantes apekleisthesan eis touto
+akontes eipein hoti to pan eis hena anatrechei ei oun ta panta eis hena
+anatrechei kai kata thualentinon kai kata Markiona, Kerinthon te kai
+pasan ten ekeinon phluarian, kai akontes eis touto periepesan, hina ton
+hena homologesosin aition ton panton houtos oun suntrechousin kai autoi
+me thelontes te aletheia hena theon legein poiesanta hos ethelesen].]
+
+[Footnote 155: Continence was regarded as the condition laid down by God
+for the resurrection and eternal life. The sure hope of this was for
+many, if not for the majority, the whole sum of religion, in connection
+with the idea of the requital of good and evil which was now firmly
+established. See the testimony of the heathen Lucian, in Peregrinus
+Proteus.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Even where the judicial attributes were separated from
+God (Christ) as not suitable, Christ was still comprehended as the
+critical appearance by which every man is placed in the condition which
+belongs to him. The Apocalypse of Peter expects that God himself will
+come as Judge (see the Messianic expectations of Judaism, in which it
+was always uncertain whether God or the Messiah would hold the
+judgment).]
+
+[Footnote 157: Celsus (Orig. c. Celsum, V. 59) after referring to the
+many Christian parties mutually provoking and fighting with each other,
+remarks (V. 64) that though they differ much from each other, and
+quarrel with each other, you can yet hear from them all the
+protestation, "The world is crucified to me and I to the world." In the
+earliest Gentile Christian communities brotherly love for reflective
+thought falls into the background behind ascetic exercises of virtue, in
+unquestionable deviation from the sayings of Christ, but in fact it was
+powerful. See the testimony of Pliny and Lucian, Aristides, Apol. 15,
+Tertull Apol. 39.]
+
+[Footnote 158: The word "life" comes into consideration in a double
+sense, viz., as soundness of the soul, and as immortality. Neither, of
+course, is to be separated from the other. But I have attempted to shew
+in my essay, "Medicinisches aus der aeltesten Kirchengesch" (1892), the
+extent to which the Gospel in the earliest Christendom was preached as
+medicine and Jesus as a Physician, and how the Christian Message was
+really comprehended by the Gentiles as a medicinal religion. Even the
+Stoic philosophy gave itself out as a soul therapeutic, and AEsculapius
+was worshipped as a Saviour-God; but Christianity alone was a religion
+of healing.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Heinrici, in his commentary on the epistles to the
+Corinthians, has dealt very clearly with this matter; see especially
+(Bd. II. p. 557 ff.) the description of the Christianity of the
+Corinthians: On what did the community base its Christian character? It
+believed in one God who had revealed himself to it through Christ,
+without denying the reality of the hosts of gods in the heathen world (1
+VIII. 6). It hoped in immortality without being clear as to the nature
+of the Christian belief in the resurrection (1 XV.) It had no doubt as
+to the requital of good and evil (1 IV. 5; 2 V. 10; XI. 15: Rom. II. 4),
+without understanding the value of self-denial, claiming no merit, for
+the sake of important ends. It was striving to make use of the Gospel as
+a new doctrine of wisdom about earthly and super-earthly things, which
+led to the perfect and best established knowledge (1 I. 21: VIII. 1). It
+boasted of special operations of the Divine Spirit, which in themselves
+remained obscure and non-transparent, and therefore unfruitful (1 XIV.),
+while it was prompt to put aside as obscure, the word of the Cross as
+preached by Paul (2. IV. 1 f). The hope of the near Parousia, however,
+and the completion of all things, evinced no power to effect a moral
+transformation of society We herewith obtain the outline of a conviction
+that was spread over the widest circles of the Roman Empire "Naturam si
+expellas furca, tamen usque recurret."]
+
+[Footnote 160: Nearly all Gentile Christian groups that we know, are at
+one in the detachment of Christianity from empiric Judaism; the
+"Gnostics," however, included the Old Testament in Judaism, while the
+greater part of Christians did not. That detachment seemed to be
+demanded by the claims of Christianity to be the one, true, absolute and
+therefore oldest religion, foreseen from the beginning. The different
+estimates of the Old Testament in Gnostic circles have their exact
+parallels in the different estimates of Judaism among the other
+Christians; cf. for example, in this respect, the conception stated in
+the Epistle of Barnabas with the views of Marcion, and Justin with
+Valentinus. The particulars about the detachment of the Gentile
+Christians from the Synagogue, which was prepared for by the inner
+development of Judaism itself, and was required by the fundamental fact
+that the Messiah, crucified and rejected by his own people, was
+recognised as Saviour by those who were not Jews, cannot be given in the
+frame-work of a history of dogma; though, see Chaps. III. IV. VI. On the
+other hand, the turning away from Judaism is also the result of the mass
+of things which were held in common with it, even in Gnostic circles.
+Christianity made its appearance in the Empire in the Jewish propaganda.
+By the preaching of Jesus Christ who brought the gift of eternal life,
+mediated the full knowledge of God, and assembled round him in these
+last days a community, the imperfect and hybrid creations of the Jewish
+propaganda in the empire were converted into independent formations.
+These formations were far superior to the synagogue in power of
+attraction, and from the nature of the case would very soon be directed
+with the utmost vigour against the synagogue.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE COMMON FAITH AND THE BEGINNINGS OF KNOWLEDGE IN GENTILE CHRISTIANITY
+AS IT WAS BEING DEVELOPED INTO CATHOLICISM[162]
+
+
+Sec. 1. _The Communities and the Church._
+
+
+The confessors of the Gospels, belonging to organised communities who
+recognised the Old Testament as the Divine record of revelation, and
+prized the Evangelic tradition as a public message for all, to which, in
+its undiluted form, they wished to adhere truly and sincerely, formed
+the stem of Christendom both as to extent and importance.[163] The
+communities stood to each other in an outwardly loose, but inwardly firm
+connection, and every community by the vigour of its faith, the
+certainty of its hope, the holy character of its life, as well as by
+unfeigned love, unity and peace, was to be an image of the holy Church
+of God which is in heaven, and whose members are scattered over the
+earth. They were further, by the purity of their walk and an active
+brotherly disposition, to prove to those without, that is to the world,
+the excellence and truth of the Christian faith.[164] The hope that the
+Lord would speedily appear to gather into his Kingdom the believers who
+were scattered abroad, punishing the evil and rewarding the good, guided
+these communities in faith and life. In the recently discovered
+"Teaching of the Apostles" we are confronted very distinctly with ideas
+and aspirations of communities that are not influenced by Philosophy.
+
+The Church, that is the totality of all believers destined to be
+received into the kingdom of God (Didache, 9. 10), is the holy Church,
+(Hermas) because it is brought together and preserved by the Holy
+Spirit. It is the one Church, not because it presents this unity
+outwardly, on earth the members of the Church are rather scattered
+abroad, but because it will be brought to unity in the kingdom of
+Christ, because it is ruled by the same spirit and inwardly united in a
+common relation to a common hope and ideal. The Church, considered in
+its origin, is the number of those chosen by God,[165] the true
+Israel,[166] nay, still more, the final purpose of God, for the world
+was created for its sake.[167] There were in connection with these
+doctrines in the earliest period, various speculations about the Church:
+it is a heavenly AEon, is older than the world, was created by God at the
+beginning of things as a companion of the heavenly Christ;[168] its
+members form the new nation which is really the oldest nation,[169] it
+is the [Greek: laos ho tou agapemenou ho philoumenos kai philon
+auton],[170] the people whom God has prepared "in the Beloved,"[171]
+etc. The creation of God, the Church, as it is of an antemundane and
+heavenly nature, will also attain its true existence only in the AEon of
+the future, the AEon of the kingdom of Christ. The idea of a heavenly
+origin, and of a heavenly goal of the Church, was therefore an essential
+one, various and fluctuating as these speculations were. Accordingly,
+the exhortations, so far as they have in view the Church, are always
+dominated by the idea of the contrast of the kingdom of Christ with the
+kingdom of the world. On the other hand, he who communicated knowledge
+for the present time, prescribed rules of life, endeavoured to remove
+conflicts, did not appeal to the peculiar character of the Church. The
+mere fact, however, that from nearly the beginning of Christendom, there
+were reflections and speculations not only about God and Christ, but
+also about the Church, teaches us how profoundly the Christian
+consciousness was impressed with being a new people, viz., the people of
+God.[172] These speculations of the earliest Gentile Christian time
+about Christ and the Church, as inseparable correlative ideas, are of
+the greatest importance, for they have absolutely nothing Hellenic in
+them, but rather have their origin in the Apostolic tradition. But for
+that very reason the combination very soon, comparatively speaking,
+became obsolete or lost its power to influence. Even the Apologists made
+no use of it, though Clement of Alexandria and other Greeks held it
+fast, and the Gnostics by their AEon "Church" brought it into discredit.
+Augustine was the first to return to it.
+
+The importance attached to morality is shewn in _Didache_ cc. 1-6, with
+parallels[173]. But this section and the statements so closely related
+to it in the pseudo phocylidean poem, which is probably of Christian
+origin, as well as in Sibyl, II. v. 56, 148, which is likewise to be
+regarded as Christian, and in many other Gnomic paragraphs, shews at the
+same time, that in the memorable expression and summary statement of
+higher moral commandments, the Christian propaganda had been preceded by
+the Judaism of the Diaspora, and had entered into its labours. These
+statements are throughout dependent on the Old Testament wisdom, and
+have the closest relationship with the genuine Greek parts of the
+Alexandrian Canon, as well as with Philonic exhortations. Consequently,
+these moral rules, the two ways, so aptly compiled and filled with such
+an elevated spirit, represent the ripest fruit of Jewish as well as of
+Greek development. The Christian spirit found here a disposition which
+it could recognise as its own. It was of the utmost importance, however,
+that this disposition was already expressed in fixed forms suitable for
+didactic purposes. The young Christianity therewith received a gift of
+first importance. It was spared a labour in a legion, the moral, which
+experience shews, can only be performed in generations, viz, the
+creation of simple fixed impressive rules, the labour of the Catechist.
+The sayings of the Sermon on the Mount were not of themselves sufficient
+here. Those who in the second century attempted to rest in these alone
+and turned aside from the Judaeo-Greek inheritance, landed in Marcionite
+or Encratite doctrines.[174] We can see, especially from the Apologies
+of Aristides (c. 15), Justin and Tatian (see also Lucian), that the
+earnest men of the Graeco-Roman world were won by the morality and active
+love of the Christians.
+
+
+Sec. 2. _The Foundations of the Faith._
+
+The foundations of the faith--whose abridged form was, on the one hand,
+the confession of the one true God, [Greek: monos alethinos theos],[175]
+and of Jesus, the Lord, the Son of God, the Saviour[176] and also of the
+Holy Spirit, and on the other hand, the confident hope of Christ's
+kingdom and the resurrection--were laid on the Old Testament interpreted
+in a Christian sense together with the Apocalypses,[177] and the
+progressively enriched traditions about Jesus Christ ([Greek: he
+parodosis--ho paradotheis logos--ho kanon tes aletheias] or [Greek: tes
+paradoseos--he pistis--ho kanon tes pisteos--ho dotheisa pistis--to
+kerygma--ta didagmata tou christou--he didache--ta mathemata], or
+[Greek: to mathema]).[178] The Old Testament revelations and oracles were
+regarded as pointing to Christ; the Old Testament itself, the words of
+God spoken by the Prophets, as the primitive Gospel of salvation, having
+in view the new people, which is, however, the oldest, and belonging to
+it alone.[179] The exposition of the Old Testament, which, as a rule,
+was of course read in the Alexandrian Canon of the Bible, turned it into
+a Christian book. A historical view of it, which no born Jew could in
+some measure fail to take, did not come into fashion, and the freedom
+that was used in interpreting the Old Testament,--so far as there was a
+method, it was the Alexandrian Jewish--went the length of even
+correcting the letter and enriching the contents.[180]
+
+The traditions concerning Christ on which the communities were based,
+were of a twofold character. First, there were words of the Lord, mostly
+ethical, but also of eschatological content, which were regarded as
+rules, though their expression was uncertain, ever changing, and only
+gradually assuming a fixed form. The [Greek: didagmata tou christou] are
+often just the moral commandments.[181] Second, the foundation of the
+faith, that is, the assurance of the blessing of salvation, was formed
+by a proclamation of the history of Jesus concisely expressed, and
+composed with reference to prophecy.[182] The confession of God the
+Father Almighty, of Christ as the Lord and Son of God, and of the Holy
+Spirit,[183] was at a very early period in the communities, united with
+the short proclamation of the history of Jesus, and at the same time, in
+certain cases, referred expressly to the revelation of God (the Spirit)
+through the prophets.[184] The confession thus conceived had not
+everywhere obtained a fixed definite expression in the first century (c.
+50-150). It would rather seem that, in most of the communities, there
+was no exact formulation beyond a confession of Father, Son and Spirit,
+accompanied in a free way by the historical proclamation.[185] It is
+highly probable, however, that a short confession was strictly
+formulated in the Roman community before the middle of the second
+century,[186] expressing belief in the Father, Son and Spirit, embracing
+also the most important facts in the history of Jesus, and mentioning
+the Holy Church, as well as the two great blessings of Christianity, the
+forgiveness of sin, and the resurrection of the dead ([Greek: aphesis
+hamartion, sarkos anastasis][187]). But, however the proclamation might
+be handed down, in a form somehow fixed, or in a free form, the
+disciples of Jesus, the (twelve) Apostles, were regarded as the
+authorities who mediated and guaranteed it. To them was traced back in
+the same way everything that was narrated of the history of Jesus, and
+everything that was inculcated from his sayings.[188] Consequently, it
+may be said, that beside the Old Testament, the chief court of appeal in
+the communities was formed by an aggregate of words and deeds of the
+Lord;--for the history and the suffering of Jesus are his deed: [Greek:
+ho Iesous hupemeinen pathein, k.t.l.]--fixed in certain fundamental
+features, though constantly enriched, and traced back to apostolic
+testimony.[189]
+
+The authority which the Apostles in this way enjoyed, did not, in any
+great measure, rest on the remembrance of direct services which the
+twelve had rendered to the Gentile Churches: for, as the want of
+reliable concrete traditions proves, no such services had been rendered,
+at least not by the _twelve_. On the contrary, there was a theory
+operative here regarding the special authority which the twelve enjoyed
+in the Church at Jerusalem, a theory which was spread by the early
+missionaries, including Paul, and sprang from the _a priori_
+consideration that the tradition about Christ, just because it grew up
+so quickly,[190] must have been entrusted to eye-witnesses who were
+commissioned to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world, and who
+fulfilled that commission. The _a priori_ character of this assumption
+is shewn by the fact that--with the exception of reminiscences of an
+activity of Peter and John among the [Greek: ethne], not sufficiently
+clear to us[191]--the twelve, as a rule, are regarded as a _college_, to
+which the mission and the tradition are traced back.[192] That such a
+theory, based on a dogmatic construction of history, could have at all
+arisen, proves that either the Gentile Churches never had a living
+relation to the twelve, or that they had very soon lost it in the rapid
+disappearance of Jewish Christianity, while they had been referred to
+the twelve from the beginning. But even in the communities which Paul
+had founded and for a long time guided, the remembrance of the
+controversies of the Apostolic age must have been very soon effaced, and
+the vacuum thus produced filled by a theory which directly traced back
+the _status quo_ of the Gentile Christian communities to a tradition of
+the twelve as its foundation. This fact is extremely paradoxical, and is
+not altogether explained by the assumptions that the Pauline-Judaistic
+controversy had not made a great impression on the Gentile Christians,
+that the way in which Paul, while fully recognising the twelve, had
+insisted on his own independent importance, had long ceased to be really
+understood, and that Peter and John had also really been missionaries to
+the Gentiles. The guarantee that was needed for the "teaching of the
+Lord" must, finally, be given not by Paul, but only by chosen
+eye-witnesses. The less that was known about them, the easier it was to
+claim them. The conviction as to the unanimity of the twelve, and as to
+their activity in founding the Gentile Churches, appeared in these
+Churches as early as the urgent need of protection against the serious
+consequences of unfettered religious enthusiasm and unrestrained
+religious fancy. This urgency cannot be dated too far back. In
+correspondence therewith, the principle of tradition in the Church
+(Christ, the twelve Apostles) in the case of those who were intent on
+the unity and completeness of Christendom, is also very old. But one
+passed logically from the Apostles to the disciples of the Apostles,
+"the Elders," without at first claiming for them any other significance
+than that of reliable hearers (Apostoli et discentes ipsorum). In coming
+down to them, one here and there betook oneself again to real historical
+ground, disciples of Paul, of Peter, of John.[193] Yet even here legends
+with a tendency speedily got mixed with facts, and because, in
+consequence of this theory of tradition, the Apostle Paul must needs
+fall into the background, his disciples also were more or less
+forgotten. The attempt which we have in the Pastoral Epistles remained
+without effect, as regards those to whom these epistles were addressed.
+Timothy and Titus obtained no authority outside these epistles. But so
+far as the epistles of Paul were collected, diffused, and read, there
+was created a complex of writings which at first stood beside the
+"Teaching of the Lord by the twelve Apostles", without being connected
+with it, and only obtained such connection by the creation of the New
+Testament, that is, by the interpolation of the Acts of the Apostles,
+between Gospels and Epistles.[194]
+
+
+Sec. 3. _The Main Articles of Christianity and the Conceptions of
+Salvation. Eschatology._
+
+1. The main articles of Christianity were (1) belief in God the [Greek:
+despotes], and in the Son in virtue of proofs from prophecy, and the
+teaching of the Lord as attested by the Apostles; (2) discipline
+according to the standard of the words of the Lord; (3) baptism; (4) the
+common offering of prayer, culminating in the Lord's Supper and the holy
+meal, (5) the sure hope of the nearness of Christ's glorious kingdom. In
+these appears the unity of Christendom, that is, of the Church which
+possesses the Holy Spirit.[195] On the basis of this unity Christian
+knowledge was free and manifold. It was distinguished as [Greek: sophia,
+sunesis, episteme, gnosis (ton dikaiomaton)], from the [Greek: logos
+theou tes pisteos], the [Greek: klesis tes epangelias] and the [Greek:
+entolai tes didaches] (Barn. 16. 9, similarly Hermas). Perception and
+knowledge of Divine things was a Charism possessed only by individuals,
+but like all Charisms it was to be used for the good of the whole. In so
+far as every actual perception was a perception produced by the Spirit,
+it was regarded as important and indubitable truth, even though some
+Christians were unable to understand it. While attention was given to
+the firm inculcation and observance of the moral precepts of Christ, as
+well as to the awakening of sure faith in Christ, and while all
+waverings and differences were excluded in respect of these, there was
+absolutely no current doctrine of faith in the communities, in the sense
+of a completed theory, and the theological speculations of even closely
+related Christian writers of this epoch, exhibit the greatest
+differences.[196] The productions of fancy, the terrible or consoling
+pictures of the future pass for sacred knowledge, just as much as
+intelligent and sober reflections, and edifying interpretation of Old
+Testament sayings. Even that which was afterwards separated as Dogmatic
+and Ethics was then in no way distinguished.[197] The communities gave
+expression in the cultus, chiefly in the hymns and prayers, to what they
+possessed in their God and their Christ; here sacred formulae were
+fashioned and delivered to the members.[198] The problem of surrendering
+the world in the hope of a life beyond was regarded as the practical
+side of the faith, and the unity in temper and disposition resting on
+faith in the saving revelation of God in Christ, permitted the highest
+degree of freedom in knowledge, the results of which were absolutely
+without control as soon as the preacher or the writer was recognised as
+a true teacher, that is, inspired by the Spirit of God.[199] There was
+also in wide circles a conviction that the Christian faith, after the
+night of error, included the full knowledge of everything worth knowing,
+that precisely in its most important articles it is accessible to men of
+every degree of culture, and that in it, in the now attained truth, is
+contained one of the most essential blessings of Christianity. When it
+is said in the Epistle of Barnabas (II. 2. 3); [Greek: tes pisteos hemon
+eisin boethoi phobos kai hupomone, ta de summachounta hemin makrothumia
+kai enkrateia; touton menonton ta pros kurion hagnos, suneuphrainontai
+autois sophia, sunesis, episteme, gnosis], knowledge appears in this
+classic formula to be an essential element in Christianity, conditioned
+by faith and the practical virtues, and dependent on them. Faith takes
+the lead, knowledge follows it: but of course in concrete cases it could
+not always be decided what was [Greek: logos tes pisteos], which
+implicitly contained the highest knowledge, and what the special [Greek:
+gnosis]; for in the last resort the nature of the two was regarded as
+identical, both being represented as produced by the Spirit of God.
+
+2. The conceptions of Christian salvation, or of redemption, were
+grouped around two ideas, which were themselves but loosely connected
+with each other, and of which the one influenced more the temper and the
+imagination, the other the intellectual faculty. On the one hand,
+salvation, in accordance with the earliest preaching, was regarded as
+the glorious kingdom which was soon to appear on earth with the visible
+return of Christ, which will bring the present course of the world to an
+end, and introduce for a definite series of centuries, before the final
+judgment, a new order of all things to the joy and blessedness of the
+saints.[200] In connection with this the hope of the resurrection of the
+body occupied the foreground[201]. On the other hand, salvation appeared
+to be given in the truth, that is, in the complete and certain knowledge
+of God, as contrasted with the error of heathendom and the night of sin,
+and this truth included the certainty of the gift of eternal life, and
+all conceivable spiritual blessings.[202] Of these the community, so far
+as it is a community of saints, that is, so far as it is ruled by the
+Spirit of God, already possesses forgiveness of sins and righteousness.
+But, as a rule, neither blessing was understood in a strictly religious
+sense, that is to say, the effect of their religious sense was narrowed.
+The moralistic view, in which eternal life is the wages and reward of a
+perfect moral life wrought out essentially by one's own power, took the
+place of first importance at a very early period. On this view,
+according to which the righteousness of God is revealed in punishment
+and reward alike, the forgiveness of sin only meant a single remission
+of sin in connection with entrance into the Church by baptism,[203] and
+righteousness became identical with virtue. The idea is indeed still
+operative, especially in the oldest Gentile-Christian writings known to
+us, that sinlessness rests upon a new creation (regeneration) which is
+effected in baptism;[204] but, so far as dissimilar eschatological hopes
+do not operate, it is everywhere in danger of being supplanted by the
+other idea, which maintains that there is no other blessing in the
+Gospel than the perfect truth and eternal life. All else is but a sum of
+obligations in which the Gospel is presented as a new law. The
+christianising of the Old Testament supported this conception. There was
+indeed an opinion that the Gospel, even so far as it is a law,
+comprehends a gift of salvation which is to be grasped by faith [Greek:
+nomos aneu zugou anankes,[205] nomos t. eleutherias],[206] Christ
+himself the law;[207] but this notion, as it is obscure in itself, was
+also an uncertain one and was gradually lost. Further, by the "law" was
+frequently meant in the first place, not the law of love, but the
+commandments of ascetic holiness, or an explanation and a turn were
+given to the law of love, according to which it is to verify itself
+above all in asceticism.[208]
+
+The expression of the contents of the Gospel in the concepts [Greek:
+epangelia (zoe aionios) gnosis (aletheia) nomos (enkrateia)], seemed
+quite as plain as it was exhaustive, and the importance of faith which
+was regarded as the basis of hope and knowledge and obedience in a holy
+life, was at the same time in every respect perceived.[209]
+
+
+_Supplement_ 1.--The moralistic view of sin, forgiveness of sin, and
+righteousness, in Clement, Barnabas, Polycarp and Ignatius, gives place
+to Pauline formulae; but the uncertainty with which these are reproduced,
+shews that the Pauline idea has not been clearly seen.[210] In Hermas,
+however, and in the second Epistle of Clement, the consciousness of
+being under grace, even after baptism, almost completely disappears
+behind the demand to fulfil the tasks which baptism imposes.[211] The
+idea that serious sins, in the case of the baptised, no longer should or
+can be forgiven, except under special circumstances, appears to have
+prevailed in wide circles, if not everywhere.[212] It reveals the
+earnestness of those early Christians and their elevated sense of
+freedom and power; but it might be united either with the highest moral
+intensity, or with a lax judgment on the little sins of the day. The
+latter, in point of fact, threatened to become more and more the
+presupposition and result of that idea--for there exists here a fatal
+reciprocal action.
+
+
+_Supplement_ 2.--The realisation of salvation--as [Greek: basileia tou
+theou] and as [Greek: aphtharsia]--being expected from the future, the
+whole present possession of salvation might be comprehended under the
+title of vocation ([Greek: klesis]) see, for example, the second Epistle
+of Clement. In this sense _gnosis_ itself was regarded as something only
+preparatory.
+
+
+_Supplement_ 3.--In some circles the Pauline formula about righteousness
+and salvation by faith alone, must, it would appear, not infrequently
+(as already in the Apostolic age itself) have been partly misconstrued,
+and partly taken advantage of as a cloak for laxity. Those who resisted
+such a disposition, and therefore also the formula in the post-Apostolic
+age, shew indeed by their opposition how little they have hit upon or
+understood the Pauline idea of faith: for they not only issued the
+watchword "faith and works" (though the Jewish ceremonial law was not
+thereby meant), but they admitted, and not only hypothetically, that one
+might have the true faith even though in his case that faith remained
+dead or united with immorality. See, above all, the Epistle of James and
+the Shepherd of Hermas; though the first Epistle of John comes also into
+consideration (III. 7: "He that doeth righteousness is righteous").[213]
+
+
+_Supplement_ 4.--However similar the eschatological expectations of the
+Jewish Apocalyptists and the Christians may seem, there is yet in one
+respect an important difference between them. The uncertainty about the
+final consummation was first set aside by the Gospel. It should be noted
+as highly characteristic of the Jewish hopes of the future, even of the
+most definite, how the beginning of the end, that is, the overthrow of
+the world-powers and the setting up of the earthly kingdom of God, was
+much more certainly expressed than the goal and the final end. Neither
+the general judgment, nor what we, according to Christian tradition,
+call heaven and hell, should be described as a sure possession of Jewish
+faith in the primitive Christian period. It is only in the Gospel of
+Christ, where everything is subordinated to the idea of a higher
+righteousness and the union of the individual with God, that the general
+judgment and the final condition after it are the clear, firmly grasped
+goal of all meditation. No doctrine has been more surely preserved in
+the convictions and preaching of believers in Christ than this. Fancy
+might roam ever so much and, under the direction of the tradition,
+thrust bright and precious images between the present condition and the
+final end, the main thing continued to be the great judgment of the
+world, and the certainty that the saints would go to God in heaven, the
+wicked to hell. But while the judgment, as a rule, was connected with
+the Person of Jesus himself (see the Romish Symbol: the words [Greek:
+krites zonton kai nekron], were very frequently applied to Christ in the
+earliest writings), the moral condition of the individual, and the
+believing recognition of the Person of Christ were put in the closest
+relation. The Gentile Christians held firmly to this. Open the Shepherd,
+or the second Epistle of Clement, or any other early Christian writing,
+and you will find that the judgment, heaven and hell, are the decisive
+objects. But that shews that the moral character of Christianity as a
+religion is seen and adhered to. The fearful idea of hell, far from
+signifying a backward step in the history of the religious spirit, is
+rather a proof of its having rejected the morally indifferent point of
+view, and of its having become sovereign in union with the ethical
+spirit.
+
+
+Sec. 4. _The Old Testament as Source of the Knowledge of Faith._[214]
+
+The sayings of the Old Testament, the word of God, were believed to
+furnish inexhaustible material for deeper knowledge. The Christian
+prophets were nurtured on the Old Testament, the teachers gathered from
+it the revelation of the past, present and future (Barn. 1. 7), and were
+therefore able as prophets to edify the Churches; from it was further
+drawn the confirmation of the answers to all emergent questions, as one
+could always find in the Old Testament what he was in search of. The
+different writers laid the holy book under contribution in very much the
+same way; for they were all dominated by the presupposition that this
+book is a Christian book, and contains the explanations that are
+necessary for the occasion. There were several teachers, e.g., Barnabas,
+who at a very early period boasted of finding in it ideas of special
+profundity and value--these were always an expression of the
+difficulties that were being felt. The plain words of the Lord as
+generally known, did not seem sufficient to satisfy the craving for
+knowledge, or to solve the problems that were emerging;[215] their
+origin and form also opposed difficulties at first to the attempt to
+obtain from them new disclosures by re-interpretation. But the Old
+Testament sayings and histories were in part unintelligible, or in their
+literal sense offensive; they were at the same time regarded as
+fundamental words of God. This furnished the conditions for turning them
+to account in the way we have stated. The following are the most
+important points of view under which the Old Testament was used. (1) The
+Monotheistic cosmology and view of nature were borrowed from it (see,
+for example, 1 Clem.). (2) It was used to prove that the appearance and
+entire history of Jesus had been foretold centuries, nay, thousands of
+years beforehand, and that the founding of a new people gathered out of
+all nations had been predicted and prepared for from the very
+beginning.[216] (3) It was used as a means of verifying all principles
+and institutions of the Christian Church,--the spiritual worship of God
+without images, the abolition of all ceremonial legal precepts, baptism,
+etc. (4) The Old Testament was used for purposes of exhortation
+according to the formula _a minori ad majus_; if God then punished and
+rewarded this or that in such a way, how much more may we expect, who
+now stand in the last days, and have received the [Greek: klesis tes
+epangelias]. (5) It was proved from the Old Testament that the Jewish
+nation is in error, and either never had a covenant with God or has lost
+it, that it has a false apprehension of God's revelations, and therefore
+has, now at least, no longer any claim to their possession. But beyond
+all this, (6) there were in the Old Testament books, above all, in the
+Prophets and in the Psalms, a great number of sayings--confessions of
+trust in God and of help received from God, of humility and holy
+courage, testimonies of a world-overcoming faith and words of comfort,
+love and communion--which were too exalted for any cavilling, and
+intelligible to every spiritually awakened mind. Out of this treasure
+which was handed down to the Greeks and Romans, the Church edified
+herself, and in the perception of its riches was largely rooted the
+conviction that the holy book must in every line contain the highest
+truth.
+
+The point mentioned under (5) needs, however, further explanation. The
+self-consciousness of the Christian community of being the people of
+God, must have been, above all, expressed in its position towards
+Judaism, whose mere existence--even apart from actual assaults--
+threatened that consciousness most seriously. A certain antipathy of the
+Greeks and Romans towards Judaism co-operated here with a law of
+self-preservation. On all hands, therefore, Judaism as it then existed
+was abandoned as a sect judged and rejected by God, as a society of
+hypocrites,[217] as a synagogue of Satan,[218] as a people seduced by an
+evil angel,[219] and the Jews were declared to have no further right to
+the possession of the Old Testament. Opinions differed, however, as to
+the earlier history of the nation and its relation to the true God.
+While some denied that there ever had been a covenant of salvation
+between God and this nation, and in this respect recognised only an
+intention of God,[220] which was never carried out because of the
+idolatry of the people, others admitted in a hazy way that a relation
+did exist; but even they referred all the promises of the Old Testament
+to the Christian people.[221] While the former saw in the observance of
+the letter of the law, in the case of circumcision, sabbath, precepts as
+to food, etc., a proof of the special devilish temptation to which the
+Jewish people succumbed,[222] the latter saw in circumcision a sign[223]
+given by God, and in virtue of certain considerations acknowledged that
+the literal observance of the law was for the time God's intention and
+command, though righteousness never came from such observance. Yet even
+they saw in the spiritual the alone true sense, which the Jews had
+denied, and were of opinion that the burden of ceremonies was a
+paedagogic necessity with reference to a people stiff-necked and prone to
+idolatry, i.e., a defence of monotheism, and gave an interpretation to
+the sign of circumcision which made it no longer a blessing, but rather
+the mark for the execution of judgment on Israel.[224]
+
+Israel was thus at all times the pseudo-Church. The older people does
+not in reality precede the younger people, the Christians, even in point
+of time; for though the Church appeared only in the last days, it was
+foreseen and created by God from the beginning. The younger people is
+therefore really the older, and the new law rather the original
+law.[225] The Patriarchs, Prophets, and men of God, however, who were
+favoured with the communication of God's words, have nothing inwardly in
+common with the Jewish people. They are God's elect who were
+distinguished by a holy walk, and must be regarded as the forerunners
+and fathers of the Christian people.[226] To the question how such holy
+men appeared exclusively, or almost exclusively, among the Jewish
+people, the documents preserved to us yield no answer.
+
+
+Sec. 5. _The Knowledge of God and of the World. Estimate of the World._
+
+The knowledge of faith was, above all, the knowledge of God as one,
+supramundane, spiritual,[227] and almighty ([Greek: pantokrator]); God
+is creator and governor of the world and therefore the Lord.[228] But as
+he created the world a beautiful ordered whole (monotheistic view of
+nature)[229] for the sake of man,[230] he is at the same time the God of
+goodness and redemption ([Greek: theos soter]), and the true faith in
+God and knowledge of him as the Father,[231] is made perfect only in the
+knowledge of the identity of the God of creation and the God of
+redemption. Redemption, however, was necessary, because at the beginning
+humanity and the world alike fell under the dominion of evil
+demons,[232] of the evil one. There was no universally accepted theory
+as to the origin of this dominion; but the sure and universal conviction
+was that the present condition and course of the world is not of God,
+but is of the devil. Those, however, who believed in God, the almighty
+creator, and were expecting the transformation of the earth, as well as
+the visible dominion of Christ upon it, could not be seduced into
+accepting a dualism in principle (God and devil: spirit and matter).
+Belief in God, the creator, and eschatological hopes, preserved the
+communities from the theoretic dualism that so readily suggested itself,
+which they slightly touched in many particular opinions, and which
+threatened to dominate their feelings. The belief that the world is of
+God and therefore good, remained in force. A distinction was made
+between the present constitution of the world, which is destined for
+destruction, and the future order of the world which will be a glorious
+"restitutio in integrum." The theory of the world as an articulated
+whole which had already been proclaimed by the Stoics, and which was
+strengthened by Christian monotheism, would not, even if it had been
+known to the uncultured, have been vigorous enough to cope with the
+impression of the wickedness of the course of this world, and the
+vulgarity of all things material. But the firm belief in the omnipotence
+of God, and the hope of the world's transformation grounded on the Old
+Testament, conquered the mood of absolute despair of all things visible
+and sensuous, and did not allow a theoretic conclusion, in the sense of
+dualism in principle, to be drawn from the practical obligation to
+renounce the world, or from the deep distrust with regard to the flesh.
+
+
+Sec. 6. _Faith in Jesus Christ._
+
+1. As surely as redemption was traced back to God himself, so surely was
+Jesus ([Greek: ho soter hemon]) held to be the mediator of it. Faith in
+Jesus was therefore, even for Gentile Christians, a compendium of
+Christianity. Jesus is mostly designated with the same name as God,[233]
+[Greek: ho kurios (hemon)], for we must remember the ancient use of this
+title. All that has taken place or will take place with reference to
+salvation, is traced back to the "Lord." The carelessness of the early
+Christian writers about the bearing of the word in particular
+cases,[234] shews that in a religious relation, so far as there was
+reflection on the gift of salvation, Jesus could directly take the place
+of God. The invisible God is the author, Jesus the revealer and
+mediator, of all saving blessings. The final subject is presented in the
+nearest subject, and there is frequently no occasion for expressly
+distinguishing them, as the range and contents of the revelation of
+salvation in Jesus coincide with the range and contents of the will of
+salvation in God himself. Yet prayers, as a rule, were addressed to God:
+at least, there are but few examples of direct prayers to Jesus
+belonging to the first century (apart from the prayers in the Act. Joh.
+of the so-called Leucius). The usual formula rather reads: [Greek: theoi
+exomologoumetha dia 'I. Chr.--theoi doxa dio 'I. Chr].[235]
+
+2. As the Gentile Christians did not understand the significance of the
+idea that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the designation "[Greek:
+christos]" had either to be given up in their communities, or to subside
+into a mere name.[236] But even where, through the Old Testament, one
+was reminded of the meaning of the word, and allowed a value to it, he
+was far from finding in the statement that Jesus is the Lord's anointed,
+a clear expression of the dignity peculiar to him. That dignity had
+therefore to be expressed by other means. Nevertheless the
+eschatological series of ideas connected the Gentile Christians very
+closely with the early Christian ideas of faith, and therefore also with
+the earliest ideas about Jesus. In the confession that God chose[237]
+and prepared[238] Jesus, that Jesus is the Angel[239] and the servant of
+God,[240] that he will judge the living and the dead,[241] etc.,
+expression is given to ideas about Jesus, in the Gentile Christian
+communities, which are borrowed from the thought that he is the Christ
+called of God and entrusted with an office.[242] Besides, there was a
+very old designation handed down from the circle of the disciples, and
+specially intelligible to Gentile Christians, though not frequent and
+gradually disappearing, viz., "the Master."[243]
+
+3. But the earliest tradition not only spoke of Jesus as [Greek: kurios,
+soter], and [Greek: didaskalos], but as "[Greek: ho huios tou theou]",
+and this name was firmly adhered to in the Gentile Christian
+communities.[244] It followed immediately from this that Jesus belongs
+to the sphere of God, and that, as is said in the earliest preaching
+known to us,[245] one must think of him "[Greek: hos peri theou]." This
+formula describes in a classic manner the indirect "theologia Christi"
+which we find unanimously expressed in all witnesses of the earliest
+epoch.[246] We must think about Christ as we think about God, because,
+on the one hand, God had exalted him, and committed to him as Lord,
+judgment over the living and the dead, and because, on the other hand,
+he has brought the knowledge of the truth, called sinful men, delivered
+them from the dominion of demons, and hath led, or will lead them, out
+of the night of death and corruption to eternal life. Jesus Christ is
+"our faith", "our hope", "our life", and in this sense "our God." The
+religious assurance that he is this, for we find no wavering on this
+point, is the root of the "theologia Christi"; but we must also remember
+that the formula "[Greek: theos]" was inserted beside "[Greek: kurios],"
+that the "dominus ac deus," was very common at that time,[247] and that
+a Saviour [Greek: soter] could only be represented somehow as a Divine
+being.[248] Yet Christ never was, as "[Greek: theos]," placed on an
+equality with the Father,[249]--monotheism guarded against that. Whether
+he was intentionally and deliberately identified with Him the following
+paragraph will shew.
+
+
+4. The common confession did not go beyond the statements that Jesus is
+the Lord, the Saviour, the Son of God, that one must think of him as of
+God, that dwelling now with God in heaven, he is to be adored as [Greek:
+prostates kai boethos tes astheneias], and as [Greek: archiereus ton
+prosphoron hemon] [as guardian and helper of the weak and as High Priest
+of our oblations], to be feared as the future Judge, to be esteemed most
+highly as the bestower of immortality, that he is our hope and our
+faith. There are found rather, on the basis of that confession, very
+diverse conceptions of the Person, that is, of the nature of Jesus,
+beside each other,[250] which collectively exhibit a certain analogy
+with the Greek theologies, the naive and the philosophic.[251] There was
+as yet no such thing here as ecclesiastical "doctrines" in the strict
+sense of the word, but rather conceptions more or less fluid, which were
+not seldom fashioned _ad hoc._[252] These may be reduced collectively to
+two.[253] Jesus was either regarded as the man whom God hath chosen, in
+whom the Deity or the Spirit of God dwelt, and who, after being tested,
+was adopted by God and invested with dominion, (Adoptian
+Christology);[254] or Jesus was regarded as a heavenly spiritual being
+(the highest after God) who took flesh, and again returned to heaven
+after the completion of his work on earth (pneumatic Christology).[255]
+These two Christologies which are, strictly speaking, mutually
+exclusive--the man who has become a God, and the Divine being who has
+appeared in human form--yet came very near each other when the Spirit of
+God implanted in the man Jesus was conceived as the pre-existent Son of
+God,[256] and when, on the other hand, the title, Son of God, for that
+pneumatic being, was derived only from the miraculous generation in the
+flesh; yet both these seem to have been the rule.[257] Yet, in spite of
+all transitional forms, the two Christologies may be clearly
+distinguished. Characteristic of the one is the development through
+which Jesus is first to become a Godlike Ruler,[258] and connected
+therewith, the value put on the miraculous event at the baptism; of the
+other, a naive docetism.[259] For no one as yet thought of affirming two
+natures in Jesus:[260] the Divine dignity appeared rather, either as a
+gift,[261] or the human nature ([Greek: sarx]) as a veil assumed for a
+time, or as the metamorphosis of the Spirit.[262] The formula that Jesus
+was a mere man ([Greek: psilos anthropos]), was undoubtedly always, and
+from the first, regarded as offensive.[263] But the converse formulae,
+which identified the person of Jesus in its essence with the Godhead
+itself, do not seem to have been rejected with the same decision.[264]
+Yet such formulae may have been very rare, and even objects of suspicion,
+in the leading ecclesiastical circles, at least until after the middle
+of the second century we can point to them only in documents which
+hardly found approbation in wide circles. The assumption of the
+existence of at least one heavenly and eternal spiritual being beside
+God, was plainly demanded by the Old Testament writings, as they were
+understood; so that even those whose Christology did not require them to
+reflect on that heavenly being were forced to recognise it.[265] The
+pneumatic Christology, accordingly, meets us wherever there is an
+earnest occupation with the Old Testament, and wherever faith in Christ
+as the perfect revealer of God, occupies the foreground, therefore not
+in Hermas, but certainly in Barnabas, Clement, etc. The future belonged
+to this Christology, because the current exposition of the Old Testament
+seemed directly to require it, because it alone permitted the close
+connection between creation and redemption, because it furnished the
+proof that the world and religion rest upon the same Divine basis,
+because it was represented in the most valuable writings of the early
+period of Christianity, and finally, because it had room for the
+speculations about the Logos. On the other hand, no direct and natural
+relation to the world and to universal history could be given to the
+Adoptian Christology, which was originally determined eschatologically.
+If such a relation, however, were added to it, there resulted formulae
+such as that of two Sons of God, one natural and eternal, and one
+adopted, which corresponded neither to the letter of the Holy
+Scriptures, nor to the Christian preaching. Moreover, the revelations of
+God in the Old Testament made by Theophanies, must have seemed, because
+of this their form, much more exalted than the revelations made through
+a man raised to power and glory, which Jesus constantly seemed to be in
+the Adoptian Christology. Nay, even the mysterious personality of
+Melchisedec, without father or mother, might appear more impressive than
+the Chosen Servant, Jesus, who was born of Mary, to a mode of thought
+which, in order to make no mistake, desired to verify the Divine by
+outer marks. The Adoptian Christology, that is, the Christology which is
+most in keeping with the self-witness of Jesus (the Son as the chosen
+Servant of God), is here shewn to be unable to assure to the Gentile
+Christians those conceptions of Christianity which they regarded as of
+highest value. It proved itself insufficient when confronted by any
+reflection on the relation of religion to the cosmos, to humanity, and
+to its history. It might, perhaps, still have seemed doubtful about the
+middle of the second century, as to which of the two opposing formulae
+"Jesus is a man exalted to a Godlike dignity", and "Jesus is a divine
+spiritual being incarnate", would succeed in the Church. But one only
+needs to read the pieces of writing which represent the latter thesis,
+and to compare them, say, with the Shepherd of Hermas, in order to see
+to which view the future must belong. In saying this, however, we are
+anticipating; for the Christological reflections were not yet vigorous
+enough to overcome enthusiasm and the expectation of the speedy end of
+all things, and the mighty practical tendency of the new religion to a
+holy life did not allow any theory to become the central object of
+attention. But, still, it is necessary to refer here to the
+controversies which broke out at a later period; for the pneumatic
+Christology forms an essential article, which cannot be dispensed with,
+in the expositions of Barnabas, Clement and Ignatius, and Justin shews
+that he cannot conceive of a Christianity without the belief in a real
+pre-existence of Christ. On the other hand, the liturgical formulae, the
+prayers, etc., which have been preserved, scarcely ever take notice of
+the pre-existence of Christ. They either comprise statements which are
+borrowed from the Adoptian Christology, or they testify in an
+unreflective way to the Dominion and Deity of Christ.
+
+5. The ideas of Christ's work which were influential in the
+communities--Christ as Teacher: creation of knowledge, setting up of the
+new law; Christ as Saviour: creation of life, overcoming of the demons,
+forgiveness of sins committed in the time of error,--were by some, in
+conformity with Apostolic tradition and following the Pauline Epistles,
+positively connected with the death and resurrection of Christ, while
+others maintained them without any connection with these events. But one
+nowhere finds independent thorough reflections on the connection of
+Christ's saving work with the facts proclaimed in the preaching, above
+all, with the death on the cross and the resurrection as presented by
+Paul. The reason of this undoubtedly is that in the conception of the
+work of salvation, the procuring of forgiveness fell into the
+background, as this could only be connected by means of the notion of
+sacrifice, with a definite act of Jesus, viz., with the surrender of his
+life. Consequently, the facts of the destiny of Jesus combined in the
+preaching, formed, only for the religious fancy, not for reflection, the
+basis of the conception of the work of Christ, and were therefore by
+many writers, Hermas, for example, taken no notice of. Yet the idea of
+suffering freely accepted, of the cross and of the blood of Christ,
+operated in wide circles as a holy mystery, in which the deepest wisdom
+and power of the Gospel must somehow lie concealed.[266] The peculiarity
+and uniqueness of the work of the historical Christ seemed, however, to
+be prejudiced by the assumption that Christ, essentially as the same
+person, was already in the Old Testament the Revealer of God. All
+emphasis must therefore fall on this--without a technical reflection
+which cannot be proved--that the Divine revelation has now, through the
+historical Christ, become accessible and intelligible to all, and that
+the life which was promised will shortly be made manifest.[267]
+
+As to the facts of the history of Jesus, the real and the supposed, the
+circumstance that they formed the ever repeated proclamation about
+Christ gave them an extraordinary significance. In addition to the birth
+from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, the death, the resurrection, the
+exaltation to the right hand of God, and the coming again, there now
+appeared more definitely the ascension to heaven, and also, though more
+uncertainly, the descent into the kingdom of the dead. The belief that
+Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after the resurrection, gradually
+made way against the older conception, according to which resurrection
+and ascension really coincided, and against other ideas which maintained
+a longer period between the two events. That probably is the result of a
+reflection which sought to distinguish the first from the later
+manifestations of the exalted Christ, and it is of the utmost importance
+as the beginning of a demarcation of the times. It is also very probable
+that the acceptance of an actual _ascensus in coelum_, not a mere
+_assumptio_, was favourable to the idea of an actual descent of Christ
+_de coelo_, therefore to the pneumatic Christology and vice versa. But
+there is also closely connected with the _ascensus in coelum_, the
+notion of a _descensus ad inferna_, which commended itself on the ground
+of Old Testament prediction. In the first century, however, it still
+remained uncertain, lying on the borders of those productions of
+religious fancy which were not able at once to acquire a right of
+citizenship in the communities.[268]
+
+One can plainly see that the articles contained in the _Kerygma_ were
+guarded and defended in their reality ([Greek: kat' aletheian]) by the
+professional teachers of the Church, against sweeping attempts at
+explaining them away, or open attacks on them.[269] But they did not yet
+possess the value of dogmas, for they were neither put in an
+indissoluble union with the idea of salvation, nor were they stereotyped
+in their extent, nor were fixed limits set to the imagination in the
+concrete delineation and conception of them.[270]
+
+
+Sec. 7. _The Worship, the Sacred Ordinances, and the Organisation of the
+Churches._
+
+It is necessary to examine the original forms of the worship and
+constitution, because of the importance which they acquired in the
+following period even for the development of doctrine.
+
+1. In accordance with the purely spiritual idea of God, it was a fixed
+principle that only a spiritual worship is well pleasing to Hun, and
+that all ceremonies are abolished, [Greek: hina ho kainos nomos tou
+kuriou hemon Iesou Christou me anthropopoieton echei ten
+prosphoran].[271] But as the Old Testament and the Apostolic tradition
+made it equally certain that the worship of God is a sacrifice, the
+Christian worship of God was set forth under the aspect of the spiritual
+sacrifice. In the most general sense it was conceived as the offering of
+the heart and of obedience, as well as the consecration of the whole
+personality, body and soul (Rom XIII. 1) to God.[272] Here, with a
+change of the figure, the individual Christian and the whole community
+were described as a temple of God.[273] In a more special sense, prayer
+as thanksgiving and intercession,[274] was regarded as the sacrifice
+which was to be accompanied, without constraint or ceremony, by fasts
+and acts of compassionate love.[275] Finally, prayers offered by the
+worshipper in the public worship of the community, and the gifts brought
+by them, out of which were taken the elements for the Lord's supper, and
+which were used partly in the common meal, and partly in support of the
+poor, were regarded as sacrifice in the most special sense ([Greek:
+prosphora, dora]).[276] For the following period, however, it became of
+the utmost importance, (1) that the idea of sacrifice ruled the whole
+worship, (2) that it appeared in a special manner in the celebration of
+the Lord's supper, and consequently invested that ordinance with a new
+meaning, (3) that the support of the poor, alms, especially such alms as
+had been gained by prayer and fasting, was placed under the category of
+sacrifice (Heb. XIII. 16), for this furnished the occasion for giving
+the widest application to the idea of sacrifice, and thereby
+substituting for the original Semitic Old Testament idea of sacrifice
+with its spiritual interpretation, the Greek idea with its
+interpretation.[277] It may, however, be maintained that the changes
+imposed on the Christian religion by Catholicism, are at no point so
+obvious and far-reaching, as in that of sacrifice, and especially in the
+solemn ordinance of the Lord's supper, which was placed in such close
+connection with the idea of sacrifice.
+
+2. When in the "Teaching of the Apostles," which may be regarded here as
+a classic document, the discipline of life in accordance with the words
+of the Lord, Baptism, the order of fasting and prayer, especially the
+regular use of the Lord's prayer, and the Eucharist are reckoned the
+articles on which the Christian community rests, and when the common
+Sunday offering of a sacrifice made pure by a brotherly disposition, and
+the mutual exercise of discipline are represented as decisive for the
+stability of the individual community,[278] we perceive that the general
+idea of a pure spiritual worship of God has nevertheless been realised
+in definite institutions, and that, above all, it has included the
+traditional sacred ordinances, and adjusted itself to them as far as
+that was possible.[279] This could only take effect under the idea of
+the symbolical, and therefore this idea was most firmly attached to
+these ordinances. But the symbolical of that time is not to be
+considered as the opposite of the objectively real, but as the
+mysterious, the God produced ([Greek: mysterion]) as contrasted with the
+natural, the profanely clear. As to Baptism, which was administered in
+the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, though Cyprian, Ep. 73. 16-18,
+felt compelled to oppose the custom of baptising in the name of Jesus,
+we noted above (Chap. III. p. 161 f.) that it was regarded as the bath
+of regeneration, and as renewal of life, inasmuch as it was assumed that
+by it the sins of the past state of blindness were blotted out.[280] But
+as faith was looked upon as the necessary condition,[281] and as on the
+other hand, the forgiveness of the sins of the past was in itself deemed
+worthy of God,[282] the asserted specific result of baptism remained
+still very uncertain, and the hard tasks which it imposed, might seem
+more important than the merely retrospective gifts which it
+proffered.[283] Under such circumstances the rite could not fail to lead
+believers about to be baptized, to attribute value here to the
+mysterious as such.[284] But that always creates a state of things which
+not only facilitates, but positively prepares for the introduction of
+new and strange ideas. For neither fancy nor reflection can long
+continue in the vacuum of mystery. The names [Greek: sphragis] and
+[Greek: photismos], which at that period came into fashion for baptism,
+are instructive, inasmuch as neither of them is a direct designation of
+the presupposed effect of baptism, the forgiveness of sin, and as
+besides, both of them evince a Hellenic conception. Baptism in being
+called the seal,[285] is regarded as the guarantee of a blessing, not as
+the blessing itself, at least the relation to it remains obscure; in
+being called enlightenment,[286] it is placed directly under an aspect
+that is foreign to it. It would be different if we had to think of
+[Greek: photismos] as a gift of the Holy Spirit, which is given to the
+baptised as real principle of a new life and miraculous powers. But the
+idea of a necessary union of baptism with a miraculous communication of
+the Spirit, seems to have been lost very early, or to have become
+uncertain, the actual state of things being no longer favourable to
+it;[287] at any rate, it does not explain the designation of baptism as
+[Greek: photismos].
+
+As regards the Lord's Supper, the most important point is that its
+celebration became more and more the central point, not only for the
+worship of the Church, but for its very life as a Church. The form of
+this celebration, the common meal, made it appear to be a fitting
+expression of the brotherly unity of the community (on the public
+confession before the meal, see Didache, 14, and my notes on the
+passage). The prayers which it included presented themselves as vehicles
+for bringing before God, in thanksgiving and intercession, every thing
+that affected the community; and the presentation of the elements for
+the holy ordinance was naturally extended to the offering of gifts for
+the poor brethren, who in this way received them from the hand of God
+himself. In all these respects, however, the holy ordinance appeared as
+a sacrifice of the community, and indeed, as it was also named, [Greek:
+eucharistia], sacrifice of thanksgiving.[288] As an act of sacrifice,
+_termini technici_ which the Old Testament applied to sacrifice could be
+applied to it, and all the wealth of ideas which the Old Testament
+connects with sacrifice, could be transferred to it. One cannot say that
+anything absolutely foreign was therewith introduced into the ordinance,
+however doubtful it may be whether in the idea of its founder the meal
+was thought of as a sacrificial meal. But it must have been of the most
+wide-reaching significance, that a wealth of ideas was in this way
+connected with the ordinance, which had nothing whatever in common,
+either with the purpose of the meal as a memorial of Christ's
+death,[289] or with the mysterious symbols of the body and blood of
+Christ. The result was that the one transaction obtained a double value.
+At one time it appeared as the [Greek: prosphora] and [Greek: thusia] of
+the Church,[290] as the pure sacrifice which is presented to the great
+king by Christians scattered over the world, as they offer to him their
+prayers, and place before him again what he has bestowed in order to
+receive it back with thanks and praise. But there is no reference in
+this to the mysterious words that the bread and wine are the body of
+Christ broken, and the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sin.
+These words, in and of themselves, must have challenged a special
+consideration. They called forth the recognition in the sacramental
+action, or rather in the consecrated elements, of a mysterious
+communication of God, a gift of salvation, and this is the second
+aspect. But on a purely spiritual conception of the Divine gift of
+salvation, the blessings mediated through the Holy Supper could only be
+thought of as spiritual (faith, knowledge, or eternal life), and the
+consecrated elements could only be recognised as the mysterious vehicles
+of these blessings. There was yet no reflection on the distinction
+between symbol and vehicle; the symbol was rather regarded as the
+vehicle, and vice versa. We shall search in vain for any special
+relation of the partaking of the consecrated elements to the forgiveness
+of sin. That was made impossible by the whole current notions of sin and
+forgiveness. That on which value was put was the strengthening of faith
+and knowledge, as well as the guarantee of eternal life, and a meal in
+which there was appropriated not merely common bread and wine, but a
+[Greek: trophe pneumatike], seemed to have a bearing upon these. There
+was as yet little reflection; but there can be no doubt that thought
+here moved in a region bounded, on the one hand, by the intention of
+doing justice to the wonderful words of institution which had been
+handed down, and on the other hand, by the fundamental conviction that
+spiritual things can only be got by means of the Spirit.[291] There was
+thus attached to the Supper the idea of sacrifice, and of a sacred gift
+guaranteed by God. The two things were held apart, for there is as yet
+no trace of that conception, according to which the body of Christ
+represented in the bread[292] is the sacrifice offered by the community.
+But one feels almost called upon here to construe from the premises the
+later development of the idea, with due regard to the ancient Hellenic
+ideas of sacrifice.
+
+3. The natural distinctions among men, and the differences of position
+and vocation which these involve, were not to be abolished in the
+Church, notwithstanding the independence and equality of every
+individual Christian, but were to be consecrated: above all, every
+relation of natural piety was to be respected. Therefore the elders also
+acquired a special authority, and were to receive the utmost deference
+and due obedience. But, however important the organisation that was
+based on the distinction between [Greek: presbuteroi] and [Greek:
+neoteroi], it ought not to be considered as characteristic of the
+Churches, not even where there appeared at the head of the community a
+college of chosen elders, as was the case in the greater communities and
+perhaps soon everywhere. On the contrary, only an organisation founded
+on the gifts of the Spirit [Greek: charismata], bestowed on the Church
+by God,[293] corresponded to the original peculiarity of the Christian
+community. The Apostolic age therefore transmitted a twofold
+organisation to the communities. The one was based on the [Greek:
+diakonia tou logou], and was regarded as established directly by God;
+the other stood in the closest connection with the economy of the
+church, above all with the offering of gifts, and so with the
+sacrificial service. In the first were men speaking the word of God,
+commissioned and endowed by God, and bestowed on Christendom, not on a
+particular community, who as [Greek: apostoloi, prophetai], and [Greek:
+didaskaloi] had to spread the Gospel, that is to edify the Church of
+Christ. They were regarded as the real [Greek: hegoumenoi] in the
+communities, whose words given them by the Spirit all were to accept in
+faith. In the second were [Greek: episkopoi], and [Greek: diakonoi],
+appointed by the individual congregation and endowed with the charisms
+of leading and helping, who had to receive and administer the gifts, to
+perform the sacrificial service (if there were no prophets present), and
+take charge of the affairs of the community.[294] It lay in the nature
+of the case that as a rule the [Greek: episkopoi], as independent
+officials, were chosen from among the elders, and might thus coincide
+with the chosen [Greek: presbyteroi]. But a very important development
+takes place in the second half of our epoch. The prophets and
+teachers--as the result of causes which followed the naturalising of the
+Churches in the world--fell more and more into the background, and their
+function, the solemn service of the word, began to pass over to the
+officials of the community, the bishops, who already played a great role
+in the public worship. At the same time, however, it appeared more and
+more fitting to entrust one official, as chief leader (superintendent of
+public worship), with the reception of gifts and their administration,
+together with the care of the unity of public worship, that is, to
+appoint one bishop instead of a number of bishops, leaving, however, as
+before, the college of presbyters, as [Greek: proistamenoi tes
+ekklesias], a kind of senate of the community.[295] Moreover, the idea
+of the chosen bishops and deacons as the antitypes of the Priests and
+Levites, had been formed at an early period in connection with the idea
+of the new sacrifice. But we find also the idea, which is probably the
+earlier of the two, that the prophets and teachers, as the commissioned
+preachers of the word, are the priests. The hesitancy in applying this
+important allegory must have been brought to an end by the disappearance
+of the latter view. But it must have been still more important that the
+bishops, or bishop, in taking over the functions of the old [Greek:
+lalountes ton logon], who were not Church officials, took over also the
+profound veneration with which they were regarded as the special organs
+of the Spirit. But the condition of the organisation in the communities
+about the year 140, seems to have been a very diverse one. Here and
+there, no doubt, the convenient arrangement of appointing only one
+bishop was carried out, while his functions had not perhaps been
+essentially increased, and the prophets and teachers were still the
+great spokesmen. Conversely, there may still have been in other
+communities a number of bishops, while the prophets and teachers no
+longer played regularly an important role. A fixed organisation was
+reached, and the Apostolic episcopal constitution established, only in
+consequence of the so-called Gnostic crisis, which was epoch-making in
+every respect. One of its most important presuppositions, and one that
+has struck very deep into the development of doctrine must, however, be
+borne in mind here. As the Churches traced back all the laws according
+to which they lived, and all the blessings they held sacred, to the
+tradition of the twelve Apostles, because they regarded them as
+Christian only on that presupposition, they also in like manner, as far
+as we can discover, traced back their organisation of presbyters, i.e.,
+of bishops and deacons, to Apostolic appointment. The notion which
+followed quite naturally, was that the Apostles themselves had appointed
+the first church officials.[296] That idea may have found support in
+some actual cases of the kind, but this does not need to be considered
+here; for these cases would not have led to the setting up of a theory.
+But the point in question here is a theory, which is nothing else than
+an integral part of the general theory, that the twelve Apostles were in
+every respect the middle term between Jesus and the present Churches
+(see above, p. 158). This conception is earlier than the great Gnostic
+crisis, for the Gnostics also shared it. But no special qualities of the
+officials, but only of the Church itself, were derived from it, and it
+was believed that the independence and sovereignty of the Churches were
+in no way endangered by it, because an institution by Apostles was
+considered equivalent to an institution by the Holy Spirit, whom they
+possessed, and whom they followed. The independence of the Churches
+rested precisely on the fact that they had the Spirit in their midst.
+The conception here briefly sketched, was completely transformed in the
+following period by the addition of another idea--that of Apostolic
+succession,[297] and then became, together with the idea of the specific
+priesthood of the leader of the Church, the most important means of
+exalting the office above the community.[298]
+
+
+_Supplementary._
+
+This review of the common faith and the beginnings of knowledge, worship
+and organisation, in the earliest Gentile Christianity, will have shewn
+that the essential premises for the development of Catholicism were
+already in existence before the middle of the second century, and before
+the burning conflict with Gnosticism. We may see this, whether we look
+at the peculiar form of the _Kerygma_, or at the expression of the idea
+of tradition, or at the theology with its moral and philosophic
+attitude. We may therefore conclude that the struggle with Gnosticism
+hastened the development, but did not give it a new direction. For the
+Greek spirit, the element which was most operative in Gnosticism, was
+already concealed in the earliest Gentile Christianity itself: it was
+the atmosphere which one breathed; but the elements peculiar to
+Gnosticism were for the most part rejected.[299] We may even go back a
+step further (see above, pp. 41, 76). The great Apostle to the Gentiles
+himself, in his epistle to the Romans, and in those to the Corinthians,
+transplanted the Gospel into Greek modes of thought. He attempted to
+expound it with Greek ideas, and not only called the Greeks to the Old
+Testament and the Gospel, but also introduced the Gospel as a leaven
+into the religious and philosophic world of Greek ideas. Moreover, in
+his pneumatico-cosmic Christology he gave the Greeks an impulse towards
+a theologoumenon, at whose service they could place their whole
+philosophy and mysticism. He preached the foolishness of Christ
+crucified, and yet in doing so, proclaimed the wisdom of the
+nature-vanquishing Spirit, the heavenly Christ. From this moment was
+established a development which might indeed assume very different
+forms, but in which all the forces and ideas of Hellenism must gradually
+pass over to the Gospel. But even with this the last word has not been
+said; on the contrary, we must remember that the Gospel itself belonged
+to the fulness of the times, which is indicated by the inter-action of
+the Old Testament and the Hellenic religions (see above, pp. 41, 56).
+
+The documents which have been preserved from the first century of the
+Gentile Church are, in their relation to the history of Dogma, very
+diverse. In the Didache we have a Catechism for Christian life,
+dependent on a Jewish Greek Catechism, and giving expression to what was
+specifically Christian in the prayers, and in the order of the Church.
+The Epistle of Barnabas, probably of Alexandrian origin, teaches the
+correct, Christian, interpretation of the Old Testament, rejects the
+literal interpretation and Judaism as of the devil, and in Christology
+essentially follows Paul. The Romish first Epistle of Clement, which
+also contains other Pauline reminiscences (reconciliation and
+justification) represents the same Christology, but it set it in a
+moralistic mode of thought. This is a most typical writing in which the
+spirit of tradition, order, stability, and the universal ecclesiastical
+guardianship of Rome is already expressed. The moralistic mode of
+thought is classically represented by the Shepherd of Hermas, and the
+second Epistle of Clement, in which, besides, the eschatological element
+is very prominent. We have in the Shepherd the most important document
+for the Church Christianity of the age, reflected in the mirror of a
+prophet who, however, takes into account the concrete relations. The
+theology of Ignatius is the most advanced, in so far as he, opposing the
+Gnostics, brings the facts of salvation into the foreground, and directs
+his Gnosis not so much to the Old Testament as to the history of Christ.
+He attempts to make Christ [Greek: kata pneuma] and [Greek: kata sarka]
+the central point of Christianity. In this sense his theology and speech
+is Christocentric, related to that of Paul and the fourth Evangelist,
+(specially striking is the relationship with Ephesians), and is strongly
+contrasted with that of his contemporaries. Of kindred spirit with him
+are Melito and Irenaeus, whose forerunner he is. He is related to them as
+Methodius at a later period was related to the classical orthodox
+theology of the fourth and fifth centuries. This parallel is
+appropriate, not merely in point of form: it is rather one and the same
+tendency of mind which passes over from Ignatius to Melito, Irenaeus,
+Methodius, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa (here, however, mixed with
+Origenic elements), and to Cyril of Alexandria. Its characteristic is
+that not only does the person of Christ as the God-man form the central
+point and sphere of theology, but also that all the main points of his
+history are mysteries of the world's redemption. (Ephes. 19). But
+Ignatius is also distinguished by the fact that behind all that is
+enthusiastic, pathetic, abrupt, and again all that pertains to
+liturgical form, we find in his epistles a true devotion to Christ
+([Greek: ho theos mou]). He is laid hold of by Christ: Cf. Ad. Rom. 6:
+[Greek: ekeinon zeto, ton hyper hemon apothanonta, ekeinon thelo ton di'
+hemas anastanta]; Rom. 7: [Greek: ho emos eros estaurotai kai ouk estin
+en emoi pur philoulon]. As a sample of his theological speech and his
+rule of faith, see ad. Smyrn. 1: [Greek: enoesa humas katertismenous en
+akineto pistei, hosper kathelomenous en to stauro tou kuriou Iesou
+Christou sarki te kai pneumati kai hedrasmenous en agape en to haimati
+Christou, peplerophoremenous eis ton kuriou hemon, alethos onta ek
+genous Dabid kata sarka, huion theou kata thelema kai dunamin theou,
+gegenemenon alethos ek parthenou, bebaptismenon hypo Ioannou, hina
+plerothe pasa dikaiosune hup' autou, alethos epi Pontiou Pilatou kai
+Herodou tetrarchou kathelomenon huper hemon en sarki--aph' hou karpou
+hemeis, apo tou theomakaritou autou pathous--hina are sussemon eis tous
+aionas dia tes anastaseos eis tous agious kai pistous autou eite en
+Ioudaious eite en ethnesin en heni somati tes ekklesias autou]. The
+Epistle of Polycarp is characterised by its dependence on earlier
+Christian writings (Epistles of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John), consequently, by
+its conservative attitude with regard to the most valuable traditions of
+the Apostolic period. The _Kerygma_ of Peter exhibits the transition
+from the early Christian literature to the apologetic (Christ as [Greek:
+nomos] and as [Greek: logos]).
+
+It is manifest that the lineage, "Ignatius, Polycarp, Melito, Irenaeus",
+is in characteristic contrast with all others, has deep roots in the
+Apostolic age, as in Paul and in the Johannine writings, and contains in
+germ important factors of the future formation of dogma, as it appeared
+in Methodius, Athanasius, Marcellus, Cyril of Jerusalem. It is very
+doubtful therefore, whether we are justified in speaking of an Asia
+Minor theology. (Ignatius does not belong to Asia Minor.) At any rate,
+the expression, Asia Minor-Romish Theology, has no justification. But it
+has its truth in the correct observation, that the standards by which
+Christianity and Church matters were measured and defined, must have
+been similar in Rome and Asia Minor during the second century. We lack
+all knowledge of the closer connections. We can only again refer to the
+journey of Polycarp to Rome, to that of Irenaeus by Rome to Gaul, to the
+journey of Abercius and others (cf. also the application of the
+Montanist communities in Asia Minor for recognition by the Roman
+bishop). In all probability, Asia Minor, along with Rome, was the
+spiritual centre of Christendom from about 60-200: but we have but few
+means for describing how this centre was brought to bear on the
+circumference. What we do know belongs more to the history of the Church
+than to the special history of dogma.
+
+_Literature._--The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers. See the
+edition of v. Gebhardt, Harnack, Zahn, 1876. Hilgenfeld, Nov. Test.
+extra Can. recept. fasc. IV. 2 edit. 1884, has collected further remains
+of early Christian literature. The Teaching of the twelve Apostles.
+Fragments of the Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter (my edition, 1893). Also
+the writings of Justin and other apologists, in so far as they give
+disclosures about the faith of the communities of his time, as well as
+statements in Celsus [Greek: Alethes Logos], in Irenaeus, Clement of
+Alexandria, and Tertullian. Even Gnostic fragments may be cautiously
+turned to profit. Ritschl, Entstehung der altkath. Kirche 2 Aufl. 1857.
+Pfleiderer, Das Urchristenthum, 1887. Renan, Origins of Christianity,
+vol. V. V. Engelhardt, Das Christenthum Justin's, d. M. 1878, p. 375 ff.
+Schenkel, Das Christusbild der Apostel, etc., 1879. Zahn, Gesch. des
+N.-Tlichen Kanons, 2 Bde. 1888. Behm, Das Christliche Gesetzthum der
+Apostolischen Vaeter (Zeitschr. f. kirchl. Wissensch. 1886). Dorner,
+History of the doctrine of the Person of Christ, 1845. Schultz, Die
+Lehre von der Gottheit Christi, 1881, p. 22 ff. Hoefling. Die Lehre der
+aeltesten Kirche vom Opfer, 1851. Hoefling, Das Sacrament d. Taufe, 1848.
+Kahnis, Die Lehre vom Abendmahl, 1851. Th. Harnack, Der Christliche
+Gemeindegottedienst im Apost. u. Altkath. Zeitalter, 1854. Hatch,
+Organisation of the Early Church, 1883. My Prolegomena to the Didache
+(Texte u. Unters. II. Bd. H. 1, 2). Diestel, Gesch. des A.T. in der
+Christi. Kirche, 1869. Sohm, Kirchenrecht, 1892, Monographs on the
+Apostolic Fathers: on 1 Clem.: Lipsius, Lightfoot (most accurate
+commentary), Wrede; on 2 Clem.: A. Harnack (Ztschr. f. K. Gesch. 1887);
+on Barnabas: J. Mueller; on Hermas: Zahn, Hueckstaedt, Link; on Papias:
+Weiffenbach, Leimbach, Zahn, Lightfoot; on Ignatius and Polycarp:
+Lightfoot (accurate commentary) and Zahn; on the Gospel and Apocalypse
+of Peter: A. Harnack: on the Kerygma of Peter: von Dobschuetz; on Acts of
+Thecla: Schlau.
+
+
+[Footnote 162: The statements made in this chapter need special
+forbearance, especially as the selection from the rich and motley
+material--cf. only the so-called Apostolic Fathers--the emphasising of
+this, the throwing into the background of that element, cannot here be
+vindicated. It is not possible, in the compass of a brief account, to
+give expression to that elasticity and those oscillations of ideas and
+thoughts which were peculiar to the Christians of the earliest period.
+There was indeed, as will be shewn, a complex of tradition in many
+respects fixed, but this complex was still under the dominance of an
+enthusiastic fancy, so that what at one moment seemed fixed, in the next
+had disappeared. Finally, attention must be given to the fact that when
+we speak of the beginnings of knowledge, the members of the Christian
+community in their totality are no longer in question, but only
+individuals who of course were the leaders of the others. If we had no
+other writings from the times of the Apostolic Fathers than the first
+Epistle of Clement and the Epistle of Polycarp, it would be
+comparatively easy to sketch a clear history of the development
+connecting Paulinism with the old-Catholic Theology as represented by
+Irenaeus, and so to justify the traditional ideas. But besides these two
+Epistles which are the classic monuments of the mediating tradition, we
+have a great number of documents which shew us how manifold and
+complicated the development was. They also teach us how careful we
+should be in the interpretation of the post-Apostolic documents that
+immediately followed the Pauline Epistles, and that we must give special
+heed to the paragraphs and ideas in them, which distinguish them from
+Paulinism. Besides, it is of the greatest importance that those two
+Epistles originated in Rome and Asia Minor, as these are the places
+where we must seek the embryonic stage of old-Catholic doctrine.
+Numerous fine threads, in the form of fundamental ideas and particular
+views, pass over from the Asia Minor theology of the post-Apostolic
+period into the old-Catholic theology.]
+
+[Footnote 163: The Epistle to the Hebrews (X. 25), the Epistle of
+Barnabas (IV. 10), the Shepherd of Hermas (Sim. IX. 26, 3), but
+especially the Epistles of Ignatius and still later documents, shew that
+up to the middle of the second Century, and even later, there were
+Christians who, for various reasons, stood outside the union of
+communities, or wished to have only a loose and temporary relation to
+them. The exhortation: [Greek: epi to auto sunerchomenoi sunzeteite peri
+tou koine sumpherontos] (see my note on Didache, XVI. 2, and cf.) for
+the expression the interesting State Inscription which was found at
+Magnesia on the Meander. Bull, Corresp. Hellen 1883, p. 506: [Greek:
+apagoreuo mete sunerchesthai tous artokokous kat' hetairian mete
+parestekotas thrasunesthai, peitharchein de pantos tois huper tou koine
+sumpherontos epitattomenois k.t.l.] or the exhortation: [Greek:
+kollasthe tois hagiois, hoti hoi kollomenoi autois hagiasthesontai] (1
+Clem. 46. 2, introduced as [Greek: graphe]) runs through most of the
+writings of the post-Apostolic and pre-catholic period. New doctrines
+were imported by wandering Christians who, in many cases, may not
+themselves have belonged to a community, and did not respect the
+arrangements of those they found in existence, but sought to form
+conventicles. If we remember how the Greeks and Romans were wont to get
+themselves initiated into a mystery cult, and took part for a long time
+in the religious exercises, and then, when they thought they had got the
+good of it, for the most part or wholly to give up attending, we shall
+not wonder that the demand to become a permanent member of a Christian
+community was opposed by many. The statements of Hermas are specially
+instructive here.]
+
+[Footnote 164: "Corpus sumus," says Tertullian at a time when this
+description had already become an anachronism, "de conscientia
+religionis et disciplinae unitate et spei foedere." (Apol. 39: cf. Ep.
+Petri ad Jacob. I.: [Greek: eis theos, eis nomos, mia elpis]). The
+description was applicable to the earlier period, when there was no such
+thing as a federation with political forms, but when the consciousness
+of belonging to a community and of forming a brotherhood ([Greek:
+adelphotes]) was all the more deeply felt: See, above all, 1 Clem ad
+Corinth., the Didache (9-15), Aristides, Apol 15: "and when they have
+become Christians, they call them (the slaves) brethren without
+hesitation ... for they do not call them brethren according to the
+flesh, but according to the spirit and in God;" cf. also the statements
+on brotherhood in Tertullian and Minucius Felix (also Lucian). We have
+in 1 Clem. I. 2, the delineation of a perfect Christian Church. The
+Epistles of Ignatius are specially instructive as to the independence of
+each individual community: 1 Clem. and Didache, as to the obligation to
+assist stranger communities by counsel and action, and to support the
+travelling brethren. As every Christian is a [Greek: paroikos] so every
+community is a [Greek: paroikousa ten polin] but it is under obligation
+to give an example to the world, and must watch that "the name be not
+blasphemed." The importance of the social element in the oldest
+Christian communities, has been very justly brought into prominence in
+the latest works on the subject (Renan, Heinrici, Hatch). The historian
+of dogma must also emphasise it, and put the fluid notions of the faith
+in contrast with the definite consciousness of moral tasks. See 1 Clem.
+47-50; Polyc. Ep. 3; Didache 1 ff.; Ignat. ad Eph. 14, on [Greek: agape]
+as the main requirement Love demands that everyone "[Greek: zetei to
+koinopheles pasin kai me to heautou]" (1 Clem. 48. 6, with parallels;
+Didache 16. 3; Barn. 4. 10; Ignatius).]
+
+[Footnote 165: 1 Clem. 59. 2. in the Church prayer; [Greek: hopos ton
+arithmon ton katerithmenon ton eklekton autou en holo toi kosmo
+diaphulaxe athrauston ho demiourgos ton hapanton dia tou egapemenou
+paidos autou Iesou Christou].]
+
+[Footnote 166: See 1 Clem., 2 Clem., Ignatius (on the basis of the
+Pauline view; but see also Rev. II. 9).]
+
+[Footnote 167: See Hermas (the passage is given above, p. 103, note).]
+
+[Footnote 168: See Hermas Vis. I-III. Papias. Fragm. VI. and VII. of my
+edition. 2 Clem. 14: [Greek: poiountes to thelema tou patros hemon
+esometha ek tes ekklesias tes protes tes pneumatikes, tes pro heliou kai
+selenes ektismenes.... ekklesia zosa soma esti Christou legei gar he
+graphe epoiesen ho theos ton anthropon arsen kai thelu. to arsen estin
+ho Christos, to thelu he ekklesia].]
+
+[Footnote 169: See Barn. 13 (2 Clem. 2).]
+
+[Footnote 170: See Valentinus in Clem. Strom. VI. 6. 52. "Holy Church",
+perhaps also in Marcion, if his text (Zahn. Gesch. des N.T.-lichen
+Kanons, II. p. 502) in Gal. IV. 21, read: [Greek: hetis estin meter
+humon, gennosa eis hen epengeilametha hagian ekklesian].]
+
+[Footnote 171: Barn. 3. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 172: We are also reminded here of the "tertium genus." The
+nickname of the heathen corresponded to the self-consciousness of the
+Christians (see Aristides, Apol).]
+
+[Footnote 173: See also the letter of Pliny the paragraphs about
+Christian morality, in the first third part of Justin's apology and
+especially the apology of Aristides c. 15. Aristides portrays
+Christianity by portraying Christian morality. The Christians know and
+believe in God the creator of heaven and of earth, the God by whom all
+things consist, i.e. in him from whom they have received the
+commandments which they have written in their hearts commandments, which
+they observe in faith and in the expectation of the world to come. For
+this reason they do not commit adultery, nor practise unchastity, nor
+bear false witness, nor covet that with which they are entrusted or what
+does not belong to them, etc. Compare how in the Apocalypse of Peter
+definite penalties in hell are portrayed for the several forms of
+immorality.]
+
+[Footnote 174: An investigation of the Greco Jewish Christian literature
+of norms and moral rules commencing with the Old Testament doctrine of
+wisdom on the one hand and the Stoic collections on the other then
+passing beyond the Alexandrian and Evangelic norms up to the Didache,
+the Pauline tables of domestic duties, the Sibylline sayings,
+Phocylides, the Neopythagorean rules and to the norms of the enigmatic
+Sextus, is still an unfulfilled task. The moral rules of the Pharisaic
+Rabbis should also be included.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Herm. Mand. I. has merely fixed the Monotheistic
+confession [Greek: proton panton pisteuson, hoti eis estin ho theos, ho
+ta panta ktisas kai katartisas k.t.l.] See Praed Petri in Clem Strom VI.
+6, 48, VI. 5, 39. Aristides gives in c. 2 of his Apology the preaching
+of Jesus Christ but where he wishes to give a short expression of
+Christianity he is satisfied with saying that Christians are those who
+have found the one true God. See e.g. c. 15.
+
+Christians have found the truth. They know and believe in God the
+creator of heaven and of earth by whom all things consist and from whom
+all things come who has no other god beside him and from whom they have
+received commandments which they have written on their hearts,
+commandments which they observe in faith and in expectation of the world
+to come. It is interesting to note how Origen Comm. in Joh. XXXII. 9 has
+brought the Christological Confession into approximate harmony with that
+of Hermas. First Mand. I. is verbally repeated and then it is said
+[Greek: chre de kai pisteuein, hoti kurios Iesous Christos kai pase te
+peri autou kata ten theoteta kai ten anthropoteta aletheia dei de kai
+eis to hagion pisteuein pneuma, kai hoti autexousioi ontes kolazometha
+men eph' hois hamartanomen timometha de eph' hois eu prattomen].]
+
+[Footnote 176: Very instructive here is 2 Clem. ad Corinth. 20, 5
+[Greek: to mono theo aorato, patri tes aletheias, to exatosteilanti
+hemin ton sotera kai archegon tes aphtharsias, di' ou kai ephanerosen
+hemin ten aletheian kai ten epouranion zoen, auto he doxa]. On the Holy
+Spirit see previous note.]
+
+[Footnote 177: They were quoted as [Greek: he graphe, ta biblia], or
+with the formula [Greek: ho theos (kurios) legei, gegraptai]. Also Law
+and Prophets. Law Prophets and Psalms. See the original of the first six
+books of the Apostolic Constitutions.]
+
+[Footnote 178: See the collection of passages in Patr. App. Opp. edit.
+Gebhardt. 1. 2 p. 133, and the formula, Diogn. 11: [Greek: apostolon
+genomenos mathetes ginomai didaskalos ethnon, ta paradothenta axios
+hupereton ginomenois aletheias mathetais]. Besides the Old Testament and
+the traditions about Jesus (Gospels), the Apocalyptic writings of the
+Jews, which were regarded as writings of the Spirit, were also drawn
+upon. Moreover, Christian letters and manifestoes proceeding from
+Apostles, prophets, or teachers, were read. The Epistles of Paul were
+early collected and obtained wide circulation in the first half of the
+second century; but they were not Holy Scripture in the specific sense,
+and therefore their authority was not unqualified.]
+
+[Footnote 179: Barn. 5. 6, [Greek: hoi prophetai, apo tou kuriou
+echontes ten charin, eis auton epropheteusan]. Ignat. ad Magn. 8. 2. cf.
+also Clem. Paedag. I. 7. 59: [Greek: ho gar autos houtos paidagogos tote
+men "phobethese kurion ton theon elegen, hemin de agapeseis kurion ton
+theon sou" tarenesen. dia touto kai entelletai hemin "pausasthe apo ton
+ergon humon" ton palaion hamartion, "mathete kalon poiein, ekklinon apo
+kakou kai poieson agathon, egapesas dikaiosunen, emisesas anomian" haute
+mou he nea diatheke palaioi kecharagmene grammati].]
+
+[Footnote 180: See above Sec. 5, p. 114 f.]
+
+[Footnote 181: See my edition of the Didache. Prolegg. p. 32 ff.; Rothe,
+"De disciplina arcani origine," 1841.]
+
+[Footnote 182: The earliest example is 1 Cor. XI. 1 f. It is different
+in 1 Tim. III. 16, where already the question is about [Greek: to tes
+eusebeias mysterion]. See Patr. App. Opp. 1. 2. p. 134.]
+
+[Footnote 183: Father, son, and spirit: Paul; Matt XXVIII. 19; 1 Clem.
+ad. Cor. 58. 2 (see 2. 1. f.; 42. 3; 46. 6); Didache 7; Ignat. Eph. 9.
+1; Magn. 13. 1. 2.; Philad. inscr.; Mart. Polyc. 14. 1. 2; Ascens. Isai.
+8 18:9. 27:10. 4:11. 32ff;, Justin _passim_; Montan. ap. Didym. de
+trinit. 411; Excerpta ex Theodot. 80; Pseudo Clem. de virg. 1 13. Yet
+the omission of the Holy Spirit is frequent, as in Paul, or the Holy
+Spirit is identified with the Spirit of Christ. The latter takes place
+even with such writers as are familiar with the baptismal formula.
+Ignat. ad Magn. 15; [Greek: kektemenoi adiakriton pneuma, hos estin
+Iesous Christos.].]
+
+[Footnote 184: The formulae run: "God who has spoken through the
+Prophets," or the "Prophetic Spirit," etc.]
+
+[Footnote 185: That should be assumed as certain in the case of the
+Egyptian Church, yet Caspari thinks he can shew that already Clement of
+Alexandria presupposes a symbol.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Also in the communities of Asia Minor (Smyrna); for a
+combination of Polyc. Ep. c. 2 with c. 7, proves that in Smyrna the
+[Greek: paradotheis logos] must have been something like the Roman
+Symbol, see Lightfoot on the passage; it cannot be proved that it was
+identical with it. See, further, how in the case of Polycarp the moral
+element is joined on to the dogmatic. This reminds us of the Didache and
+has its parallel even in the first homily of Aphraates.]
+
+[Footnote 187: See Caspari, Quellen z. Gesch. des Taufsymbols, III. p. 3
+ff. and Patr. App. Opp. 1. 2. p 115-142. The old Roman Symbol reads:
+[Greek: Pisteuo eis theon patera pantokratora, kai eis Christon Iesoun
+(ton) huion autou ton monogene], (on this word see Westcott's Excursus
+in his commentary on 1st John) [Greek: ton kurion hemon ton gennethenta
+ek pneumatos hagiou kai Marias tes parthenou, ton epi Pontiou Pilatou
+staurothenta kai taphenta; te trite hemerai anastanta ek nekron,
+anabanta eis tous ouranous, kathemenon en dexia tou patros, hothen
+erchetai krinai zontas kai nekrous. kai eis pneuma hagion, hagian
+ekklesian, aphesin hamartion sarkos anastasin, amen]. To estimate this
+very important article aright we must note the following: (1) It is not
+a formula of doctrine, but of confession. (2) It has a liturgical form
+which is shewn in the rhythm and in the disconnected succession of its
+several members, and is free from everything of the nature of polemic.
+(3) It tapers off into the three blessings, Holy Church, forgiveness of
+sin, resurrection of the body, and in this as well as in the fact that
+there is no mention of [Greek: gnosis (aletheia) kai zoe aionos], is
+revealed an early Christian untheological attitude. (4) It is worthy of
+note, on the other hand, that the birth from the Virgin occupies the
+first place, and all reference to the baptism of Jesus, also to the
+Davidic Sonship, is wanting. (5) It is further worthy of note, that
+there is no express mention of the death of Jesus, and that the
+Ascension already forms a special member (that is also found elsewhere,
+Ascens. Isaiah, c. 3. 13. ed. Dillmann. p. 13. Murator. Fragment, etc.).
+Finally, we should consider the want of the earthly Kingdom of Christ
+and the mission of the twelve Apostles, as well as, on the other hand,
+the purely religious attitude, no notice being taken of the new law.
+Zahn (Das Apostol. Symbolum, 1893) assumes, "That in all essential
+respects the identical baptismal confession which Justin learned in
+Ephesus about 130, and Marcion confessed in Rome about 145, originated
+at latest somewhere about 120." In some "unpretending notes" (p. 37 ff.)
+he traces this confession back to a baptismal confession of the Pauline
+period ("it had already assumed a more or less stereotyped form in the
+earlier Apostolic period"), which, however, was somewhat revised, so far
+as it contained, for example, "of the house of David", with reference to
+Christ. "The original formula, reminding us of the Jewish soil of
+Christianity, was thus remodelled, perhaps about 70-120, with retention
+of the fundamental features, so that it might appear to answer better to
+the need of candidates for baptism, proceeding more and more from the
+Gentiles.... This changed formula soon spread on all sides. It lies at
+the basis of all the later baptismal confessions of the Church, even of
+the East. The first article was slightly changed in Rome about 200-220."
+While up till then, in Rome as everywhere else, it had read [Greek:
+pisteuo eis hena theon pantokratora], it was now changed in [Greek:
+pisteuo eis theon patera pantokratora]. This hypothesis, with regard to
+the early history of the Roman Symbol, presupposes that the history of
+the formation of the baptismal confession in the Church, in east and
+west, was originally a uniform one. This cannot be proved; besides, it
+is refuted by the facts of the following period. It presupposes
+secondly, that there was a strictly formulated baptismal confession
+outside Rome before the middle of the second century, which likewise
+cannot be proved; (the converse rather is probable, that the fixed
+formulation proceeded from Rome.) Moreover, Zahn himself retracts
+everything again by the expression "more or less stereotyped form;" for
+what is of decisive interest here is the question, when and where the
+fixed sacred form was produced. Zahn here has set up the radical thesis
+that it can only have taken place in Rome between 200 and 220. But
+neither his negative nor his positive proof for a change of the Symbol
+in Rome at so late a period is sufficient. No sure conclusion as to the
+Symbol can be drawn from the wavering _regulae fidei_ of Irenaeus and
+Tertullian which contain the "unum"; further, the "unum" is not found in
+the western provincial Symbols, which, however, are in part earlier than
+the year 200. The Romish correction must therefore have been
+subsequently taken over in the provinces (Africa?). Finally, the formula
+[Greek: theon patera pantokratora] beside the more frequent [Greek:
+theon pantokratora] is attested by Irenaeus, I. 10. 1, a decisive
+passage. With our present means we cannot attain to any direct knowledge
+of Symbol formation before the Romish Symbol. But the following
+hypotheses, which I am not able to establish here, appear to me to
+correspond to the facts of the case and to be fruitful: (1) There were,
+even in the earliest period, separate _Kerygmata_ about God and Christ:
+see the Apostolic writings, Hermas, Ignatius, etc. (2) The _Kerygma_
+about God was the confession of the one God of creation, the almighty
+God. (3) The _Kerygma_ about Christ had essentially the same historical
+contents everywhere, but was expressed in diverse forms: (a) in the form
+of the fulfilment of prophecy, (b) in the form [Greek: kata sarka, kata
+pneuma], (c) in the form of the first and second advent, (d) in the
+form, [Greek: katabas-anabas]; these forms were also partly combined.
+(4) The designations "Christ", "Son of God" and "Lord"; further, the
+birth from the Holy Spirit, or [Greek: kata pneuma], the sufferings (the
+practice of exorcism contributed also to the fixing and naturalising of
+the formula "crucified under Pontius Pilate"), the death, the
+resurrection, the coming again to judgment, formed the stereotyped
+content of the _Kerygma_ about Jesus. The mention of the Davidic
+Sonship, of the Virgin Mary, of the baptism by John, of the third day,
+of the descent into Hades, of the _demonstratio verae carnis post
+resurrectionem_, of the ascension into heaven and the sending out of the
+disciples, were additional articles which appeared here and there. The
+[Greek: sarka labon], and the like, were very early developed out of the
+forms (b) and (d). All this was already in existence at the transition
+of the first century to the second. (5) The proper contribution of the
+Roman community consisted in this, that it inserted the _Kerygma_ about
+God and that about Jesus into the baptismal formula, widened the clause
+referring to the Holy Spirit, into one embracing Holy Church,
+forgiveness of sin, resurrection of the body, excluded theological
+theories in other respects, undertook a reduction all round, and
+accurately defined everything up to the last world. (6) The western
+_regulae fidei_ do not fall back exclusively on the old Roman Symbol, but
+also on the earlier freer _Kerygmata_ about God and about Jesus which
+were common to the east and west; not otherwise can the _regulae fidei_
+of Irenaeus and Tertullian, for example, be explained. But the symbol
+became more and more the support of the _regula_. (7) The eastern
+confessions (baptismal symbols) do not fall back directly on the Roman
+Symbol, but were probably on the model of this symbol, made up from the
+provincial _Kerygmata_, rich in contents and growing ever richer,
+hardly, however, before the third century. (8) It cannot be proved, and
+it is not probable, that the Roman Symbol was in existence before
+Hermas, that is, about 135.]
+
+[Footnote 188: See the fragment in Euseb. H. E. III. 39, from the work
+of Papias.]
+
+[Footnote 189: [Greek: Didache kurion dia ton ib' apostolon] (Did.
+inscr.) is the most accurate expression (similarly 2 Pet. III. 2).
+Instead of this might be said simply [Greek: ho kurios] (Hegesipp.).
+Hegesippus (Euseb. H. E. IV. 22. 3; See also Steph. Gob.) comprehends
+the ultimate authorities under the formula: [Greek: hos ho nomos
+kerussei kai hoi prophetai kai ho kurios], just as even Pseudo Clem de
+Virg. I. 2: "Sicut ex lege ac prophetis et a domino nostro Jesu Christo
+didicimus." Polycarp (6.3) says: [Greek: kathos autos eneteilato kai hoi
+euangelisamenoi hemas apostoloi kai hoi prophetai hoi prokeruxantes ten
+eleusin tou kuriou hemon]. In the second Epistle of Clement (14. 2) we
+read: [Greek: ta biblia] (O.T.) [Greek: kai hoi apostoloi, to
+euangelion] may also stand for [Greek: ho kurios]; (Ignat., Didache. 2
+Clem. etc.). The Gospel, so far as it is described, is quoted as [Greek:
+ta apomnemoneumata t. apostolon] (Justin, Tatian), or on the other hand,
+as [Greek: hai kuriakai graphai], (Dionys. Cor. in Euseb. H. E. IV. 23.
+12: at a later period in Tertull. and Clem. Alex.). The words of the
+Lord, in the same way as the words of God, are called simply [Greek: ta
+logia (kuriaka)]. The declaration of Serapion at the beginning of the
+third century (Euseb., H. E. VI. 12. 3): [Greek: hemeis kai Petron kai
+tous allous apostolous apodechometha hos Christon], is an innovation in
+so far as it puts the words of the Apostles fixed in writing and as
+distinct from the words of the Lord, on a level with the latter. That
+is, while differentiating the one from the other, Serapion ascribes to
+the words of the apostles and those of the Lord equal authority. But the
+development which led to this position, had already begun in the first
+century. At a very early period there were read in the communities,
+beside the Old Testament, Gospels, that is collections of words of the
+Lord, which at the same time contained the main facts of the history of
+Jesus. Such notes were a necessity (Luke 1.4; [Greek: hina epignos peri
+hon katechethes logon ten asphaleian]), and though still indefinite and
+in many ways unlike, they formed the germ for the genesis of the New
+Testament. (See Weiss, Lehrb. d. Einleit in d. N. T. p. 21 ff.). Further
+there were read Epistles and Manifestoes by apostles, prophets and
+teachers, but, above all, Epistles of Paul. The Gospels at first stood
+in no connection with these Epistles, however high they might be prized.
+But there did exist a connection between the Gospels and the [Greek: ap'
+arches autoptais kai huperetais tou logou], so far as these mediated the
+tradition of the Evangelic material, and on their testimony rests the
+_Kerygma_ of the Church about the Lord as the Teacher, the crucified and
+risen One. Here lies the germ for the genesis of a canon which will
+comprehend the Lord and the Apostles, and will also draw in the Pauline
+Epistles. Finally, Apocalypses were read as Holy Scriptures.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Read, apart from all others, the canonical Gospels, the
+remains of the so-called Apocryphal Gospels, and perhaps the Shepherd of
+Hermas: see also the statements of Papias.]
+
+[Footnote 191: That Peter was in Antioch follows from Gal. II.; that he
+laboured in Corinth, perhaps before the composition of the first epistle
+to the Corinthians, is not so improbable as is usually maintained (1
+Cor.; Dionys. of Corinth); that he was at Rome even is very credible.
+The sojourn of John in Asia Minor cannot, I think, be contested.]
+
+[Footnote 192: See how in the three early "writings of Peter" (Gospel,
+Apocalypse, _Kerygma_) the twelve are embraced in a perfect unity. Peter
+is the head and spokesman for them all.]
+
+[Footnote 193: See Papias and the Reliq. Presbyter, ap. Iren., collecta
+in Patr. Opp. I. 2, p. 105: see also Zahn, Forschungen. III., p. 156 f.]
+
+[Footnote 194: The Gentile-Christian conception of the significance of
+the twelve--a fact to be specially noted--was all but unanimous (see
+above Chap. II.): the only one who broke through it was Marcion. The
+writers of Asia Minor, Rome and Egypt coincide in this point. Beside the
+Acts of the Apostles, which is specially instructive, see 1 Clem. 42;
+Barn 5. 9, 8. 3: Didache inscr.; Hermas, Vis. III. 5, 11; Sim. IX. 15,
+16, 17, 25; Petrusev-Petrusapok. Praed. Petr. ap. Clem. Strom. VI. 6, 48;
+Ignat. ad Trall. 3; ad Rom 4; ad Philad. 5; Papias; Polyc., Aristides;
+Justin _passim_; inferences from the great work of Irenaeus, the works of
+Tertull. and Clem. Alex; the Valentinians. The inference that follows
+from the eschatological hope, that the Gospel has already been preached
+to the world, and the growing need of having a tradition mediated by
+eye-witnesses co-operated here, and out of the twelve who were in great
+part obscure, but who had once been authoritative in Jerusalem and
+Palestine, and highly esteemed in the Christian Diaspora from the
+beginning, though unknown, created a court of appeal, which presented
+itself as not only taking a second rank after the Lord himself, but as
+the medium through which alone the words of the Lord became the
+possession of Christendom, as he neither preached to the nations nor
+left writings. The importance of the twelve in the main body of the
+Church may at any rate be measured by the facts, that the personal
+activity of Jesus was confined to Palestine, that he left behind him
+neither a confession nor a doctrine, and that in this respect the
+tradition tolerated no more corrections. Attempts which were made in
+this direction, the fiction of a semi-Gentile origin of Christ, the
+denial of the Davidic Sonship, the invention of a correspondence between
+Jesus and Abgarus, meetings of Jesus with Greeks, and much else, belong
+only in part to the earliest period, and remained as really inoperative
+as they were uncertain (according to Clem. Alex., Jesus himself is the
+Apostle to the Jews; the twelve are the Apostles to the Gentiles in
+Euseb. H. E. VI. 141). The notion about the twelve Apostles evangelising
+the world in accordance with the commission of Jesus, is consequently to
+be considered as the means by which the Gentile Christians got rid of
+the inconvenient fact of the merely local activity of Jesus (compare how
+Justin expresses himself about the Apostles: their going out into all
+the world is to him one of the main articles predicted in the Old
+Testament, Apol. 1. 39; compare also the Apology of Aristides, c. 2, and
+the passage of similar tenor in the Ascension of Isaiah, where the
+"adventus XII. discipulorum" is regarded as one of the fundamental facts
+of salvation, c. 3. 13, ed. Dillmann, p 13, and a passage such as Iren.
+fragm. XXIX. in Harvey II., p. 494, where the parable about the grain of
+mustard seed is applied to the [Greek: logos epouranios] and the twelve
+Apostles; the Apostles are the branches [Greek: hup' hon kladon
+skepasthentes hoi pantes hos ornea hupo kalian sunelthonta metelabon tes
+ex auton proerchomenes edodimou kai epouraniou trophes] Hippol. de
+Antichr. 61. Orig. c. Cels. III. 28). This means, as it was empty of
+contents, was very soon to prove the most convenient instrument for
+establishing ever new historical connections, and legitimising the
+_status quo_ in the communities. Finally, the whole catholic idea of
+tradition was rooted in that statement which was already, at the close
+of the first century, formulated by Clement of Rome (c. 42): [Greek: hoi
+apostoloi hemin euengelisthesan apo tou kuriou Iesou Christou, Iesous ho
+christos apo tou theou exepemphthe. ho christos oun apo tou theou, kai
+hoi apostoloi apo tou Christou; egenonto oun amphotera eutaktos ek
+thelematos theou, k.t.l.] Here, as in all similar statements which
+elevate the Apostles into the history of revelation, the unanimity of
+all the Apostles is always presupposed, so that the statement of Clem.
+Alex. (Strom VII., 17, 108: [Greek: mia he panton gegone ton apostolon
+hosper didaskalia houtos de kai he paradosis], see Tertull., de praescr.
+32: "Apostoli non diversa inter se docuerent," Iren. alii), contains no
+innovation, but gives expression to an old idea: That the twelve
+unitedly proclaimed one and the same message, that they proclaimed it to
+the world, that they were chosen to this vocation by Christ, that the
+communities possess the witness of the Apostles as their rule of conduct
+(Excerp. ex Theod. 25 [Greek: hosper hupo ton zodion he genesis
+dioikeitai houtos hupo ton apostolon he anagennesis]) are authoritative
+theses which can be traced back as far as we have any remains of
+Gentile-Chnstian literature. It was thereby presupposed that the
+unanimous _kerygma_ of the twelve Apostles which the communities possess
+as [Greek: kanon tes paradoseos] (1 Clem. 7), was public and accessible
+to all. Yet the idea does not seem to have been everywhere kept at a
+distance that besides the _kerygma_ a still deeper knowledge was
+transmitted by the Apostles or by certain Apostles to particular
+Christians who were specially gifted. Of course we have no direct
+evidence of this, but the connection in which certain Gnostic unions
+stood at the beginning with the communities developing themselves to
+Catholicism and inferences from utterances of later writers (Clem. Alex.
+Tertull.), make it probable that this conception was present in the
+communities here and there even in the age of the so-called Apostolic
+Fathers. It may be definitely said that the peculiar idea of tradition
+([Greek: theos--christos--hoi dodeka apostoloi--ekklesiai]) in the
+Gentile Churches is very old but that it was still limited in its
+significance at the beginning and was threatened (1) by a wider
+conception of the idea 'Apostle' (besides, the fact is important that
+Asia Minor and Rome were the very places where a stricter idea of
+Apostle made its appearance. See my Edition of the Didache, p. 117), (2)
+by free prophets and teachers moved by the Spirit, who introduced new
+conceptions and rules and whose word was regarded as the word of God,
+(3) by the assumption not always definitely rejected, that besides the
+public tradition of the _kerygma_ there was a secret tradition. That
+Paul as a rule was not included in this high estimate of the Apostles is
+shewn by this fact among others, that the earlier Apocryphal Acts of the
+Apostles are much less occupied with his person than with the rest of
+the Apostles. The features of the old legends which make the Apostles in
+their deeds, their fate, nay even in appearance as far as possible,
+equal to the person of Jesus himself deserve special consideration (see,
+for example the descent of the Apostles into hell in Herm. Sim. IX. 16),
+for it is just here that the fact above established that the activity of
+the Apostles was to make up for the want of the activity of Jesus
+himself among the nations stands clearly out (See Acta Johannis ed. Zahn
+p 246 [Greek: ho eklexamenos hemas eis apostolen ethnon ho ekpempsas
+hemas eis ten oikoumenen theos ho deixas heauton dia ton apostolon] also
+the remarkable declaration of Origen about the Chronicle of Phlegon
+[Hadrian], that what holds good of Christ, is in that Chronicle
+transferred to Peter; finally we may recall to mind the visions in which
+an Apostle suddenly appears as Christ). Between the judgment of value
+[Greek: hemeis tous apostolous apodechometha hos Christon] and those
+creations of fancy in which the Apostles appear as gods and demigods
+there is certainly a great interval but it can be proved that there are
+stages lying between these extreme points. It is therefore permissible
+to call to mind here the oldest Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles although
+they may have originated almost completely in Gnostic circles (see also
+the Pistis Sophia which brings a metaphysical theory to the
+establishment of the authority of the Apostles, p. 11, 14; see Texte u
+Unters VII. 2 p. 61 ff.). Gnosticism here as frequently elsewhere is
+related to common Christianity as excess progressing to the invention of
+a myth with a tendency to a historical theorem determined by the effort
+to maintain one's own position; cf. the article from the _kerygma_ of
+Peter in Clem. Strom. VI. 6, 48 [Greek: Exelexamen humas dodeka
+mathetas, k.t.l.] the introduction to the basal writing of the first 6
+books of the Apostolic Constitutions and the introduction to the
+Egyptian ritual, [Greek: kata keleusin tou kuriou humon k.t.l.] Besides
+it must be admitted that the origin of the idea of tradition and its
+connection with the twelve is obscure; what is historically reliable
+here has still to be investigated, even the work of Seufert (Der Urspr.
+u. d. Bedeutung des Apostolats in der christl Kirche der ersten zwei
+Jahrhunderte, 1887) has not cleared up the dark points. We will perhaps
+get more light by following the important hint given by Weizsaecker
+(Apost. Age p. 13 ff.) that Peter was the first witness of the
+resurrection, and was called such in the _kerygma_ of the communities
+(see 1 Cor. XV., 5 Luke XXIV. 34). The twelve Apostles are also further
+called [Greek: hoi peri ton Petron] (Mrc. fin. in L Ign. ad Smyrn. 3,
+cf. Luke VIII. 45, Acts II. 14, Gal. I. 18 f., 1 Cor. XV. 5), and it is
+a correct historical reminiscence when Chrysostom says (Hom. in Joh.
+88), [Greek: ho Petros ekeritos en ton apostolon kai stoma ton matheton
+kai koruphe tou chorou.] Now as Peter was really in personal relation
+with important Gentile-Christian communities, that which held good of
+him, the recognized head and spokesman of the twelve, was perhaps
+transferred to these. One has finally to remember that besides the
+appeal to the twelve there was in the Gentile Churches an appeal to
+Peter and Paul (but not for the evangelic _kerygma_) which has a certain
+historical justification, cf. Gal. II. 8, 1 Cor. I. 12 f., IX. 5, 1
+Clem. Ign. ad Rom. 4 and the numerous later passages. Paul in claiming
+equality with Peter, though Peter was the head and mouth of the twelve
+and had himself been active in mission work, has perhaps contributed
+most towards spreading the authority of the twelve. It is notable how
+rarely we find any special appeal to John in the tradition of the main
+body of the Church. For the middle of the 2nd century the authority of
+the twelve Apostles may be expressed in the following statements: (1)
+They were missionaries for the world, (2) They ruled the Church and
+established Church Offices, (3) They guaranteed the true doctrine (a) by
+the tradition going back to them, (b) by writings, (4) They are the
+ideals of Christian life, (5) They are also directly mediators of
+salvation--though this point is uncertain.]
+
+[Footnote 195: See Didache c. 1-10, with parallel passages.]
+
+[Footnote 196: Cf., for example, the first epistle of Clement to the
+Corinthians with the Shepherd of Hermas. Both documents originated in
+Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 197: Compare how dogmatic and ethical elements are inseparably
+united in the Shepherd, in first and second Clement, as well as in
+Polycarp and Justin.]
+
+[Footnote 198: Note the hymnal parts of the Revelation of John, the
+great prayer with which the first epistle of Clement closes, the "carmen
+dicere Christo quasi deo," reported by Pliny, the eucharist prayer in
+the [Greek: Didache], the hymn 1 Tim. III. 16, the fragments from the
+prayers which Justin quotes, and compare with these the declaration of
+the anonymous writer in Euseb. H. E. V. 28. 5, that the belief of the
+earliest Christians in the Deity of Christ might be proved from the old
+Christian hymns and odes. In the epistles of Ignatius the theology
+frequently consists of an aimless stringing together of articles
+manifestly originating in hymns and the cultus.]
+
+[Footnote 199: The prophet and teacher express what the Spirit of God
+suggests to them. Their word is therefore God's word, and their
+writings, in so far as they apply to the whole of Christendom, are
+inspired, holy writings. Further, not only does Acts XV. 22 f. exhibit
+the formula [Greek: edoxen toi pneumati toi hagioi kai hemin] (see
+similar passages in the Acts), but the Roman writings also appeal to the
+Holy Spirit (1 Clem. 63. 2): likewise Barnabas, Ignatius, etc. Even in
+the controversy about the baptism of heretics a Bishop gave his vote
+with the formula: "secundum motum animi mei et spiritus sancti" (Cypr.
+Opp. ed. Hartel, I. p. 457).]
+
+[Footnote 200: The so-called Chiliasm--the designation is unsuitable and
+misleading--is found wherever the Gospel is not yet Hellenised (see, for
+example, Barn. 4. 15; Hermas; 2 Clem.; Papias [Euseb. III. 39]; [Greek:
+Didache], 10. 16; Apoc. Petri; Justin. Dial. 32, 51, 80, 82, 110, 139;
+Cerinthus), and must be regarded as a main element of the Christian
+preaching (see my article "Millenium" in the Encycl. Brit.) In it lay
+not the least of the power of Christianity in the first century, and the
+means whereby it entered the Jewish propaganda in the Empire and
+surpassed it. The hopes springing out of Judaism were at first but
+little modified, that is, only so far as the substitution of the
+Christian communities for the nation of Israel made modification
+necessary. In all else even the details of the Jewish hopes of the
+future were retained, and the extra-canonical Jewish Apocalypses (Esra,
+Enoch, Baruch, Moses, etc.) were diligently read alongside of Daniel.
+Their contents were in part joined on to sayings of Jesus and they
+served as models for similar productions (here therefore an enduring
+connection with the Jewish religion is very plain). In the Christian
+hopes of the future as in the Jewish eschatology may be distinguished
+essential and accidental fixed and fluid elements. To the former belong:
+(1) the notion of a final fearful conflict with the powers of the world
+which is just about to break out [Greek: to teleion skandalon engiken],
+(2) belief in the speedy return of Christ, (3) the conviction that after
+conquering the secular power (this was variously conceived as God's
+Ministers as that which restrains--2 Thess. II. 6, as a pure kingdom of
+Satan see the various estimates in Justin, Melito, Irenaeus and
+Hippolytus) Christ will establish a glorious kingdom on the earth and
+will raise the saints to share in that kingdom, and (4) that he will
+finally judge all men. To the fluid elements belong the notions of the
+Antichrist or of the secular power culminating in the Antichrist as well
+as notions about the place, the extent, and the duration of Christ's
+glorious kingdom. But it is worthy of special note that Justin regarded
+the belief that Christ will set up his kingdom in Jerusalem, and that it
+will endure for 1000 years, as a necessary element of orthodoxy, though
+he confesses he knew Christians who did not share this belief, while
+they did not like the pseudo Christians reject also the resurrection of
+the body (the promise of Montanus that Christ's kingdom would be let
+down at Pepuza and Tymion is a thing by itself and answers to the other
+promises and pretensions of Montanus). The resurrection of the body is
+expressed in the Roman Symbol while very notably the hope of Christ's
+earthly kingdom is not there mentioned (see above p. 157). The great
+inheritance which the Gentile Christian communities received from
+Judaism is the eschatological hopes along with the Monotheism assured by
+revelation and belief in providence. The law as a national law was
+abolished. The Old Testament became a new book in the hands of the
+Gentile Christians. On the contrary the eschatological hopes in all
+their details and with all the deep shadows which they threw on the
+state and public life were at first received and maintained themselves
+in wide circles pretty much unchanged and only succumbed in some of
+their details--just as in Judaism--to the changes which resulted from
+the constant change of the political situation. But these hopes were
+also destined in great measure to pass away after the settlement of
+Christianity on Graeco-Roman soil. We may set aside the fact that they
+did not occupy the foreground in Paul, for we do not know whether this
+was of importance for the period that followed. But that Christ would
+set up the kingdom in Jerusalem, and that it would be an earthly kingdom
+with sensuous enjoyments--these and other notions contend on the one
+hand with the vigorous antijudaism of the communities, and on the other
+with the moralistic spiritualism, in the pure carrying out of which the
+Gentile Christians in the East at least increasingly recognised the
+essence of Christianity. Only the vigorous world renouncing enthusiasm
+which did not permit the rise of moralistic spiritualism and mysticism,
+and the longing for a time of joy and dominion that was born of it,
+protected for a long time a series of ideas which corresponded to the
+spiritual disposition of the great multitude of converts only at times
+of special oppression. Moreover the Christians in opposition to Judaism
+were, as a rule, instructed to obey magistrates whose establishment
+directly contradicted the judgment of the state contained in the
+Apocalypses. In such a conflict however that judgment necessarily
+conquers at last which makes as little change as possible in the
+existing forms of life. A history of the gradual attenuation and
+subsidence of eschatologlcal hopes in the II.-IV. centuries can only be
+written in fragments. They have rarely--at best by fits and
+starts--marked out the course. On the contrary if I may say so they only
+gave the smoke, for the course was pointed out by the abiding elements
+of the Gospel, trust in God and the Lord Christ, the resolution to a
+holy life, and a firm bond of brotherhood. The quiet gradual change, in
+which the eschatologlcal hopes passed away fell into the background or
+lost important parts, was on the other hand a result of deep reaching
+changes in the faith and life of Christendom. Chiliasm as a power was
+broken up by speculative mysticism and on that account very much later
+in the West than in the East. But speculative mysticism has its centre
+in christology. In the earliest period this as a theory belonged more to
+the defence of religion than to religion itself. Ignatius alone was able
+to reflect on that transference of power from Christ which Paul had
+experienced. The disguises in which the apocalyptic eschatologlcal
+prophecies were set forth belonged in part to the form of this
+literature (in so far as one could easily be given the lie if he became
+too plain or in so far as the prophet really saw the future only in
+large outline) partly it had to be chosen in order not to give political
+offence. See Hippol. comm. in Daniel (Georgiades, p. 49, 51. [Greek:
+noein opheilomen ta kata kairon sumbainonta kai eidotas siopan]), but
+above all Constantine orat. ad s. coetum 19, on some verses of Virgil
+which are interpreted in a Christian sense but that none of the rulers
+in the capital might be able to accuse their author of violating the
+laws of the state with his poetry or of destroying the traditional ideas
+of the procedure about the gods he concealed the truth under a veil.
+That holds good also of the Apocalyptists and the poets of the Christian
+Sibylline sayings.]
+
+[Footnote 201: The hope of the resurrection of the body (1 Clem. 26. 3
+[Greek: anasteseis ten sarka mou tauten], Herm. Sim. V. 7. 2 [Greek:
+blepe metote anabe epi ten kardian sou ten sarka sou tauten phtharten
+einai]. Barn. 5. 6 f., 21. 1, 2 Clem. 9. 1 [Greek: kai me legeto tis
+humon oti haute he sarx ou krinetai oude anistatai]. Polyc. Ep. 7. 2,
+Justin Dial. 80, etc.) finds its place originally in the hope of a share
+in the glorious kingdom of Christ. It therefore disappears or is
+modified wherever that hope itself falls into the background. But it
+finally asserted itself through out and became of independent importance
+in a new structure of eschatologlcal expectations in which it attained
+the significance of becoming the specific conviction of Christian faith.
+With the hope of the resurrection of the body was originally connected
+the hope of a happy life in easy blessedness under green trees in
+magnificent fields with joyous feeding flocks and flying angels clothed
+in white. One must read the Revelation of Peter the Shepherd or the Acts
+of Perpetua and Felicitas in order to see how entirely the fancy of many
+Christians and not merely of those who were uncultured dwelt in a
+fairyland in which they caught sight now of the Ancient of days and now
+of the Youthful Shepherd Christ. The most fearful delineations of the
+torments of Hell formed the reverse side to this. We now know through
+the Apocalypse of Peter, how old these delineations are.]
+
+[Footnote 202: The perfect knowledge of the truth and eternal life are
+connected in the closest way (see p. 144, note 1) because the Father of
+truth is also Prince of life (see Diognet. 12: [Greek: oude gar zoe aneu
+gnoseos oude gnosis asphales aneu zoes alethous dio plesion ekateron
+pephyteutai], see also what follows). The classification is a Hellenic
+one, which has certainly penetrated also into Palestinian Jewish
+theology. It may be reckoned among the great intuitions, which in the
+fulness of the times, united the religious and reflective minds of all
+nations. The Pauline formula, "Where there is forgiveness of sin, there
+also is life and salvation", had for centuries no distinct history. But
+the formula, "Where there is truth, perfect knowledge, there also is
+eternal life", has had the richest history in Christendom from the
+beginning. Quite apart from John, it is older than the theology of the
+Apologists (see, for example, the Supper prayer in the Didache, 9. 10,
+where there is no mention of the forgiveness of sin, but thanks are
+given, [Greek: huper tes gnoseos kai pisteos kai athanasias hes
+egnorisen hemin ho theos dia Iesou], or [Greek: huper tes zoes kai
+gnoseos], and 1 Clem. 36. 2: [Greek: dia touto ethelesen ho despotes tes
+athanatou gnoseos hemas geusasthai]). It is capable of a very manifold
+content, and has never made its way in the Church without reservations,
+but so far as it has we may speak of a hellenising of Christianity. This
+is shewn most clearly in the fact that the [Greek: athanasia], identical
+with [Greek: aphtharsia] and [Greek: zoe aionios], as is proved by their
+being often interchanged, gradually supplanted the [Greek: basileia tou
+theou] ([Greek: christou]) and thrust it out of the sphere of religious
+intuition and hope into that of religious speech. It should also be
+noted, at the same time, that in the hope of eternal life which is
+bestowed with the knowledge of the truth, the resurrection of the body
+is by no means with certainty included. It is rather added to it (see
+above) from another series of ideas. Conversely, the words [Greek: zoen
+aionion] were first added to the words [Greek: sarkos anastasin] in the
+western Symbols at a comparatively late period, while in the prayers
+they are certainly very old.]
+
+[Footnote 203: Even the assumption of such a remission is fundamentally
+in contradiction with moralism; but that solitary remission of sin was
+not called in question, was rather regarded as distinctive of the new
+religion, and was established by an appeal to the omnipotence and
+special goodness of God, which appears just in the calling of sinners.
+In this calling, grace as grace is exhausted (Barn. 5. 9; 2 Clem. 2.
+4-7). But this grace itself seems to be annulled, inasmuch as the sins
+committed before baptism were regarded as having been committed in a
+state of ignorance (Tertull. de bapt. I.: delicta pristinae caecitatis),
+on account of which it seemed worthy of God to forgive them, that is, to
+accept the repentance which followed on the ground of the new knowledge.
+So considered, everything, in point of fact, amounts to the gracious
+gift of knowledge, and the memory of the saying, "Jesus receiveth
+sinners", is completely obscured. But the tradition of this saying and
+many like it, and above all, the religious instinct, where it was more
+powerfully stirred, did not permit a consistent development of that
+moralistic conception. See for this, Hermas, Sim. V. 7. 3: [Greek: peri
+ton proteron agnoematon toi theoi monoi dunaton iasin dounai; autou gar
+esti pasa exousia]. Praed. Petri ap. Clem. Strom. VI. 6. 48: [Greek: hosa
+en agnoia tis humon epoiesen me eidos saphos ton theon, ean epignous
+metanoesei, panta autoi aphethesetai ta hamartemata]. Aristides, Apol.
+17: "The Christians offer prayers (for the unconverted Greeks) that they
+may be converted from their error. But when one of them is converted he
+is ashamed before the Christians of the works which he has done. And he
+confesses to God, saying: 'I have done these things in ignorance.' And
+he cleanses his heart, and his sins are forgiven him, because he had
+done them in ignorance, in the earlier period when he mocked and jeered
+at the true knowledge of the Christians." Exactly the same in Tertull.
+de pudic. so. init. The statement of this same writer (1. c. fin),
+"Cessatio delicti radix est veniae, ut venia sit paenitentiae fructus", is
+a pregnant expression of the conviction of the earliest Gentile
+Christians.]
+
+[Footnote 204: This idea appears with special prominence in the Epistle
+of Barnabas (see 6. 11. 14); the new formation ([Greek: anaplassein])
+results through the forgiveness of sin. In the moralistic view the
+forgiveness of sin is the result of the renewal that is spontaneously
+brought about on the ground of knowledge shewing itself in penitent
+feeling.]
+
+[Footnote 205: Barn. 2. 6, and my notes on the passage.]
+
+[Footnote 206: James I. 25.]
+
+[Footnote 207: Hermas. Sim. VIII. 3. 2; Justin Dial. II. 43; Praed. Petri
+in Clem., Strom. I. 29. 182; II. 15. 68.]
+
+[Footnote 208: Didache, c. 1., and my notes on the passage (Prolegg. p.
+45 f.).]
+
+[Footnote 209: The concepts, [Greek: epangelia, gnosis, nomos], form the
+Triad on which the later catholic conception of Christianity is based,
+though it can be proved to have been in existence at an earlier period.
+That [Greek: pistis] must everywhere take the lead was undoubted, though
+we must not think of the Pauline idea of [Greek: pistis]. When the
+Apostolic Fathers reflect upon faith, which, however, happens only
+incidentally, they mean a holding for true of a sum of holy traditions,
+and obedience to them, along with the hope that their consoling contents
+will yet be fully revealed. But Ignatius speaks like a Christian who
+knows what he possesses in faith in Christ, that is, in confidence in
+him. In Barn. 1, Polyc. Ep. 2, we find "faith, hope, love"; in Ignatius,
+"faith and love." Tertullian, in an excellent exposition, has shewn how
+far patience is a temper corresponding to Christian faith (see besides
+the Epistle of James).]
+
+[Footnote 210: See Lipsius De Clementis R. ep. ad. Cor. priore disquis.
+1855. It would be in point of method inadmissible to conclude from the
+fact that in 1 Clem. Pauline formulae are relatively most faithfully
+produced, that Gentile Christianity generally understood Pauline
+theology at first, but gradually lost this understanding in the course
+of two generations.]
+
+[Footnote 211: Formally: [Greek: teresate ten sarka agnen kai ten
+sphragida aspilon] (2 Clem. 8. 6).]
+
+[Footnote 212: Hermas (Mand. IV. 3) and Justin presuppose it. Hermas of
+course sought and found a way of meeting the results of that idea which
+were threatening the Church with decimation; but he did not question the
+idea itself. Because Christendom is a community of saints which has in
+its midst the sure salvation, all its members--this is the necessary
+inference--must lead a sinless life.]
+
+[Footnote 213: The formula, "righteousness by faith alone", was really
+repressed in the second century; but it could not be entirely destroyed:
+see my Essay, "Gesch. d. Seligkeit allein durch den Glauben in der alten
+K." Ztsch. f. Theol. u Kirche. I. pp. 82-105.]
+
+[Footnote 214: The only thorough discussion of the use of the Old
+Testament by an Apostolic Father, and of its authority, that we possess,
+is Wrede's "Untersuchungen zum 1 Clemensbrief" (1891). Excellent
+preliminary investigations, which, however, are not everywhere quite
+reliable, may be found in Hatch's Essays in Biblical Greek, 1889. Hatch
+has taken up again the hypothesis of earlier scholars, that there were
+very probably in the first and second centuries systematised extracts
+from the Old Testament (see p. 203-214). The hypothesis is not yet quite
+established (see Wrede, above work, p. 65), but yet it is hardly to be
+rejected. The Jewish catechetical and missionary instruction in the
+Diaspora needed such collections, and their existence seem to be proved
+by the Christian Apologies and the Sybilline books.]
+
+[Footnote 215: It is an extremely important fact that the words of the
+Lord were quoted and applied in their literal sense (that is chiefly for
+the statement of Christian morality) by Ecclesiastical authors, almost
+without exception, up to and inclusive of Justin. It was different with
+the theologians of the age, that is the Gnostics, and the Fathers from
+Irenaeus.]
+
+[Footnote 216: Justin was not the first to do so, for it had already
+been done by the so-called Barnabas (see especially c. 13) and others.
+On the proofs from prophecy see my Texte und Unters. Bd. I. 3. pp.
+56-74. The passage in the Praed. Petri (Clem. Strom. VI. 15. 128) is
+very complete: [Greek: Hemis anaptixantes tas biblous tas eichomen ton
+propheton, ha men dia parabolon ha de dia ainigmaton, ha de authentikos
+kai autolexei ton Christon Iesoun onomazonton, euromen kai ten parousian
+autou kai ton thanaton kai ton stauron kai tas loipas kolaseis pasas,
+hosas epoiesan auto hoi Ioudaioi, kai ten egersin kai ten eis ouranous
+analepsin pro tou Hiersoluma krithenai, kathos egegrapto tauta panta ha
+edei auton pathein kai met' auton ha estai; tauta oun epignontes
+episteusamen to theo dia ton gegrammennon eis auton.] With the help of
+the Old Testament the teachers dated back the Christian religion to the
+beginning of the human race, and joined the preparations for the
+founding of the Christian community with the creation of the world. The
+Apologists were not the first to do so, for Barnabas and Hermas, and
+before these, Paul, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and others
+had already done the same. This was undoubtedly to the cultured classes
+one of the most impressive articles in the missionary preaching. The
+Christian religion in this way got a hold which the others--with the
+exception of the Jewish--lacked. But for that very reason, we must guard
+against turning it into a formula, that the Gentile Christians had
+comprehended the Old Testament essentially through the scheme of
+prediction and fulfilment. The Old Testament is certainly the book of
+predictions, but for that very reason the complete revelation of God
+which needs no additions and excludes subsequent changes. The historical
+fulfilment only proves to the world the truth of those revelations. Even
+the scheme of shadow and reality is yet entirely out of sight. In such
+circumstances the question necessarily arises, as to what independent
+meaning and significance Christ's appearance could have, apart from that
+confirmation of the Old Testament. But, apart from the Gnostics, a
+surprisingly long time passed before this question was raised, that is
+to say, it was not raised till the time of Irenaeus.]
+
+[Footnote 217: See [Greek: Didache], 8.]
+
+[Footnote 218: See the Revelation of John II. 9; III. 9; but see also
+the "Jews" in the Gospels of John and of Peter. The latter exonerates
+Pilate almost completely, and makes the Jews and Herod responsible for
+the crucifixion.]
+
+[Footnote 219: See Barn. 9. 4. In the second epistle of Clement the Jews
+are called: [Greek: hoi dokiountes echein theon], cf. Praed. Petri in
+Clem., Strom. VI. 5. 41: [Greek: mede kata Ioudaious sebesthe, kai gar
+ekeinoi monoi oiomenoi ton theon gignoskein ouk epistantai, latreuontes
+angelois kai archangelois, meni kai selene, kai ean me selene phanei,
+sabbaton ouk agousi to legomenon proton, oude neomenian agousin, oude
+azuma, oude heorten, oude megalen hemera]. (Cf. Diognet. 34.) Even
+Justin does not judge the Jews more favourably than the Gentiles, but
+less favourably; see Apol I. 37, 39, 43, 34, 47, 53, 60. On the other
+hand, Aristides (Apol. c. 14, especially in the Syrian text) is much
+more friendly disposed to the Jews and recognises them more. The words
+of Pionius against and about the Jews, in the "Acta Pionii," c. 4, are
+very instructive.]
+
+[Footnote 220: Barn. 4. 6. f.; 14. 1 f. The author of Praed. Petri must
+have had a similar view of the matter.]
+
+[Footnote 221: Justin in the Dialogue with Trypho.]
+
+[Footnote 222: Barn. 9 f. It is a thorough misunderstanding of Barnabas'
+position towards the Old Testament to suppose it possible to pass over
+his expositions, c. 6-10, as oddities and caprices, and put them aside
+as indifferent or unmethodical. There is nothing here unmethodical, and
+therefore nothing arbitrary. Barnabas' strictly spiritual idea of God,
+and the conviction that all (Jewish) ceremonies are of the devil, compel
+his explanations. These are so little ingenious conceits to Barnabas
+that, but for them, he would have been forced to give up the Old
+Testament altogether. The account, for example, of Abraham having
+circumcised his slaves would have forced Barnabas to annul the whole
+authority of the Old Testament if he had not succeeded in giving it a
+particular interpretation. He does this by combining other passages of
+Genesis with the narrative, and then finding in it no longer
+circumcision, but a prediction of the crucified Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 223: Barn. 9. 6: [Greek: all' ereis, kai men peritetmetai ho
+laos eis sphragida].]
+
+[Footnote 224: See the expositions of Justin in the Dial. (especially,
+16, 18, 20, 30, 40-46); Von Engelhardt, "Christenthum Justin's", p. 429,
+ff. Justin has the three estimates side by side. (1) That the ceremonial
+law was a paedagogic measure of God with reference to a stiff-necked
+people, prone to idolatry. (2) That it--like circumcision--was to make
+the people conspicuous for the execution of judgment, according to the
+Divine appointment. (3) That in the ceremonial legal worship of the Jews
+is exhibited the special depravity and wickedness of the nation. But
+Justin conceived the Decalogue as the natural law of reason, and
+therefore definitely distinguished it from the ceremonial law.]
+
+[Footnote 225: See Ztschr fur K.G. I., p. 330 f.]
+
+[Footnote 226: This is the unanimous opinion of all writers of the
+post-Apostolic age. Christians are the true Israel; and therefore all
+Israel's predicates of honour belong to them. They are the twelve
+tribes, and therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are the Fathers of the
+Christians. This idea, about which there was no wavering, cannot
+everywhere be traced back to the Apostle Paul. The Old Testament men of
+God were in a certain measure Christians. See Ignat. Magn. 8. 2: [Greek:
+hoi prophetai kata Christon Iesoun ezesan].]
+
+[Footnote 227: God was naturally conceived and represented as corporeal
+by uncultured Christians, though not by these alone, as the later
+controversies prove (e.g., Orig. contra Melito; see also Tertull. De
+anima). In the case of the cultured, the idea of a corporeality of God
+may be traced back to Stoic influences; in the case of the uncultured,
+popular ideas co-operated with the sayings of the Old Testament
+literally understood, and the impression of the Apocalyptic images.]
+
+[Footnote 228: See Joh. IV. 22, [Greek: hemeis proskunoumen ho oidamen].
+1 Clem. 59. 3, 4, Herm. Mand. I., Praed Petri in Clem., Strom. VI. 5. 9
+[Greek: ginoskete hoti eis theos estin, hos archen panton epoiesen, kai
+telous exousian echon]. Aristides Apol. 15 (Syr) "The Christians know
+and believe in God, the creator of heaven and of earth." Chap. 16
+"Christians as men who know God pray to him for things which it becomes
+him to give and them to receive." Similarly Justin: "From very many old
+Gentile Christian writings we hear it as a cry of joy 'We know God the
+Almighty, the night of blindness is past'" (see, e.g., 2 Clem. c. 1).
+God is [Greek: despotes], a designation which is very frequently used
+(it is rare in the New Testament). Still more frequently do we find
+[Greek: kurios]. As the Lord and Creator God is also called the Father
+(of the world) so 1 Clem. 19. 2 [Greek: ho pater kai ktistes tou
+sumpantos kosmou]; 35. 3 [Greek: demiourgos kai pater ton aionon]. This
+use of the name Father for the supreme God was as is well known familiar
+to the Greeks, but the Christians alone were in earnest with the name.
+The creation out of nothing was made decidedly prominent by Hermas, see
+Vis. I. 1. 6 and my notes on the passage. In the Christian Apocrypha, in
+spite of the vividness of the idea of God, the angels play the same role
+as in the Jewish, and as in the current Jewish speculations. According
+to Hermas, e.g., all God's actions are mediated by special angels, nay
+the Son of God himself is represented by a special angel, viz. Michael,
+and works by him. But outside the Apocalypses there seems to have been
+little interest in the good angels.]
+
+[Footnote 229: See, for example 1 Clem. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 230: This is frequent in the Apologists, see also Diogn. 10.
+2; but Hermas, Vis. II. 4. 1 (see also Cels. ap Orig. IV. 23) says
+[Greek: dia ten ekklesian ho kosmos katertisthe] (cf. I. 1. 6 and my
+notes on the passage). Aristides (Apol. 16) declares it as his
+conviction that "the beautiful things, that is, the world are maintained
+only for the sake of Christians," see besides the words (I. c.), "I have
+no doubt that the earth continues to exist (only) on account of the
+prayers of the Christians." Even the Jewish Apocalyptists wavered
+between the formulae, that the world was created for the sake of man and
+for the sake of the Jewish nation. The two are not mutually exclusive.
+The statement in the Eucharistic prayer of Didache, 9. 3 [Greek: ektisas
+ta panta heneken tou onomatos sou] is singular.]
+
+[Footnote 231: God is named the Father, (1) in relation to the Son (very
+frequent) (2) as Father of the world (see above) (3) as the merciful one
+who has proved his goodness, declared his will and called Christians to
+be his sons (1 Clem. 23. 1, 29. 1, 2 Clem. 1. 4, 8. 4, 10. 1, 14. 1, see
+the index to Zahn's edition of the Ignatian Epistles, Didache, 1. 5, 9.
+2, 3, 10. 2). The latter usage is not very common, it is entirely
+wanting for example in the Epistle of Barnabas. Moreover God is also
+called [Greek: pater tes aletheias] as the source of all truth (2 Clem.
+3. 1, 20. 5 [Greek: theos to aletheias]). The identity of the Almighty
+God of creation with the merciful God of redemption is the tacit
+presupposition of all declarations about God in the case of both the
+cultured and the uncultured. It is also frequently expressed (see above
+all the Pastoral Epistles), most frequently by Hermas (Vis. 1. 3. 4) so
+far as the declaration about the creation of the world is there united
+in the closest way with that about the creation of the Holy Church. As
+to the designation of God in the Roman Symbol as the "Father Almighty,"
+that threefold exposition just given, may perhaps allow it.]
+
+[Footnote 232: The present dominion of evil demons or of one evil demon,
+was just as generally presupposed as man's need of redemption, which was
+regarded as a result of that dominion. The conviction that the world's
+course (the [Greek: politeia en to kosmo], the Latins afterwards used
+the word Saeculum) is determined by the devil, and that the dark one
+(Barnabas) has dominion, comes out most prominently where eschatological
+hopes obtain expression. But where salvation is thought of as knowledge
+and immortality, it is ignorance and frailty from which men are to be
+delivered. We may here also assume with certainty that these, in the
+last instance, were traced back by the writers to the action of demons.
+But it makes a very great difference whether the judgment was ruled by
+fancy which saw a real devil everywhere active, or whether, in
+consequence of theoretic reflection, it based the impression of
+universal ignorance and mortality on the assumption of demons who have
+produced them. Here again we must note the two series of ideas which
+intertwine and struggle with each other in the creeds of the earliest
+period, the traditional religious series resting on a fanciful view of
+history--it is essentially identical with the Jewish Apocalyptic, see,
+for example Barn 4--and the empiric moralistic, (see 2 Clem. 1. 2-7, as
+a specially valuable discussion, or Praed. Petri in Clem, Strom. VI. 5,
+39, 40), which abides by the fact that men have fallen into ignorance,
+weakness and death (2 Clem. 1. 6 [Greek: ho bios hemon holos allo ouden
+en ei me thanatos]). But perhaps, in no other point, with the exception
+of the [Greek: anastasis sarkos] has the religious conception remained
+so tenacious as in this and it decidedly prevailed, especially in the
+epoch with which we are now dealing. Its tenacity may be explained,
+among other things, by the living impression of the polytheism that
+surrounded the communities on every side. Even where the national gods
+were looked upon as dead idols--and that was perhaps the rule, see
+Praed. Petri. I. c, 2 Clem. 3. 1, Didache, 6--one could not help
+assuming that there were mighty demons operative behind them, as
+otherwise the frightful power of idolatry could not be explained. But on
+the other hand, even a calm reflection and a temper unfriendly to all
+religious excess must have welcomed the assumption of demons who sought
+to rule the world and man. For by means of this assumption which was
+wide-spread even among the Greeks, humanity seemed to be unburdened, and
+the presupposed capacity for redemption could therefore be justified in
+its widest range. From the assumption that the need of redemption was
+altogether due to ignorance and mortality there was but one step, or
+little more than one step, to the assumption that the need of redemption
+was grounded in a condition of man for which he was not responsible,
+that is, in the flesh. But this step which would have led either to
+dualism (heretical Gnosis) or to the abolition of the distinction
+between natural and moral, was not taken within the main body of the
+Church. The eschatological series of ideas with its thesis that death
+evil and sin entered into humanity at a definite historical moment when
+the demons took possession of the world drew a limit which was indeed
+overstepped at particular points but was in the end respected. We have
+therefore the remarkable fact that, on the one hand, early Christian
+(Jewish) eschatology called forth and maintained a disposition in which
+the Kingdom of God, and that of the world, (Kingdom of the devil) were
+felt to be absolutely opposed (practical dualism), while, on the other
+hand, it rejected theoretic dualism. Redemption through Christ, however,
+was conceived in the eschatological Apocalyptic series of ideas as
+essentially something entirely in the future, for the power of the devil
+was not broken, but rather increased (or it was virtually broken in
+believers and increased in unbelievers), by the first advent of Christ,
+and therefore the period between the first and second advent of Christ
+belongs to [Greek: houtos ho aion] (see Barn. 2. 4; Herm. Sim 1; 2 Clem.
+6. 3: [Greek: estin de houtos ho aion kai ho mellon duo echthroi; houtos
+legei moicheian kai phthoran kai philargourian kai apaten, ekeinos de
+toutois apostassetai], Ignat. Magn. 5. 2). For that very reason, the
+second coming of Christ must, as a matter of course, be at hand, for
+only through it could the first advent get its full value. The painful
+impression that nothing had been outwardly changed by Christ's first
+advent (the heathen, moreover, pointed this out in mockery to the
+suffering Christians), must be destroyed by the hope of his speedy
+coming again. But the first advent had its independent significance in
+the series of ideas which regarded Christ as redeeming man from
+ignorance and mortality; for the knowledge was already given, and the
+gift of immortality could only of course be dispensed after this life
+was ended, but then immediately. The hope of Christ's return was
+therefore a superfluity, but was not felt or set aside as such, because
+there was still a lively expectation of Christ's earthly Kingdom.]
+
+[Footnote 233: No other name adhered to Christ so firmly as that of
+[Greek: kurios]; see a specially clear evidence of this, Novatian de
+trinit. 30, who argues against the Adoptian and Modalistic heretics
+thus: "Et in primis illud retorquendum in istos, qui duorum nobis deorum
+controversiam facere praesumunt. Scriptum est, quod negare non possunt:
+'Quoniam unus est dominus.' De Christo ergo quid sentiunt? Dominum esse,
+aut illum omnino non esse? Sed dominum illum omnino non dubitant. Ergo
+si vera est illorum ratiocinatio, jam duo sunt domini." On [Greek:
+kurios--despotes], see above, p. 119, note.]
+
+[Footnote 234: Specially instructive examples of this are found in the
+Epistle of Barnabas and the second Epistle of Clement. Clement (Ep. 1)
+speaks only of faith in God.]
+
+[Footnote 235: See 1 Clem. 59-61. [Greek: Didache], c. 9. 10. Yet
+Novatian (de trinit. 14) exactly reproduces the old idea, "Si homo
+tantummodo Christus, cur homo in orationibus mediator invocatur, cum
+invocatio hominis ad praestandam salutem inefficax judicetur." As the
+Mediator, High Priest, etc., Christ is of course always and everywhere
+invoked by the Christians, but such invocations are one thing and formal
+prayer another. The idea of the congruence of God's will of salvation
+with the revelation of salvation which took place through Christ, was
+further continued in the idea of the congruence of this revelation of
+salvation with the universal preaching of the twelve chosen Apostles
+(see above, p. 162 ff.), the root of the Catholic principle of
+tradition. But the Apostles never became "[Greek: hoi kurioi]" though
+the concepts [Greek: didache (logos) kuriou, didache (kerugma) ton
+apostolon] were just as interchangeable as [Greek: logos theou] and
+[Greek: logos christou]. The full formula would be [Greek: logos theou
+dia Iesou Christou dia ton apostolon]. But as the subjects introduced by
+[Greek: dia] are chosen and perfect media, religious usage permitted the
+abbreviation.]
+
+[Footnote 236: In the epistle of Barnabas "Jesus Christ" and "Christ"
+appear each once, but "Jesus" twelve times: in the Didache "Jesus
+Christ" once, "Jesus" three times. Only in the second half of the second
+century, if I am not mistaken, did the designation "Jesus Christ", or
+"Christ", become the current one, more and more crowding out the simple
+"Jesus." Yet the latter designation--and this is not surprising--appears
+to have continued longest in the regular prayers. It is worthy of note
+that in the Shepherd there is no mention either of the name Jesus or of
+Christ. The Gospel of Peter also says [Greek: ho kurios] where the other
+Gospels use these names.]
+
+[Footnote 237: See 1 Clem. 64: [Greek: ho theos, ho eklexamenos ton
+kurion Iesoun Christon kai hemas di' autou eis laon periousion doe,
+k.t.l.] (It is instructive to note that wherever the idea of election is
+expressed, the community is immediately thought of, for in point of fact
+the election of the Messiah has no other aim than to elect or call the
+community; Barn. 3. 6: [Greek: ho laos hon hetoimasen en to egapemenoi
+autou]). Herm. Sim. V. 2: [Greek: eklexamenos doulon tina piston kai
+euareston] V. 6. 5. Justin, Dial. 48: [Greek: me arneisthai hoti houtos
+estin ho Christos, ean phainetai hos anthropos ex anthropon gennetheis
+kai ekloge genomenos eis to Christon einai apodeiknuetai].]
+
+[Footnote 238: See Barn. 14. 5: [Greek: Iesous eis touto hetoimasthe,
+hina ... hemas lutrosamenos ek tou skotous diathetai en hemin diatheken
+logoi]. The same word concerning the Church, I. c. 3. 6. and 5. 7:
+[Greek: autos eauto ton laon ton kainon etoimazon] 14 6.]
+
+[Footnote 239: "Angel" is a very old designation for Christ (see
+Justin's Dial.) which maintained itself up to the Nicean controversy,
+and is expressly claimed for him in Novatian's treatise "de trinit." 11.
+25 ff. (the word was taken from Old Testament passages which were
+applied to Christ). As a rule, however, it is not to be understood as a
+designation of the nature, but of the office of Christ as such, though
+the matter was never very clear. There were Christians who used it as a
+designation of the nature, and from the earliest times we find this idea
+contradicted (see the Apoc. Sophoniae, ed. Stern, 1886, IV. fragment, p
+10: "He appointed no Angel to come to us, nor Archangel, nor any power,
+but he transformed himself into a man that he might come to us for our
+deliverance." Cf. the remarkable parallel, ep. ad. Diagn. 7. 2: ...
+[Greek: ou, kathaper an tis eikaseien anthropos, hypereten tina pempsas
+e angelon e archonta e tina ton dieponton ta epigeia he tina ton
+pepisteumenon tas en ouranois dioikeseis, all' auton ton techniten kai
+demiourgon ton holon. k.t.l.]). Yet it never got the length of a great
+controversy and as the Logos doctrine gradually made way, the
+designation "Angel" became harmless and then vanished.]
+
+[Footnote 240: [Greek: Pais] (after Isaiah): this designation,
+frequently united with [Greek: Iesous] and with the adjectives [Greek:
+hagios] and [Greek: egapemenos] (see Barn. 3, 6; 4, 3; 4, 8; Valent. ap.
+Clem. Alex., Strom. VI. 6. 52, and the Ascensio Isaiae), seems to have
+been at the beginning a usual one. It sprang undoubtedly from the
+Messianic circle of ideas, and at its basis lies the idea of election.
+It is very interesting to observe how it was gradually put into the
+background and finally abolished. It was kept longest in the liturgical
+prayers: see 1 Clem. 59. 2; Barn. 61. 9. 2; Acts iii. 13, 26; iv. 27,
+30; Didache, 9. 2. 3; Mart. Polyc. 14. 20; Act. Pauli et Theclae, 17, 24;
+Sibyl. I. v. 324, 331, 364; Diogn. 8, 9, 10: [Greek: ho hagapetos pais]
+9; also Ep. Orig. ad Afric. init; Clem. Strom. VII. 1. 4: [Greek: ho
+monogenes pais], and my note on Barn 6. 1. In the Didache (9. 2) Jesus
+as well as David is in one statement called "Servant of God." Barnabas,
+who calls Christ the "Beloved", uses the same expression for the Church
+(4. 1. 9); see also Ignat ad Smyrn. inscr.]
+
+[Footnote 241: See the old Roman Symbol and Acts X. 42; 2 Tim. IV. 1;
+Barn. 7. 2; Polyc. Ep. 2. 1; 2 Clem. 2. 1; Hegesipp. in Euseb. H. E.
+III. 20, 6: Justin Dial. 118]
+
+[Footnote 242: There could of course be no doubt that Christ meant the
+"anointed" (even Aristides Apol. 2 fin., if Nestle's correction is
+right, Justin's Apol. 1. 4 and similar passages do not justify doubt on
+that point). But the meaning and the effect of this anointing was very
+obscure. Justin says (Apol. II. 6) [Greek: Christos men kata to
+kechristhai kai kosmesai ta panta di autou ton theon legetai] and
+therefore (see Dial. 76 fin.) finds in this designation an expression of
+the cosmic significance of Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 243: See the Apologists: Apost. K.O. (Texte. v. Unters. II. 5,
+p. 25) [Greek: proorontas tous logous tou didaskalou hemon], ibid, p. 28
+[Greek: ote etesen ho didaskalos ton arton], ibid. p. 30 [Greek:
+proelegen ote edidasken], Apost. Constit. (original writing) III. 6
+[Greek: autos ho didaskalos hemon kai kurios], III. 7 [Greek: ho kurios
+kai didaskalos hemon eipen], III. 19, III. 20, V. 12, 1 Clem. 13. 1
+[Greek: ton logon tou kuriou Iesou hous elalesen didaskon], Polyc. Ep. 2
+[Greek: mnemoneuontes hon eipen ho kurios didaskon], Ptolem. ad Floram 5
+[Greek: he didaskalia tou soteros].]
+
+[Footnote 244: The baptismal formula which had been naturalised
+everywhere in the communities at this period preserved it above all. The
+addition of [Greek: idios prototokos] is worthy of notice. [Greek:
+Monogenes] (= the only begotten and also the beloved) is not common, it
+is found only in John, in Justin, in the Symbol of the Romish Church and
+in Mart. Polyc. (Diogn. 10. 3).]
+
+[Footnote 245: The so-called second Epistle of Clement begins with the
+words [Greek: Adelphoi outos dei hemas phronein peri Iesou hos peri
+theou, hos peri kritou zonton kai nekron] (this order in which the Judge
+appears as the higher is also found in Barn. 7. 2), [Greek: kai ou dei
+hemas mikra phronein peri tes soterias hemon; en to gar phronein hemas
+mikra peri autou mikra kai elpizomen labein]. This argumentation (see
+also the following verses up to II. 7) is very instructive, for it shews
+the grounds on which the [Greek: phronein peri autou os peri theou] was
+based H. Schultz (L. v. d. Gottheit Christi, p. 25 f.) very correctly
+remarks. In the second Epistle of Clement and in the Shepherd the
+Christological interest of the writer ends in obtaining the assurance,
+through faith in Christ as the world ruling King and Judge that the
+community of Christ will receive a glory corresponding to its moral and
+ascetic works.]
+
+[Footnote 246: Pliny in his celebrated letter (96) speaks of a "Carmen
+dicere Christo quasi deo" on the part of the Christians. Hermas has no
+doubt that the Chosen Servant, after finishing his work, will be adopted
+as God's Son, and therefore has been destined from the beginning,
+[Greek: eis exousian megalen kai kurioteta], Sim. V. 6. 1. But that
+simply means that he is now in a Divine sphere and that one must think
+of him as of God. But there was no unanimity beyond that. The formula
+says nothing about the nature or constitution of Jesus. It might indeed
+appear from Justin's dialogue that the direct designation of Jesus as
+[Greek: theos] (not as [Greek: o theos]) was common in the communities,
+but not only are there some passages in Justin himself to be urged
+against this but also the testimony of other writers. [Greek: Theos],
+even without the article, was in no case a usual designation for Jesus.
+On the contrary, it was always quite definite occasions which led them
+to speak of Christ as of a God or as God. In the first place there were
+Old Testament passages such as Ps. XLV. 8, CX. 1 f. etc. which as soon
+as they were interpreted in relation to Christ led to his getting the
+predicate [Greek: theos]. These passages, with many others taken from
+the Old Testament, were used in this way by Justin. Yet it is very well
+worth noting that the author of the Epistle of Barnabas avoided this
+expression in a passage which must have suggested it (12, 10, 11 on Ps.
+CX. 4) The author of the Didache calls him "[Greek: o theos Dabid]" on
+the basis of the above psalm. It is manifestly therefore in liturgical
+formulae of exalted paradox or living utterances of religious feeling
+that Christ is called God. See Ignat. ad Rom. 6. 3, [Greek: epitrepsate
+moi mimeten einai tou pathous tou theou mou] (the [Greek: mou] here
+should be observed), ad Eph. 1. 1 [Greek: anazopuresantes en aimati
+theou], Tatian Orat. 13 [Greek: diakonos tou peponthotos theou]. As to
+the celebrated passage 1 Clem. ad Cor. 2. 10 [Greek: ta pathemata autou]
+(the [Greek: autou] refers to [Greek: theos]) we may perhaps observe
+that that [Greek: o theos] stands far apart. However, such a
+consideration is hardly in place. The passages just adduced shew that
+precisely the union of suffering (blood, death) with the concept
+"God"--and only this union--must have been in Christendom from a very
+early period, see Acts XX. 28 [Greek: ten ekklaesian tou theou hen
+periepoiesato dia tou haimatos tou idiou], and from a later period
+Melito, Fragm (in Routh Rel Sacra I. 122), [Greek: ho theos peponthen
+hupo dexias Israelitidos], Anonym ap Euseb H. E. V. 28 11, [Greek: ho
+eusplanchnos theos kai kurios hemon Iesous Christos ouk ebouleto
+apolesthai martura ton idion pathematon], Test XII. Patriarch. (Levi. 4)
+[Greek: epi to pathei tou hupsistou]; Tertull. de carne 5, "passiones
+dei," ad Uxor. II. 3: "sanguine dei." Tertullian also speaks frequently
+of the crucifying of God, the flesh of God, the death of God. (see
+Lightfoot, Clem. of Rome, p. 400, sq.). These formulae were first
+subjected to examination in the Patripassian controversy. They were
+rejected by Athanasius for example in the fourth century (cf. Apollin.
+II. 13, 14, Opp. I. p. 758) [Greek: pos oun gegraphate hoti theos ho dia
+sarkos pathon kai anastas, ... oudamou de haima theou dicha sarkos
+paradedokasin hai graphai e theon dia sarkos pathonta kai anastanta].
+They continued in use in the west and became of the utmost significance
+in the christological controversies of the fifth century. It is not
+quite certain whether there is a theologia Christi in such passages as
+Tit. II. 13, 2 Pet. I. 1 (see the controversies on Rom. IX. 5). Finally
+[Greek: theos] and Christus were often interchanged in religious
+discourse (see above). In the so called second Epistle of Clement (c. 1.
+4) the dispensing of right knowledge is traced back to Christ. It is
+said of him that like a Father, he has called us children, he has
+delivered us, he has called us into existence out of non-existence and
+in this God himself is not thought of. Indeed he is called (2. 2. 3) the
+hearer of prayer and the controller of history, but immediately thereon
+a saying of the Lord is introduced as a saying of God (Matt. IX. 13). On
+the contrary Isaiah XXIX. 13 is quoted (3. 5) as a declaration of Jesus,
+and again (13. 4) a saying of the Lord with the formula [Greek: legei o
+theos]. It is Christ who pitied us (3. 1, 16. 2), he is described simply
+as the Lord who hath called and redeemed us (5. 1, 8. 2, 9. 5 etc). Not
+only is there frequent mention of the [Greek: entolai] ([Greek:
+entalmata]) of Christ, but 6. 7 (see 14. 1) speak directly of a [Greek:
+poiein to thelema tou Christou]. Above all, in the entire first division
+(up to 9. 5) the religious situation is for the most part treated as if
+it were something essentially between the believer and Christ. On the
+other hand, (10. 1), the Father is he who calls (see also 16. 1), who
+brings salvation (9. 7), who accepts us as Sons (9. 10; 16. 1); he has
+given us promises (11. 1, 6. 7.); we expect his kingdom, nay, the day of
+his appearing (12. 1 f.; 6. 9; 9. 6; 11. 7; 12. 1). He will judge the
+world, etc.; while in 17. 4. we read of the day of Christ's appearing,
+of his kingdom and of his function of Judge, etc. Where the preacher
+treats of the relation of the community to God, where he describes the
+religious situation according to its establishment or its consummation,
+where he desires to rule the religious and moral conduct, he introduces,
+without any apparent distinction, now God himself, and now Christ. But
+this religious view, in which acts of God coincide with acts of Christ,
+did not, as will be shewn later on, influence the theological
+speculations of the preacher. We have also to observe that the
+interchanging of God and Christ is not always an expression of the high
+dignity of Christ, but, on the contrary, frequently proves that the
+personal significance of Christ is misunderstood, and that he is
+regarded only as the dependent revealer of God. All this shews that
+there cannot have been many passages in the earliest literature where
+Christ was roundly designated [Greek: theos]. It is one thing to speak
+of the blood (death, suffering) of God, and to describe the gifts of
+salvation brought by Christ as gifts of God, and another thing to set up
+the proposition that Christ is a God (or God). When, from the end of the
+second century, one began to look about in the earlier writings for
+passages [Greek: en hois theologeitai ho christos], because the matter
+had become a subject of controversy, one could, besides the Old
+Testament, point only to the writings of authors from the time of Justin
+(to apologists and controversialists) as well as to Psalms and odes (see
+the Anonym. in Euseb. H. E. V. 28. 4-6). In the following passages of
+the Ignatian Epistles "[Greek: theos]" appears as a designation of
+Christ; he is called [Greek: ho theos haemon] in Ephes. inscript.; Rom.
+inscr. bis 3. 2; Polyc. 8. 3; Eph. 1. 1, [Greek: haima theou]; Rom. 6.
+3, [Greek: to pathos tou theou mou]; Eph. 7. 2, [Greek: en sarki
+genomenos theos], in another reading, [Greek: en anthropo theos], Smyrn.
+I. 1, I. Chr. [Greek: ho theos ho outos humas sophisas]. The latter
+passage, in which the relative clause must he closely united with
+"[Greek: ho theos]", seems to form the transition to the three passages
+(Trall. 7. 1; Smyrn. 6. 1; 10. 1), in which Jesus is called [Greek:
+theos] without addition. But these passages are critically suspicious,
+see Lightfoot _in loco_. In the same way the "deus Jesus Christus" in
+Polyc. Ep. 12. 2, is suspicious, and indeed in both parts of the verse.
+In the first, all Latin codd. have "dei filius," and in the Greek codd.
+of the Epistle, Christ is nowhere called [Greek: theos]. We have a keen
+polemic against the designation of Christ as [Greek: theos] in Clem.
+Rom. Homil. XVI. 15 sq.; [Greek: Ho Petros apekrithae ho kurios haemon
+oute theous einai ephthenxato para ton ktisanta ta panta oute heauton
+theon einai anaegoreusen, huion de theou tou ta panta diakosmaesantos ton
+eiponta auton eulogos emakarisen, kai o Simon apekrinato; ou dokei soi
+oun ton apo theou theon einai, kai ho Petros ephae: pos touto einai
+dunatai, phrason haemin, touto gar haemeis eipein soi ou dunametha, hoti
+mae haekousamen par' autou.]]
+
+[Footnote 247: On the further use of the word [Greek: theos] in
+antiquity, see above, Sec. 8, p. 120 f.; the formula "[Greek: theos ek
+theou]" for Augustus, even 24 years before Christ's birth; on the
+formula "dominus ac deus", see John XX. 28; the interchange of these
+concepts in many passages beside one another in the anonymous writer
+(Euseb. H. E. V. 28. 11). Domitian first allowed himself to be called
+"dominus ac deus." Tertullian, Apol. 10. 11, is very instructive as to
+the general situation in the second century. Here are brought forward
+the different causes which then moved men, the cultured and the
+uncultured, to give to this or that personality the predicate of
+Divinity. In the third century the designation of "dominus ac deus
+noster" for Christ, was very common, especially in the west (see
+Cyprian, Pseudo-Cyprian, Novatian; in the Latin Martyrology a Greek
+[Greek: ho kurios] is also frequently so translated). But only at this
+time had the designation come to be in actual use even for the Emperor.
+It seems at first sight to follow from the statements of Celsus (in
+Orig. c. Cels. III. 22-43) that this Greek had and required a very
+strict conception of the Godhead; but his whole work shews how little
+that was really the case. The reference to these facts of the history of
+the time is not made with the view of discovering the "theologia
+Christi" itself in its ultimate roots--these roots lie elsewhere, in the
+person of Christ and Christian experience; but that this experience,
+before any technical reflection, had so easily and so surely substituted
+the new formula instead of the idea of Messiah, can hardly be explained
+without reference to the general religious ideas of the time.]
+
+[Footnote 248: The combination of [Greek: theos] and [Greek: soter] in
+the Pastoral Epistles is very important. The two passages in the New
+Testament in which perhaps a direct "theologia Christi" may be
+recognised, contain likewise the concept [Greek: soter]; see Tit. II.
+13; [Greek: prosdechomenoi ten makarian elpida kai epiphaneian tes doxes
+tou megalou theou kai soteros hemon Christou Iesou] (cf. Abbot, Journal
+of the Society of Bibl. Lit., and Exeg. 1881. June. p. 3 sq.): 2 Pet. I.
+1: [Greek: en dikaiosunei tou theou hemon kai soteros 'I. Chr.]. In both
+cases the [Greek: hemon] should be specially noted. Besides, [Greek:
+theos soter] is also an ancient formula.]
+
+[Footnote 249: A very ancient formula ran "[Greek: theos kai theos
+huios]" see Cels. ap. Orig II. 30; Justin, frequently: Alterc. Sim. et
+Theoph. 4, etc. The formula is equivalent to [Greek: theos monogenes]
+(see Joh. I. 18).]
+
+[Footnote 250: Such conceptions are found side by side in the same
+writer. See, for example, the second Epistle of Clement, and even the
+first.]
+
+[Footnote 251: See Sec. 6, p. 120. The idea of a [Greek: theopoiesis] was
+as common as that of the appearances of the gods. In wide circles,
+however, philosophy had long ago naturalised the idea of the [Greek:
+logos tou theou]. But now there is no mistaking a new element
+everywhere. In the case of the Christologies which include a kind of
+[Greek: theopoiesis], it is found in the fact that the deified Jesus was
+to be recognised not as a Demigod or Hero, but as Lord of the world,
+equal in power and honour to the Deity. In the case of those
+Christologies which start with Christ as the heavenly spiritual being,
+it is found in the belief in an actual incarnation. These two articles,
+as was to be expected, presented difficulties to the Gentile Christians,
+and the latter more than the former.]
+
+[Footnote 252: This is usually overlooked. Christological doctrinal
+conceptions are frequently constructed by a combination of particular
+passages, the nature of which does not permit of combination. But the
+fact that there was no universally recognised theory about the nature of
+Jesus till beyond the middle of the second century, should not lead us
+to suppose that the different theories were anywhere declared to be of
+equal value, etc., therefore more or less equally valid; on the
+contrary, everyone, so far as he had a theory at all, included his own
+in the revealed truth. That they had not yet come into conflict is
+accounted for, on the one hand, by the fact that the different theories
+ran up into like formulae, and could even frequently be directly carried
+over into one another, and on the other hand, by the fact that their
+representatives appealed to the same authorities. But we must, above
+all, remember that conflict could only arise after the enthusiastic
+element, which also had a share in the formation of Christology, had
+been suppressed, and problems were felt to be such, that is, after the
+struggle with Gnosticism, or even during that struggle.]
+
+[Footnote 253: Both were clearly in existence in the Apostolic age.]
+
+[Footnote 254: Only one work has been preserved entire which gives clear
+expression to the Adoptian Christology, viz., the Shepherd of Hermas
+(see Sim. V. and IX. 1. 12). According to it, the Holy Spirit--it is not
+certain whether he is identified with the chief Archangel--is regarded
+as the pre-existent Son of God, who is older than creation, nay, was
+God's counsellor at creation. The Redeemer is the virtuous man [Greek:
+sarx] chosen by God, with whom that Spirit of God was united. As he did
+not defile the Spirit, but kept him constantly as his companion, and
+carried out the work to which the Deity had called him, nay, did more
+than he was commanded, he was in virtue of a Divine decree adopted as a
+son and exalted to [Greek: megale exousia kai kuriotes]. That this
+Christology is set forth in a book which enjoyed the highest honour and
+sprang from the Romish community, is of great significance. The
+representatives of this Christology, who in the third century were
+declared to be heretics, expressly maintained that it was at one time
+the ruling Christology at Rome and had been handed down by the Apostles.
+(Anonym, in Euseb. H. E. V. 28. 3, concerning the Artemonites: [Greek:
+phasi tous men proterous hapantas kai autous tous apostolous
+pareilephenai te kai dedidachenai tauta, ha nun houtoi legousi, kai
+teteresthai ten aletheian tou kerygmatos mechri ton chronon tou Biktoros
+... apo tou diadochon auto Zephurinou parakecharachthai ten aletheian]).
+This assertion, though exaggerated, is not incredible after what we find
+in Hermas. It cannot, certainly, be verified by a superficial
+examination of the literary monuments preserved to us, but a closer
+investigation shews that the Adoptian Christology must at one time have
+been very widespread, that it continued here and there undisturbed up to
+the middle of the third century (see the Christology in the Acta
+Archelai. 49, 50), and that it continued to exercise great influence
+even in the fourth and fifth centuries (see Book II. c. 7). Something
+similar is found even in some Gnostics, e.g., Valentinus himself (see
+Iren. I. 11. 1: [Greek: kai ton Christon de ouk apo ton en toi pleromati
+aionon probeblesthai, alla hupo tes metros, exo de genomenes, kata ten
+gnomen ton kreittonon apokekuesthai meta skias tinos. Kai touton men,
+hate arrena huparchontaf, apokopsanta huph' heautou ten skian,
+anadramein eis to pleroma]. The same in the Exc. ex Theodot Sec.Sec. 22, 23,
+32, 33), and the Christology of Basilides presupposes that of the
+Adoptians. Here also belongs the conception which traces back the
+genealogy of Jesus to Joseph. The way in which Justin (Dialog. 48, 49,
+87 ff.) treats the history of the baptism of Jesus, against the
+objection of Trypho that a pre-existent Christ would not have needed to
+be filled with the Spirit of God, is instructive. It is here evident
+that Justin deals with objections which were raised within the
+communities themselves to the pre-existence of Christ, on the ground of
+the account of the baptism. In point of fact, this account (it had,
+according to very old witnesses, see Resch, Agrapha Christi, p. 307,
+according to Justin, for example, Dial. 88. 103, the wording: [Greek:
+hama toi anabenai auton apo tou potamou tou Iordanou, tes phones autou
+lechtheises huios mou ei ss, ego semeron gegenneka se]; see the Cod. D.
+of Luke. Clem. Alex, etc.) forms the strongest foundation of the
+Adoptian Christology, and hence it is exceedingly interesting to see how
+one compounds with it from the second to the fifth century, an
+investigation which deserves a special monograph. But, of course, the
+edge was taken off the report by the assumption of the miraculous birth
+of Jesus from the Holy Spirit, so that the Adoptians in recognising
+this, already stood with one foot in the camp of their opponents. It is
+now instructive to see here how the history of the baptism, which
+originally formed the beginning of the proclamation of Jesus' history,
+is suppressed in the earliest formulae, and therefore also in the Romish
+Symbol, while the birth from the Holy Spirit is expressly stated. Only
+in Ignatius (ad Smyrn. I; cf. ad Eph. 18. 2) is the baptism taken into
+account in the confession; but even he has given the event a turn by
+which it has no longer any significance for Jesus himself (just as in
+the case of Justin, who concludes from the _resting_ of the Spirit in
+his fulness upon Jesus, that there will be no more prophets among the
+Jews, spiritual gifts being rather communicated to Christians; compare
+also the way in which the baptism of Jesus is treated in Joh. I.).
+Finally, we must point out that in the Adoptian Christology, the
+parallel between Jesus and all believers who have the Spirit and are
+Sons of God, stands out very clearly (Cf. Herm. Sim. V. with Mand. III.
+V. 1; X. 2; most important is Sim. V. 6. 7). But this was the very thing
+that endangered the whole view. Celsus, I. 57, addressing Jesus, asks;
+"If thou sayest that every man whom Divine Providence allows to be born
+(this is of course a formulation for which Celsus alone is responsible),
+is a son of God, what advantage hast thou then over others?" We can see
+already in the Dialogue of Justin, the approach of the later great
+controversy, whether Christ is Son of God [Greek: kata gnomen], or
+[Greek: kata phusin], that is, had a pre-existence: "[Greek: kai gar
+eisi tines], he says, [Greek: apo tou humeterou genous homologountes
+auton Christon einai, anthropon de ex anthropon genomenon
+apophainomenoi, hois ou suntithemai]" (c. 48).]
+
+[Footnote 255: This Christology which may be traced back to the Pauline,
+but which can hardly have its point of departure in Paul alone, is found
+also in the Epistle to the Hebrews and in the writings of John,
+including the Apocalypse, and is represented by Barnabas, 1 and 2 Clem.,
+Ignatius, Polycarp, the author of the Pastoral Epistles, the Authors of
+Praed. Petri, and the Altercatio Jasonis et Papisci, etc. The Classic
+formulation is in 2 Clem. 9. 5: [Greek: Christos ho kurios ho sosas
+hemas on men to proton pneuma egeneto sarx kai houtos hemas ekalesen].
+According to Barnabas (5. 3), the pre-existent Christ is [Greek: pantos
+tou kosmou kurios]: to him God said, [Greek: apo kataboles kosmou], "Let
+us make man, etc." He is (5. 6) the subject and goal of all Old
+Testament revelation. He is [Greek: ouxi huios anthropou all: huios tou
+theou, tupoi de en sarki phanerotheis] (12. 10); the flesh is merely the
+veil of the Godhead, without which man could not have endured the light
+(5. 10). According to 1 Clement, Christ is [Greek: to skeptron tes
+melagosunes tou theou] (16. 2), who if he had wished could have appeared
+on earth [Greek: en kompoi alazoneias], he is exalted far above the
+angels (32), as he is the Son of God ([Greek: pathemata tou theou], 2.
+1); he hath spoken through the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament (22. 1).
+It is not certain whether Clement understood Christ under the [Greek:
+logos megalosunes tou theou] (27. 4). According to 2 Clem., Christ and
+the church are heavenly spiritual existences which have appeared in the
+last times. Gen. I. 27 refers to their creation (c. 14; see my note on
+the passage: We learn from Origen that a very old Theologoumenon
+identified Jesus with the ideal of Adam, the church with that of Eve).
+Similar ideas about Christ are found in Gnostic Jewish Christians); one
+must think about Christ as about God (I. 1). Ignatius writes (Eph. 7-2):
+[Greek: Eis, iatros estin sarkikos te kai pneumatikos, gennetos kai
+agennetos, en sarki genomenos theos, en thanatoi zoe alethine, kai ek
+Marias kai ek theou, proton pathaetos kai tote apathes Iesous Christos
+ho kurios hemon]. As the human predicates stand here first, it might
+appear as though, according to Ignatius, the man Jesus first became God
+([Greek: ho theos hemon], Cf. Eph. inscr.: 18. 2). In point of fact, he
+regards Jesus as Son of God only by his birth from the Spirit; but on
+the other hand, Jesus is [Greek: aph' henos patros proelthon] (Magn. 7.
+2), is [Greek: logos theou] (Magn. 8. 2,) and when Ignatius so often
+emphasises the truth of Jesus' history against Docetism (Trall. 9. for
+example), we must assume that he shares the thesis with the Gnostics
+that Jesus is by nature a spiritual being. But it is well worthy of
+notice that Ignatius, as distinguished from Barnabas and Clement, really
+gives the central place to the historical Jesus Christ, the Son of God
+and the Son of Mary, and his work. The like is found only in Irenaeus.
+The pre-existence of Christ is presupposed by Polycarp. (Ep 7. 1); but,
+like Paul, he strongly emphasises a real exaltation of Christ (2. 1).
+The author of Praed. Petri calls Christ the [Greek: logos] (Clem. Strom.
+I. 29, 182). As Ignatius calls him this also, as the same designation is
+found in the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse of John (the latter a
+Christian adaptation of a Jewish writing), in the Act. Joh. (see Zahn,
+Acta Joh. p. 220), finally, as Celsus (II. 31) says quite generally,
+"The Christians maintain that the Son of God is at the same time his
+incarnate Word", we plainly perceive that this designation for Christ
+was not first started by professional philosophers (see the Apologists,
+for example, Tatian, Orat. 5, and Melito Apolog. fragm. in the Chron.
+pasch. p. 483, ed. Dindorf: [Greek: Christos on theou logos pro aionon].
+We do not find in the Johannine writings such a Logos speculation as in
+the Apologists, but the current expression is taken up in order to shew
+that it has its truth in the appearing of Jesus Christ. The ideas about
+the existence of a Divine Logos were very widely spread; they were
+driven out of philosophy into wide circles. The author of the Alterc.
+Jas. et Papisci conceived the phrase in Gen I. 1, [Greek: en arche], as
+equivalent to [Greek: en huioi (Christoi)] Jerome. Quaest. hebr. in Gen.
+p. 3; see Tatian Orat. 5: [Greek: theos en en archei ten de archen logou
+dunamin pareilephamen]. Ignatius (Eph. 3) also called Christ [Greek: he
+gnome tou patros] (Eph. 17: [Greek: he gnosis tou theou]); that is a
+more fitting expression than [Greek: logos]. The subordination of Christ
+as a heavenly being to the Godhead, is seldom or never carefully
+emphasised, though it frequently comes plainly into prominence. Yet the
+author of the second Epistle of Clement does not hesitate to place the
+pre-existent Christ and the pre-existent church on one level, and to
+declare of both that God created them (c. 14). The formulae [Greek:
+phanerousthai en sarki], or, [Greek: gignesthai sarx], are
+characteristic of this Christology. It is worthy of special notice that
+the latter is found in all those New Testament writers, who have put
+Christianity in contrast with the Old Testament religions, and
+proclaimed the conquest of that religion by the Christian, viz., Paul,
+John, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.]
+
+[Footnote 256: Hermas, for example, does this (therefore Link;
+Christologie des Hermas, and Weizsaecker, Gott Gel. Anz. 1886, p. 830,
+declare his Christology to be directly pneumatic): Christ is then
+identified with this Holy Spirit (see Acta. Archel. 50), similarly
+Ignatius (ad. Magn. 15): [Greek: kektemenoi adiakriton pneuma, hos estin
+Iesous Christos.] This formed the transition to Gnostic conceptions on
+the one hand, to pneumatic Christology on the other. But in Hermas the
+real substantial thing in Jesus Christ is the [Greek: sarx].]
+
+[Footnote 257: Passages may indeed be found in the earliest Gentile
+Christian literature, in which Jesus is designated Son of God,
+independently of his human birth and before it (so in Barnabas, against
+Zahn), but they are not numerous. Ignatius very clearly deduces the
+predicate "Son" from the birth in the flesh. Zahn, Marcellus, p. 216
+ff.]
+
+[Footnote 258: The distinct designation "[Greek: theopoiesis]" is not
+found, though that may be an accident. Hermas has the thing itself quite
+distinctly (See Epiph. c. Alog. H. 51. 18: [Greek: nomizontes apo Marias
+kai deuro Christon auton kaleisthai kai huion theou, kai einai men
+proteron psilon anthropon, kata prokopen de eilephenai ten tou huiou tou
+theou prosegorian]). The stages of the [Greek: prokope] were undoubtedly
+the birth, baptism and resurrection. Even the adherents of the pneumatic
+Christology, could not at first help recognising that Jesus, through his
+exaltation, got more than he originally possessed. Yet in their case,
+this conception was bound to become rudimentary, and it really did so.]
+
+[Footnote 259: The settlement with Gnosticism prepared a still always
+uncertain end for this naive Docetism. Apart from Barn. 5. 12, where it
+plainly appears, we have to collect laboriously the evidences of it
+which have not accidentally either perished or been concealed. In the
+communities of the second century there was frequently no offence taken
+at Gnostic docetism (see the Gospel of Peter. Clem. Alex., Adumbrat in
+Joh. Ep. I. c. 1, [Zahn, Forsch. z. Gesch. des N. T.-lichen Kanons, III.
+p. 871]; "Fertur ergo in traditionibus, quoniam Johannes ipsum corpus,
+quod erat extrinsecus, tangens manum suam in profunda misisse et
+duritiam carnis nullo modo reluctatam esse, sed locum manui praebuisse
+discipuli." Also Acta Joh. p. 219, ed. Zahn). In spite of all his
+polemic against "[Greek: dokesis]" proper, one can still perceive a
+"moderate docetism" in Clem. Alex., to which indeed certain narratives
+in the Canonical Gospels could not but lead. The so-called Apocryphal
+literature (Apocryphal Gospels and Acts of Apostles), lying on the
+boundary between heretical and common Christianity, and preserved only
+in scanty fragments and extensive alterations, was, it appears,
+throughout favourable to Docetism. But the later recensions attest that
+it was read in wide circles.]
+
+[Footnote 260: Even such a formulation as we find in Paul (e.g., Rom. I.
+3 f. [Greek: kata sarka--kata pneuma]), does not seem to have been often
+repeated (yet see 1 Clem. 32. 21). It is of value to Ignatius only, who
+has before his mind the full Gnostic contrast. But even to him we cannot
+ascribe any doctrine of two natures: for this requires as its
+presupposition, the perception that the divinity and humanity are
+equally essential and important for the personality of the Redeemer
+Christ. Such insight, however, presupposes a measure and a direction of
+reflection which the earliest period did not possess. The expression
+"[Greek: duo ousiai Christou]" first appears in a fragment of Melito,
+whose genuineness is not, however, generally recognised (see my Texte u.
+Unters. I. 1. 2. p. 257). Even the definite expression for Christ
+[Greek: theos on homou te kai anthropos] was fixed only in consequence
+of the Gnostic controversy.]
+
+[Footnote 261: Hermas (Sim. V. 6. 7) describes the exaltation of Jesus,
+thus: [Greek: hina kai he sarx haute, douleusasa toi pneumati amemptos,
+schaei topon tina kataskenoseos, kai me doxei ton misthon tes douleias
+autes apololekenai]. The point in question is a reward of grace which
+consists in a position of rank (see Sim. V. 6. 1). The same thing is
+manifest from the statements of the later Adoptians. (Cf. the teaching
+of Paul Samosata).]
+
+[Footnote 262: Barnabas, e. g., conceives it as a veil (5. 10: [Greek:
+ei gar me elthen en sarki, oud' an pos hoi anthropoi esothesan blepontes
+auton, hote ton mellonta me einai helion emblepontes ouk ischusousin eis
+tas aktinas autou antophthalmesai]). The formulation of the Christian
+idea in Celsus is instructive (c. Cels VI. 69): "Since God is great and
+not easily accessible to the view, he put his spirit in a body which is
+like our own, and sent it down in order that we might be instructed by
+it." To this conception corresponds the formula: [Greek: erchesthai
+(phanerousthai) en sarki] (Barnabas, frequently; Polyc. Ep. 7. 1). But
+some kind of transformation must also have been thought of (See 2 Clem.
+9. 5. and Celsus IV. 18: "Either God, as these suppose, is really
+transformed into a mortal body...." Apoc. Sophon. ed. Stern. 4 fragm. p.
+10; "He has transformed himself into a man who comes to us to redeem
+us"). This conception might grow out of the formula [Greek: sarx
+egeneto] (Ignat. ad. Eph. 7, 2 is of special importance here). One is
+almost throughout here satisfied with the [Greek: sarx] of Christ, that
+is the [Greek: aletheia tes sarkos], against the Heretics (so Ignatius,
+who was already anti-gnostic in his attitude). There is very seldom any
+mention of the humanity of Jesus. Barnabas (12). the author of the
+Didache (c. 10. 6. See my note on the passage), and Tatian questioned
+the Davidic Sonship of Jesus, which was strongly emphasised by Ignatius;
+nay, Barnabas even expressly rejects the designation "Son of Man" (12.
+10; [Greek: ide palin Iesous, ouchi huios anthropou alla huios tou
+theou, tupo de en sarki phanerotheis]). A docetic thought, however, lies
+in the assertion that the spiritual being Christ only assumed human
+flesh, however much the reality of the flesh may be emphasised. The
+passage 1 Clem. 49. 6, is quite unique: [Greek: to haima autou edoken
+huper hemon Iesous Christos ... kai ten sarka huper tes sarkos hemon kai
+ten psuchen huper ton psuchon humon]. One would fain believe this an
+interpolation; the same idea is first found in Irenaeus. (V. 1. 1).]
+
+[Footnote 263: Even Hermas docs not speak of Jesus as [Greek: anthropos]
+(see Link). This designation was used by the representatives of the
+Adoptian Christology only after they had expressed their doctrine
+antithetically and developed it to a theory, and always with a certain
+reservation. The "[Greek: anthropos Christos Iesous]" in 1 Tim. II. 5 is
+used in a special sense. The expression [Greek: anthropos] for Christ
+appears twice in the Ignatian Epistles (the third passage Smyrn. 4. 2:
+[Greek: autou me endunamountos tou teleiou anthropou genomenou], apart
+from the [Greek: genomenou], is critically suspicious, as well as the
+fourth, Eph. 7. 2; see above), in both passages, however, in connections
+which seem to modify the humanity; see Eph. 20. 1: [Greek: oikonomia eis
+ton kainon anthropon Iesoun Christon], Eph. 20. 2: [Greek: toi huioi
+anthropou kai huioi theou].]
+
+[Footnote 264: See above p. 185, note; p. 189, note. We have no sure
+evidence that the later so-called Modalism (Monarchianism) had
+representatives before the last third of the second century; yet the
+polemic of Justin, Dial. 128, seems to favour the idea, (the passage
+already presupposes controversies about the personal independence of the
+pre-existent pneumatic being of Christ beside God; but one need not
+necessarily think of such controversies within the communities; Jewish
+notions might be meant, and this, according to Apol. I. 63, is the more
+probable). The judgment is therefore so difficult, because there were
+numerous formulae in practical use which could be so understood, as if
+Christ was to be completely identified with the Godhead itself (see
+Ignat. ad Eph. 7. 2, besides Melito in Otto Corp. Apol. IX. p. 419. and
+Noetus in the Philos. IX. 10, p. 448). These formulae may, in point of
+fact, have been so understood, here and there, by the rude and
+uncultivated. The strongest again is presented in writings whose
+authority was always doubtful: see the Gospel of the Egyptians (Epiph.
+H. 62. 2), in which must have stood a statement somewhat to this effect:
+[Greek: ton auton einai patera, ton auton einai huion, ton auton einai
+hagion pneuma], and the Acta Joh. (ed. Zahn, p. 220 f., 240 f.: [Greek:
+ho agathos hemon theos ho eusplanchnos, ho eleemon, ho hagios, ho
+katharos, ho amiantos, ho monos, ho heis, ho ametabletos, ho eilikrines,
+ho adolos, ho me orgizomenos, ho pases hemin legomenes e nooumenes
+prosegorias anoteros kai hupseloteros hemon theos Iesous]). In the Act.
+Joh. are found also prayers with the address [Greek: thee Iesou Christe]
+(pp. 242. 247). Even Marcion and a part the Montanists--both bear
+witness to old traditions--put no value on the distinction between God
+and Christ; cf. the Apoc. Sophon. A witness to a naive Modalism is found
+also in the Acta Pionii 9: "Quem deum colis? Respondit: Christum Polemon
+(judex): Quid ergo? iste alter est? [the co-defendant Christians had
+immediately before confessed God the Creator] Respondit: Non; sed ipse
+quem et ipsi paullo ante confessi sunt;" cf. c. 16. Yet a reasoned
+Modalism may perhaps be assumed here. See also the Martyr Acts; e.g.,
+Acta Petri, Andrae, Pauli et Dionysiae I (Ruinart, p. 205): [Greek: hemeis
+oi Christon ton basilea echomen, hoti alethinos theos estin kai poietes
+ouranou kai ges kai thalasses]. "Oportet me magis deo vivo et vero. regi
+saeculorum omnium Christo, sacrificium offerre." Act. Nicephor. 3 (p.
+285). I take no note of the Testament of the twelve Patriarchs, out of
+which one can, of course, beautifully verify the strict Modalistic, and
+even the Adoptian Christology. But the Testamenta are not a primitive or
+Jewish Christian writing which Gentile Christians have revised, but a
+Jewish writing christianised at the end of the second century by a
+Catholic of Modalistic views. But he has given us a very imperfect work,
+the Christology of which exhibits many contradictions. It is instructive
+to find Modalism in the theology of the Simonians, which was partly
+formed according to Christian ideas; see Irenaeus I. 23. I. "hic igitur a
+multis quasi deus glorificatus est, et docuit semetipsum esse qui inter
+Judaeos quidem quasi filius apparuerit, in Samaria autem quasi pater
+descenderit, in reliquis vero gentibus quasi Spiritus Sanctus
+adventaverit."]
+
+[Footnote 265: That is a very important fact which clearly follows from
+the Shepherd. Even the later school of the Adoptians in Rome, and the
+later Adoptians in general, were forced to assume a divine hypostasis
+beside the Godhead, which of course sensibly threatened their
+Christology. The adherents of the pneumatic Christology partly made a
+definite distinction between the pre-existent Christ and the Holy Spirit
+(see, e.g., 1 Clem. 22. 1), and partly made use of formulae from which
+one could infer an identity of the two. The conceptions about the Holy
+Spirit were still quite fluctuating; whether he is a power of God, or
+personal, whether he is identical with the pre-existent Christ, or is to
+be distinguished from him, whether he is the servant of Christ (Tatian
+Orat. 13), whether he is only a gift of God to believers, or the eternal
+Son of God, was quite uncertain. Hermas assumed the latter, and even
+Origen (de princip. praef. c. 4) acknowledges that it is not yet decided
+whether or not the Holy Spirit is likewise to be regarded as God's Son.
+The baptismal formula prevented the identification of the Holy Spirit
+with the pre-existent Christ, which so readily suggested itself. But so
+far as Christ was regarded as a [Greek: pneuma], his further demarcation
+from the angel powers was quite uncertain, as the Shepherd of Hermas
+proves (though see 1 Clem. 36). For even Justin, in a passage, no doubt,
+in which his sole purpose was to shew that the Christians were not
+[Greek: atheoi], could venture to thrust in between God, the Son and the
+Spirit, the good angels as beings who were worshipped and adored by the
+Christians (Apol. 1. 6 [if the text be genuine and not an
+interpolation]; see also the Suppl. of Athanagoras). Justin, and
+certainly most of those who accepted a pre-existence of Christ,
+conceived of it as a real pre-existence. Justin was quite well
+acquainted with the controversy about the independent quality of the
+power which proceeded from God. To him it is not merely, "Sensus, motus,
+affectus dei", but a "personalis substantia" (Dial. 128).]
+
+[Footnote 266: See the remarkable narrative about the cross in the
+fragment of the Gospel of Peter, and in Justin, Apol. 1. 55.]
+
+[Footnote 267: We must, above all things, be on our guard here against
+attributing dogmas to the churches, that is to say, to the writers of
+this period. The difference in the answers to the question, How far and
+by what means, Jesus procured salvation? was very great, and the
+majority undoubtedly never at all raised the question, being satisfied
+with recognising Jesus as the revealer of God's saving will (Didache,
+10. 2: [Greek: eucharistoi men soi, pater hagie, huper tou agiou
+onomatos sou, ou kateskenosas en tais kardiais hemon kai huper tes
+gnoseos kai pisteos kai athanasias, hes egnorisas hemin dia Iesou tou
+paidos sou]), without reflecting on the fact that this saving will was
+already revealed in the Old Testament. There is nowhere any mention of a
+saving work of Christ in the whole Didache, nay, even the _Kerygma_
+about him is not taken notice of. The extensive writing of Hermas shews
+that this is not an accident. There is absolutely no mention here of the
+birth, death, resurrection, etc., of Jesus, although the author in Sim.
+V had an occasion for mentioning them. He describes the work of Jesus as
+(1) preserving the people whom God had chosen. (2) purifying the people
+from sin, (3) pointing out the path of life and promulgating the Divine
+law (c. c. 5. 6). This work however, seems to have been performed by the
+whole life and activity of Jesus; even to the purifying of sin the
+author has only added the words: [Greek: (kai autos tas hamartias auton
+ekatharise) polla kopiasas kai pollous kopous entlekos] (Sim. V. 6. 2).
+But we must further note that Hermas held the proper and obligatory work
+of Jesus to be only the preservation of the chosen people (from demons
+in the last days, and at the end), while in the other two articles he
+saw a performance in excess of his duty, and wished undoubtedly to
+declare therewith, that the purifying from sin and the giving of the law
+are not, strictly speaking, integral parts of the Divine plan of
+salvation, but are due to the special goodness of Jesus (this idea is
+explained by Moralism). Now, as Hermas, and others, saw the saving
+activity of Jesus in his whole labours, others saw salvation given and
+assured in the moment of Jesus' entrance into the world, and in his
+personality as a spiritual being become flesh. This mystic conception,
+which attained such wide-spread recognition later on, has a
+representative in Ignatius, if one can at all attribute clearly
+conceived doctrines to this emotional confessor. That something can be
+declared of Jesus, [Greek: kata pneuma] and [Greek: kata sarka]--this is
+the mystery on which the significance of Jesus seems to Ignatius
+essentially to rest, but how far is not made clear. But the [Greek:
+pathos (haima, stauros)] and [Greek: anastasis] of Jesus are to the same
+writer of great significance, and by forming paradoxical formulae of
+worship, and turning to account reminiscences of Apostolic sayings, he
+seems to wish to base the whole salvation brought by Christ on his
+suffering and resurrection (see Lightfoot on Eph. inscr. Vol. II. p.
+25). In this connection also, he here and there regards all articles of
+the _Kerygma_ as of fundamental significance. At all events, we have in
+the Ignatian Epistles the first attempt in the post-Apostolic
+literature, to connect all the theses of the _Kerygma_ about Jesus as
+closely as possible with the benefits which he brought. But only the
+will of the writer is plain here, all else is confused, and what is
+mainly felt is that the attempt to conceive the blessings of salvation
+as the fruit of the sufferings and resurrection, has deprived them of
+their definiteness and clearness. In proof we may adduce the following:
+If we leave out of account the passages in which Ignatius speaks of the
+necessity of repentance for the Heretics, or the Heathen, and the
+possibility that their sins may be forgiven (Philad. 3. 2:8. 1; Smyrn.
+4. 1: 5-3; Eph. 10. 1), there remains only one passage in which the
+forgiveness of sin is mentioned, and that only contains a traditional
+formula (Smyrn 7. 1: [Greek: sarx Iesou Christou, he huper ton hamartion
+hemon pathousa]). The same writer, who is constantly speaking of the
+[Greek: pathos] and [Greek: anastasis] of Christ, has nothing to say, to
+the communities to which he writes, about the forgiveness of sin. Even
+the concept "sin", apart from the passages just quoted, appears only
+once, viz., Eph 14. 2: [Greek: oudeis pistin epangellomenos hamartanei].
+Ignatius has only once spoken to a community about repentance (Smyrn. 9.
+1). It is characteristic that the summons to repentance runs exactly as
+in Hermas and 2 Clem., the conclusion only being peculiarly Ignatian. It
+is different with Barnabas, Clement and Polycarp. They (see 1 Clem. 7.
+4:12, 7:21, 6:49 6; Barn. 5. 1 ff.) place the forgiveness of sin
+procured by Jesus in the foreground, connect it most definitely with the
+death of Christ, and in some passages seem to have a conception of that
+connection, which reminds us of Paul. But this just shews that they are
+dependent here on Paul (or on 1st Peter), and on a closer examination we
+perceive that they very imperfectly understand Paul, and have no
+independent insight into the series of ideas which they reproduce. That
+is specially plain in Clement. For in the first place, he everywhere
+passes over the resurrection (he mentions it only twice, once as a
+guarantee of our own resurrection, along with the Phoenix and other
+guarantees, 24. 1, and then as a means whereby the Apostles were
+convinced that the kingdom of God will come, 42. 3). In the second
+place, he in one passage declares that the [Greek: charis metanoias] was
+communicated to the world through the shedding of Christ's blood (7. 4.)
+But this transformation of the [Greek: aphesis hamartion] into [Greek:
+charis metanoias] plainly shews that Clement had merely taken over from
+tradition the special estimate of the death of Christ as procuring
+salvation; for it is meaningless to deduce the [Greek: charis metanoias]
+from the blood of Christ. Barnabas testifies more plainly that Christ
+behoved to offer the vessel of his spirit as a sacrifice for our sins
+(4. 3; 5. 1), nay, the chief aim of his letter is to harmonise the
+correct understanding of the cross, the blood, and death of Christ in
+connection with baptism, the forgiveness of sin, and sanctification
+(application of the idea of sacrifice). He also unites the death and
+resurrection of Jesus (5. 6: [Greek: autos de hina kataergesei ton
+thanaton kai ten ek nekron anastasin deixei, hoti en sarki edei auton
+phanerothenai, hupemeinen, hina kai tois patrasin ten epangellian apodoi
+kai autos heautoi ton laon ton kainon hetoimazon epideixei, epi tes ges
+on. hoti ten anastasin autos poiesas krinei]): but the significance of
+the death of Christ is for him at bottom, the fact that it is the
+fulfilment of prophecy. But the prophecy is related, above all, to the
+significance of the tree, and so Barnabas on one occasion says with
+admirable clearness (5. 13); [Greek: autos de ethelesen houto pathein;
+edei gar hina epi xulou pathei]. The notion which Barnabas entertains of
+the [Greek: sarx] of Christ suggests the supposition that he could have
+given up all reference to the death of Christ, if it had not been
+transmitted as a fact and predicted in the Old Testament. Justin shews
+still less certainty. To him also, as to Ignatius, the cross (the death)
+of Christ is a great, nay, the greatest mystery, and he sees all things
+possible in it (see Apol. 1. 35, 55). He knows, further, as a man
+acquainted with the Old Testament, how to borrow from it very many
+points of view for the significance of Christ's death, (Christ the
+sacrifice, the Paschal lamb; the death of Christ the means of redeeming
+men; death as the enduring of the curse for us; death as the victory
+over the devil; see Dial 44. 90, 91, 111, 134). But in the discussions
+which set forth in a more intelligible way the significance of Christ,
+definite facts from the history have no place at all, and Justin nowhere
+gives any indication of seeing in the death of Christ more than the
+mystery of the Old Testament, and the confirmation of its
+trustworthiness. On the other hand, it cannot be mistaken that the idea
+of an individual righteous man being able effectively to sacrifice
+himself for the whole, in order through his voluntary death to deliver
+them from evil, was not unknown to antiquity. Origen (c. Celsum 1. 31)
+has expressed himself on this point in a very instructive way. The
+purity and voluntariness of him who sacrifices himself are here the main
+things. Finally, we must be on our guard against supposing that the
+expressions [Greek: sortia, apolutrosis] and the like, were as a rule
+related to the deliverance from sin. In the superscription of the
+Epistle from Lyons, for example, (Euseb. H. E V. 1. 3: [Greek: hoi auten
+tes apolutroseos hemin pistin kai elpida echontes]) the future
+redemption is manifestly to be understood by [Greek: apolutrosis].]
+
+[Footnote 268: On the Ascension, see my edition of the Apost. Fathers I.
+2, p. 138. Paul knows nothing of an Ascension, nor is it mentioned by
+Clement, Ignatius, Hermas, or Polycarp. In no case did it belong to the
+earliest preaching. Resurrection and sitting at the right hand of God
+are frequently united in the formulae (Eph. I. 20; Acts. II. 32 ff.)
+According to Luke XXIV. 51, and Barn. 15. 9, the ascension into heaven
+took place on the day of the resurrection (probably also according to
+Joh. XX. 17; see also the fragment of the Gosp. of Peter), and is hardly
+to be thought of as happening but once (Joh. III. 13; VI 62; see also
+Rom. X. 6 f.; Eph. IV. 9 f; 1 Pet. III. 19 f.; very instructive for the
+origin of the notion). According to the Valentinians and Ophites, Christ
+ascended into heaven 18 months after the resurrection (Iren. I. 3. 2;
+30. 14); according to the Ascension of Isaiah, 545 days (ed. Dillmann,
+pp. 43. 57 etc.); according to Pistis Sophia 11 years after the
+resurrection. The statement that the Ascension took place 40 days after
+the resurrection is first found in the Acts of the Apostles. The
+position of the [Greek: anelemphthe en doxei], in the fragment of an old
+Hymn, 1 Tim. III. 16, is worthy of note, in so far as it follows the
+[Greek: ophthe angelois, ekeruchthe en ethnesin, episteuthe en kosmoi].
+Justin speaks very frequently of the Ascension into heaven (see also
+Aristides). It is to him a necessary part of the preaching about Christ.
+On the descent into hell, see the collection of passages in my edition
+of the Apost. Fathers, III. p. 232. It is important to note that it is
+found already in the Gospel of Peter ([Greek: ekeruxas tois koimomenois,
+nai]), and that even Marcion recognised it (in Iren. I. 27. 31), as well
+as the Presbyter of Irenaeus (IV. 27. 2), and Ignatius (ad Magn. 9. 3),
+see also Celsus in Orig. II. 43. The witnesses to it are very numerous,
+see Huidekoper, "The belief of the first three centuries concerning
+Christ's Mission to the under-world." New York, 1876.]
+
+[Footnote 269: See the Pastoral Epistles, and the Epistles of Ignatius
+and Polycarp.]
+
+[Footnote 270: The "facts" of the history of Jesus were handed down to
+the following period as mysteries predicted in the Old Testament, but
+the idea of sacrifice was specially attached to the death of Christ,
+certainly without any closer definition. It is very noteworthy that in
+the Romish baptismal confession, the Davidic Sonship of Jesus, the
+baptism, the descent into the under-world, and the setting up of a
+glorious Kingdom on the earth, are not mentioned. These articles do not
+appear even in the parallel confessions which began to be formed. The
+hesitancy that yet prevailed here with regard to details, is manifest
+from the fact, for example, that instead of the formula, "Jesus was born
+of ([Greek: ek]) Mary," is found the other, "He was born through
+([Greek: dia]) Mary" (see Justin, Apol. I. 22. 31-33, 54, 63; Dial. 23.
+43, 45. 48, 57. 54, 63, 66, 75, 85, 87, 100, 105, 120, 127), Iren. (I.
+7. 2) and Tertull. (de carne 20) first contested the [Greek: dia]
+against the Valentinians.]
+
+[Footnote 271: This was strongly emphasised see my remarks on Barn. 2.
+3. The Jewish cultus is often brought very close to the heathen by
+Gentile Christian writers: Praed. Petri (Clem. Strom. VI. 5. 41) [Greek:
+kainos ton theon dia tou Christou sebometha]. The statement in Joh. IV.
+24, [Greek: pneuma ho theos kai tous proskunountas auton en pneumati kai
+aletheias dei proskunein], was for long the guiding principle for the
+Christian worship of God.]
+
+[Footnote 272: Ps. LI. 19 is thus opposed to the ceremonial system
+(Barn. 2. 10). Polycarp consumed by fire is (Mart. 14. 1) compared to a
+[Greek: krios episemos ek megalou poimniou eis prosphoran olokautoma
+dekton toi theoi hetoimasmenon].]
+
+[Footnote 273: See Barn. 6. 15, 16, 7-9, Tatian Orat. 15, Ignat. ad.
+Eph. 9. 15, Herm Mand. V. etc. The designation of Christians as priests
+is not often found.]
+
+[Footnote 274: Justin, Apol. I. 9. Dial. 117 [Greek: hoti men oun kai
+euchai ka eucharistiai, hupo ton axion ginomenai teleiai monai kai
+euarestoi eisi toi theoi thusiai kai autos phemi], see also still the
+later Fathers: Clem. Strom. VII. 6. 31: [Greek: hemeis di euches timomen
+ton theon kai tauten ten thusian aristen kai hagiotaten meta dikaiosunes
+anapempomen toi dikaioi logoi], Iren. III. 18. 3, Ptolem ad. Floram. 3:
+[Greek: prosphoras prospherein prosetaxen hemin ho soter alla ouchi tas
+di alogon zoon he touton ton domiamaton alla dia pneumatikon ainon kai
+doxon kai eucharistias kai dia tes eis tous plesion koinonias kai
+eupoiias].]
+
+[Footnote 275: The Jewish regulations about fastings together with the
+Jewish system of sacrifice were rejected, but on the other hand, in
+virtue of words of the Lord, fasts were looked upon as a necessary
+accompaniment of prayer and definite arrangements were already made for
+them (see Barn. 3, Didache 8, Herm. Sim. V. 1. ff). The fast is to have
+a special value from the fact that whatever one saved by means of it is
+to be given to the poor (see Hermas and Aristides, Apol. 15, "And if any
+one among the Christians is poor and in want, and they have not overmuch
+of the means of life, they fast two or three days in order that they may
+provide those in need with the food they require"). The statement of
+James I. 27 [Greek: threskeia kathara kai amiantos para to theo kai
+patri haute estin episkeptesthai orphanous kai cheras en te thlipsei
+auton], was again and again inculcated in diverse phraseology (Polycarp
+Ep. 4, called the Widows [Greek: thusiasterion] of the community). Where
+moralistic views preponderated as in Hermas and 2 Clement good works
+were already valued in detail, prayers, fasts, alms appeared separately,
+and there was already introduced especially under the influence of the
+so-called deutero-canonical writings of the Old Testament the idea of a
+special meritoriousness of certain performances in fasts and alms (see 2
+Clem. 16. 4). Still the idea of the Christian moral life as a whole
+occupied the foreground (see Didache cc. 1-5) and the exhortations to
+love God and one's neighbour, which as exhortations to a moral life were
+brought forward in every conceivable relation, supplemented the general
+summons to renounce the world just as the official diaconate of the
+churches originating in the cultus, prevented the decomposition of them
+into a society of ascetics.]
+
+[Footnote 276: For details, see below in the case of the Lord's Supper.
+It is specially important that even charity, through its union with the
+cultus, appeared as sacrificial worship (see e.g. Polyc. Ep. 4. 3).]
+
+[Footnote 277: The idea of sacrifice adopted by the Gentile Christian
+communities, was that which was expressed in individual prophetic
+sayings and in the Psalms, a spiritualising of the Semitic Jewish
+sacrificial ritual which, however, had not altogether lost its original
+features. The entrance of Greek ideas of sacrifice cannot be traced
+before Justin. Neither was there as yet any reflection as to the
+connection of the sacrifice of the Church with the sacrifice of Christ
+upon the cross.]
+
+[Footnote 278: See my Texte und Unters. z Gesch. d. Altchristl. Lit. II.
+1. 2, p. 88 ff., p. 137 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 279: There neither was a "doctrine" of Baptism and the Lord's
+Supper, nor was there any inner connection presupposed between these
+holy actions. They were here and there placed together as actions by the
+Lord.]
+
+[Footnote 280: Melito, Fragm. XII. (Otto. Corp. Apol. IX. p. 418).
+[Greek: Duo suneste ta aphesin hamartematon parechomena, pathos dia
+Xriston kai baptisma].]
+
+[Footnote 281: There is no sure trace of infant baptism in this epoch;
+personal faith is a necessary condition (see Hermas, Vis. III. 7. 3;
+Justin, Apol. 1. 61). "Prius est praedicare posterius tinguere" (Tertull.
+"de bapt." 14).]
+
+[Footnote 282: On the basis of repentance. See Praed. Petri in Clem.
+Strom. VI. 5. 43, 48.]
+
+[Footnote 283: See especially the second Epistle of Clement; Tertull.
+"de bapt." 15: "Felix aqua quae semel abluit, quas ludibrio peccatoribus
+non est."]
+
+[Footnote 284: The sinking and rising in baptism, and the immersion,
+were regarded as significant, but not indispensable symbols (see
+Didache. 7). The most important passages for baptism are Didache 7;
+Barn. 6. 11; 11. 1. 11 (the connection in which the cross of Christ is
+here placed to the water is important; the tertium comp. is that
+forgiveness of sin is the result of both); Herm. Vis. III. 3, Sim. IX 16.
+Mand. IV. 3 ([Greek: hetera metanoia ouk estin ei me ekeine, hote eis
+hudor katebemen kai elabomen aphesin hamartion hemon ton proteron]); 2
+Clem. 6. 9; 7. 6; 8. 6. Peculiar is Ignat. ad. Polyc. 6. 2: [Greek: to
+baptisma humon meneto hos hopla]. Specially important is Justin, Apol.
+I. 61. 65. To this also belong many passages from Tertullian's treatise
+"de bapt."; a Gnostic baptismal hymn in the third pseudo-Solomonic ode
+in the Pistis Sophia, p. 131, ed. Schwartze; Marcion's baptismal formula
+in Irenaeus 1. 21. 3. It clearly follows from the seventh chapter of the
+Didache, that its author held that the pronouncing of the sacred names
+over the baptised, and over the water, was essential, but that immersion
+was not; see the thorough examination of this passage by Schaff, "The
+oldest church manual called the teaching of the twelve Apostles" pp.
+29-57. The controversy about the nature of John's baptism in its
+relation to Christian baptism, is very old in Christendom; see also
+Tertull. "de bapt." 10. Tertullian sees in John's baptism only a baptism
+to repentance, not to forgiveness.]
+
+[Footnote 285: In Hermas and 2 Clement. The expression probably arose
+from the language of the mysteries: see Appuleius, "de Magia", 55:
+"Sacrorum pleraque initia in Graecia participavi. Eorum quaedam signa et
+monumenta tradita mihi a sacerdotibus sedulo conservo." Ever since the
+Gentile Christians conceived baptism (and the Lord's Supper) according
+to the mysteries, they were of course always surprised by the parallel
+with the mysteries themselves. That begins with Justin. Tertullian, "de
+bapt." 5, says: "Sed enim nationes extraneae, ab omni intellectu
+spiritalium potestatum eadem efficacia idolis suis subministrant. Sed
+viduis aquis sibi mentiuntur. Nam et sacris quibusdam per lavacrum
+initiantur, Isidis alicujus aut Mithrae; ipsos etiam deos suos
+lavationibus efferunt. Ceterum villas, domos, templa totasque urbes
+aspergine circumlatae aquae; expiant passim. Certe ludis Apollinaribus et
+Eleusiniis tinguuntur, idque se in regenerationem et impunitatem
+periuriorum suorum agere praesumunt. Item penes veteres, quisquis se
+homicidio infecerat, purgatrices aquas explorabat." De praescr. 40:
+"Diabolus ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum idolorum mysteriis
+aemulatur. Tingit et ipse quosdam, utique credentes et fideles suos;
+expositionem delictorum de lavacro repromittit. et si adhuc memini,
+Mithras signat illic in frontibus milites suos, celebrat et panis
+oblationem et imaginem resurrectionis inducit ... summum pontificem in
+unius nuptiis statuit, habet et virgines, habet et continentes." The
+ancient notion that matter has a mysterious influence on spirit, came
+very early into vogue in connection with baptism. We see that from
+Tertullian's treatise on baptism and his speculations about the power of
+the water (c. 1 ff.). The water must, of course, have been first
+consecrated for this purpose (that is, the demons must be driven out of
+it). But then it is holy water with which the Holy Spirit is united, and
+which is able really to cleanse the soul. See Hatch, "The influence of
+Greek ideas, etc.," p. 19. The consecration of the water is certainly
+very old: though we have no definite witnesses from the earliest period.
+Even for the exorcism of the baptised before baptism I know of no
+earlier witness than the Sentent. LXXXVII. episcoporum (Hartel. Opp.
+Cypr. I. p. 450, No. 37: "primo per manus impositionem in exorcismo,
+secundo per baptismi regenerationem").]
+
+[Footnote 286: Justin is the first who does so (I. 61). The word comes
+from the Greek mysteries. On Justin's theory of baptism, see also I. 62.
+and Von Engelhardt, "Christenthum Justin's," p. 102 f.]
+
+[Footnote 287: Paul unites baptism and the communication of the Spirit;
+but they were very soon represented apart, see the accounts in the Acts
+of the Apostles, which are certainly very obscure, because the author
+has evidently never himself observed the descent of the Spirit, or
+anything like it. The ceasing of special manifestations of the Spirit in
+and after baptism, and the enforced renunciation of seeing baptism
+accompanied by special shocks, must be regarded as the first stage in
+the sobering of the churches.]
+
+[Footnote 288: The idea of the whole transaction of the Supper as a
+sacrifice, is plainly found in the Didache, (c. 14), in Ignatius, and,
+above all, in Justin (I. 65 f.) But even Clement of Rome presupposes it,
+when in (cc. 40-44) he draws a parallel between bishops and deacons and
+the Priests and Levites of the Old Testament, describing as the chief
+function of the former (44. 4) [Greek: prospherein ta dora]. This is not
+the place to enquire whether the first celebration had, in the mind of
+its founder, the character of a sacrificial meal; but, certainly, the
+idea, as it was already developed at the time of Justin, had been
+created by the churches. Various reasons tended towards seeing in the
+Supper a sacrifice. In the first place, Malachi I. 11, demanded a solemn
+Christian sacrifice: see my notes on Didache, 14. 3. In the second
+place, all prayers were regarded as sacrifice, and therefore the solemn
+prayers at the Supper must be specially considered as such. In the third
+place, the words of institution [Greek: touto poieite], contained a
+command with regard to a definite religious action. Such an action,
+however, could only be represented as a sacrifice, and this the more
+that the Gentile Christians might suppose that they had to understand
+[Greek: poiein] in the sense of [Greek: thuein]. In the fourth place,
+payments in kind were necessary for the "agapae" connected with the
+Supper, out of which were taken the bread and wine for the Holy
+celebration; in what other aspect could these offerings in the worship
+be regarded than as [Greek: prosphorai] for the purpose of a sacrifice?
+Yet the spiritual idea so prevailed that only the prayers were regarded
+as the [Greek: thusia] proper, even in the case of Justin (Dial. 117).
+The elements are only [Greek: dora, prosphorai] which obtain their value
+from the prayers, in which thanks are given for the gifts of creation
+and redemption, as well as for the holy meal, and entreaty is made for
+the introduction of the community into the Kingdom of God (see Didache,
+9. 10). Therefore, even the sacred meal itself is called [Greek:
+eucharistia] (Justin, Apol. I. 66: [Greek: he trophe haute chaleitai
+par' hemin eucharistia]). Didache, 9. 1; Ignat., because it is [Greek:
+trophe eucharistetheisa]. It is a mistake to suppose that Justin already
+understood the body of Christ to be the object of [Greek: poiein], and
+therefore thought of a sacrifice of this body (I. 66). The real
+sacrificial act in the Supper consists rather, according to Justin, only
+in the [Greek: eucharistian poiein], whereby the [Greek: koinos artos]
+becomes the [Greek: artos tes eucharistias]. The sacrifice of the Supper
+in its essence, apart from the offering of alms, which in the practice
+of the Church was closely united with it, is nothing but a sacrifice of
+prayer: the sacrificial act of the Christian here also is nothing else
+than an act of prayer (see Apol. I. 13, 65-67; Dial. 28, 29, 41, 70,
+116-118).]
+
+[Footnote 289: Justin lays special stress on this purpose. On the other
+hand, it is wanting in the Supper prayers of the Didache, unless c. 9. 2
+be regarded as an allusion to it.]
+
+[Footnote 290: The designation [Greek: thusia] is first found in the
+Didache, c. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 291: The Supper was regarded as a "Sacrament" in so far as a
+blessing was represented in its holy food. The conception of the nature
+of this blessing as set forth in John VI. 27-58, appears to have been
+the most common. It may be traced back to Ignatius, ad Eph. 20.2:
+[Greek: hena arton klontes hos estin pharmakon athanasias, antidotos tou
+me apothanein alla zen en Iesou Christou dia pantos]. Cf Didache, 10.3:
+[Greek: hemin echariso pneumatiken trophen kai poton kai zoen aionion],
+also 10.21: [Greek: eucharistoumen soi huper tes gnoseos kai pisteos kai
+athanasias]. Justin Apol. 1. 66: [Greek: ek tes trophes tautes haima kai
+sarkes kata metabolen trephontai hemon kata metabolen] that is, the
+holy food, like all nourishment, is completely transformed into our
+flesh; but what Justin has in view here is most probably the body of the
+resurrection. The expression, as the context shews, is chosen for the
+sake of the parallel to the incarnation). Iren. IV. 18. 5; V. 2. 2 f. As
+to how the elements are related to the body and blood of Christ,
+Ignatius seems to have expressed himself in a strictly realistic way in
+several passages, especially ad. Smyr. 7-1: [Greek: eucharistias kai
+proseuches apechontai dia to me homologein, ten eucharistian sarka einai
+tou soteros hemon Iesou Christou, ten huper ton hamartion hemon
+pathousan]. But many passages shew that Ignatius was far from such a
+conception, and rather thought as John did. In Trall. 8, faith is
+described as the flesh, and love as the blood of Christ; in Rom. 7, in
+one breath the flesh of Christ is called the bread of God, and the blood
+[Greek: agape aphthartos]. In Philad. 1, we read: [Greek: haima I. Chr.
+hetis estin chara aionios kai paramonos]. In Philad. 5, the Gospel is
+called the flesh of Christ, etc. Hoefling is therefore right in saying
+(Lehre v. Opfer, p. 39): "The Eucharist is to Ignatius [Greek: sarx] of
+Christ, as a visible Gospel, a kind of Divine institution attesting the
+content of [Greek: pistis], viz., belief in the [Greek: sarx pathousa],
+an institution which is at the same time, to the community, a means of
+representing and preserving its unity in this belief." On the other
+hand, it cannot be mistaken that Justin (Apol. I. 66) presupposed the
+identity, miraculously produced by the Logos, of the consecrated bread
+and the body he had assumed. In this we have probably to recognise an
+influence on the conception of the Supper, of the miracle represented in
+the Greek Mysteries: [Greek: Ouch hos koinon arton oude koinon poma
+tauta lambanomen, all' hon tropon dia logou theou sarkopoietheis Iesous
+Christos ho soter hemon kai sarka kai haima huper soterias hemon eschen,
+houtos kai ten di' euches logou tou par' autou eucharistetheisan
+trophen, ex es haima ka sarkes kata metabolen trephontai hemon, ekeinou
+tou sarkopoiethentos Iesou kai sarka kai haima edidachthemen einai] (See
+Von Otto on the passage). In the Texte u. Unters. VII. 2. p. 117 ff., I
+have shewn that in the different Christian circles of the second
+century, water and only water was often used in the Supper instead of
+wine, and that in many regions this custom was maintained up to the
+middle of the third century (see Cypr. Ep. 63). I have endeavoured to
+make it further probable, that even Justin in his Apology describes a
+celebration of the Lord's Supper with bread and water. The latter has
+been contested by Zahn, "Bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, in the
+early Church," 1892, and Juelicher, Zur Gesch. der Abendmahlsfeier in der
+aeltesten Kirche (Abhandl. f Weiszacker, 1892, p. 217 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 292: Ignatius calls the thank-offering the flesh of Christ,
+but the concept "flesh of Christ" is for him itself a spiritual one. On
+the contrary, Justin sees in the bread the actual flesh of Christ, but
+does not connect it with the idea of sacrifice. They are thus both as
+yet far from the later conception. The numerous allegories which are
+already attached to the Supper (one bread equivalent to one community;
+many scattered grains bound up in the one bread, equivalent to the
+Christians scattered abroad in the world, who are to be gathered
+together into the Kingdom of God; one altar, equivalent to one assembly
+of the community, excluding private worship, etc.), cannot as a group be
+adduced here.]
+
+[Footnote 293: Cf. for the following my arguments in the larger edition
+of the "Teaching of the Apostles" Chap 5, (Texte u. Unters II. 1. 2).
+The numerous recent enquiries (Loening, Loofs, Reville etc.) will be
+found referred to in Sohm's Kirchenrecht. Vol. I. 1892, where the most
+exhaustive discussions are given.]
+
+[Footnote 294: That the bishops and deacons were, primarily, officials
+connected with the cultus, is most clearly seen from 1 Clem. 40-44, but
+also from the connection in which the 14th Chap. of the Didache stands
+with the 15th (see the [Greek: oun], 15. 1) to which Hatch in
+conversation called my attention. The [Greek: philoxenia], and the
+intercourse with other communities (the fostering of the "unitas")
+belonged, above all, to the affairs of the church. Here, undoubtedly,
+from the beginning lay an important part of the bishop's duties. Ramsay
+("The Church in the Roman Empire," p. 361 ff.) has emphasised this point
+exclusively, and therefore one-sidedly. According to him, the
+monarchical Episcopate sprang from the officials who were appointed _ad
+hoc_ and for a time, for the purpose of promoting intercourse with other
+churches.]
+
+[Footnote 295: Sohm (in the work mentioned above) seeks to prove that
+the monarchical Episcopate originated in Rome and is already presupposed
+by Hermas. I hold that the proof for this has not been adduced, and I
+must also in great part reject the bold statements which are fastened on
+to the first Epistle of Clement. They may be comprehended in the
+proposition which Sohm, p. 158, has placed at the head of his discussion
+of the Epistle. "The first Epistle of Clement makes an epoch in the
+history of the organisation of the Church. It was destined to put an end
+to the early Christian constitution of the Church." According to Sohm
+(p. 165), another immediate result of the Epistle was a change of
+constitution in the Romish Church, the introduction of the monarchical
+Episcopate. That, however, can only be asserted, not proved; for the
+proof which Sohm has endeavoured to bring from Ignatius' Epistle to the
+Romans and the Shepherd of Hermas, is not convincing.]
+
+[Footnote 296: See, above all, 1 Clem. 42, 44, Acts of the Apostles,
+Pastoral Epistles, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 297: This idea is Romish. See Book II. chap, 11 C.]
+
+[Footnote 298: We must remember here, that besides the teachers, elders,
+and deacons, the ascetics (virgins, widows, celibates, abstinentes) and
+the martyrs (confessors) enjoyed a special respect in the Churches, and
+frequently laid hold of the government and leading of them. Hermas
+enjoins plainly enough the duty of esteeming the confessors higher than
+the presbyters (Vis. III. 1. 2). The widows were soon entrusted with
+diaconal tasks connected with the worship, and received a corresponding
+respect. As to the limits of this there was, as we can gather from
+different passages, much disagreement. One statement in Tertullian shews
+that the confessors had special claims to be considered in the choice of
+a bishop (adv. Valent. 4: "Speraverat Episcopatum Valentinus, quia et
+ingenio poterat et eloquio. Sed alium ex martyrii praerogativa loci
+potitum indignatus de ecclesia authenticae regulae abrupit"). This
+statement is strengthened by other passages; see Tertull. de fuga; 11.
+"Hoc sentire et facere omnem servum dei oportet, etiam minoris loci, ut
+maioris fieri possit, si quem gradum in persecutionis tolerantia
+ascenderit"; see Hippol in the Arab. canons, and also Achelis, Texte u.
+Unters VI. 4. pp. 67, 220; Cypr. Epp. 38. 39. The way in which
+confessors and ascetics, from the end of the second century, attempted
+to have their say in the leading of the Churches, and the respectful way
+in which it was sought to set their claims aside, shew that a special
+relation to the Lord, and therefore a special right with regard to the
+community, was early acknowledged to these people, on account of their
+achievements. On the transition of the old prophets and teachers into
+wandering ascetics, later into monks, see the Syriac Pseudo-Clementine
+Epistles, "de virginitate," and my Abhandl i d. Sitzungsberichten d. K.
+Pr. Akad. d. Wissensch. 1891, p. 361 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 299: See Weizsaecker, Goett Gel. Anz. 1886, No. 21, whose
+statements I can almost entirely make my own.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE ATTEMPTS OF THE GNOSTICS TO CREATE AN APOSTOLIC DOGMATIC, AND A
+CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY; OR, THE ACUTE SECULARISING OF CHRISTIANITY.
+
+
+Sec. 1. _The Conditions for the Rise of Gnosticism._
+
+The Christian communities were originally unions for a holy life, on the
+ground of a common hope, which rested on the belief that the God who has
+spoken by the Prophets has sent his Son Jesus Christ, and through him
+revealed eternal life, and will shortly make it manifest. Christianity
+had its roots in certain facts and utterances, and the foundation of the
+Christian union was the common hope, the holy life in the Spirit
+according to the law of God, and the holding fast to those facts and
+utterances. There was, as the foregoing chapter will have shewn, no
+fixed Didache beyond that.[300] There was abundance of fancies, ideas,
+and knowledge, but these had not yet the value of being the religion
+itself. Yet the belief that Christianity guarantees the perfect
+knowledge, and leads from one degree of clearness to another, was in
+operation from the very beginning. This conviction had to be immediately
+tested by the Old Testament, that is, the task was imposed on the
+majority of thinking Christians, by the circumstances in which the
+Gospel had been proclaimed to them, of making the Old Testament
+intelligible to themselves, in other words, of using this book as a
+Christian book, and of finding the means by which they might be able to
+repel the Jewish claim to it, and refute the Jewish interpretation of
+it. This task would not have been imposed, far less solved, if the
+Christian communities in the Empire had not entered into the inheritance
+of the Jewish propaganda, which had already been greatly influenced by
+foreign religions (Babylonian and Persian, see the Jewish Apocalypses),
+and in which an extensive spiritualising of the Old Testament religion
+had already taken place. This spiritualising was the result of a
+philosophic view of religion, and this philosophic view was the outcome
+of a lasting influence of Greek philosophy and of the Greek spirit
+generally on Judaism. In consequence of this view, all facts and sayings
+of the Old Testament in which one could not find his way, were
+allegorised. "Nothing was what it seemed, but was only the symbol of
+something invisible. The history of the Old Testament was here
+sublimated to a history of the emancipation of reason from passion." It
+describes, however, the beginning of the historical development of
+Christianity, that as soon as it wished to give account of itself, or to
+turn to advantage the documents of revelation which were in its
+possession, it had to adopt the methods of that fantastic syncretism. We
+have seen above that those writers who made a diligent use of the Old
+Testament, had no hesitation in making use of the allegorical method.
+That was required not only by the inability to understand the verbal
+sense of the Old Testament, presenting diverging moral and religious
+opinions, but, above all, by the conviction, that on every page of that
+book Christ and the Christian Church must be found. How could this
+conviction have been maintained, unless the definite concrete meaning of
+the documents had been already obliterated by the Jewish philosophic
+view of the Old Testament?
+
+This necessary allegorical interpretation, however, brought into the
+communities an intellectual philosophic element, a _gnosis_, which was
+perfectly distinct from the Apocalyptic dreams, in which were beheld
+angel hosts on white horses, Christ with eyes as a flame of fire,
+hellish beasts, conflict and victory.[301] In this [Greek: gnosis],
+which attached itself to the Old Testament, many began to see the
+specific blessing which was promised to mature faith, and through which
+it was to attain perfection. What a wealth of relations, hints, and
+intuitions seemed to disclose itself, as soon as the Old Testament was
+considered allegorically, and to what extent had the way been prepared
+here by the Jewish philosophic teachers! From the simple narratives of
+the Old Testament had already been developed a theosophy, in which the
+most abstract ideas had acquired reality, and from which sounded forth
+the Hellenic canticle of the power of the Spirit over matter and
+sensuality, and of the true home of the soul. Whatever in this great
+adaptation still remained obscure and unnoticed, was now lighted up by
+the history of Jesus, his birth, his life, his sufferings and triumph.
+The view of the Old Testament as a document of the deepest wisdom,
+transmitted to those who knew how to read it as such, unfettered the
+intellectual interest which would not rest until it had entirely
+transferred the new religion from the world of feelings, actions and
+hopes, into the world of Hellenic conceptions, and transformed it into a
+metaphysic. In that exposition of the Old Testament which we find, for
+example, in the so-called Barnabas, there is already concealed an
+important philosophic, Hellenic element, and in that sermon which bears
+the name of Clement (the so-called second Epistle of Clement),
+conceptions such as that of the Church, have already assumed a bodily
+form and been joined in marvellous connections, while, on the contrary,
+things concrete have been transformed into things invisible.
+
+But once the intellectual interest was unfettered, and the new religion
+had approximated to the Hellenic spirit by means of a philosophic view
+of the Old Testament, how could that spirit be prevented from taking
+complete and immediate possession of it, and where, in the first
+instance, could the power be found that was able to decide whether this
+or that opinion was incompatible with Christianity? This Christianity,
+as it was, unequivocally excluded all polytheism, and all national
+religions existing in the Empire. It opposed to them the one God, the
+Saviour Jesus, and a spiritual worship of God. But, at the same time, it
+summoned all thoughtful men to knowledge, by declaring itself to be the
+only true religion, while it appeared to be only a variety of Judaism.
+It seemed to put no limits to the character and extent of the knowledge,
+least of all to such knowledge as was able to allow all that was
+transmitted to remain, and at the same time, abolish it by transforming
+it into mysterious symbols. That really was the method which every one
+must and did apply who wished to get from Christianity more than
+practical motives and super-earthly hopes. But where was the limit of
+the application? Was not the next step to see in the Evangelic records
+also new material for spiritual interpretations, and to illustrate from
+the narratives there, as from The Old Testament, the conflict of the
+spirit with matter, of reason with sensuality? Was not the conception
+that the traditional deeds of Christ were really the last act in the
+struggle of those mighty spiritual powers whose conflict is delineated
+in the Old Testament, at least as evident as the other, that those deeds
+were the fulfilment of mysterious promises? Was it not in keeping with
+the consciousness possessed by the new religion of being the universal
+religion, that one should not be satisfied with mere beginnings of a new
+knowledge, or with fragments of it, but should seek to set up such
+knowledge in a complete and systematic form, and so to exhibit the best
+and universal system of life as also the best and universal system of
+knowledge of the world? Finally, did not the free and yet so rigid forms
+in which the Christian communities were organised, the union of the
+mysterious with a wonderful publicity, of the spiritual with significant
+rites (baptism and the Lord's Supper), invite men to find here the
+realisation of the ideal which the Hellenic religious spirit was at that
+time seeking, viz., a communion which in virtue of a Divine revelation,
+is in possession of the highest knowledge, and therefore leads the
+holiest life, a communion which does not communicate this knowledge by
+discourse, but by mysterious efficacious consecrations, and by revealed
+dogmas? These questions are thrown out here in accordance with the
+direction which the historical progress of Christianity took. The
+phenomenon called Gnosticism gives the answer to them.[302]
+
+
+Sec. 2. _The Nature of Gnosticism._
+
+The Catholic Church afterwards claimed as her own those writers of the
+first century (60-160) who were content with turning speculation to
+account only as a means of spiritualising the Old Testament, without,
+however, attempting a systematic reconstruction of tradition. But all
+those who in the first century undertook to furnish Christian practice
+with the foundation of a complete systematic knowledge, she declared
+false Christians, Christians only in name. Historical enquiry cannot
+accept this judgment. On the contrary, it sees in Gnosticism a series of
+undertakings, which in a certain way is analogous to the Catholic
+embodiment of Christianity, in doctrine, morals, and worship. The great
+distinction here consists essentially in the fact that the Gnostic
+systems represent the acute secularising or hellenising of Christianity,
+with the rejection of the Old Testament,[303] while the Catholic system,
+on the other hand, represents a gradual process of the same kind with
+the conservation of the Old Testament. The traditional religion on
+being, as it were, suddenly required to recognise itself in a picture
+foreign to it, was yet vigorous enough to reject that picture; but to
+the gradual, and one might say indulgent remodelling to which it was
+subjected, it offered but little resistance, nay, as a rule, it was
+never conscious of it. It is therefore no paradox to say that
+Gnosticism, which is just Hellenism, has in Catholicism obtained half a
+victory. We have, at least, the same justification for that
+assertion--the parallel may be permitted--as we have for recognising a
+triumph of 18th century ideas in the first Empire, and a continuance,
+though with reservations, of the old regime.
+
+From this point of view the position to be assigned to the Gnostics in
+the history of dogma, which has hitherto been always misunderstood, is
+obvious. _They were, in short, the Theologians of the first
+century._[304] They were the first to transform Christianity into a
+system of doctrines (dogmas). They were the first to work up tradition
+systematically. They undertook to present Christianity as the absolute
+religion, and therefore placed it in definite opposition to the other
+religions, even to Judaism. But to them the absolute religion, viewed in
+its contents, was identical with the result of the philosophy of
+religion for which the support of a revelation was to be sought. They
+are therefore those Christians who, in a swift advance, attempted to
+capture Christianity for Hellenic culture, and Hellenic culture for
+Christianity, and who gave up the Old Testament in order to facilitate
+the conclusion of the covenant between the two powers, and make it
+possible to assert the absoluteness of Christianity.--But the
+significance of the Old Testament in the religious history of the world,
+lies just in this, that, in order to be maintained at all, it required
+the application of the allegoric method, that is, a definite proportion
+of Greek ideas, and that, on the other hand, it opposed the strongest
+barrier to the complete hellenising of Christianity. Neither the sayings
+of Jesus, nor Christian hopes, were at first capable of forming such a
+barrier. If, now, the majority of Gnostics could make the attempt to
+disregard the Old Testament, that is a proof that, in wide circles of
+Christendom, people were at first satisfied with an abbreviated form of
+the Gospel, containing the preaching of the one God, of the resurrection
+and of continence, a law and an ideal of practical life.[305] In this
+form, as it was realised in life, the Christianity which dispensed with
+"doctrines" seemed capable of union with every form of thoughtful and
+earnest philosophy, because the Jewish foundation did not make its
+appearance here at all. But the majority of Gnostic undertakings may
+also be viewed as attempts to transform Christianity into a theosophy,
+that is, into a revealed metaphysic and philosophy of history, with a
+complete disregard of the Jewish Old Testament soil on which it
+originated, through the use of Pauline ideas,[306] and under the
+influence of the Platonic spirit. Moreover, comparison is possible
+between writers such as Barnabas and Ignatius, and the so-called
+Gnostics, to the effect of making the latter appear in possession of a
+completed theory, to which fragmentary ideas in the former exhibit a
+striking affinity.
+
+We have hitherto tacitly presupposed that in Gnosticism the Hellenic
+spirit desired to make itself master of Christianity, or more correctly
+of the Christian communities. This conception may be, and really is
+still contested. For according to the accounts of later opponents, and
+on these we are almost exclusively dependent here, the main thing with
+the Gnostics seems to have been the reproduction of Asiatic
+Mythologoumena of all kinds, so that we should rather have to see in
+Gnosticism a union of Christianity with the most remote Oriental cults
+and their wisdom. But with regard to the most important Gnostic systems
+the words hold true, "The hands are the hands of Esau, but the voice is
+the voice of Jacob." There can be no doubt of the fact, that the
+Gnosticism which has become a factor in the movement of the history of
+dogma, was ruled in the main by the Greek spirit, and determined by the
+interests and doctrines of the Greek philosophy of religion,[307] which
+doubtless had already assumed a syncretistic character. This fact is
+certainly concealed by the circumstance that the material of the
+speculations was taken now from this, and now from that Oriental
+religious philosophy, from astrology and the Semitic cosmologies. But
+that is only in keeping with the stage which the religious development
+had reached among the Greeks and Romans of that time.[308] The cultured,
+and these primarily come into consideration here, no longer had a
+religion in the sense of a national religion, but a philosophy of
+religion. They were, however, in search of a religion, that is, a firm
+basis for the results of their speculations, and they hoped to obtain it
+by turning themselves towards the very old Oriental cults, and seeking
+to fill them with the religious and moral knowledge which had been
+gained by the Schools of Plato and of Zeno. The union of the traditions
+and rites of the Oriental religions, viewed as mysteries, with the
+spirit of Greek philosophy is the characteristic of the epoch. The
+needs, which asserted themselves with equal strength, of a complete
+knowledge of the All, of a spiritual God, a sure, and therefore very old
+revelation, atonement and immortality, were thus to be satisfied at one
+and the same time. The most sublimated spiritualism enters here into the
+strangest union with a crass superstition based on Oriental cults. This
+superstition was supposed to insure and communicate the spiritual
+blessings. These complicated tendencies now entered into Christianity.
+
+We have accordingly to ascertain and distinguish in the prominent
+Gnostic schools, which, in the second century on Greek soil, became an
+important factor in the history of the Church, the Semitic-cosmological
+foundations, the Hellenic philosophic mode of thought, and the
+recognition of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. Further, we
+have to take note of the three elements of Gnosticism, viz., the
+speculative and philosophical, the mystic element connection with
+worship, and the practical, ascetic. The close connection in which these
+three elements appear,[309] the total transformation of all ethical into
+cosmological problems, the upbuilding of a philosophy of God and the
+world on the basis of a combination of popular Mythologies, physical
+observations belonging to the Oriental (Babylonian) religious
+philosophy, and historical events, as well as the idea that the history
+of religion is the last act in the drama-like history of the Cosmos--all
+this is not peculiar to Gnosticism, but rather corresponds to a definite
+stage of the general development. It may, however, be asserted that
+Gnosticism anticipated the general development, and that not only with
+regard to Catholicism, but also with regard to Neo-platonism, which
+represents the last stage in the inner history of Hellenism.[310] The
+Valentinians have already got as far as Jamblichus.
+
+The name Gnosis, Gnostics, describes excellently the aims of Gnosticism,
+in so far as its adherents boasted of the absolute knowledge, and faith
+in the Gospel was transformed into a knowledge of God, nature and
+history. This knowledge, however, was not regarded as natural, but in
+the view of the Gnostics was based on revelation, was communicated and
+guaranteed by holy consecrations, and was accordingly cultivated by
+reflection supported by fancy. A mythology of ideas was created out of
+the sensuous mythology of any Oriental religion, by the conversion of
+concrete forms into speculative and moral ideas, such as "Abyss,"
+"Silence," "Logos," "Wisdom," "Life," while the mutual relation and
+number of these abstract ideas were determined by the data supplied by
+the corresponding concretes. Thus arose a philosophic dramatic poem,
+similar to the Platonic, but much more complicated, and therefore more
+fantastic, in which mighty powers, the spiritual and good, appear in an
+unholy union with the material and wicked, but from which the spiritual
+is finally delivered by the aid of those kindred powers which are too
+exalted to be ever drawn down into the common. The good and heavenly
+which has been drawn down into the material, and therefore really
+non-existing, is the human spirit, and the exalted power who delivers it
+is Christ. The Evangelic history as handed down is not the history of
+Christ, but a collection of allegoric representations of the great
+history of God and the world. Christ has really no history. His
+appearance in this world of mixture and confusion is his deed, and the
+enlightenment of the spirit about itself is the result which springs out
+of that deed. This enlightenment itself is life. But the enlightenment
+is dependent on revelation, asceticism and surrender to those mysteries
+which Christ founded, in which one enters into communion with a _praesens
+numen_, and which in mysterious ways promote the process of raising the
+spirit above the sensual. This rising above the sensual is, however, to
+be actively practised. Abstinence therefore, as a rule, is the
+watchword. Christianity thus appears here as a speculative philosophy
+which redeems the spirit by enlightening it, consecrating it, and
+instructing it in the right conduct of life. The Gnosis is free from the
+rationalistic interest in the sense of natural religion. Because the
+riddles about the world which it desires to solve are not properly
+intellectual, but practical, because it desires to be in the end [Greek:
+gnosis soterias], it removes into the region of the suprarational the
+powers which are supposed to confer vigour and life on the human spirit.
+Only a [Greek: mathesis], however, united with [Greek: mystagogia],
+resting on revelation, leads thither, not an exact philosophy. Gnosis
+starts from the great problem of this world, but occupies itself with a
+higher world, and does not wish to be an exact philosophy, but a
+philosophy of religion. Its fundamental philosophic doctrines are the
+following: (1) The indefinable, infinite nature of the Divine primeval
+Being exalted above all thought. (2) Matter as opposed to the Divine
+Being, and therefore having no real being, the ground of evil. (3) The
+fulness of divine potencies, AEons, which are thought of partly as
+powers, partly as real ideas, partly as relatively independent beings,
+presenting in gradation the unfolding and revelation of the Godhead, but
+at the same time rendering possible the transition of the higher to the
+lower. (4) The Cosmos as a mixture of matter with divine sparks, which
+has arisen from a descent of the latter into the former, or, as some
+say, from the perverse, or, at least, merely permitted undertaking of a
+subordinate spirit. The Demiurge, therefore, is an evil, intermediate,
+or weak, but penitent being; the best thing therefore in the world is
+aspiration. (5) The deliverance of the spiritual element from its union
+with matter, or the separation of the good from the world of sensuality
+by the Spirit of Christ which operates through knowledge, asceticism,
+and holy consecration: thus originates the perfect Gnostic, the man who
+is free from the world, and master of himself, who lives in God and
+prepares himself for eternity. All these are ideas for which we find the
+way prepared in the philosophy of the time, anticipated by Philo, and
+represented in Neoplatonism as the great final result of Greek
+philosophy. It lies in the nature of the case that only some men are
+able to appropriate the Christianity that is comprehended in these
+ideas, viz., just as many as are capable of entering into this kind of
+Christianity, those who are spiritual. The others must be considered as
+non-partakers of the Spirit from the beginning, and therefore excluded
+from knowledge as the _profanum vulgus_. Yet some, the Valentinians, for
+example, made a distinction in this _vulgus_, which can only be
+discussed later on, because it is connected with the position of the
+Gnostics towards Jewish Christian tradition.
+
+The later opponents of Gnosticism preferred to bring out the fantastic
+details of the Gnostic systems, and thereby created the prejudice that
+the essence of the matter lay in these. They have thus occasioned modern
+expounders to speculate about the Gnostic speculations in a manner that
+is marked by still greater strangeness. Four observations shew how
+unhistorical and unjust such a view is, at least with regard to the
+chief systems. (1) The great Gnostic schools, wherever they could,
+sought to spread their opinions. But it is simply incredible that they
+should have expected of all their disciples, male and female, an
+accurate knowledge of the details of their system. On the contrary, it
+may be shewn that they often contented themselves with imparting
+consecration, with regulating the practical life of their adherents, and
+instructing them in the general features of their system.[311] (2) We
+see how in one and the same school, for example, the Valentinian, the
+details of the religious metaphysic were very various and changing. (3)
+We hear but little of conflicts between the various schools. On the
+contrary, we learn that the books of doctrine and edification passed
+from one school to another.[312] (4) The fragments of Gnostic writings
+which have been preserved, and this is the most important consideration
+of the four, shew that the Gnostics devoted their main strength to the
+working out of those religious, moral, philosophical and historical
+problems, which must engage the thoughtful of all times.[313] We only
+need to read some actual Gnostic document, such as the Epistle of
+Ptolemaeus to Flora, or certain paragraphs of the Pistis Sophia, in order
+to see that the fantastic details of the philosophic poem can only, in
+the case of the Gnostics themselves, have had the value of liturgical
+apparatus, the construction of which was not of course a matter of
+indifference, but hardly formed the principal interest. The things to be
+proved, and to be confirmed by the aid of this or that very old
+religious philosophy, were certain religious and moral fundamental
+convictions, and a correct conception of God, of the sensible, of the
+creator of the world, of Christ, of the Old Testament, and the evangelic
+tradition. Here were actual dogmas. But how the grand fantastic union of
+all the factors was to be brought about, was, as the Valentinian school
+shews, a problem whose solution was ever and again subjected to new
+attempts.[314] No one to-day can in all respects distinguish what to
+those thinkers was image and what reality, or in what degree they were
+at all able to distinguish image from reality, and in how far the magic
+formulae of their mysteries were really objects of their meditation. But
+the final aim of their endeavours, the faith and knowledge of their own
+hearts which they instilled into their disciples, the practical rules
+which they wished to give them, and the view of Christ which they wished
+to confirm them in, stand out with perfect clearness. Like Plato, they
+made their explanation of the world start from the contradiction between
+sense and reason, which the thoughtful man observes in himself. The
+cheerful asceticism, the powers of the spiritual and the good which were
+seen in the Christian communities, attracted them and seemed to require
+the addition of theory to practice. Theory without being followed by
+practice had long been in existence, but here was the as yet rare
+phenomenon of a moral practice which seemed to dispense with that which
+was regarded as indispensable, viz., theory. The philosophic life was
+already there; how could the philosophic doctrine be wanting, and after
+what other model could the latent doctrine be reproduced than that of
+the Greek religious philosophy?[315] That the Hellenic spirit in
+Gnosticism turned with such eagerness to the Christian communities and
+was ready even to believe in Christ in order to appropriate the moral
+powers which it saw operative in them, is a convincing proof of the
+extraordinary impression which these communities made. For what other
+peculiarities and attractions had they to offer to that spirit than the
+certainty of their conviction (of eternal life), and the purity of their
+life? We hear of no similar edifice being erected in the second century
+on the basis of any other Oriental cult--even the Mithras cult is
+scarcely to be mentioned here--as the Gnostic was on the foundation of
+the Christian.[316] The Christian communities, however, together with
+their worship of Christ, formed the real solid basis of the greater
+number and the most important of the Gnostic systems, and in this fact
+we have, on the very threshold of the great conflict, a triumph of
+Christianity over Hellenism. The triumph lay in the recognition of what
+Christianity had already performed as a moral and social power. This
+recognition found expression in bringing the highest that one possessed
+as a gift to be consecrated by the new religion, a philosophy of
+religion whose end was plain and simple, but whose means were mysterious
+and complicated.
+
+
+Sec. 3. _History of Gnosticism and the forms in which it appeared._
+
+In the previous section we have been contemplating Gnosticism as it
+reached its prime in the great schools of Basilides and Valentinus, and
+those related to them,[317] at the close of the period we are now
+considering, and became an important factor in the history of dogma. But
+this Gnosticism had (1) preliminary stages, and (2) was always
+accompanied by a great number of sects, schools and undertakings which
+were only in part related to it, and yet, reasonably enough, were
+grouped together with it.
+
+To begin with the second point, the great Gnostic schools were flanked
+on the right and left by a motley series of groups which at their
+extremities can hardly be distinguished from popular Christianity on the
+one hand, and from the Hellenic and the common world on the other.[318]
+On the right were communities such as the Encratites, which put all
+stress on a strict asceticism, in support of which they urged the
+example of Christ, but which here and there fell into dualistic
+ideas.[319] There were further, whole communities which, for decennia,
+drew their views of Christ from books which represented him as a
+heavenly spirit who had merely assumed an apparent body.[320] There were
+also individual teachers who brought forward peculiar opinions without
+thereby causing any immediate stir in the Churches.[321] On the left
+there were schools such as the Carpocratians, in which the philosophy
+and communism of Plato were taught, the son of the founder and second
+teacher Epiphanes honoured as a God (at Cephallenia), as Epicurus was in
+his school, and the image of Jesus crowned along with those of
+Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle.[322] On this left flank are, further,
+swindlers who take their own way, like Alexander of Abonoteichus,
+magicians, soothsayers, sharpers and jugglers, under the sign-board of
+Christianity, deceivers and hypocrites who appear using mighty words
+with a host of unintelligible formulae, and take up with scandalous
+ceremonies, in order to rob men of their money and women of their
+honour.[323] All this was afterwards called "Heresy" and "Gnosticism,"
+and is still so called.[324] And these names may be retained, if we will
+understand by them nothing else than the world taken into Christianity,
+all the manifold formations which resulted from the first contact of the
+new religion with the society into which it entered. To prove the
+existence of that left wing of Gnosticism is of the greatest interest
+for the history of dogma, but the details are of no consequence. On the
+other hand, in the aims and undertakings of the Gnostic right, it is
+just the details that are of greatest significance, because they shew
+that there was no fixed boundary between what one may call common
+Christian and Gnostic Christian. But as Gnosticism, in its contents,
+extended itself from the Encratites and the philosophic interpretation
+of certain articles of the Christian proclamation, as brought forward
+without offence by individual teachers in the communities, to the
+complete dissolution of the Christian element by philosophy, or the
+religious charlatanry of the age, so it exhibits itself formally also in
+a long series of groups which comprised all imaginable forms of unions.
+There were churches, ascetic associations, mystery cults, strictly
+private philosophic schools,[325] free unions for edification,
+entertainments by Christian charlatans and deceived deceivers, who
+appeared as magicians and prophets, attempts at founding new religions
+after the model and under the influence of the Christian, etc. But,
+finally, the thesis that Gnosticism is identical with an acute
+secularising of Christianity, in the widest sense of the word, is
+confirmed by the study of its own literature. The early Christian
+production of Gospel and Apocalypses was indeed continued in Gnosticism
+yet so that the class of "Acts of the Apostles" was added to them, and
+that didactic, biographic and "belles lettres," elements were received
+into them, and claimed a very important place. If this makes the Gnostic
+literature approximate to the profane, that is much more the case with
+the scientific theological literature which Gnosticism first produced.
+Dogmatico-philosophic tracts, theologico-critical treatises, historical
+investigations and scientific commentaries on the sacred books, were,
+for the first time in Christendom, composed by the Gnostics, who in part
+occupied the foremost place in the scientific knowledge, religious
+earnestness and ardour of the age. They form, in every respect, the
+counterpart to the scientific works which proceeded from the
+contemporary philosophic schools. Moreover, we possess sufficient
+knowledge of Gnostic hymns and odes, songs for public worship, didactic
+poems, magic formulae, magic books, etc., to assure us that Christian
+Gnosticism took possession of a whole region of the secular life in its
+full breadth, and thereby often transformed the original forms of
+Christian literature into secular.[326] If, however, we bear in mind how
+all this at a later period was gradually legitimised in the Catholic
+Church, philosophy, the science of the sacred books, criticism and
+exegesis, the ascetic associations, the theological schools, the
+mysteries, the sacred formulae, the superstition, the charlatanism, all
+kinds of profane literature, etc., it seems to prove the thesis that the
+victorious epoch of the gradual hellenising of Christianity followed the
+abortive attempts at an acute hellenising.
+
+The traditional question as to the origin and development of Gnosticism,
+as well as that about the classification of the Gnostic systems, will
+have to be modified in accordance with the foregoing discussion. As the
+different Gnostic systems might be contemporary, and in part were
+undoubtedly contemporary, and as a graduated relation holds good only
+between some few groups, we must, in the classification, limit ourselves
+essentially to the features which have been specified in the foregoing
+paragraph, and which coincide with the position of the different groups
+to the early Christian tradition in its connection with the Old
+Testament religion, both as a rule of practical life, and of the common
+cultus.[327]
+
+As to the origin of Gnosticism, we see how, even in the earliest period,
+all possible ideas and principles foreign to Christianity force their
+way into it, that is, are brought in under Christian rules, and find
+entrance, especially in the consideration of the Old Testament.[328] We
+might be satisfied with the observation that the manifold Gnostic
+systems were produced by the increase of this tendency. In point of fact
+we must admit that in the present state of our sources, we can reach no
+sure knowledge beyond that. These sources, however, give certain
+indications which should not be left unnoticed. If we leave out of
+account the two assertions of opponents, that Gnosticism was produced by
+demons[329] and--this, however, was said at a comparatively late
+period--that it originated in ambition and resistance to the
+ecclesiastical office, the episcopate, we find in Hegesippus, one of the
+earliest writers on the subject, the statement that the whole of the
+heretical schools sprang out of Judaism or the Jewish sects; in the
+later writers, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus, that these schools
+owe most to the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno,
+etc.[330] But they all agree in this, that a definite personality, viz.,
+Simon the Magician, must be regarded as the original source of the
+heresy. If we try it by these statements of the Church Fathers, we must
+see at once that the problem in this case is limited--certainly in a
+proper way. For after Gnosticism is seen to be the acute secularising of
+Christianity the only question that remains is, how are we to account
+for the origin of the great Gnostic schools, that is, whether it is
+possible to indicate their preliminary stages. The following may be
+asserted here with some confidence: Long before the appearance of
+Christianity, combinations of religion had taken place in Syria and
+Palestine,[331] especially in Samaria, in so far, on the one hand, as
+the Assyrian and Babylonian religious philosophy, together with its
+myths, as well as the Greek popular religion, with its manifold
+interpretations, had penetrated as far as the eastern shore of the
+Mediterranean, and been accepted even by the Jews, and, on the other
+hand, the Jewish Messianic idea had spread and called forth various
+movements.[332] The result of every mixing of national religions,
+however, is to break through the traditional, legal and particular
+forms.[333] For the Jewish religion syncretism signified the shaking of
+the authority of the Old Testament by a qualitative distinction of its
+different parts, as also doubt as to the identity of the supreme God
+with the national God. These ferments were once more set in motion by
+Christianity. We know that in the Apostolic age there were attempts in
+Samaria to found new religions, which were in all probability influenced
+by the tradition and preaching concerning Jesus. Dositheus, Simon Magus,
+Cleobius, and Menander appeared as Messiahs or bearers of the Godhead,
+and proclaimed a doctrine in which the Jewish faith was strangely and
+grotesquely mixed with Babylonian myths, together with some Greek
+additions. The mysterious worship, the breaking up of Jewish
+particularism, the criticism of the Old Testament, which for long had
+had great difficulty in retaining its authority in many circles, in
+consequence of the widened horizon and the deepening of religious
+feeling, finally, the wild syncretism, whose aim, however, was a
+universal religion, all contributed to gain adherents for Simon.[334]
+His enterprise appeared to the Christians as a diabolical caricature of
+their own religion, and the impression made by the success which
+Simonianism gained by a vigorous propaganda even beyond Palestine into
+the West, supported this idea.[335] We can therefore understand how,
+afterwards, all heresies were traced back to Simon. To this must be
+added that we can actually trace in many Gnostic systems the same
+elements which were prominent in the religion proclaimed by Simon (the
+Babylonian and Syrian), and that the new religion of the Simonians, just
+like Christianity, had afterwards to submit to be transformed into a
+philosophic, scholastic doctrine.[336] The formal parallel to the
+Gnostic doctrines was therewith established. But even apart from these
+attempts at founding new religions, Christianity in Syria, under the
+influence of foreign religions and speculation on the philosophy of
+religion, gave a powerful impulse to the criticism of the law and the
+prophets which had already been awakened. In consequence of this, there
+appeared, about the transition of the first century to the second, a
+series of teachers, who, under the impression of the Gospel, sought to
+make the Old Testament capable of furthering the tendency to a universal
+religion, not by allegorical interpretation, but by a sifting criticism.
+These attempts were of very different kinds. Teachers such as Cerinthus,
+clung to the notion that the universal religion revealed by Christ was
+identical with undefined Mosaism, and therefore maintained even such
+articles as circumcision and the Sabbath commandment, as well as the
+earthly kingdom of the future. But they rejected certain parts of the
+law, especially, as a rule, the sacrificial precepts, which were no
+longer in keeping with the spiritual conception of religion. They
+conceived the creator of the world as a subordinate being distinct from
+the supreme God, which is always the mark of a syncretism with a
+dualistic tendency; introduced speculations about AEons and angelic
+powers, among whom they placed Christ, and recommended a strict
+asceticism. When, in their Christology, they denied the miraculous
+birth, and saw in Jesus a chosen man on whom the Christ, that is, the
+Holy Spirit, descended at the baptism, they were not creating any
+innovation, but only following the earliest Palestinian tradition. Their
+rejection of the authority of Paul is explained by their efforts to
+secure the Old Testament as far as possible for the universal
+religion.[337] There were others who rejected all ceremonial
+commandments as proceeding from the devil, or from some intermediate
+being, but yet always held firmly that the God of the Jews was the
+supreme God. But alongside of these stood also decidedly anti-Jewish
+groups, who seem to have been influenced in part by the preaching of
+Paul. They advanced much further in the criticism of the Old Testament
+and perceived the impossibility of saving it for the Christian universal
+religion. They rather connected this religion with the cultus-wisdom of
+Babylon and Syria, which seemed more adapted for allegorical
+interpretations, and opposed this formation to the Old Testament
+religion. The God of the Old Testament appears here at best as a
+subordinate Angel of limited power, wisdom and goodness. In so far as he
+was identified with the creator of the world, and the creation of the
+world itself was regarded as an imperfect or an abortive undertaking,
+expression was given both to the anti-Judaism and to that religious
+temper of the time, which could only value spiritual blessing in
+contrast with the world and the sensuous. These systems appeared more or
+less strictly dualistic, in proportion as they did or did not accept a
+slight co-operation of the supreme God in the creation of man; and the
+way in which the character and power of the world-creating God of the
+Jews was conceived, serves as a measure of how far the several schools
+were from the Jewish religion and the Monism that ruled it. All possible
+conceptions of the God of the Jews, from the assumption that he is a
+being supported in his undertakings by the supreme God, to his
+identification with Satan, seem to have been exhausted in these schools.
+Accordingly, in the former case, the Old Testament was regarded as the
+revelation of a subordinate God, in the latter as the manifestation of
+Satan, and therefore the ethic--with occasional use of Pauline
+formula--always assumed an antinomian form, compared with the Jewish
+law, in some cases antinomian even in the sense of libertinism.
+Correspondingly, the anthropology exhibits man as bipartite, or even
+tripartite, and the Christology is strictly docetic and anti-Jewish. The
+redemption by Christ is always, as a matter of course, related only to
+that element in humanity which has an affinity with the Godhead.[338]
+
+It is uncertain whether we should think of the spread of these doctrines
+in Syria in the form of a school, or of a cultus; probably it was both.
+From the great Gnostic systems as formed by Basilides and Valentinus
+they are distinguished by the fact, that they lack the peculiar
+philosophic, that is Hellenic element, the speculative conversion of
+angels and AEons into real ideas, etc. We have almost no knowledge of
+their effect. This Gnosticism has never directly been a historical
+factor of striking importance, and the great question is whether it was
+so indirectly.[339] That is to say, we do not know whether this Syrian
+Gnosticism was, in the strict sense, the preparatory stage of the great
+Gnostic schools, so that these schools should be regarded as an actual
+reconstruction of it. But there can be no doubt that the appearance of
+the great Gnostic schools in the Empire, from Egypt to Gaul, is
+contemporaneous with the vigorous projection of Syrian cults westwards,
+and therefore the assumption is suggested, that the Syrian Christian
+syncretism was also spread in connection with that projection, and
+underwent a change corresponding to the new conditions. We know
+definitely that the Syrian Gnostic, Cerdo, came to Rome, wrought there,
+and exercised an influence on Marcion. But no less probable is the
+assumption that the great Hellenic Gnostic schools arose spontaneously,
+in the sense of having been independently developed out of the elements
+to which undoubtedly the Asiatic cults also belonged, without being
+influenced in any way by Syrian syncretistic efforts. The conditions for
+the growth of such formations were nearly the same in all parts of the
+Empire. The great advance lies in the fact that the religious material
+as contained in the Gospel, the Old Testament, and the wisdom connected
+with the old cults, was philosophically, that is, scientifically,
+manipulated by means of allegory, and the aggregate of mythological
+powers translated into an aggregate of ideas. The Pythagorean and
+Platonic, more rarely the Stoic philosophy, were compelled to do service
+here. Great Gnostic schools, which were at the same time unions for
+worship, first enter into the clear light of history in this form, (see
+previous section), and on the conflict with these, surrounded as they
+were by a multitude of dissimilar and related formations, depends the
+progress of the development.[340]
+
+We are no longer able to form a perfectly clear picture of how these
+schools came into being, or how they were related to the Churches. It
+lay in the nature of the case that the heads of the schools, like the
+early itinerant heretical teachers, devoted attention chiefly, if not
+exclusively, to those who were already Christian, that is, to the
+Christian communities.[341] From the Ignatian Epistles, the Shepherd of
+Hermas (Vis. III. 7. 1; Sim. VIII. 6. 5; IX. 19. and especially 22) and
+the Didache (XI. 1. 2) we see that those teachers who boasted of a
+special knowledge, and sought to introduce "strange" doctrines, aimed at
+gaining the entire churches. The beginning, as a rule, was necessarily
+the formation of conventicles. In the first period therefore, when there
+was no really fixed standard for warding off the foreign
+doctrines--Hermas is unable even to characterise the false
+doctrines--the warnings were commonly exhausted in the exhortation:
+[Greek: kollasthe tois hagiois, hoti hoi kollomenoi autois
+hagiasthesontai] ["connect yourselves with the saints, because those who
+are connected with them shall be sanctified"]. As a rule, the doctrines
+may really have crept in unobserved, and those gained over to them may
+for long have taken part in a two-fold worship, the public worship of
+the churches, and the new consecration. Those teachers must of course
+have assumed a more aggressive attitude who rejected the Old Testament.
+The attitude of the Church, when it enjoyed competent guidance, was one
+of decided opposition towards unmasked or recognised false teachers. Yet
+Irenaeus' account of Cerdo in Rome shews us how difficult it was at the
+beginning to get rid of a false teacher.[342] For Justin, about the year
+150, the Marcionites, Valentinians, Basilideans and Saturninians, are
+groups outside the communities, and undeserving of the name
+"Christians."[343] There must therefore have been at that time, in Rome
+and Asia Minor at least, a really perfect separation of those schools
+from the Churches (it was different in Alexandria). Notwithstanding,
+this continued to be the region from which those schools obtained their
+adherents. For the Valentinians recognised that the common Christians
+were much better than the heathen, that they occupied a middle position
+between the "pneumatic" and the "hylic", and might look forward to a
+kind of salvation. This admission, as well as their conforming to the
+common Christian tradition, enabled them to spread their views in a
+remarkable way, and they may not have had any objection in many cases,
+to their converts remaining in the great Church. But can this community
+have perceived everywhere and at once, that the Valentinian distinction
+of "psychic" and "pneumatic" is not identical with the scriptural
+distinction of children and men in understanding? Where the organisation
+of the school (the union for worship) required a long time of probation,
+where degrees of connection with it were distinguished, and a strict
+asceticism demanded of the perfect, it followed of course that those on
+the lower stage should not be urged to a speedy break with the
+Church.[344] But after the creation of the catholic confederation of
+churches, existence was made more and more difficult for these schools.
+Some of them lived on somewhat like our freemason-unions, some, as in
+the East, became actual sects (confessions), in which the wise and the
+simple now found a place, as they were propagated by families. In both
+cases they ceased to be what they had been at the beginning. From about
+210, they ceased to be a factor of the historical development, though
+the Church of Constantine and Theodosius was alone really able to
+suppress them.
+
+
+4. _The most important Gnostic Doctrines._
+
+We have still to measure and compare with the earliest tradition those
+Gnostic doctrines which, partly at once and partly in the following
+period, became important. Once more, however, we must expressly refer to
+the fact, that the epoch-making significance of Gnosticism for the
+history of dogma, must not be sought chiefly in the particular
+doctrines, but rather in the whole way in which Christianity is here
+conceived and transformed. The decisive thing is the conversion of the
+Gospel into a doctrine, into an absolute philosophy of religion, the
+transforming of the _disciplina Evangelii_ into an asceticism based on a
+dualistic conception, and into a practice of mysteries.[345] We have now
+briefly to shew, with due regard to the earliest tradition, how far this
+transformation was of positive or negative significance for the
+following period, that is, in what respects the following development
+was anticipated by Gnosticism, and in what respects Gnosticism was
+disavowed by this development.[346]
+
+(1) Christianity, which is the only true and absolute religion, embraces
+a revealed system of doctrine (positive).
+
+(2) This doctrine contains mysterious powers, which are communicated to
+men by initiation (mysteries).
+
+(3) The revealer is Christ (positive), but Christ alone, and only in his
+historical appearance--no Old Testament Christ (negative); this
+appearance is itself redemption: the doctrine is the announcement of it
+and of its presuppositions (positive).[347]
+
+(4) Christian doctrine is to be drawn from the Apostolic tradition,
+critically examined. This tradition lies before us in a series of
+Apostolic writings, and in a secret doctrine derived from the Apostles,
+(positive).[348] As exoteric it is comprehended in the _regula fidei_
+(positive),[349] as esoteric it is propagated by chosen teachers.[350]
+
+(5) The documents of revelation (Apostolic writings), just because they
+are such, must be interpreted by means of allegory, that is, their
+deeper meaning must be extracted in this way (positive).[351]
+
+(6) The following may be noted as the main points in the Gnostic
+conception of the several parts of the _regula fidei_.
+
+(a) The difference between the supreme God and the creator of the world,
+and therewith the opposing of redemption and creation, and therefore the
+separation of the Mediator of revelation from the Mediator of
+creation.[352]
+
+(b) The separation of the supreme God from the God of the Old Testament,
+and therewith the rejection of the Old Testament, or the assertion that
+the Old Testament contains no revelations of the supreme God, or at
+least only in certain parts.[353]
+
+(c) The doctrine of the independence and eternity of matter.
+
+(d) The assertion that the present world sprang from a fall of man, or
+from an undertaking hostile to God, and is therefore the product of an
+evil or intermediate being.[354]
+
+(e) The doctrine, that evil is inherent in matter, and therefore is a
+physical potence.[355]
+
+(f) The assumption of AEons, that is, real powers and heavenly persons in
+whom is unfolded the absoluteness of the Godhead.[356]
+
+(g) The assertion that Christ revealed a God hitherto unknown.
+
+(h) The doctrine that in the person of Jesus Christ--the Gnostics saw in
+it redemption, but they reduced the person to the physical nature--the
+heavenly AEon, Christ, and the human appearance of that AEon must be
+clearly distinguished, and a "distincte agere" ascribed to each.
+Accordingly, there were some, such as Basilides, who acknowledged no
+real union between Christ and the man Jesus, whom, besides, they
+regarded as an earthly man. Others, e.g., part of the Valentinians,
+among whom the greatest differences prevailed--see Tertull. adv. Valent.
+39--taught that the body of Jesus was a heavenly psychical formation,
+and sprang from the womb of Mary only in appearance. Finally, a third
+party, such as Saturninus, declared that the whole visible appearance of
+Christ was a phantom, and therefore denied the birth of Christ.[357]
+Christ separates that which is unnaturally united, and thus leads
+everything back again to himself; in this redemption consists (full
+contrast to the notion of the [Greek: anakephalaiosis]).
+
+(i) The conversion of the [Greek: ekklesia] (it was no innovation to
+regard the heavenly Church as an AEon) into the college of the pneumatic,
+who alone, in virtue of their psychological endowment, are capable of
+Gnosis and the divine life, while the others, likewise in virtue of
+their constitution, as hylic perish. The Valentinians, and probably many
+other Gnostics also, distinguished between pneumatic, psychic and hylic.
+They regarded the psychic as capable of a certain blessedness, and of a
+corresponding certain knowledge of the supersensible, the latter being
+obtained through Pistis, that is, through Christian faith.[358]
+
+(k) The rejection of the entire early Christian eschatology, especially
+the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and Christ's
+Kingdom of glory on the earth, and, in connection with this, the
+assertion that the deliverance of the spirit from the sensuous can be
+expected only from the future, while the spirit enlightened about itself
+already possesses immortality, and only awaits its introduction into the
+pneumatic pleroma.[359]
+
+In addition to what has been mentioned here, we must finally fix our
+attention on the ethics of Gnosticism. Like the ethics of all systems
+which are based on the contrast between the sensuous and spiritual
+elements of human nature, that of the Gnostics took a twofold direction.
+On the one hand, it sought to suppress and uproot the sensuous, and thus
+became strictly ascetic (imitation of Christ as motive of
+asceticism;[360] Christ and the Apostles represented as ascetics);[361]
+on the other hand, it treated the sensuous element as indifferent, and
+so became libertine, that is, conformed to the world. The former was
+undoubtedly the more common, though there are credible witnesses to the
+latter; the _frequentissimum collegium_ in particular, the Valentinians,
+in the days of Irenaeus and Tertullian, did not vigorously enough
+prohibit a lax and world-conforming morality;[362] and among the Syrian
+and Egyptian Gnostics there were associations which celebrated the most
+revolting orgies.[363] As the early Christian tradition summoned to a
+strict renunciation of the world and to self-control, the Gnostic
+asceticism could not but make an impression at the first; but the
+dualistic basis on which it rested could not fail to excite suspicion as
+soon as one was capable of examining it.[364]
+
+_Literature._--The writings of Justin (his syntagma against heresies has
+not been preserved), Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of
+Alexandria, Origen, Epiphanius, Philastrius and Theodoret; cf. Volkmar,
+Die Quellen der Ketzergeschichte, 1885.
+
+Lipsius, Zur Quellenkritik des Epiphanios, 1875; also Die Quellen der
+aeltesten Ketzergeschichte, 1875.
+
+Harnack, Zur Quellenkritik d. Gesch. d. Gnostic, 1873 (continued i. D.
+Ztschr. f. d. hist. Theol. 1874, and in Der Schrift de Apellis gnosi
+monarch. 1874).
+
+Of Gnostic writings we possess the book Pistis Sophia, the writings
+contained in the Coptic Cod. Brucianus, and the Epistle of Ptolemy to
+Flora; also numerous fragments, in connection with which Hilgenfeld
+especially deserves thanks, but which still require a more complete
+selecting and a more thorough discussion (see Grabe, Spicilegium T. I.
+II. 1700. Heinrici, Die Valentin. Gnosis, u. d. H. Schrift, 1871).
+
+On the (Gnostic) Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, see Zahn, Acta Joh.
+1880, and the great work of Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten,
+I. Vol., 1883; II. Vol., 1887. (See also Lipsius, Quellen d. roem.
+Petrussage, 1872).
+
+Neander, Genet. Entw. d. vornehmsten gnostischen Systeme, 1818.
+
+Matter, Hist. crit. du gnosticisme, 2 Vols., 1828.
+
+Baur, Die Christl. Gnosis, 1835.
+
+Lipsius, Der Gnosticismus, in Ersch. und Gruber's Allg. Encykl. 71 Bd.
+1860.
+
+Moeller, Geschichte d. Kosmologie i. d. Griech. K. his auf Origenes.
+1860.
+
+King, The Gnostics and their remains, 1873.
+
+Mansel, The Gnostic heresies, 1875.
+
+Jacobi, Art. "Gnosis" in Herzog's Real Encykl. 2nd Edit.
+
+Hilgenfeld, Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums, 1884, where the
+more recent, special literature concerning individual Gnostics is
+quoted.
+
+Lipsius, Art. "Valentinus" in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Biography.
+
+Harnack, Art. "Valentinus" in the Encycl. Brit.
+
+Harnack, Pistis Sophia in the Texte und Unters. VII. 2.
+
+Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache aus dem Codex
+Brucianus (Texte und Unters. VIII. 1. 2).
+
+Joel, Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des 2 Christl.
+Jahrhunderts, 2 parts, 1880, 1883.
+
+Renan, History of the Origins of Christianity. Vols. V. VI. VII.
+
+
+[Footnote 300: We may consider here once more the articles which are
+embraced in the first ten chapters of the recently discovered [Greek:
+Didache ton apostolon], after enumerating and describing which, the
+author continues (II. 1): [Greek: hos an oun elthon didachei umas tauta
+panta ta proeiremena, dexasthe auton].]
+
+[Footnote 301: It is a good tradition, which designates the so-called
+Gnosticism, simply as Gnosis, and yet uses this word also for the
+speculations of non-Gnostic teachers of antiquity (e.g., of Barnabas).
+But the inferences which follow have not been drawn. Origen says truly
+(c. Celsus III. 12) "As men, not only the labouring and serving classes,
+but also many from the cultured classes of Greece, came to see something
+honourable in Christianity, sects could not fail to arise, not simply
+from the desire for controversy and contradiction, but because several
+scholars endeavoured to penetrate deeper into the truth of Christianity.
+In this way sects arose, which received their names from men who indeed
+admired Christianity in its essence, but from many different causes had
+arrived at different conceptions of it."]
+
+[Footnote 302: The majority of Christians in the second century belonged
+no doubt to the uncultured classes, and did not seek abstract knowledge,
+nay, were distrustful of it; see the [Greek: logos alethes] of Celsus,
+especially III. 44, and the writings of the Apologists. Yet we may infer
+from the treatise of Origen against Celsus that the number of
+"Christiani rudes" who cut themselves off from theological and
+philosophic knowledge, was about the year 240 a very large one; and
+Tertullian says (Adv. Prax. 3): "Simplices quique, ne dixerim
+imprudentes et idiotae, quae major semper credentium pars est," cf. de
+jejun. 11: "Major pars imperitorum apud gloriosissimam multitudinem
+psychicorum."]
+
+[Footnote 303: Overbeck (Stud. z. Gesch. d. alten Kirche. p. 184) has the
+merit of having first given convincing expression to this view of
+Gnosticism.]
+
+[Footnote 304: The ability of the prominent Gnostic teachers has been
+recognised by the Church Fathers: see Hieron. Comm in Osee. II. 10, Opp.
+VI. i: "Nullus potest haeresim struere, nisi qui ardens ingenii est et
+habet dona naturae quae a deo artifice sunt creata: talis fuit Valentinus,
+tails Marcion, quos doctissimos legimus, talis Bardesanes, cujus etiam
+philosophi admirantur ingenium." It is still more important to see how
+the Alexandrian theologians (Clement and Origen) estimated the exegetic
+labours of the Gnostics, and took account of them. Origen undoubtedly
+recognised Herakleon as a prominent exegete, and treats him most
+respectfully even where he feels compelled to differ from him. All
+Gnostics cannot, of course, be regarded as theologians. In their
+totality they form the Greek society with a Christian name.]
+
+[Footnote 305: Otherwise the rise of Gnosticism cannot at all be
+explained.]
+
+[Footnote 306: Cf. Bigg, "The Christian Platonists of Alexandria," p.
+83: "Gnosticism was in one respect distorted Paulinism."]
+
+[Footnote 307: Joel, "Blick in die Religionsgesch." Vol. I. pp. 101-170,
+has justly emphasised the Greek character of Gnosis, and insisted on the
+significance of Platonism for it. "The Oriental element did not always
+in the case of the Gnostics, originate at first hand, but had already
+passed through a Greek channel."]
+
+[Footnote 308: The age of the Antonines was the flourishing period of
+Gnosticism. Marquardt (Roemische Staatsverwaltung Vol. 3, p. 81) says of
+this age: "With the Antonines begins the last period of the Roman
+religious development in which two new elements enter into it. These are
+the Syrian and Persian deities, whose worship at this time was prevalent
+not only in the city of Rome, but in the whole empire, and, at the same
+time, Christianity, which entered into conflict with all ancient
+tradition, and in this conflict exercised a certain influence even on
+the Oriental forms of worship."]
+
+[Footnote 309: It is a special merit of Weingarten (Histor. Ztschr. Bd
+45. 1881. p. 441 f.) and Koffmane (Die Gnosis nach ihrer Tendenz und
+Organisation, 1881) to have strongly emphasised the mystery character of
+Gnosis, and in connection with that, its practical aims. Koffmane,
+especially, has collected abundant material for proving that the
+tendency of the Gnostics was the same as that of the ancient mysteries,
+and that they thence borrowed their organisation and discipline. This
+fact proves the proposition that Gnosticism was an acute hellenising of
+Christianity. Koffmane has, however, undervalued the union of the
+practical and speculative tendency in the Gnostics, and, in the effort
+to obtain recognition for the mystery character of the Gnostic
+communities, has overlooked the fact that they were also schools. The
+union of mystery-cultus and school is just, however, their
+characteristic. In this also they prove themselves the forerunners of
+Neoplatonism and the Catholic Church. Moehler in his programme of 1831
+(Urspr. d. Gnosticismus Tubingen), vigorously emphasised the practical
+tendency of Gnosticism, though not in a convincing way. Hackenschmidt
+(Anfange des katholischen Kirchenbegriffs, p. 83 f.) has judged
+correctly.]
+
+[Footnote 310: We have also evidence of the methods by which ecstatic
+visions were obtained among the Gnostics, see the Pistis Sophia, and the
+important role which prophets and Apocalypses played in several
+important Gnostic communities (Barcoph and Barcabbas, prophets of the
+Basilideans; Martiades and Marsanes among the Ophites; Philumene in the
+case of Apelles; Valentinian prophecies, Apocalypses of Zostrian,
+Zoroaster, etc.) Apocalypses were also used by some under the names of
+Old Testament men of God and Apostles.]
+
+[Footnote 311: See Koftmane, before-mentioned work, p. 5 f.]
+
+[Footnote 312: See Fragm. Murat. V. 81 f.; Clem. Strom. VII. 17. 108;
+Orig. Hom. 34. The Marcionite Antitheses were probably spread among
+other Gnostic sects. The Fathers frequently emphasise the fact that the
+Gnostics were united against the church: Tertullian de praescr 42: "Et
+hoc est, quod schismata apud haereticos fere non sunt, quia cum sint, non
+parent. Schisma est enim unitas ipsa." They certainly also delight in
+emphasising the contradictions of the different schools; but they cannot
+point to any earnest conflict of these schools with each other. We know
+definitely that Bardasanes argued against the earlier Gnostics, and
+Ptolemaeus against Marcion.]
+
+[Footnote 313: See the collection, certainly not complete, of Gnostic
+fragments by Grabe (Spicileg.) and Hilgenfeld (Ketzergeschichte). Our
+books on the history of Gnosticism take far too little notice of these
+fragments as presented to us, above all, by Clement and Origen, and
+prefer to keep to the doleful accounts of the Fathers about the
+"Systems", (better in Heinrici: Valent. Gnosis, 1871). The vigorous
+efforts of the Gnostics to understand the Pauline and Johannine ideas,
+and their in part surprisingly rational and ingenious solutions of
+intellectual problems, have never yet been systematically estimated. Who
+would guess, for example, from what is currently known of the system of
+Basilides, that, according to Clement, the following proceeds from him,
+(Strom. IV. 12. 18): [Greek: hos autos phesin ho Basileides, en meros ek
+tou legomenou thelematos tou theou hupeilephamen, to egapekenai hapanta.
+hoti logon aposozousi pros to pan hapanta; heteron de to medenos
+epithumein, kai to triton misein mede hen], and where do we find, in the
+period before Clement of Alexandria, faith in Christ united with such
+spiritual maturity and inner freedom as in Valentinians, Ptolemaeus and
+Heracleon?]
+
+[Footnote 314: Testament of Tertullian (adv. Valent. 4) shews the
+difference between the solution of Valentinus, for example, and his
+disciple Ptolemaeus. "Ptolemaeus nomina et numeros AEonum distinxit in
+personales substantias, sed extra deum determinatas, quas Valentinus in
+ipsa summa divinitatis ut sensus et affectus motus incluserat." It is,
+moreover, important that Tertullian himself should distinguish this so
+clearly.]
+
+[Footnote 315: There is nothing here more instructive than to hear the
+judgments of the cultured Greeks and Romans about Christianity, as soon
+as they have given up the current gross prejudices. They shew with
+admirable clearness, the way in which Gnosticism originated. Galen says
+(quoted by Gieseler, Church Hist. 1. 1. 41): "Hominum plerique orationem
+demonstrativam continuam mente assequi nequeunt, quare indigent, ut
+instituantur parabolis. Veluti nostro tempore videmus, homines illos,
+qui Christian! vocantur, fidem suam e parabolis petiisse. Hi tamen
+interdum talia faciunt, qualia qui vere philosophantur. Nam quod mortem
+contemnunt, id quidem omnes ante oculos habemus; item quod verecundia
+quadam ducti ab usu rerum venerearum abhorrent. Sunt enim inter eos
+feminae et viri, qui per totam vitam a concubitu abstinuerint; sunt etiam
+qui in animis regendis coercendisque et in accerrimo honestatis studio
+eo progressi sint, ut nihil cedant vere philosophantibus." Christians,
+therefore, are philosophers without philosophy. What a challenge for
+them to produce such, that is to seek out the latent philosophy! Even
+Celsus could not but admit a certain relationship between Christians and
+philosophers. But as he was convinced that the miserable religion of the
+Christians could neither include nor endure a philosophy, he declared
+that the moral doctrines of the Christians were borrowed from the
+philosophers (I. 4). In course of his presentation (V. 65; VI. 12.
+15-19, 42; VII. 27-35) he deduces the most decided marks of
+Christianity, as well as the most important sayings of Jesus from
+(misunderstood) statements of Plato and other Greek philosophers. This
+is not the place to shew the contradictions in which Celsus was involved
+by this. But it is of the greatest significance that even this
+intelligent man could only see philosophy where he saw something
+precious. The whole of Christianity from its very origin appeared to
+Celsus (in one respect) precisely as the Gnostic systems appear to us,
+that is, these really are what Christianity as such seemed to Celsus to
+be. Besides, it was constantly asserted up to the fifth century that
+Christ had drawn from Plato's writings. Against those who made this
+assertion, Ambrosius (according to Augustine, Ep. 31. c. 8) wrote a
+treatise which unfortunately is no longer in existence.]
+
+[Footnote 316: The Simonian system at most might be named, on the basis
+of the syncretistic religion founded by Simon Magus. But we know little
+about it, and that little is uncertain. Parallel attempts are
+demonstrable in the third century on the basis of various "revealed"
+fundamental ideas ([Greek: he ek logion philosophia]).]
+
+[Footnote 317: Among these I reckon those Gnostics whom Irenaeus (I.
+29-31) has portrayed, as well as part of the so-called Ophites, Peratae,
+Sethites and the school of the Gnostic Justin (Hippol. Philosoph. V.
+6-28). There is no reason for regarding them as earlier or more Oriental
+than the Valentinians, as is done by Hilgenfeld against Baur, Moeller,
+and Gruber (the Ophites, 1864). See also Lipsius, "Ophit. Systeme", i.
+d. Ztschr. f. wiss. Theol. 1863. IV, 1864, I. These schools claimed for
+themselves the name Gnostic (Hippol. Philosoph. V. 6). A part of them,
+as is specially apparent from Orig. c. Celsum. VI., is not to be
+reckoned Christian. This motley group is but badly known to us through
+Epiphanius, much better through the original Gnostic writings preserved
+in the Coptic language. (Pistis Sophia and the works published by Carl
+Schmidt Texte u. Unters. Bd. VIII.). Yet these original writings belong,
+for the most part, to the second half of the third century (see also the
+important statements of Porphyry in the Vita Plotini, c. 16), and shew a
+Gnosticism burdened with an abundance of wild speculations, formulae,
+mysteries, and ceremonial. However, from these very monuments it becomes
+plain that Gnosticism anticipated Catholicism as a ritual system (see
+below).]
+
+[Footnote 318: On Marcion, see the following Chapter.]
+
+[Footnote 319: We know that from the earliest period (perhaps we might
+refer even to the Epistle to the Romans) there were circles of ascetics
+in the Christian communities who required of all, as an inviolable law,
+under the name of Christian perfection, complete abstinence from
+marriage, renunciation of possessions, and a vegetarian diet. (Clem.
+Strom. III. 6. 49: [Greek: hupo diabolou tauten paradidosthai
+dogmatizousi, mimeisthai d' autous hoi megalanchoi phasi ton kurion mete
+gemanta, mete ti en toi kosmoi ktesamenon, mallon para allous nenoekenai
+to euangelion kauchomenoi].--Here then, already, imitation of the poor
+life of Jesus, the "Evangelic" life, was the watchword. Tatian wrote a
+book, [Greek: peri tou kata ton sotera katartismou], that is, on
+perfection according to the Redeemer: in which he set forth the
+irreconcilability of the worldly life with the Gospel). No doubt now
+existed in the Churches that abstinence from marriage, from wine and
+flesh, and from possessions, was the perfect fulfilling of the law of
+Christ ([Greek: bastazein holon ton zugon tou kuriou]). But in wide
+circles strict abstinence was deduced from a special charism, all
+boastfulness was forbidden, and the watchword given out: [Greek: hoson
+dunasai hagneuseis], which may be understood as a compromise with the
+worldly life as well as a reminiscence of a freer morality (see my notes
+on Didache, c. 6; 11, 11 and Prolegg. p. 42 ff.). Still, the position
+towards asceticism yielded a hard problem, the solution of which was
+more and more found in distinguishing a higher and a lower though
+sufficient morality, yet repudiating the higher morality as soon as it
+claimed to be the alone authoritative one. On the other hand, there were
+societies of Christian ascetics who persisted in applying literally to
+all Christians the highest demands of Christ, and thus arose, by
+secession, the communities of the Encratites and Severians. But in the
+circumstances of the time even they could not but be touched by the
+Hellenic mode of thought, to the effect of associating a speculative
+theory with asceticism, and thus approximating to Gnosticism. This is
+specially plain in Tatian, who connected himself with the Encratites,
+and in consequence of the severe asceticism which he prescribed, could
+no longer maintain the identity of the supreme God and the creator of
+the world (see the fragments of his later writings in the Corp. Apol. ed
+Otto. T. VI.). As the Pauline Epistles could furnish arguments to either
+side, we see some Gnostics such as Tatian himself, making diligent use
+of them, while others such as the Severians, rejected them. (Euseb. H.
+E. IV. 29. 5, and Orig. c. Cels. V. 65). The Encratite controversy was,
+on the one hand, swallowed up by the Gnostic, and on the other hand,
+replaced by the Montanistic. The treatise written in the days of Marcus
+Aurelius by a certain Musanus (where?) which contains warnings against
+joining the Encratites (Euseb. H. E. IV. 28) we unfortunately no longer
+possess.]
+
+[Footnote 320: See Eusebius, H. E. VI. 12. Docetic elements are apparent
+even in the fragment of the Gospel of Peter recently discovered.]
+
+[Footnote 321: Here, above all, we have to remember Tatian, who in his
+highly praised Apology, had already rejected altogether the eating of
+flesh (c. 23) and set up very peculiar doctrines about the spirit,
+matter, and the nature of man (c. 12 ff.). The fragments of the
+Hypotyposes of Clem. of Alex. show how much one had to bear in some
+rural Churches at the end of the second century.]
+
+[Footnote 322: See Clem. Strom III. 2. 5; [Greek: Epiphanes, huios
+Karpokratous, ezese ta panta ete heptakaideka kai theos en Samei tes
+Kephallenias tetimetai, entha autoi hieron ruton lithon, bomoi, temene,
+mouseion, oikodometai te kai kathierotai, kai suniontes eis to hieron
+hoi Kaphallenes kata noumenian genethlion apotheosin thuousin Epiphanei,
+spendousi te kai euochountai kai humnoi legontai]. Clement's quotations
+from the writings of Epiphanes shew him to be a pure Platonist: the
+proposition that property is theft is found in him. Epiphanes and his
+father, Carpocrates, were the first who attempted to amalgamate Plato's
+State with the Christian ideal of the union of men with each other.
+Christ was to them, therefore, a philosophic Genius like Plato, see
+Irenaeus I. 25. 5: "Gnosticos autem se vocant, etiam imagines, quasdam
+quidem depictas, quasdam autem et de reliqua materia fabricatas
+habent..... et has coronant, et proponent eas cum imaginibus mundi
+philosophorum, videlicet cum imagine Pythagorae et Platonis et
+Aristotelis et reliquorum, et reliquam observationem circa eas similiter
+ut gentes faciunt."]
+
+[Footnote 323: See the "Gnostics" of Hermas, especially the false
+prophet whom he portrays, Mand. XI., Lucian's Peregrinus, and the
+Marcus, of whose doings Irenaeus (I. 13. ff.) gives such an abominable
+picture. To understand how such people were able to obtain a following
+so quickly in the Churches, we must remember the respect in which the
+"prophets" were held (see Didache XI.). If one had once given the
+impression that he had the Spirit, he could win belief for the strangest
+things, and could allow himself all things possible (see the
+delineations of Celsus in Orig. c. Cels. VII. 9. 11). We hear frequently
+of Gnostic prophets and prophetesses, see my notes on Herm. Mand. XI. 1
+and Didache XI. 7. If an early Christian element is here preserved by
+the Gnostic schools, it has undoubtedly been hellenised and secularised
+as the reports shew. But that the prophets altogether were in danger of
+being secularised is shewn in Didache XI. In the case of the Gnostics
+the process is again only hastened.]
+
+[Footnote 324: The name Gnostic originally attached to schools which had
+so named themselves. To these belonged, above all, the so-called
+Ophites, but not the Valentinians or Basilideans.]
+
+[Footnote 325: Special attention should be given to this form, as it
+became in later times of the very greatest importance for the general
+development of doctrine in the Church. The sect of Carpocrates was a
+school. Of Tatian Irenaeus says (I. 28. 1): [Greek: Tatianos Ioustinou
+acroates gegonais ... meta de ten ekeinou marturian apostas tes
+ekklesias, oiemati didaskalon epartheis ... idion charakter didaskaleiou
+sunestesato]. Rhodon (in Euseb. H. E. V. 13. 4) speaks of a Marcionite
+[Greek: didaskaleion]. Other names were, "Collegium" (Tertull. ad Valen
+1), "Secta", the word had not always a bad meaning, [Greek: hairesis,
+ekklesia] (Clem. Strom. VII. 16. 98, on the other hand, VII. 15. 92:
+Tertull. de praescr. 42: plerique nec Ecclesias habent), [Greek: thiasos]
+(Iren. I. 13. 4, for the Marcosians). [Greek: sunagoge, sustema,
+diatribe, hai athropinai suneluseis], factiuncula, congregatio,
+conciliabulum, conventiculum. The mystery-organisation most clearly
+appears in the Naassenes of Hippolytus, the Marcosians of Irenaeus, and
+the Elkasites of Hippolytus, as well as in the Coptic-Gnostic documents
+that have been preserved. (See Koffmane, above work, pp. 6-22).]
+
+[Footnote 326: The particulars here belong to church history. Overbeck
+("Ueber die Anfaenge der patristischen Litteratur" in d. hist. Ztschr. N.
+F. Bd. XII. p. 417 ff.) has the merit of being the first to point out
+the importance, for the history of the Church, of the forms of
+literature as they were gradually received in Christendom. Scientific,
+theological literature has undoubtedly its origin in Gnosticism. The Old
+Testament was here, for the first time, systematically and also in part,
+historically criticised; a selection was here made from the primitive
+Christian literature; scientific commentaries were here written on the
+sacred books (Basilides and especially the Valentinians, see Heracleon's
+comm. on the Gospel of John [in Origen]); the Pauline Epistles were also
+technically expounded; tracts were here composed on dogmatico-philosophic
+problems (for example, [Greek: peri dikaiosunes--peri prosphuous
+psuches--ethika--peri enkrateias he peri eunouchias]), and systematic
+doctrinal systems already constructed (as the Basilidean and
+Valentinian); the original form of the Gospel was here first transmuted
+into the Greek form of sacred novel and biography (see, above all, the
+Gospel of Thomas, which was used by the Marcosians and Naassenes, and
+which contained miraculous stories from the childhood of Jesus); here,
+finally, psalms, odes and hymns were first composed (see the Acts of
+Lucius, the psalms of Valentinus, the psalms of Alexander the disciple
+of Valentinus, the poems of Bardesanes). Irenaeus, Tertullian and
+Hippolytus have indeed noted, that the scientific method of
+interpretation followed by the Gnostics, was the same as that of the
+philosophers (e.g., of Philo). Valentinus, as is recognised even by the
+Church Fathers, stands out prominent for his mental vigour and religious
+imagination, Heracleon for his exegetic theological ability, Ptolemy for
+his ingenious criticism of the Old Testament and his keen perception of
+the stages of religious development (see his Epistle to Flora in
+Epiphanius, haer. 33. c. 7). As a specimen of the language of Valentinus
+one extract from a homily may suffice (in Clem. Strom. IV. 13. 89).
+[Greek: Ap arches athanatoi este kai tekna zoes este aionias, kai ton
+thanaton ethelete merisasthai eis heautous, hina dapanesete auton kai
+analosete, kai apothane ho thanatos en humin kai di' humon, hotan gar
+ton men kosmon luete, autoi de me kataluesthe, kurieuete tes kriseos kai
+tes phthoras apases.] Basilides falls into the background behind
+Valentinus and his school. Yet the Church Fathers, when they wish to
+summarise the most important Gnostics, usually mention Simon Magus,
+Basilides, Valentinus, Marcion (even Apelles). On the relation of the
+Gnostics to the New Testament writings, and to the New Testament, see
+Zahn, Gesch. des N. T-lichen Kanons I. 2, p. 718.]
+
+[Footnote 327: Baur's classification of the Gnostic systems, which rests
+on the observation of how they severally realised the idea of
+Christianity as the absolute religion, in contrast to Judaism and
+Heathenism, is very ingenious, and contains a great element of truth.
+But it is insufficient with reference to the whole phenomenon of
+Gnosticism, and it has been carried out by Baur by violent
+abstractions.]
+
+[Footnote 328: The question, therefore, as to the time of the origin of
+Gnosticism, as a complete phenomenon, cannot be answered. The remarks of
+Hegesippus (Euseb. H. E. IV. 22) refer to the Jerusalem Church, and have
+not even for that the value of a fixed datum. The only important
+question here is the point of time at which the expulsion or secession
+of the schools and unions took place in the different national
+churches.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Justin Apol. 1. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 330: Hegesippus in Euseb. H. E. IV. 22, Iren. II. 14. 1 f.,
+Tertull. de praescr. 7, Hippol. Philosoph. The Church Fathers have also
+noted the likeness of the cultus of Mithras and other deities.]
+
+[Footnote 331: We must leave the Essenes entirely out of account here,
+as their teaching, in all probability, is not to be considered
+syncretistic in the strict sense of the word, (see Lucius, "Der
+Essenismus", 1881), and as we know absolutely nothing of a greater
+diffusion of it. But we need no names here, as a syncretistic, ascetic
+Judaism could and did arise everywhere in Palestine and the Diaspora.]
+
+[Footnote 332: Freudenthal's "Hellenistische Studien" informs us as to
+the Samaritan syncretism; see also Hilgenfeld's "Ketzergeschichte", p.
+149 ff. As to the Babylonian mythology in Gnosticism, see the statements
+in the elaborate article, "Manichaismus", by Kessler (Real-Encycl. fuer
+protest. Theol., 2 Aufl.).]
+
+[Footnote 333: Wherever traditional religions are united under the badge
+of philosophy a conservative syncretism is the result, because the
+allegoric method, that is, the criticism of all religion, veiled and
+unconscious of itself, is able to blast rocks and bridge over abysses.
+All forms may remain here, under certain circumstances, but a new spirit
+enters into them. On the other hand, where philosophy is still weak, and
+the traditional religion is already shaken by another, there arises the
+critical syncretism in which either the gods of one religion are
+subordinated to those of another, or the elements of the traditional
+religion are partly eliminated and replaced by others. Here, also, the
+soil is prepared for new religious formations, for the appearance of
+religious founders.]
+
+[Footnote 334: It was a serious mistake of the critics to regard Simon
+Magus as a fiction, which, moreover, has been given up by Hilgenfeld
+(Ketzergeschichte, p. 163 ff.). and Lipsius (Apocr Apostelgesch 11.
+1),--the latter, however, not decidedly. The whole figure, as well as
+the doctrines attributed to Simon (see Acts of the Apostles, Justin,
+Irenaeus, Hippolytus), not only have nothing improbable in them, but suit
+very well the religious circumstances which we must assume for Samaria.
+The main point in Simon is his endeavour to create a universal religion
+of the supreme God. This explains his success among the Samaritans and
+Greeks. He is really a counterpart to Jesus, whose activity can just as
+little have been unknown to him as that of Paul. At the same time, it
+cannot be denied, that the later tradition about Simon was the most
+confused and biassed imaginable, or that certain Jewish Christians at a
+later period may have attempted to endow the magician with the features
+of Paul in order to discredit the personality and teaching of the
+Apostle. But this last assumption requires a fresh investigation.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Justin, Apol. I. 26: [Greek: kai schedon pantes men
+Samareis, oligoi de kai en allois ethnesin, hos ton proton theon Simona
+homologountes, ekeinon kai proskunousin] (besides the account in the
+Philos and Orig. c. Cels i. 57; VI. 11). The positive statement of
+Justin that Simon came even to Rome (under Claudius) can hardly be
+refuted from the account of the Apologist himself, and therefore not at
+all (See Renan, "Antichrist").]
+
+[Footnote 336: We have it as such in the [Greek: Megale Apophasis] which
+Hippolytus (Philosoph. VI. 19. 20) made use of. This Simonianism may
+perhaps have been related to the original, as the doctrines of the
+Christian Gnostics to the Apostolic preaching.]
+
+[Footnote 337: The Heretics opposed in the Epistle to the Colossians may
+belong to these. On Cerinthus, see Polycarp, in Iren. III. 3. 2, Irenaeus
+(I. 26. I.; III. 11. 1), Hippolytus and the redactions of the Syntagma,
+Cajus in Euseb. III. 28. 2, Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte, p. 411 ff. To
+this category belong also the Ebionites and Elkasites of Epiphanius (See
+Chap. 6).]
+
+[Footnote 338: The two Syrian teachers, Saturninus and Cerdo, must in
+particular be mentioned here. The first (See Iren I. 24. 1. 2, Hippolyt.
+and the redactions of the Syntagma) was not strictly speaking a dualist,
+and therefore allowed the God of the Old Testament to be regarded as an
+Angel of the supreme God, while at the same time he distinguished him
+from Satan. Accordingly, he assumed that the supreme God co-operated in
+the creation of man by angel powers--sending a ray of light, an image of
+light, that should be imitated as an example and enjoined as an ideal.
+But all men have not received the ray of light. Consequently, two
+classes of men stand in abrupt contrast with each other. History is the
+conflict of the two. Satan stands at the head of the one, the God of the
+Jews at the head of the other. The Old Testament is a collection of
+prophecies out of both camps. The truly good first appears in the AEon
+Christ, who assumed nothing cosmic, did not even submit to birth. He
+destroys the works of Satan (generation, eating of flesh), and delivers
+the men who have within them a spark of light The Gnosis of Cerdo was
+much coarser. (Iren. I. 27. 1, Hippolyt. and the redactions). He
+contrasted the good God and the God of the Old Testament as two primary
+beings. The latter he identified with the creator of the world.
+Consequently, he completely rejected the Old Testament and everything
+cosmic and taught that the good God was first revealed in Christ. Like
+Saturninus he preached a strict docetism; Christ had no body, was not
+born, and suffered in an unreal body. All else that the Fathers report
+of Cerdo's teaching has probably been transferred to him from Marcion,
+and is therefore very doubtful.]
+
+[Footnote 339: This question might perhaps be answered if we had the
+Justinian Syntagma against all heresies; but, in the present condition
+of our sources, it remains wrapped in obscurity. What may be gathered
+from the fragments of Hegesippus, the Epistles of Ignatius, the Pastoral
+Epistles and other documents, such as, for example, the Epistle of Jude,
+is in itself so obscure, so detached, and so ambiguous, that it is of no
+value for historical construction.]
+
+[Footnote 340: There are, above all, the schools of the Basilideans,
+Valentinians and Ophites. To describe the systems in their full
+development lies, in my opinion, outside the business of the history of
+dogma and might easily lead to the mistake that the systems as such were
+controverted, and that their construction was peculiar to Christian
+Gnosticism. The construction, as remarked above, is rather that of the
+later Greek philosophy, though it cannot be mistaken that, for us, the
+full parallel to the Gnostic systems first appears in those of the
+Neoplatonists. But only particular doctrines and principles of the
+Gnostics were really called in question, their critique of the world, of
+providence, of the resurrection, etc.; these therefore are to be adduced
+in the next section. The fundamental features of an inner development
+can only be exhibited in the case of the most important, viz., the
+Valentinian school. But even here, we must distinguish an Eastern and a
+Western branch. (Tertull. adv. Valent. I.: "Valentiniani frequentissimum
+plane collegium inter haereticos." Iren. I. 1.; Hippol. Philos. VI. 35;
+Orig. Hom. II. 5 in Ezech. Lomm. XIV. p. 40: "Valentini robustissima
+secta").]
+
+[Footnote 341: Tertull. de praescr. 42: "De verbi autem administratione
+quid dicam, cum hoc sit negotium illis, non ethnicos convertendi, sed
+nostros evertendi? Hanc magis gloriam captant, si stantibus ruinam, non
+si jacentibus elevationem operentur. Quoniam et ipsum opus eorum non de
+suo proprio aedificio venit, sed de veritatis destructione; nostra
+suffodiunt, ut sua aedificent. Adime illis legem Moysis et prophetas et
+creatorem deum, accusationem eloqui non habent." (See adv. Valent. I
+init.). This is hardly a malevolent accusation. The philosophic
+interpretation of a religion will always impress those only on whom the
+religion itself has already made an impression.]
+
+[Footnote 342: Iren. III. 4. 2: [Greek: Kerdon eis ten ekklesian elthon
+kai exomologoumenos, houtos dietelete, pote men lathrodidaskalon pote de
+palin exomologoumenos, pote de eleggomenos eph hois edidaske kakos, kai
+aphistamenos tes ton adelphon sunodias], see, besides, the valuable
+account of Tertull. de praescr. 30. The account of Irenaeus (I. 13) is
+very instructive as to the kind of propaganda of Marcus, and the
+relation of the women he deluded to the Church. Against actually
+recognised false teachers the fixed rule was to renounce all intercourse
+with them (2 Joh. 10. 11, Iren. ep. ad. Florin on Polycarp's procedure,
+in Euseb. H. E. V. 20. 7; Iren. III. 3. 4) But how were the heretics to
+be surely known?]
+
+[Footnote 343: Among those who justly bore this name he distinguishes
+those [Greek: Hoi orthognomenes kata panta christanoi eisin] (Dial.
+80).]
+
+[Footnote 344: Very important is the description which Irenaeus (III. 15.
+2) and Tertullian have given of the conduct of the Valentinians as
+observed by themselves (adv. Valent. 1). "Valentiniani nihil magis
+curant quam occultare, quod praedicant; si tamen praedicant qui occultant.
+Custodiae officium conscientiae officium est (a comparison with the
+Eleusinian mysteries follows.) Si bona fide quaeras, concreto vultu,
+suspenso supercilio, Altum est, aiunt. Si subtiliter temptes per
+ambiguitates bilingues communem fidem adfirmant. Si scire te subostendas
+negant quidquid agnoscunt. Si cominus certes, tuam simplicitatem sua
+caede dispergunt. Ne discipulis quidem propriis ante committunt quam suos
+fecerint. Habent artificium quo prius persuadeant quam edoceant." At a
+later period Dionysius of Alex, (in Euseb. H. E. VII. 7) speaks of
+Christians who maintain an apparent communion with the brethren, but
+resort to one of the false teachers (cf. as to this Euseb. H. E. VI. 2.
+13). The teaching of Bardesanes influenced by Valentinus, who, moreover,
+was hostile to Marcionitism, was tolerated for a long time in Edessa (by
+the Christian kings), nay, was recognised. The Bardesanites and the
+"Palutians" (catholics) were differentiated only after the beginning of
+the third century.]
+
+[Footnote 345: There can be no doubt that the Gnostic propaganda was
+seriously hindered by the inability to organise and discipline churches,
+which is characteristic of all philosophic systems of religion. The
+Gnostic organisation of schools and mysteries was not able to contend
+with the episcopal organisation of the churches; see Ignat. ad Smyr. 6.
+2; Tertull de praescr. 41. Attempts at actual formations of churches were
+not altogether wanting in the earliest period; at a later period they
+were forced on some schools. We have only to read Iren. III. 15. 2 in
+order to see that these associations could only exist by finding support
+in a church. Irenaeus expressly remarks that the Valentinians designated
+the common Christians [Greek: katholikoi] (communes) [Greek: kai
+ekklesiastikoi], but that they, on the other hand, complained that "we
+kept away from their fellowship without cause, as they thought like
+ourselves."]
+
+[Footnote 346: The differences between the Gnostic Christianity and that
+of the Church, that is, the later ecclesiastical theology, were fluid,
+if we observe the following points. (1) That even in the main body of
+the Church, the element of knowledge was increasingly emphasised, and
+the Gospel began to be converted into a perfect knowledge of the world
+(increasing reception of Greek philosophy, development of [Greek:
+pistis] to [Greek: gnosis]). (2) That the dramatic eschatology began to
+fade away. (3) That room was made for docetic views, and value put upon
+a strict asceticism. On the other hand, we must note: (1) That all this
+existed only in germ or fragments within the great Church during the
+flourishing period of Gnosticism. (2) That the great Church held fast to
+the facts fixed in the baptismal formula (in the _Kerygma_), and to the
+eschatological expectations, further, to the creator of the world as the
+supreme God, to the unity of Jesus Christ, and to the Old Testament, and
+therefore rejected dualism. (3) That the great Church defended the unity
+and equality of the human race, and therefore the uniformity and
+universal aim of the Christian salvation. (4) That it rejected every
+introduction of new, especially of Oriental Mythologies, guided in this
+by the early Christian consciousness and a sure intelligence. A deeper,
+more thorough distinction between the Church and the Gnostic parties
+hardly dawned on the consciousness of either. The Church developed
+herself instinctively into an imperial Church, in which office was to
+play the chief role. The Gnostics sought to establish or conserve
+associations in which the genius should rule, the genius in the way of
+the old prophets or in the sense of Plato, or in the sense of a union of
+prophecy and philosophy. In the Gnostic conflict, at least at its close,
+the judicial priest fought with the virtuoso and overcame him.]
+
+[Footnote 347: The absolute significance of the person of Christ was
+very plainly expressed in Gnosticism (Christ is not only the teacher of
+the truth, but the manifestation of the truth), more plainly than where
+he was regarded as the subject of Old Testament revelation. The
+pre-existent Christ has significance in some Gnostic schools, but always
+a comparatively subordinate one. The isolating of the person of Christ,
+and quite as much the explaining away of his humanity, is manifestly out
+of harmony with the earliest tradition. But, on the other hand, it must
+not be denied that the Gnostics recognised redemption in the historical
+Christ: Christ personally procured it (see under 6. h.).]
+
+[Footnote 348: In this thesis, which may be directly corroborated by the
+most important Gnostic teachers, Gnosticism shews that it desires _in
+thesi_ (in a way similar to Philo) to continue on the soil of
+Christianity as a positive religion. Conscious of being bound to
+tradition, it first definitely raised the question, what is
+Christianity? and criticised and sifted the sources for an answer to the
+question. The rejection of the Old Testament led it to that question and
+to this sifting. It may be maintained with the greatest probability,
+that the idea of a canonical collection of Christian writings first
+emerged among the Gnostics (see also Marcion). They really needed such a
+collection, while all those who recognised the Old Testament as a
+document of revelation, and gave it a Christian interpretation, did not
+at first need a new document, but simply joined on the new to the old,
+the Gospel to the Old Testament. From the numerous fragments of Gnostic
+commentaries on New Testament writings which have been preserved, we see
+that these writings there enjoyed canonical authority, while at the same
+period, we hear nothing of such authority, nor of commentaries in the
+main body of Christendom (see Heinrici, "Die Valentinianische Gnosis", u.
+d. h. Schrift, 1871). Undoubtedly, sacred writings were selected
+according to the principle of apostolic origin. This is proved by the
+inclusion of the Pauline Epistles in the collections of books. There is
+evidence of such having been made by the Naassenes, Peratae,
+Valentinians, Marcion, Tatian, and the Gnostic Justin. The collection of
+the Valentinians, and the Canon of Tatian must have really coincided
+with the main parts of the later Ecclesiastical Canon. The later
+Valentinians accommodated themselves to this Canon, that is, recognised
+the books that had been added (Tertull. de praescr. 38). The question as
+to who first conceived and realised the idea of a Canon of Christian
+writings, Basilides or Valentinus or Marcion or whether this was done by
+several at the same time, will always remain obscure, though many things
+favour Marcion. If it should even be proved that Basilides (see Euseb.
+H. E. IV. 7. 7) and Valentinus himself, regarded the Gospels only as
+authoritative yet the full idea of the Canon lies already in the fact of
+their making these the foundation and interpreting them allegorically.
+The question as to the extent of the Canon afterwards became the subject
+of an important controversy between the Gnostics and the Catholic
+Church. The Catholics throughout took up the position that their Canon
+was the earlier, and the Gnostic collection the corrupt revision of it
+(they were unable to adduce proof, as is attested by Tertullian's de
+praescr.) But the aim of the Gnostics to establish themselves on the
+uncorrupted apostolic tradition gathered from writings was crossed by
+three tendencies, which, moreover, were all jointly operative in the
+Christian communities and are therefore not peculiar to Gnosticism. (1)
+By faith in the continuance of prophecy, in which new things are always
+revealed by the Holy Spirit (the Basilidean and Marcionite prophets).
+(2) By the assumption of an esoteric secret tradition of the Apostles
+(see Clem. Strom. VII. 17. 106, 108, Hipp. Philos. VII. 20, Iren. I. 25.
+5, III. 2. 1, Tertull. de praescr. 25. Cf. the Gnostic book [Greek:
+Pistis Sophia], which in great part is based on doctrines said to be
+imparted by Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection). (3) By the
+inability to oppose the continuous production of Evangelic writings in
+other words by the continuance of this kind of literature and the
+addition of Acts of the Apostles (Gospel of the Egyptians (?), other
+Gospels, Acts of John, Thomas, Philip etc. We know absolutely nothing
+about the conditions under which these writings originated the measure
+of authority which they enjoyed or the way in which they gained that
+authority). In all these points which in Gnosticism hindered the
+development of Christianity to the religion of a new book the Gnostic
+schools shew that they stood precisely under the same conditions as the
+Christian communities in general (see above Chap. 3 Sec. 2). If all things
+do not deceive us, the same inner development may be observed even in
+the Valentinian school, as in the great Church viz. the production of
+sacred Evangelic and Apostolic writings, prophecy and secret gnosis,
+falling more and more into the background, and the completed Canon
+becoming the most important basis of the doctrine of religion. The later
+Valentinians (see Tertull. de praescr. and adv. Valent.) seem to have
+appealed chiefly to this Canon, and Tatian no less (about whose Canon
+see my Texte u Unters I. 1. 2. pp. 213-218). But finally we must refer
+to the fact that it was the highest concern of the Gnostics to furnish
+the historical proof of the Apostolic origin of their doctrine by an
+exact reference to the links of the tradition (see Ritschl Entstehung
+der altkath Kirche 2nd ed. p. 338 f.). Here again it appears that
+Gnosticism shared with Christendom the universal presupposition that the
+valuable thing is the Apostolic origin (see above p. 160 f.), but that
+it first created artificial chains of tradition, and that this is the
+first point in which it was followed by the Church (see the appeals to
+the Apostle Matthew, to Peter and Paul, through the mediation of
+"Glaukias," and "Theodas," to James and the favourite disciples of the
+Lord, in the case of the Naassenes, Ophites, Basilideans and
+Valentinians, etc., see, further, the close of the Epistle of Ptolemy to
+Flora in Epiphan H. 33. 7 [Greek: Mathaesae exes kai ten toutou archen
+te ka kennesin, axioumene tes apostolikes paradoseos. he ek diadoches
+kai hemeis pareilephamen meta kairou] [sic] [Greek: kanonisai pantas
+tous logous tei tou soteros didaskalia], as well as the passages adduced
+above under (2)). From this it further follows that the Gnostics may have
+compiled their Canon solely according to the principle of Apostolic
+origin. Upon the whole we may see here how foolish it is to seek to
+dispose of Gnosticism with the phrase lawless fancies. On the contrary,
+the Gnostics purposely took their stand on the tradition, nay they were
+the first in Christendom who determined the range, contents and manner
+of propagating the tradition. They are thus the first Christian
+theologians.]
+
+[Footnote 349: Here also we have a point of unusual historical
+importance. As we first find a new Canon among the Gnostics so also
+among them (and in Marcion) we first meet with the traditional complex
+of the Christian _Kerygma_ as a doctrinal confession (_regula fidei_),
+that is, as a confession which, because it is fundamental, needs a
+speculative exposition, but is set forth by this exposition as the
+summary of all wisdom. The hesitancy about the details of the _Kerygma_,
+only shews the general uncertainty which at that time prevailed. But
+again, we see that the later Valentinians completely accommodated
+themselves to the later development in the Church (Tertull. adv. Valent.
+I: communem fidem adfirmant) that is attached themselves, probably even
+from the first, to the existing forms, while in the Marcionite Church a
+peculiar _regula_ was set up by a criticism of the tradition. The
+_regula_ as a matter of course, was regarded as Apostolic. On Gnostic
+_regulae_ see Iren. I. 21. 5, 31. 3, II. praef. II. 19. 8, III. II. 3,
+III. 16. 1, 5, Ptolem. ap Epiph. h. 33. 7, Tertull. adv Valent. I. 4, de
+praescr. 42, adv Marc. I. 1, IV. 5, 17, Ep. Petri ad Jacob in Clem. Hom.
+c. 1. We still possess in great part verbatim the _regula_ of Apelles,
+in Epiphan II. 44, 2 Irenaeus (I. 7. 2) and Tertull (de carne. 20) state
+that the Valentinian _regula_ contained the formula, '[Greek:
+gennethenta dia Marias]', see on this p. 203. In noting that the two
+points so decisive for Catholicism the Canon of the New Testament and
+the Apostolic _regula_ were first, in the strict sense, set up by the
+Gnostics on the basis of a definite fixing and systematising of the
+oldest tradition we may see that the weakness of Gnosticism here
+consisted in its inability to exhibit the publicity of tradition and to
+place its propagation in close connection with the organisation of the
+churches.]
+
+[Footnote 350: We do not know the relation in which the Valentinians
+placed the public Apostolic _regula fidei_ to the secret doctrine
+derived from one Apostle. The Church in opposition to the Gnostics
+strongly emphasised the publicity of all tradition. Yet afterwards
+though with reservations, she gave a wide scope to the assumption of a
+secret tradition.]
+
+[Footnote 351: The Gnostics transferred to the Evangelic writings, and
+demanded as simply necessary, the methods which Barnabas and others used
+in expounding the Old Testament (see the samples of their exposition in
+Irenaeus and Clement. Heinrici, l. c.). In this way, of course, all the
+specialties of the systems may be found in the documents. The Church at
+first condemned this method (Tertull. de praescr. 17-19. 39; Iren. I. 8.
+9), but applied it herself from the moment in which she had adopted a
+New Testament Canon of equal authority with that of the Old Testament.
+However, the distinction always remained, that in the confrontation of
+the two Testaments with the views of getting proofs from prophecy, the
+history of Jesus described in the Gospels was not at first allegorised.
+Yet afterwards, the Christological dogmas of the third and following
+centuries demanded a docetic explanation of many points in that
+history.]
+
+[Footnote 352: In the Valentinian, as well as in all systems not
+coarsely dualistic, the Redeemer Christ has no doubt a certain share in
+the constitution of the highest class of men, but only through
+complicated mediations. The significance which is attributed to Christ
+in many systems for the production or organisation of the upper world,
+may be mentioned. In the Valentinian system there are several mediators.
+It may be noted that the abstract conception of the divine primitive
+Being seldom called forth a real controversy. As a rule, offence was
+taken only at the expression.]
+
+[Footnote 353: The Epistle of Ptolemy to Flora is very instructive here.
+If we leave out of account the peculiar Gnostic conception, we have
+represented in Ptolemy's criticism the later Catholic view of the Old
+Testament, as well as also the beginning of a historical conception of
+it. The Gnostics were the first critics of the Old Testament in
+Christendom. Their allegorical exposition of the Evangelic writings
+should be taken along with their attempts at interpreting the Old
+Testament literally and historically. It may be noted, for example, that
+the Gnostics were the first to call attention to the significance of the
+change of name for God in the Old Testament; see Iren. II. 35.. 3. The
+early Christian tradition led to a procedure directly the opposite.
+Apelles, in particular, the disciple of Marcion, exercised an
+intelligent criticism on the Old Testament, see my treatise, "de Apellis
+gnosi." p. 71 sq., and also Texte u. Unters VI. 3. p. 111 ff. Marcion
+himself recognised the historical contents of the Old Testament as
+reliable, and the criticism of most Gnostics only called in question its
+religious value.]
+
+[Footnote 354: Ecclesiastical opponents rightly put no value on the
+fact, that some Gnostics advanced to Pan-Satanism with regard to the
+conception of the world, while others beheld a certain _justitia
+civilis_ ruling in the world. For the standpoint which the Christian
+tradition had marked out, this distinction is just as much a matter of
+indifference, as the other, whether the Old Testament proceeded from an
+evil, or from an intermediate being. The Gnostics attempted to correct
+the judgment of faith about the world and its relation to God, by an
+empiric view of the world. Here again they are by no means
+"visionaries", however fantastic the means by which they have expressed
+their judgment about the condition of the world, and attempted to
+explain that condition. Those, rather are "visionaries" who give
+themselves up to the belief that the world is the work of a good and
+omnipotent Deity, however apparently reasonable the arguments they
+adduce. The Gnostic (Hellenistic) philosophy of religion, at this point,
+comes into the sharpest opposition to the central point of the Old
+Testament Christian belief, and all else really depends on this.
+Gnosticism is antichristian so far as it takes away from Christianity
+its Old Testament foundation, and belief in the identity of the creator
+of the world with the supreme God. That was immediately felt and noted
+by its opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 355: The ecclesiastical opposition was long uncertain on this
+point. It is interesting to note that Basilides portrayed the sin
+inherent in the child from birth, in a way that makes one feel as though
+he were listening to Augustine (see the fragment from the 23rd book of
+the [Greek: Exegetika] in Clem., Strom. VI. 12. 83). But it is of great
+importance to note how even very special later terminologies, dogmas,
+etc., of the Church, were in a certain way anticipated by the Gnostics.
+Some samples will be given below; but meanwhile we may here refer to a
+fragment from Apelles' Syllogisms in Ambrosius (de Parad. V. 28): "Si
+hominem non perfectum fecit deus, unusquisque autcm per industriam
+propriam perfectionem sibi virtutis adsciscit: nonne videtur plus sibi
+homo adquirere, quam ei deus contulit?" One seems here to be transferred
+into the fifth century.]
+
+[Footnote 356: The Gnostic teaching did not meet with a vigorous
+resistance even on this point, and could also appeal to the oldest
+tradition. The arbitrariness in the number, derivation and designation
+of the AEons was contested. The aversion to barbarism also co-operated
+here, in so far as Gnosticism delighted in mysterious words borrowed
+from the Semites. But the Semitic element attracted as well as repelled
+the Greeks and Romans of the second century. The Gnostic terminologies
+within the AEon speculations were partly reproduced among the Catholic
+theologians of the third century; most important is it that the Gnostics
+have already made use of the concept "[Greek: homoousios]"; see Iren.,
+I. 5. 1: [Greek: alla to men pneumatikon me dedunesthai auten morphosai,
+epeide homoousion huperchen autei] (said of the Sophia): L. 5. 4,
+[Greek: kai touton einai ton kat' eikona kai homoiosin gegonota; kat'
+eikona men ton hulikon huparchein, paraplesion men, all' ouch homoousion
+toi theoi kath' homoiosin de ton psuchikon.] I. 5. 5: [Greek: to de
+kuema tes metros tes "Achamoth", homoousion huparchon tei metri.] In all
+these cases the word means "of one substance." It is found in the same
+sense in Clem., Hom. 20. 7: See also Philos. VII. 22; Clem., Exc. Theod.
+42. Other terms also which have acquired great significance in the
+Church since the days of Origen, (e.g., [Greek: agennetos]), are found
+among the Gnostics, see Ep. Ptol. ad Floram, 5; and Bigg. (1. c. p. 58,
+note 3) calls attention to the appearance [Greek: trias] in Excerpt. ex.
+Theod. Sec. 80, perhaps the earliest passage.]
+
+[Footnote 357: The characteristic of the Gnostic Christology is not
+Docetism, in the strict sense, but the doctrine of the two natures, that
+is, the distinction between Jesus and Christ, or the doctrine that the
+Redeemer as Redeemer was not a man. The Gnostics based this view on the
+inherent sinfulness of human nature, and it was shared by many teachers
+of the age without being based on any principle (see above, p. 195 f.).
+The most popular of the three Christologies briefly characterised above
+was undoubtedly that of the Valentinians. It is found, with great
+variety of details, in most of the nameless fragments of Gnostic
+literature that have been preserved, as well as in Apelles. This
+Christology might be accommodated to the accounts of the Gospels and the
+baptismal confession (how far is shewn by the _regula_ of Apelles, and
+that of the Valentinians may have run in similar terms). It was taught
+here that Christ had passed through Mary as a channel; from this
+doctrine followed very easily the notion of the Virginity of Mary,
+uninjured even after the birth--it was already known to Clem. Alex.
+(Strom. VII. 16. 93). The Church also, later on, accepted this view. It
+is very difficult to get a clear idea of the Christology of Basilides,
+as very diverse doctrines were afterwards set up in his school as is
+shewn by the accounts. Among them is the doctrine, likewise held by
+others, that Christ in descending from the highest heaven took to
+himself something from every sphere through which he passed. Something
+similar is found among the Valentinians, some of whose prominent leaders
+made a very complicated phenomenon of Christ, and gave him also a direct
+relation to the demiurge. There is further found here the doctrine of
+the heavenly humanity, which was afterwards accepted by ecclesiastical
+theologians. Along with the fragments of Basilides the account of Clem.
+Alex. seems to me the most reliable. According to this, Basilides taught
+that Christ descended on the man Jesus at the baptism. Some of the
+Valentinians taught something similar: the Christology of Ptolemy is
+characterised by the union of all conceivable Christology theories. The
+different early Christian conceptions may be found in him. Basilides did
+not admit a real union between Christ and Jesus; but it is interesting
+to see how the Pauline Epistles caused the theologians to view the
+sufferings of Christ as necessarily based on the assumption of sinful
+flesh, that is, to deduce from the sufferings that Christ has assumed
+sinful flesh. The Basilidean Christology will prove to be a peculiar
+preliminary stage of the later ecclesiastical Christology. The
+anniversary of the baptism of Christ was to the Basilideans, as the day
+of the [Greek: epiphaneia], a high festival day (see Clem., Strom. I.
+21. 146): they fixed it for the 6th (2nd) January. And in this also the
+Catholic Church has followed the Gnosis. The real docetic Christology as
+represented by Saturninus (and Marcion) was radically opposed to the
+tradition, and struck out the birth of Jesus, as well as the first 30
+years of his life. An accurate exposition of the Gnostic Christologies,
+which would carry us too far here, (see especially Tertull., de carne
+Christi), would shew, that a great part of the questions which occupy
+Church theologians till the present day, were already raised by the
+Gnostics; for example, what happened to the body of Christ after the
+resurrection? (see the doctrines of Apelles and Hermogenes); what
+significance the appearance of Christ had for the heavenly and Satanic
+powers? what meaning belongs to his sufferings, although there was no
+real suffering for the heavenly Christ, but only for Jesus? etc. In no
+other point do the anticipations in the Gnostic dogmatic stand out so
+plainly (see the system of Origen; many passages bearing on the subject
+will be found in the third and fourth volumes of this work, to which
+readers are referred). The Catholic Church has learned but little from
+the Gnostics, that is, from the earliest theologians in Christendom, in
+the doctrine of God and the world, but very much in Christology, and who
+can maintain that she has ever completely overcome the Gnostic doctrine
+of the two natures, nay, even Docetism? Redemption viewed in the
+historical person of Jesus, that is, in the appearance of a Divine being
+on the earth, but the person divided and the real history of Jesus
+explained away and made inoperative, is the signature of the Gnostic
+Christology--this, however, is also the danger of the system of Origen
+and those systems that are dependent on him (Docetism) as well as, in
+another way, the danger of the view of Tertullian and the Westerns
+(doctrine of two natures). Finally, it should be noted that the Gnosis
+always made a distinction between the supreme God and Christ, but that,
+from the religious position, it had no reason for emphasising that
+distinction. For to many Gnostics, Christ was in a certain way the
+manifestation of the supreme God himself, and therefore in the more
+popular writings of the Gnostics (see the Acta Johannis) expressions are
+applied to Christ which seem to identify him with God. The same thing is
+true of Marcion and also of Valentinus (see his Epistle in Clem., Strom.
+II. 20. 114: [Greek: eis de estin agathos. ou parousia he dia tou huiou
+phanerosis]). This Gnostic estimate of Christ has undoubtedly had a
+mighty influence on the later Church development of Christology. We
+might say without hesitation that to most Gnostics Christ was a [Greek:
+pneuma homoousion toi patri]. The details of the life, sufferings and
+resurrection of Jesus are found in many Gnostics, transformed,
+complemented and arranged in the way in which Celsus (Orig., c. Cels. I.
+II.) required for an impressive and credible history. Celsus indicates
+how everything must have taken place if Christ had been a God in human
+form. The Gnostics in part actually narrate it so. What an instructive
+coincidence! How strongly the docetic view itself was expressed in the
+case of Valentinus, and how the exaltation of Jesus above the earthly
+was thereby to be traced back to his moral struggle, is shewn in the
+remarkable fragment of a letter (in Clem., Strom. III. 7. 59): [Greek:
+Panta hupomeinas egkrates ten theoteta Iesous eirgazeto. esthien gar kai
+apien idios ouk apodidous ta bromata, tosaute en autoi tes egkrateias
+dunamis, hoste kai me phtharenai ten trophen en autoi epei to
+phtheresthai autos ouk eichen]. In this notion, however, there is more
+sense and historical meaning than in that of the later ecclesiastical
+aphtharto-docetism.]
+
+[Footnote 358: The Gnostic distinction of classes of men was connected
+with the old distinction of stages in spiritual understanding, but has
+its basis in a law of nature. There were again empirical and
+psychological views--they must have been regarded as very important, had
+not the Gnostics taken them from the traditions of the philosophic
+schools--which made the universalism of the Christian preaching of
+salvation, appear unacceptable to the Gnostics. Moreover, the
+transformation of religion into a doctrine of the school, or into a
+mystery cult, always resulted in the distinction of the knowing from the
+_profanum vulgus_. But in the Valentinian assumption that the common
+Christians as psychical occupy an intermediate stage, and that they are
+saved by faith, we have a compromise which completely lowered the Gnosis
+to a scholastic doctrine within Christendom. Whether and in what way the
+Catholic Church maintained the significance of Pistis as contrasted with
+Gnosis, and in what way the distinction between the knowing (priests)
+and the laity was there reached, will be examined in its proper place.
+It should be noted, however, that the Valentinian, Ptolemy, ascribes
+freedom of will to the psychic (which the pneumatic and hylic lack), and
+therefore has sketched by way of by-work a theology for the psychical
+beside that for the pneumatic, which exhibits striking harmonies with
+the exoteric system of Origen. The denial by Gnosticism of free will,
+and therewith of moral responsibility, called forth very decided
+contradiction. Gnosticism, that is, the acute hellenising of
+Christianity, was wrecked in the Church on free will, the Old Testament
+and eschatology.]
+
+[Footnote 359: The greatest deviation of Gnosticism from tradition
+appears in eschatology, along with the rejection of the Old Testament
+and the separation of the creator of the world from the supreme God.
+Upon the whole our sources say very little about the Gnostic
+eschatology. This, however, is not astonishing; for the Gnostics had not
+much to say on the matter, or what they had to say found expression in
+their doctrine of the genesis of the world, and that of redemption
+through Christ. We learn that the _regula_ of Apelles closed with the
+words: [Greek: anepte eis ouranon hothen kai heke], instead of [Greek:
+hothen erchetai krinai zontas kai nekrous]. We know that Marcion, who
+may already be mentioned here, referred the whole eschatological
+expectations of early Christian times to the province of the god of the
+Jews, and we hear that Gnostics (Valentinians) retained the words
+[Greek: sarkos anastasin], but interpreted them to mean that one must
+rise in this life, that is perceive the truth (thus the "resurrectio a
+mortuis", that is, exaltation above the earthly, took the place of the
+"resurrectio mortuorum"; See Iren. II. 31. 2: Tertull., de resurr.
+carnis, 19). While the Christian tradition placed a great drama at the
+close of history, the Gnostics regard the history itself as the drama,
+which virtually closes with the (first) appearing of Christ. It may not
+have been the opinion of all Gnostics that the resurrection has already
+taken place, yet for most of them the expectations of the future seem to
+have been quite faint, and above all without significance. The life is
+so much included in knowledge, that we nowhere in our sources find a
+strong expression of hope in a life beyond (it is different in the
+earliest Gnostic documents preserved in the Coptic language), and the
+introduction of the spirits into the Pleroma appears very vague and
+uncertain. But it is of great significance that those Gnostics who,
+according to their premises, required a real redemption from the world
+as the highest good, remained finally in the same uncertainty and
+religious despondency with regard to this redemption, as characterised
+the Greek philosophers. A religion which is a philosophy of religion
+remains at all times fixed to this life, however strongly it may
+emphasise the contrast between the spirit and its surroundings, and
+however ardently it may desire redemption. The desire for redemption is
+unconsciously replaced by the thinker's joy in his knowledge, which
+allays the desire (Iren. III. 15. 2: "Inflatus est iste [scil. the
+Valentinian proud of knowledge] neque in coelo, neque in terra putat se
+esse, sed intra Pleroma introisse et complexum jam angelum suum, cum
+institorio et supercilio incedit gallinacei elationem habens....
+Plurimi, quasi jam perfecti, semetipsos spiritales vocant, et se nosse
+jam dicunt eum qui sit intra Pleroma ipsorum refrigerii locum"). As in
+every philosophy of religion, an element of free thinking appears very
+plainly here also. The eschatological hopes can only have been
+maintained in vigour by the conviction that the world is of God. But we
+must finally refer to the fact, that even in eschatology, Gnosticism
+only drew the inferences from views which were pressing into Christendom
+from all sides, and were in an increasing measure endangering its hopes
+of the future. Besides, in some Valentinian circles, the future life was
+viewed as a condition of education, as a progress through the series of
+the (seven) heavens; i.e., purgatorial experiences in the future were
+postulated. Both afterwards, from the time of Origen, forced their way
+into the doctrine of the Church (purgatory, different ranks in heaven),
+Clement and Origen being throughout strongly influenced by the
+Valentinian eschatology.]
+
+[Footnote 360: See the passage Clem. Strom. III. 6, 49, which is given
+above, p. 238.]
+
+[Footnote 361: Cf. the Apocryphal Acts of Apostles and diverse legends
+of Apostles (e.g., in Clem. Alex.).]
+
+[Footnote 362: More can hardly be said: the heads of schools were
+themselves earnest men. No doubt statements such as that of Heracleon
+seem to have led to laxity in the lower sections of the collegium:
+[Greek: homologian einai ten men en tei pistei kai politeiai. ten de en
+phonei; he men oun en phonei homologia kai epi ton exousion ginetai, hen
+monen homologian hegountai einai hoi polloi, ouch hugios dunantai de
+tauten ten homologian kai hoi hupokritai homologein.]]
+
+[Footnote 363: See Epiph. h. 26, and the statements in the Coptic
+Gnostic works. (Schmidt, Texte u Unters. VIII. 1. 2, p. 566 ff.).]
+
+[Footnote 364: There arose in this way an extremely difficult
+theoretical problem, but practically a convenient occasion for throwing
+asceticism altogether overboard, with the Gnostic asceticism, or
+restricting it to easy exercises. This is not the place for entering
+into the details. Shibboleths, such as [Greek: pheugete ou tas phuseis
+alla tas gnomas ton kakon], may have soon appeared. It may be noted
+here, that the asceticism which gained the victory in Monasticism, was
+not really that which sprang from early Christian, but from Greek
+impulses, without, of course, being based on the same principle.
+Gnosticism anticipated the future even here. That could be much more
+clearly proved in the history of the worship. A few points which are of
+importance for the history of dogma may be mentioned here: (1) The
+Gnostics viewed the traditional sacred actions (Baptism and the Lord's
+Supper) entirely as mysteries, and applied to them the terminology of
+the mysteries (some Gnostics set them aside as psychic); but in doing so
+they were only drawing the inferences from changes which were then in
+process throughout Christendom. To what extent the later Gnosticism in
+particular was interested in sacraments, may be studied especially in
+the Pistis Sophia and the other Coptic works of the Gnostics, which Carl
+Schmidt has edited; see, for example, Pistis Sophia, p. 233. "Dixit
+Jesus ad suos [Greek: mathetas; amen] dixi vobis, haud adduxi quidquam
+in [Greek: kosmon] veniens nisi hunc ignem et hanc aquam et hoc vinum et
+hunc sanguinem." (2) They increased the holy actions by the addition of
+new ones, repeated baptisms (expiations), anointing with oil, sacrament
+of confirmation [Greek: apolutrosis]; see, on Gnostic sacraments, Iren.
+I. 20, and Lipsius, Apokr. Apostelgesch. I. pp. 336-343, and cf. the
+[Greek: puknos metanosusi] in the delineation of the Shepherd of Hermas.
+Mand. XI. (3) Marcus represented the wine in the Lord's Supper as actual
+blood in consequence of the act of blessing: see Iren., I. 13.2: [Greek:
+poteria oino kekramena prospoioumenos eucharistein kai epi pleon
+ekteinon ton logon tes epikleseos, porphurea kai eruthra anaphainesthai
+poiei, hos dokein ten apo ton huper ta hola charin to haima to heautes
+stazein en ekeino to poterio dia tes epikleseos autou, kai
+huperimeiresthai tous parontas ex ekeinou geusasthai tou pomatos, hina
+kai eis autous epombrese he dia tou magou toutou kleizomene charis.]
+Marcus was indeed a charlatan; but religious charlatanry afterwards
+became very earnest, and was certainly taken earnestly by many adherents
+of Marcus. The transubstantiation idea, in reference to the elements in
+the mysteries, is also plainly expressed in the Excerpt. ex. Theodot. Sec.
+82: [Greek: kai ho artos kai to elaion agiazetai te dunamei tou onomatos
+ou ta auta onta kata to phainomenon dia elephthe, alla du amei eis
+dunamin pneumatiken metabebletai] (that is, not into a new
+super-terrestrial material, not into the real body of Christ, but into a
+spiritual power) [Greek: outos kai to hudor kai to exorkizomenon kai to
+baptisma ginomenon ou monon chorei to cheiron, alla kai agiasmon
+proslambanei]. Irenaeus possessed a liturgical handbook of the
+Marcionites, and communicates many sacramental formula from it (I. c. 13
+sq). In my treatise on the Pistis Sophia (Texte u. Unters. VII. 2. pp.
+59-94) I think I have shewn ("The common Christian and the Catholic
+elements of the Pistis Sophia") to what extent Gnosticism anticipated
+Catholicism as a system of doctrine and an institute of worship. These
+results have been strengthened by Carl Schmidt (Texte u. Unters. VIII.
+1. 2). Even purgatory, prayers for the dead, and many other things,
+raised in speculative questions and definitely answered, are found in
+those Coptic Gnostic writings, and are then met with again in
+Catholicism. One general remark may be permitted in conclusion. The
+Gnostics were not interested in apologetics, and that is a very
+significant fact. The [Greek: pneuma] in man was regarded by them as a
+supernatural principle, and on that account they are free from all
+rationalism and moralistic dogmatism. For that very reason they are in
+earnest with the idea of revelation, and do not attempt to prove it or
+convert its contents into natural truths. They did endeavour to prove
+that their doctrines were Christian, but renounced all proof that
+revelation is the truth (proofs from antiquity). One will not easily
+find in the case of the Gnostics themselves, the revealed truth
+described as philosophy, or morality as the philosophic life. If we
+compare therefore, the first and fundamental system of Catholic
+doctrine, that of Origen, with the system of the Gnostics, we shall find
+that Origen, like Basilides and Valentinus, was a philosopher of
+revelation, but that he had besides a second element which had its
+origin in apologetics.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MARCION'S ATTEMPT TO SET ASIDE THE OLD TESTAMENT FOUNDATION OF
+CHRISTIANITY, TO PURIFY TRADITION AND TO REFORM CHRISTENDOM ON THE BASIS
+OF THE PAULINE GOSPEL
+
+
+Marcion cannot be numbered among the Gnostics in the strict sense of the
+word.[365] For (1) he was not guided by any speculatively scientific, or
+even by an apologetic, but by a soteriological interest.[366] (2) He
+therefore put all emphasis on faith, not on Gnosis.[367] (3) In the
+exposition of his ideas he neither applied the elements of any Semitic
+religious wisdom, nor the methods of the Greek philosophy of
+religion.[368] (4) He never made the distinction between an esoteric and
+an exoteric form of religion. He rather clung to the publicity of the
+preaching, and endeavoured to reform Christendom, in opposition to the
+attempts at founding schools for those who knew and mystery cults for
+such as were in quest of initiation. It was only after the failure of
+his attempts at reform that he founded churches of his own, in which
+brotherly equality, freedom from all ceremonies, and strict evangelical
+discipline were to rule.[369] Completely carried away with the novelty,
+uniqueness and grandeur of the Pauline Gospel of the grace of God in
+Christ, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel, and
+especially its union with the Old Testament religion, was opposed to,
+and a backsliding from the truth.[370] He accordingly supposed that it
+was necessary to make the sharp antitheses of Paul, law and gospel,
+wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and
+righteousness, death and life, that is the Pauline criticism of the Old
+Testament religion, the foundation of his religious views, and to refer
+them to two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old
+Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the
+world, and the God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is
+only love and mercy.[371] This Paulinism in its religious strength, but
+without dialectic, without the Jewish Christian view of history, and
+detached from the soil of the Old Testament, was to him the true
+Christianity. Marcion, like Paul, felt that the religious value of a
+statutory law with commandments and ceremonies, was very different from
+that of a uniform law of love.[372] Accordingly, he had a capacity for
+appreciating the Pauline idea of faith; it is to him reliance on the
+unmerited grace of God which is revealed in Christ. But Marcion shewed
+himself to be a Greek, influenced by the religious spirit of the time,
+by changing the ethical contrast of the good and legal into the contrast
+between the infinitely exalted spiritual and the sensible which is
+subject to the law of nature, by despairing of the triumph of good in
+the world and, consequently, correcting the traditional faith that the
+world and history belong to God, by an empirical view of the world and
+the course of events in it,[373] a view to which he was no doubt also
+led by the severity of the early Christian estimate of the world. Yet to
+him systematic speculation about the final causes of the contrast
+actually observed, was by no means the main thing. So far as he himself
+ventured on such a speculation he seems to have been influenced by the
+Syrian Cerdo. The numerous contradictions which arise as soon as one
+attempts to reduce Marcion's propositions to a system, and the fact that
+his disciples tried all possible conceptions of the doctrine of
+principles, and defined the relation of the two Gods very differently,
+are the clearest proof that Marcion was a religious character, that he
+had in general nothing to do with principles, but with living beings
+whose power he felt, and that what he ultimately saw in the Gospel was
+not an explanation of the world, but redemption from the
+world,[374]--redemption from a world, which even in the best that it can
+offer, has nothing that can reach the height of the blessing bestowed in
+Christ.[375] Special attention may be called to the following
+particulars.
+
+1. Marcion explained the Old Testament in its literal sense and rejected
+every allegorical interpretation. He recognised it as the revelation of
+the creator of the world and the god of the Jews, but placed it, just on
+that account, in sharpest contrast to the Gospel. He demonstrated the
+contradictions between the Old Testament and the Gospel in a voluminous
+work (the [Greek: antitheseis]).[376] In the god of the former book he
+saw a being whose character was stern justice, and therefore anger;
+contentiousness and unmercifulness. The law which rules nature and man
+appeared to him to accord with the characteristics of this god and the
+kind of law revealed by him, and therefore it seemed credible to him
+that this god is the creator and lord of the world ([Greek:
+kosmokrator]). As the law which governs the world is inflexible, and
+yet, on the other hand, full of contradictions, just and again brutal,
+and as the law of the Old Testament exhibits the same features, so the
+god of creation was to Marcion a being who united in himself the whole
+gradations of attributes from justice to malevolence, from obstinacy to
+inconsistency.[377] Into this conception of the creator of the world,
+the characteristic of which is that it cannot be systematised, could
+easily be fitted the Syrian Gnostic theory which regards him as an evil
+being, because he belongs to this world and to matter. Marcion did not
+accept it in principle,[378] but touched it lightly and adopted certain
+inferences.[379] On the basis of the Old Testament and of empirical
+observation, Marcion divided men into two classes, good and evil, though
+he regarded them all, body and soul, as creatures of the demiurge. The
+good are those who strive to fulfil the law of the demiurge. These are
+outwardly better than those who refuse him obedience. But the
+distinction found here is not the decisive one. To yield to the
+promptings of Divine grace is the only decisive distinction, and those
+just men will shew themselves less susceptible to the manifestation of
+the truly good than sinners. As Marcion held the Old Testament to be a
+book worthy of belief, though his disciple, Apelles, thought otherwise,
+he referred all its predictions to a Messiah whom the creator of the
+world is yet to send, and who, as a warlike hero, is to set up the
+earthly kingdom of the "just" God.[380]
+
+2. Marcion placed the good God of love in opposition to the creator of
+the world.[381] This God has only been revealed in Christ. He was
+absolutely unknown before Christ,[382] and men were in every respect
+strange to him.[383] Out of pure goodness and mercy, for these are the
+essential attributes of this God who judges not and is not wrathful, he
+espoused the cause of those beings who were foreign to him, as he could
+not bear to have them any longer tormented by their just and yet
+malevolent lord.[384] The God of love appeared in Christ and proclaimed
+a new kingdom (Tertull., adv. Marc. III. 24. fin.). Christ called to
+himself the weary and heavy laden,[385] and proclaimed to them that he
+would deliver them from the fetters of their lord and from the world. He
+shewed mercy to all while he sojourned on the earth, and did in every
+respect the opposite of what the creator of the world had done to men.
+They who believed in the creator of the world nailed him to the cross.
+But in doing so they were unconsciously serving his purpose, for his
+death was the price by which the God of love purchased men from the
+creator of the world.[386] He who places his hope in the Crucified can
+now be sure of escaping from the power of the creator of the world, and
+of being translated into the kingdom of the good God. But experience
+shews that, like the Jews, men who are virtuous according to the law of
+the creator of the world, do not allow themselves to be converted by
+Christ; it is rather sinners who accept his message of redemption.
+Christ, therefore, rescued from the under-world, not the righteous men
+of the Old Testament (Iren. I. 27. 3), but the sinners who were
+disobedient to the creator of the world. If the determining thought of
+Marcion's view of Christianity is here again very clearly shewn, the
+Gnostic woof cannot fail to be seen in the proposition that the good God
+delivers only the souls, not the bodies of believers. The antithesis of
+spirit and matter, appears here as the decisive one, and the good God of
+love becomes the God of the spirit, the Old Testament god the god of the
+flesh. In point of fact, Marcion seems to have given such a turn to the
+good God's attributes of love, and incapability of wrath, as to make Him
+the apathetic, infinitely exalted Being, free from all affections. The
+contradiction in which Marcion is here involved is evident, because he
+taught expressly that the spirit of man is in itself just as foreign to
+the good God as his body. But the strict asceticism which Marcion
+demanded as a Christian, could have had no motive, without the Greek
+assumption of a metaphysical contrast of flesh and Spirit, which in fact
+was also apparently the doctrine of Paul.
+
+3. The relation in which Marcion placed the two Gods, appears at first
+sight to be one of equal rank.[387] Marcion himself, according to the
+most reliable witnesses, expressly asserted that both were uncreated,
+eternal, etc. But if we look more closely we shall see that in Marcion's
+mind there can be no thought of equality. Not only did he himself
+expressly declare that the creator of the world is a self-contradictory
+being of limited knowledge and power, but the whole doctrine of
+redemption shews that he is a power subordinate to the good God. We need
+not stop to enquire about the details, but it is certain that the
+creator of the world formerly knew nothing of the existence of the good
+God, that he is in the end completely powerless against him, that he is
+overcome by him, and that history in its issue with regard to man, is
+determined solely by its relation to the good God. The just god appears
+at the end of history, not as an independent being, hostile to the good
+God, but as one subordinate to him,[388] so that some scholars, such as
+Neander, have attempted to claim for Marcion a doctrine of one
+principle, and to deny that he ever held the complete independence of
+the creator of the world, the creator of the world being simply an angel
+of the good God. This inference may certainly be drawn with little
+trouble, as the result of various considerations, but it is forbidden by
+reliable testimony. The characteristic of Marcion's teaching is just
+this, that as soon as we seek to raise his ideas from the sphere of
+practical considerations to that of a consistent theory, we come upon a
+tangled knot of contradictions. The theoretic contradictions are
+explained by the different interests which here cross each other in
+Marcion. In the first place, he was consciously dependent on the Pauline
+theology, and was resolved to defend everything which he held to be
+Pauline. Secondly, he was influenced by the contrast in which he saw the
+ethical powers involved. This contrast seemed to demand a metaphysical
+basis, and its actual solution seemed to forbid such a foundation.
+Finally, the theories of Gnosticism, the paradoxes of Paul, the
+recognition of the duty of strictly mortifying the flesh, suggested to
+Marcion the idea that the good God was the exalted God of the spirit,
+and the just god the god of the sensuous, of the flesh. This view, which
+involved the principle of a metaphysical dualism, had something very
+specious about it, and to its influence we must probably ascribe the
+fact that Marcion no longer attempted to derive the creator of the world
+from the good God. His disciples who had theoretical interests in the
+matter, no doubt noted the contradictions. In order to remove them, some
+of these disciples advanced to a doctrine of three principles, the good
+God, the just creator of the world, the evil god, by conceiving the
+creator of the world sometimes as an independent being, sometimes as one
+dependent on the good God. Others reverted to the common dualism, God of
+the spirit and god of matter. But Apelles, the most important of
+Marcion's disciples, returned to the creed of the one God ([Greek: mia
+arche]), and conceived the creator of the world and Satan as his angels,
+without departing from the fundamental thought of the master, but rather
+following suggestions which he himself had given.[389] Apart from
+Apelles, who founded a Church of his own, we hear nothing of the
+controversies of disciples breaking up the Marcionite church. All those
+who lived in the faith for which the master had worked--viz., that the
+laws ruling in nature and history, as well as the course of common
+legality and righteousness, are the antitheses of the act of Divine
+mercy in Christ, and that cordial love and believing confidence have
+their proper contrasts in self-righteous pride and the natural religion
+of the heart,--those who rejected the Old Testament and clung solely to
+the Gospel proclaimed by Paul, and finally, those who considered that a
+strict mortification of the flesh and an earnest renunciation of the
+world were demanded in the name of the Gospel, felt themselves members
+of the same community, and to all appearance allowed perfect liberty to
+speculations about final causes.
+
+4. Marcion had no interest in specially emphasising the distinction
+between the good God and Christ, which according to the Pauline
+Epistles, could not be denied. To him Christ is the manifestation of the
+good God himself.[390] But Marcion taught that Christ assumed absolutely
+nothing from the creation of the Demiurge, but came down from heaven in
+the 15th year of the Emperor Tiberius, and after the assumption of an
+apparent body, began his preaching in the synagogue of Capernaum.[391]
+This pronounced docetism which denies that Jesus was born, or subjected
+to any human process of development,[392] is the strongest expression of
+Marcion's abhorrence of the world. This aversion may have sprung from
+the severe attitude of the early Christians toward the world, but the
+inference which Marcion here draws, shews, that this feeling was, in his
+case, united with the Greek estimate of spirit and matter. But Marcion's
+docetism is all the more remarkable that, under Paul's guidance, he put
+a high value on the fact of Christ's death upon the cross. Here also is
+a glaring contradiction which his later disciples laboured to remove.
+This much, however, is unmistakable, that Marcion succeeded in placing
+the greatness and uniqueness of redemption through Christ in the
+clearest light and in beholding this redemption in the person of Christ,
+but chiefly in his death upon the cross.
+
+5. Marcion's eschatology is also quite rudimentary. Yet be assumed with
+Paul that violent attacks were yet in store for the Church of the good
+God on the part of the Jewish Christ of the future, the Antichrist. He
+does not seem to have taught a visible return of Christ, but, in spite
+of the omnipotence and goodness of God, he did teach a twofold issue of
+history. The idea of a deliverance of all men, which seems to follow
+from his doctrine of boundless grace, was quite foreign to him. For this
+very reason, he could not help actually making the good God the judge,
+though in theory he rejected the idea, in order not to measure the will
+and acts of God by a human standard. Along with the fundamental
+proposition of Marcion, that God should be conceived only as goodness
+and grace, we must take into account the strict asceticism which he
+prescribed for the Christian communities, in order to see that that idea
+of God was not obtained from antinomianism. We know of no Christian
+community in the second century which insisted so strictly on
+renunciation of the world as the Marcionites. No union of the sexes was
+permitted. Those who were married had to separate ere they could be
+received by baptism into the community. The sternest precepts were laid
+down in the matter of food and drink. Martyrdom was enjoined; and from
+the fact that they were [Greek: talaiporoi kai misoumenoi] in the world,
+the members were to know that they were disciples of Christ.[393] With
+all that, the early Christian enthusiasm was wanting.
+
+6. Marcion defined his position in theory and practice towards the
+prevailing form of Christianity, which, on the one hand, shewed
+throughout its connection with the Old Testament, and, on the other,
+left room for a secular ethical code, by assuming that it had been
+corrupted by Judaism, and therefore needed a reformation.[394] But he
+could not fail to note that this corruption was not of recent date, but
+belonged to the oldest tradition itself. The consciousness of this moved
+him to a historical criticism of the whole Christian tradition.[395]
+Marcion was the first Christian who undertook such a task. Those
+writings to which he owed his religious convictions, viz., the Pauline
+Epistles, furnished the basis for it. He found nothing in the rest of
+Christian literature that harmonised with the Gospel of Paul. But he
+found in the Pauline Epistles hints which explained to him this result
+of his observations. The twelve Apostles whom Christ chose did not
+understand him, but regarded him as the Messiah of the god of
+creation.[396] And therefore Christ inspired Paul by a special
+revelation, lest the Gospel of the grace of God should be lost through
+falsifications.[397] But even Paul had been understood only by few (by
+none?). His Gospel had also been misunderstood, nay, his Epistles had
+been falsified in many passages,[398] in order to make them teach the
+identity of the god of creation and the God of redemption. A new
+reformation was therefore necessary. Marcion felt himself entrusted with
+this commission, and the church which he gathered recognised this
+vocation of his to be the reformer.[399] He did not appeal to a new
+revelation such as he presupposed for Paul. As the Pauline Epistles and
+an authentic [Greek: euangelion kuriou] were in existence, it was only
+necessary to purify these from interpolations, and restore the genuine
+Paulinism which was just the Gospel itself. But it was also necessary to
+secure and preserve this true Christianity for the future. Marcion, in
+all probability, was the first to conceive and, in great measure, to
+realise the idea of placing Christendom on the firm foundation of a
+definite theory of what is Christian--but not of basing it on a
+theological doctrine--and of establishing this theory by a fixed
+collection of Christian writings with canonical authority.[400] He was
+not a systematic thinker; but he was more, for he was not only a
+religious character, but at the same time a man with an organising
+talent, such as has no peer in the early Church. If we think of the
+lofty demands he made on Christians, and, on the other hand, ponder the
+results that accompanied his activity, we cannot fail to wonder.
+Wherever Christians were numerous about the year 160, there must have
+been Marcionite communities with the same fixed but free organisation,
+with the same canon and the same conception of the essence of
+Christianity, pre-eminent for the strictness of their morals and their
+joy in martyrdom.[401] The Catholic Church was then only in process of
+growth, and it was long ere it reached the solidity won by the
+Marcionite church through the activity of one man, who was animated by a
+faith so strong that he was able to oppose his conception of
+Christianity to all others as the only right one, and who did not shrink
+from making selections from tradition instead of explaining it away. He
+was the first who laid the firm foundation for establishing what is
+Christian, because, in view of the absoluteness of his faith,[402] he
+had no desire to appeal either to a secret evangelic tradition, or to
+prophecy, or to natural religion.
+
+_Remarks._--The innovations of Marcion are unmistakable. The way in
+which he attempted to sever Christianity from the Old Testament was a
+bold stroke which demanded the sacrifice of the dearest possession of
+Christianity as a religion, viz., the belief that the God of creation is
+also the God of redemption. And yet this innovation was partly caused by
+a religious conviction, the origin of which must be sought not in
+heathenism, but on Old Testament and Christian soil. For the bold
+Anti-judaist was the disciple of a Jewish thinker, Paul, and the origin
+of Marcion's antinomianism may be ultimately found in the prophets. It
+will always be the glory of Marcion in the early history of the Church
+that he, the born heathen, could appreciate the religious criticism of
+the Old Testament religion as formerly exercised by Paul. The
+antinomianism of Marcion was ultimately based on the strength of his
+religious feeling, on his personal religion as contrasted with all
+statutory religion. That was also its basis in the case of the prophets
+and of Paul, only the statutory religion which was felt to be a burden
+and a fetter was different in each case. As regards the prophets, it was
+the outer sacrificial worship, and the deliverance was the idea of
+Jehovah's righteousness. In the case of Paul, it was the pharisaic
+treatment of the law, and the deliverance was righteousness by faith. To
+Marcion it was the sum of all that the past had described as a
+revelation of God: only what Christ had given him was of real value to
+him. In this conviction he founded a Church. Before him there was no
+such thing in the sense of a community, firmly united by a fixed
+conviction, harmoniously organised, and spread over the whole world.
+Such a Church the Apostle Paul had in his mind's eye, but he was not
+able to realise it. That in the century of the great mixture of religion
+the greatest apparent paradox was actually realised: namely, a Paulinism
+with two Gods and without the Old Testament; and that this form of
+Christianity first resulted in a church which was based not only on
+intelligible words, but on a definite conception of the essence of
+Christianity as a religion, seems to be the greatest riddle which the
+earliest history of Christianity presents. But it only seems so. The
+Greek, whose mind was filled with certain fundamental features of the
+Pauline Gospel (law and grace), who was therefore convinced that in all
+respects the truth was there, and who on that account took pains to
+comprehend the real sense of Paul's statements, could hardly reach any
+other results than those of Marcion. The history of Pauline theology in
+the Church, a history first of silence, then of artificial
+interpretation, speaks loudly enough. And had not Paul really separated
+Christianity as religion from Judaism and the Old Testament? Must it not
+have seemed an inconceivable inconsistency, if he had clung to the
+special national relation of Christianity to the Jewish people, and if
+he had taught a view of history in which for paedagogic reasons indeed,
+the Father of mercies and God of all comfort had appeared as one so
+entirely different? He who was not capable of translating himself into
+the consciousness of a Jew, and had not yet learned the method of
+special interpretation, had only the alternative, if he was convinced of
+the truth of the Gospel of Christ as Paul had proclaimed it, of either
+giving up this Gospel against the dictates of his conscience, or
+striking out of the Epistles whatever seemed Jewish. But in this case
+the god of creation also disappeared, and the fact that Marcion could
+make this sacrifice proves that this religious spirit, with all his
+energy, was not able to rise to the height of the religious faith which
+we find in the preaching of Jesus.
+
+In basing his own position and that of his church on Paulism, as he
+conceived and remodelled it, Marcion connected himself with that part of
+the earliest tradition of Christianity which is best known to us, and
+has enabled us to understand his undertaking historically as we do no
+other. Here we have the means of accurately indicating what part of this
+structure of the second century has come down from the Apostolic age and
+is really based on tradition, and what does not. Where else could we do
+that? But Marcion has taught us far more. He does not impart a correct
+understanding of early Christianity, as was once supposed, for his
+explanation of that is undoubtedly incorrect, but a correct estimate of
+the reliability of the traditions that were current in his day alongside
+of the Pauline. There can be no doubt that Marcion criticised tradition
+from a dogmatic stand-point. But would his undertaking have been at all
+possible, if at that time a reliable tradition of the twelve Apostles
+and their teaching had existed and been operative in wide circles? We
+may venture to say no. Consequently, Marcion gives important testimony
+against the historical reliability of the notion that the common
+Christianity was really based on the tradition of the twelve Apostles.
+It is not surprising that the first man who clearly put and answered the
+question, "What is Christian?" adhered exclusively to the Pauline
+Epistles, and therefore found a very imperfect solution. When more than
+1600 years later the same question emerged for the first time in
+scientific form, its solution had likewise to be first attempted from
+the Pauline Epistles, and therefore led at the outset to a one-sidedness
+similar to that of Marcion. The situation of Christendom in the middle
+of the second century was not really more favourable to a historical
+knowledge of early Christianity, than that of the 18th century, but in
+many respects more unfavourable. Even at that time, as attested by the
+enterprise of Marcion, its results, and the character of the polemic
+against him, there were besides the Pauline Epistles, no reliable
+documents from which the teaching of the twelve Apostles could have been
+gathered. The position which the Pauline Epistles occupy in the history
+of the world is, however, described by the fact that every tendency in
+the Church which was unwilling to introduce into Christianity the power
+of Greek mysticism, and was yet no longer influenced by the early
+Christian eschatology, learned from the Pauline Epistles a Christianity
+which, as a religion, was peculiarly vigorous. But that position is
+further described by the fact that every tendency which courageously
+disregards spurious traditions, is compelled to turn to the Pauline
+Epistles, which, on the one hand, present such a profound type of
+Christianity, and on the other, darken and narrow the judgment about the
+preaching of Christ himself, by their complicated theology. Marcion was
+the first, and for a long time the only Gentile Christian who took his
+stand on Paul. He was no moralist, no Greek mystic, no Apocalyptic
+enthusiast, but a religious character, nay, one of the few pronouncedly
+typical religious characters whom we know in the early Church before
+Augustine. But his attempt to resuscitate Paulinism is the first great
+proof that the conditions under which this Christianity originated do
+not repeat themselves, and that therefore Paulinism itself must receive
+a new construction if one desires to make it the basis of a Church. His
+attempt is a further proof of the unique value of the Old Testament to
+early Christendom, as the only means at that time of defending Christian
+monotheism. Finally, his attempt confirms the experience that a
+religious community can only be founded by a religious spirit who
+expects nothing from the world.
+
+Nearly all ecclesiastical writers, from Justin to Origen, opposed
+Marcion. He appeared already to Justin as the most wicked enemy. We can
+understand this, and we can quite as well understand how the Church
+Fathers put him on a level with Basilides and Valentinus, and could not
+see the difference between them. Because Marcion elevated a better God
+above the god of creation, and consequently robbed the Christian God of
+his honour, he appeared to be worse than a heathen (Sentent. episc.
+LXXXVII., in Hartel's edition of Cyprian, I. p. 454; "Gentiles quamvis
+idola colant, tamen summum deum patrem creatorem cognoscunt et
+confitentur [!]; in hunc Marcion blasphemat, etc."), as a blaspheming
+emissary of demons, as the first-born of Satan (Polyc., Justin,
+Irenaeus). Because he rejected the allegoric interpretation of the Old
+Testament, and explained its predictions as referring to a Messiah of
+the Jews who was yet to come, he seemed to be a Jew (Tertull., adv.
+Marc. III.). Because he deprived Christianity of the apologetic proof
+(the proof from antiquity) he seemed to be a heathen and a Jew at the
+same time (see my Texte u. Unters. I. 3, p. 68; the antitheses of
+Marcion became very important for the heathen and Manichaean assaults on
+Christianity). Because he represented the twelve Apostles as unreliable
+witnesses, he appeared to be the most wicked and shameless of all
+heretics. Finally, because he gained so many adherents, and actually
+founded a church, he appeared to be the ravening wolf (Justin, Rhodon),
+and his church as the spurious church. (Tertull., adv. Marc. IV. 5). In
+Marcion the Church Fathers chiefly attacked what they attacked in all
+Gnostic heretics, but here error shewed itself in its worst form. They
+learned much in opposing Marcion (see Bk. II.). For instance, their
+interpretation of the _regula fidei_ and of the New Testament received a
+directly Antimarcionite expression in the Church. One thing, however,
+they could not learn from him, and that was how to make Christianity
+into a philosophic system. He formed no such system, but he has given a
+clearly outlined conception, based on historic documents, of
+Christianity as the religion which redeems the world.
+
+_Literature._--All anti-heretical writings of the early Church, but
+especially Justin, Apol. I. 26, 58; Iren. I. 27; Tertull., adv. Marc.
+I-V.; de praescr.; Hippol., Philos.; Adamant., de recta in deum fidei;
+Epiph. h. 42; Ephr. Syr.; Esnik. The older attempts to restore the
+Marcionite Gospel and Apostolicum have been antiquated by Zahn's
+Kanonsgeschichte, l. c. Hahn (Regimonti, 1823) has attempted to restore
+the Antitheses. We are still in want of a German monograph on Marcion
+(see the whole presentation of Gnosticism by Zahn, with his Excursus, l.
+c.). Hilgenfeld, Ketzergesch. p. 316 f. 522 f.; cf. my works, Zur
+Quellenkritik des Gnosticismus, 1873; de Apelles Gnosis Monarchia, 1874;
+Beitraege z. Gesch. der Marcionitischen Kirchen (Ztschr. f. wiss. Theol.
+1876). Marcion's Commentar zum Evangelium (Ztschr. f. K. G. Bd. IV. 4).
+Apelles Syllogismen in the Texte u. Unters. VI. H. 3. Zahn, die Dialoge
+des Adamantius in the Ztschr. f. K.-Gesch. IX. p. 193 ff. Meyboom,
+Marcion en de Marcionieten, Leiden, 1888.
+
+
+[Footnote 365: He belonged to Pontus and was a rich shipowner: about 139
+he came to Rome already a Christian, and for a short time belonged to
+the church there. As he could not succeed in his attempt to reform it,
+he broke away from it about 144. He founded a church of his own and
+developed a very great activity. He spread his views by numerous
+journeys and communities bearing his name very soon arose in every
+province of the Empire (Adamantius, de recta in deum fide, Origen Opp.
+ed Delarue 1. p. 809, Epiph. h. 42. p. 668, ed. Oehler). They were
+ecclesiastically organised (Tertull., de praescr. 41. and adv. Marc. IV.
+5) and possessed bishops, presbyters, etc. (Euseb. H. E. IV. 15. 46: de
+Mart. Palaest. X. 2; Les Bas and Waddington Inscript, Grecq. et Latines
+rec. en Grece et en Asie Min. Vol. III. No. 2558). Justin (Apol. 1. 26)
+about 150 tells us that Marcion's preaching had spread [Greek: kata pan
+genos anthropon] and by the year 155, the Marcionites were already
+numerous in Rome (Iren. III. 34). Up to his death however Marcion did
+not give up the purpose of winning the whole of Christendom and
+therefore again and again sought connection with it (Iren. I. c.;
+Tertull., de praescr. 30), likewise his disciples (see the conversation
+of Apelles with Rhodon in Euseb. H. E. V. 13. 5. and the dialogue of the
+Marcionites with Adamantius). It is very probable that Marcion had fixed
+the ground features of his doctrine and had laboured for its propagation
+even before he came to Rome. In Rome the Syrian Gnostic Cerdo had a
+great influence on him, so that we can even yet perceive, and clearly
+distinguish the Gnostic element in the form of the Marcionite doctrine
+transmitted to us.]
+
+[Footnote 366: "Sufficit," said the Marcionites, "unicum opsus deo
+nostro quod hominem liberavit summa et praecipua bonitate sua" (Tertull.
+adv. Marc. I. 17).]
+
+[Footnote 367: Apelles, the disciple of Marcion, declared (Euseb. H. E.
+V. 13. 5) [Greek: sothesesthai tous epi ton estauromenon elpikotas,
+monon ean en ergois agathois euriskontai.]]
+
+[Footnote 368: This is an extremely important point. Marcion rejected
+all allegories (See Tertull. adv. Marc. II. 19. 21, 22, III. 5. 6, 14,
+19, IV. 15. 20, V. 1, Orig. Comment. in Matth. T. XV. 3, Opp. III. p.
+655, in ep. ad. Rom. Opp. IV. p. 494 sq., Adamant. Sect. I., Orig. Opp.
+I. pp. 808, 817, Ephr. Syrus. hymn. 36., Edit. Benedict p. 520 sq.) and
+describes this method as an arbitrary one. But that simply means that he
+perceived and avoided the transformation of the Gospel into Hellenic
+philosophy. No philosophic formulae are found in any of his statements
+that have been handed down to us. But what is still more important, none
+of his early opponents have attributed to Marcion a system as they did
+to Basilides and Valentinus. There can be no doubt that Marcion did not
+set up any system (the Armenian Esnik first gives a Marcionite system
+but that is a late production, see my essay in the Ztschr. f. wiss.
+Theol. 1896, p. 80 f.). He was just as far from having any apologetic or
+rationalistic interest; Justin (Apol. I. 58) says of the Marcionites
+[Greek: apodeixin medemian peri hon legousin echousin alla alogos hos
+hupo lukou arnes sunerpasmenoi k.t.l.]. Tertullian again and again casts
+in the teeth of Marcion that he has adduced no proof. See I. 11 sq.,
+III. 2. 3, 4, IV. 11: "Subito Christus subito et Johannes Sic sunt omnia
+apud Marcionem quae suum et plenum habent ordinem apud creatorem." Rhodon
+(Euseb. H. E. V. 13. 4) says of two prominent genuine disciples of
+Marcion [Greek: me euriskontes ten diairesin ton pragmaton hos oude
+ekeinos duo archas apephenanto psilos ka anapodeiktos]. Of Apelles the
+most important of Marcion's disciples, who laid aside the Gnostic
+borrows of his master, we have the words (1. c) [Greek: me dein holos
+exetazein ton logon all' hekaston hos pepisteuke diamenein Sothesesthai
+var tous eti ton estaromenon elpikotas apephaineto monon ean en ergois
+agathois heuriskontai. to de pos esti mia arche me ginoskein elegen
+houto de kineisthai monon. me epistasthai pos eis estin agennetos theos
+touto de pisteuein]. It was Marcion's purpose therefore to give all
+value to faith alone to make it dependent on its own convincing power
+and avoid all philosophic paraphrase and argument. The contrast in which
+he placed the Christian blessing of salvation has in principle nothing
+in common with the contract in which Greek philosophy viewed the _summum
+bonum_. Finally it may be pointed out that Marcion introduced no new
+elements (AEons, Matter, etc.) into his evangelic views and leant on no
+Oriental religious science. The later Marcionite speculations about
+matter (see the account of Esnik) should not be charged upon the master
+himself as is manifest from the second book of Tertullian against
+Marcion. The assumption that the creator of the world created it out of
+a _materia subjacens_ is certainly found in Marcion (see Tertull. 1. 15,
+Hippol. Philos. X. 19) but he speculated no further about it and that
+assumption itself was not rejected, for example, by Clem. Alex. (Strom.
+II. 16. 74, Photius on Clement's Hypotyposes). Marcion did not really
+speculate even about the good God, yet see Tertull. adv. Marc. I. 14.
+15, IV. 7: "Mundus ille superior--coelum tertium."]
+
+[Footnote 369: Tertull., de praescr. 41. sq.; the delineation refers
+chiefly to the Marcionites (see Epiph. h. 42. c. 3. 4, and Esnik's
+account), on the Church system of Marcion, see also Tertull., adv. Marc.
+I. 14, 21, 23, 24, 28, 29: III. 1, 22: IV. 5, 34: V. 7, 10, 15, 18.]
+
+[Footnote 370: Marcion himself originally belonged to the main body of
+the Church, as is expressly declared by Tertullian and Epiphanius, and
+attested by one of his own letters.]
+
+[Footnote 371: Tertull., adv. Marc. I. 2, 19: "Separatio legis et
+evangelii proprium et principale opus est Marcionis ... ex diversitate
+sententiarum utriusque instrumenti diversitatem quoque argumentatur
+deorum." II. 28, 29: IV. 1. I. 6: "dispares deos, alterum, judicem,
+ferum, bellipotentem; alterum mitem, placidum et tantummodo bonum atque
+optimum." Iren. I. 27. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 372: Marcion maintained that the good God is not to be feared.
+Tertull., adv. Marc. I. 27: "Atque adeo prae se ferunt Marcionitae quod
+deum suum omnino non timeant. Malus autem, inquiunt, timebitur; bonus
+autem diligitur." To the question why they did not sin if they did not
+fear their God, the Marcionites answered in the words of Rom. VI. 1. 2.
+(l. c).]
+
+[Footnote 373: Tertull., adv. Marc. I. 2; II. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 374: See the passage adduced, p. 266, note 2, and Tertull, I.
+19: "Immo inquiunt Marcionitae, deus noster, etsi non ab initio, etsi non
+per conditionem, sed per semetipsum revelatus est in Christi Jesu." The
+very fact that different theological tendencies (schools) appeared
+within Marcionite Christianity and were mutually tolerant, proves that
+the Marcionite Church itself was not based on a formulated system of
+faith. Apelles expressly conceded different forms of doctrine in
+Christendom, on the basis of faith in the Crucified and a common holy
+ideal of life (see p. 267).]
+
+[Footnote 375: Tertull., I, 13. "Narem contrahentes impudentissimi
+Marcionitae convertuntur ad destructionem operum creatoris. Nimirum,
+inquiunt, grande opus et dignum deo mundus?" The Marcionites (Iren., IV.
+34. 1) put the question to their ecclesiastical opponents, "Quid novi
+attulit dominus veniens?" and therewith caused them no small
+embarrassment.]
+
+[Footnote 376: On these see Tertull. I. 19; II. 28. 29; IV. 1, 4, 6;
+Epiph. Hippol., Philos. VII. 30; the book was used by other Gnostics
+also (it is very probable that 1 Tim. VI. 20, an addition to the
+Epistle--refers to Marcion's Antitheses). Apelles, Marcion's disciple,
+composed a similar work under the title of "Syllogismi." Marcion's
+Antitheses, which may still in part be reconstructed from Tertullian,
+Epiphanius, Adamantius, Ephraem, etc., possessed canonical authority in
+the Marcionite church, and therefore took the place of the Old
+Testament. That is quite clear from Tertull., I. 19 (cf. IV. 1):
+Separatio legis et Evangelii proprium et principale opus est Marcionis,
+nee poterunt negare discipuli ejus, quod in summo (suo) instrumento
+habent, quo denique initiantur et indurantur in hanc haeresim.]
+
+[Footnote 377: Tertullian has frequently pointed to the contradictions
+in the Marcionite conception of the god of creation. These
+contradictions, however, vanish as soon as we regard Marcion's god from
+the point of view that he is like his revelation in the Old Testament.]
+
+[Footnote 378: The creator of the world is indeed to Marcion "malignus",
+but not "malus."]
+
+[Footnote 379: Marcion touched on it when he taught that the "visibilia"
+belonged to the god of creation, but the "invisibilia" to the good God
+(I. 16). He adopted the consequences, inasmuch as he taught docetically
+about Christ, and only assumed a deliverance of the human soul.]
+
+[Footnote 380: See especially the third book of Tertull., adv. Marcion.]
+
+[Footnote 381: "Solius bonitatis", "deus melior", were Marcion's
+standing expressions for him.]
+
+[Footnote 382: "Deus incognitus" was likewise a standing expression.
+They maintained against all attacks the religious position that, from
+the nature of the case, believers only can know God, and that this is
+quite sufficient (Tertull., 1. 11).]
+
+[Footnote 383: Marcion firmly emphasised this and appealed to passages
+in Paul; see Tertull., I. 11, 19, 23: "scio dicturos, atquin hanc esse
+principalem et perfectam bonitatem, cum sine ullo debito familiaritatis
+in extraneos voluntaria et libera effunditur, secundum quam inimicos
+quoque nostros et hoc nomine jam extraneos deligere jubeamur." The
+Church Fathers therefore declared that Marcion's good God was a thief
+and a robber. See also Celsus, in Orig. VI. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 384: See Esnik's account, which, however, is to be used
+cautiously.]
+
+[Footnote 385: Marcion has strongly emphasised the respective passages
+in Luke's Gospel: see his Antitheses, and his comments on the Gospel, as
+presented by Tertullian (l. IV).]
+
+[Footnote 386: That can be plainly read in Esnik, and must have been
+thought by Marcion himself, as he followed Paul (see Tertull., l. V. and
+I. 11). Apelles also emphasised the death upon the cross. Marcion's
+conception of the purchase can indeed no longer be ascertained in its
+details. But see Adamant., de recta in deum fide, sect. I. It is one of
+his theoretic contradictions that the good God who is exalted above
+righteousness should yet purchase men.]
+
+[Footnote 387: Tertull. I. 6: "Marcion non negat creatorem deum esse."]
+
+[Footnote 388: Here Tertull., I. 27, 28, is of special importance; see
+also II. 28: IV. 29 (on Luke XII. 41-46): IV. 30. Marcion's idea was
+this. The good God does not judge or punish; but He judges in so far as
+he keeps evil at a distance from Him: it remains foreign to Him.
+"Marcionitae interrogati quid fiet peccatori cuique die illo? respondent
+abici illum quasi ab oculis." "Tranquilitas est et mansuetudinis
+segregare solummodo et partem ejus cum infidelibus ponere." But what is
+the end of him who is thus rejected? "Ab igne, inquiunt, creatoris
+deprehendetur." We might think with Tertullian that the creator of the
+world would receive sinners with joy: but this is the god of the law who
+punishes sinners. The issue is twofold: the heaven of the good God, and
+the hell of the creator of the world. Either Marcion assumed with Paul
+that no one can keep the law, or he was silent about the end of the
+"righteous" because he had no interest in it. At any rate, the teaching
+of Marcion closes with an outlook in which the creator of the world can
+no longer be regarded as an independent god. Marcion's disciples (see
+Esnik) here developed a consistent theory: the creator of the world
+violated his own law by killing the righteous Christ, and was therefore
+deprived of all his power by Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 389: Schools soon arose in the Marcionite church, just as they
+did later on in the main body of Christendom (see Rhodon in Euseb, H. E.
+V. 13. 2-4). The different doctrines of principles which were here
+developed (two, three, four principles; the Marcionite Marcus's doctrine
+of two principles in which the creator of the world is an evil being,
+diverges furthest from the Master), explain the different accounts of
+the Church Fathers about Marcion's teaching. The only one of the
+disciples who really seceded from the Master, was Apelles (Tertull., de
+praescr. 30). His teaching is therefore the more important, as it shews
+that it was possible to retain the fundamental ideas of Marcion without
+embracing dualism. The attitude of Apelles to the Old Testament is that
+of Marcion, in so far as he rejects the book. But perhaps he somewhat
+modified the strictness of the Master. On the other hand, he certainly
+designated much in it as untrue and fabulous. It is remarkable that we
+meet with a highly honoured prophetess in the environment of Apelles: in
+Marcion's church we hear nothing of such, nay, it is extremely important
+as regards Marcion, that he has never appealed to the Spirit and to
+prophets. The "sanctiores feminae" Tertull. V. 8, are not of this nature,
+nor can we appeal even to V. 15. Moreover, it is hardly likely that
+Jerome ad Eph. III. 5, refers to Marcionites. In this complete disregard
+of early Christian prophecy, and in his exclusive reliance on literary
+documents, we see in Marcion a process of despiritualising, that is, a
+form of secularisation peculiar to himself. Marcion no longer possessed
+the early Christian enthusiasm as, for example, Hermas did.]
+
+[Footnote 390: Marcion was fond of calling Christ "Spiritus salutaris."
+From the treatise of Tertullian we can prove both that Marcion
+distinguished Christ from God, and that he made no distinction (see, for
+example, I. 11, 14; II. 27; III. 8, 9, 11; IV. 7). Here again Marcion
+did not think theologically. What he regarded as specially important was
+that God has revealed himself in Christ, "per semetipsum." Later
+Marcionites expressly taught Patripassianism, and have on that account
+been often grouped with the Sabellians. But other Christologies also
+arose in Marcion's church, which is again a proof that it was not
+dependent on scholastic teaching, and therefore could take part in the
+later development of doctrines.]
+
+[Footnote 391: See the beginning of the Marcionite Gospel.]
+
+[Footnote 392: Tertullian informs us sufficiently about this. The body
+of Christ was regarded by Marcion merely as an "umbra", a "phantasma."
+His disciples adhered to this, but Apelles first constructed a
+"doctrine" of the body of Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 393: The strict asceticism of Marcion and the Marcionites is
+reluctantly acknowledged by the Church Fathers; see Tertull., de praescr.
+30: "Sanctissimus magister"; I. 28, "carni imponit sanctitem." The
+strict prohibition of marriage: I. 29: IV. 11, 17, 29, 34, 38: V. 7, 8,
+15. 18; prohibition of food: I. 14; cynical life: Hippol., Philos. VII.
+29; numerous martyrs: Euseb. H. E. V. 16, 21. and frequently elsewhere.
+Marcion named his adherents (Tertull. IV. 9 36) "[Greek: suntalaiporoi
+kai summisoumenoi]." It is questionable whether Marcion himself allowed
+the repetition of baptism; it arose in his church. But this repetition
+is a proof that the prevailing conception of baptism was not sufficient
+for a vigorous religious temper.]
+
+[Footnote 394: Tertull. I. 20. "Aiunt, Marcionem non tam innovasse
+regulam separatione legis et evangelii quam retro adulteratam
+recurasse." See the account of Epiphanius, taken from Hippolytus, about
+the appearance of Marcion in Rome (h. 42. 1, 2).]
+
+[Footnote 395: Here again we must remember that Marcion appealed neither
+to a secret tradition, nor to the "Spirit," in order to appreciate the
+epoch-making nature of his undertaking.]
+
+[Footnote 396: In his estimate of the twelve Apostles Marcion took as
+his standpoint Gal. II. See Tertull. I. 20: IV. 3 (generally IV. 1-6),
+V. 3; de praescr. 22. 23. He endeavoured to prove from this chapter that
+from a misunderstanding of the words of Christ, the twelve Apostles had
+proclaimed a different Gospel than that of Paul; they had wrongly taken
+the Father of Jesus Christ for the god of creation. It is not quite
+clear how Marcion conceived the inward condition of the Apostles during
+the lifetime of Jesus (See Tertull. III. 22: IV. 3. 39). He assumed that
+they were persecuted by the Jews as the preachers of a new God. It is
+probable, therefore, that he thought of a gradual obscuring of the
+preaching of Jesus in the case of the primitive Apostles. They fell back
+into Judaism; see Iren. III. 2. 2. "Apostolos admiscuisse ea quae sunt
+legalia salvatoris verbis"; III. 12. 12: "Apostoli quae sunt Judaeorum
+sentientes scripserunt" etc.; Tertull. V. 3: "Apostolos vultis Judaismi
+magis adfines subintelligi." The expositions of Marcion in Tertull. IV.
+9, 11, 13, 21, 24, 39: V. 13. shew that he regarded the primitive
+Apostles as out and out real Apostles of Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 397: The call of Paul was viewed by Marcion as a manifestation
+of Christ, of equal value with His first appearance and ministry; see
+the account of Esnik. "Then for the second time Jesus came down to the
+lord of the creatures in the form of his Godhead, and entered into
+judgment with him on account of his death.... And Jesus said to him:
+'Judgment is between me and thee, let no one be judge but thine own
+laws.... hast thou not written in this thy law, that he who killeth
+shall die?' And he answered, 'I have so written' ... Jesus said to him,
+'Deliver thyself therefore into my hands' ... The creator of the world
+said, 'Because I have slain thee I give thee a compensation, all those
+who shall believe on thee, that thou mayest do with them what thou
+pleasest.' Then Jesus left him and carried away Paul, and shewed him the
+price, and sent him to preach that we are bought with this price, and
+that all who believe in Jesus are sold by this just god to the good
+one." This is a most instructive account; for it shews that in the
+Marcionite schools the Pauline doctrine of reconciliation was
+transformed into a drama, and placed between the death of Christ and the
+call of Paul, and that the Pauline Gospel was based, not directly on the
+death of Christ upon the cross, but on a theory of it converted into
+history. On Paul as the one apostle of the truth; see Tertull. I. 20:
+III. 5, 14: IV. 2 sq.: IV. 34: V. 1. As to a Marcionite theory that the
+promise to send the Spirit was fulfilled in the mission of Paul, an
+indication of the want of enthusiasm among the Marcionites, see the
+following page, note 2.]
+
+[Footnote 398: Marcion must have spoken _ex professo_ in his Antitheses
+about the Judaistic corruptions of Paul's Epistles and the Gospel. He
+must also have known Evangelic writings bearing the names of the
+original Apostles, and have expressed himself about them (Tertull. IV.
+1-6).]
+
+[Footnote 399: Marcion's self-consciousness of being a reformer, and the
+recognition of this in his church is still not understood, although his
+undertaking itself and the facts speak loud enough. (1) The great
+Marcionite church called itself after Marcion (Adamant., de recta in
+deum fide. I. 809; Epiph. h. 42, p. 668, ed. Oehler: [Greek: Markion sou
+to onoma epikeklentai hoi upo sou epatemenoi, hos seauton keruxantos kai
+ouchi Christon]. We possess a Marcionite inscription which begins:
+[Greek: sunagoge Markioniston]). As the Marcionites did not form a
+school, but a church, it is of the greatest value for shewing the
+estimate of the master in this church, that its members called
+themselves by his name. (2) The Antitheses of Marcion had a place in the
+Marcionite canon (see above, p. 270). This canon therefore embraced a
+book of Christ, Epistles of Paul, and a book of Marcion, and for that
+reason the Antitheses were always circulated with the canon of Marcion.
+(3) Origen (in Luc. hom. 25. T. III. p. 962) reports as follows:
+"Denique in tantam quidam dilectionis audaciam proruperunt, ut nova
+quaedam et inaudita super Paulo monstra confingerent. Alli enim aiunt,
+hoc quod scriptum est, sedere a dextris salvatoris et sinistris, de
+Paulo et de Marcione dici, quod Paulus sedet a dextris, Marcion sedet a
+sinistris. Porro alii legentes: Mittam vobis advocatum Spiritum
+veritatis, nolunt intelligere tertiam personam a patre et filio, sed
+Apostolum Paulum." The estimate of Marcion which appears here is
+exceedingly instructive. (4) An Arabian writer, who, it is true, belongs
+to a later period, reports that Marcionites called their founder
+"Apostolorum principem." (5) Justin, the first opponent of Marcion,
+classed him with Simon Magus and Menander, that is, with demonic
+founders of religion. These testimonies may suffice.]
+
+[Footnote 400: On Marcion's Gospel see the Introductions to the New
+Testament and Zahn's Kanonsgeschichte, Bd. I., p. 585 ff. and II., p.
+409. Marcion attached no name to his Gospel, which, according to his own
+testimony, he produced from the third one of our Canon (Tertull, adv.
+Marc. IV. 2, 3, 4). He called it simply [Greek: euangelion (kuriou)],
+but held that it was the Gospel which Paul had in his mind when he spoke
+of his Gospel. The later Marcionites ascribed the authorship of the
+Gospel partly to Paul, partly to Christ himself, and made further
+changes in it. That Marcion chose the Gospel called after Luke should be
+regarded as a makeshift; for this Gospel, which is undoubtedly the most
+Hellenistic of the four Canonical Gospels, and therefore comes nearest
+to the Catholic conception of Christianity, accommodated itself in its
+traditional form but little better than the other three to Marcionite
+Christianity. Whether Marcion took it for a basis because in his time it
+had already been connected with Paul (or really had a connection with
+Paul), or whether the numerous narratives about Jesus as the Saviour of
+sinners, led him to recognise in this Gospel alone a genuine kernel, we
+do not know.]
+
+[Footnote 401: The associations of the Encratites and the community
+founded by Apelles stood between the main body of Christendom and the
+Marcionite church. The description of Celsus (especially V. 61-64 in
+Orig.) shews the motley appearance which Christendom presented soon
+after the middle of the second century. He there mentions the
+Marcionites, and a little before (V. 59), the "great Church." It is very
+important that Celsus makes the main distinction consist in this, that
+some regarded their God as identical with the God of the Jews, whilst
+others again declared that "theirs was a different Deity who is hostile
+to that of the Jews, and that it was he who had sent the Son." (V. 61).]
+
+[Footnote 402: One might be tempted to comprise the character of
+Marcion's religion in the words, "The God who dwells in my breast can
+profoundly excite my inmost being. He who is throned above all my powers
+can move nothing outwardly." But Marcion had the firm assurance that God
+has done something much greater than move the world: he has redeemed men
+from the world, and given them the assurance of this redemption, in the
+midst of all oppression and enmity which do not cease.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+APPENDIX: THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE JEWISH CHRISTIANS
+
+
+1. Original Christianity was in appearance Christian Judaism, the
+creation of a universal religion on Old Testament soil. It retained
+therefore, so far as it was not hellenised, which never altogether took
+place, its original Jewish features. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
+was regarded as the Father of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament was the
+authoritative source of revelation, and the hopes of the future were
+based on the Jewish ones. The heritage which Christianity took over from
+Judaism, shews itself on Gentile Christian soil, in fainter or
+distincter form, in proportion as the philosophic mode of thought
+already prevails, or recedes into the background.[403] To describe the
+appearance of the Jewish, Old Testament, heritage in the Christian
+faith, so far as it is a religious one, by the name Jewish Christianity,
+beginning at a certain point quite arbitrarily chosen, and changeable at
+will, must therefore necessarily lead to error, and it has done so to a
+very great extent. For this designation makes it appear as though the
+Jewish element in the Christian religion were something accidental,
+while it is rather the case that all Christianity, in so far as
+something alien is not foisted into it, appears as the religion of
+Israel perfected and spiritualised. We are therefore not justified in
+speaking of Jewish Christianity, where a Christian community, even one
+of Gentile birth, calls itself the true Israel, the people of the twelve
+tribes, the posterity of Abraham; for this transfer is based on the
+original claim of Christianity and can only be forbidden by a view that
+is alien to it. Just as little may we designate Jewish Christian the
+mighty and realistic hopes of the future which were gradually repressed
+in the second and third centuries. They may be described as Jewish, or
+as Christian; but the designation Jewish Christian must be rejected; for
+it gives a wrong impression as to the historic right of these hopes in
+Christianity. The eschatological ideas of Papias were not Jewish
+Christian, but Christian; while, on the other hand, the eschatological
+speculations of Origen were not Gentile Christian, but essentially
+Greek. Those Christians who saw in Jesus the man chosen by God and
+endowed with the Spirit, thought about the Redeemer not in a Jewish
+Christian, but in a Christian manner. Those of Asia Minor who held
+strictly to the 14th of Nisan as the term of the Easter festival, were
+not influenced by Jewish Christian, but by Christian or Old Testament,
+considerations. The author of the "Teaching of the Apostles," who has
+transferred the rights of the Old Testament priests with respect to the
+first fruits, to the Christian prophets, shews himself by such
+transference not as a Jewish Christian, but as a Christian. There is no
+boundary here; for Christianity took possession of the whole of Judaism
+as religion, and it is therefore a most arbitrary view of history which
+looks upon the Christian appropriation of the Old Testament religion,
+after any point, as no longer Christian, but only Jewish Christian.
+Wherever the universalism of Christianity is not violated in favour of
+the Jewish nation, we have to recognise every appropriation of the Old
+Testament as Christian. Hence this proceeding could be spontaneously
+undertaken in Christianity, as was in fact done.
+
+2. But the Jewish religion is a national religion, and Christianity
+burst the bonds of nationality, though not for all who recognised Jesus
+as Messiah. This gives the point at which the introduction of the term
+"Jewish Christianity" is appropriate.[404] It should be applied
+exclusively to those Christians who really maintained in their whole
+extent, or in some measure, even if it were to a minimum degree, the
+national and political forms of Judaism and the observance of the Mosaic
+law in its literal sense, as essential to Christianity, at least to the
+Christianity of born Jews, or who, though rejecting these forms,
+nevertheless assumed a prerogative of the Jewish people even in
+Christianity (Clem., Homil. XI. 26: [Greek: ean ho allophulos ton nomon
+praxei, Ioudaios estin, me praxas de Hellen]; "If the foreigner observe
+the law he is a Jew, but if not he is a Greek.")[405] To this Jewish
+Christianity is opposed, not Gentile Christianity, but the Christian
+religion, in so far as it is conceived as universalistic and
+anti-national in the strict sense of the term (Presupp. Sec. 3), that is,
+the main body of Christendom in so far as it has freed itself from
+Judaism as a nation.[406]
+
+It is not strange that this Jewish Christianity was subject to all the
+conditions which arose from the internal and external position of the
+Judaism of the time; that is, different tendencies were necessarily
+developed in it, according to the measure of the tendencies (or the
+disintegrations) which asserted themselves in the Judaism of that time.
+It lies also in the nature of the case that, with one exception, that of
+Pharisaic Jewish Christianity, all other tendencies were accurately
+parallelled in the systems which appeared in the great, that is,
+anti-Jewish Christendom. They were distinguished from these, simply by a
+social and political, that is, a national element. Moreover, they were
+exposed to the same influences from without as the synagogue, and as the
+larger Christendom, till the isolation to which Judaism as a nation,
+after severe reverses condemned itself, became fatal to them also.
+Consequently, there were besides Pharisaic Jewish Christians, ascetics
+of all kinds who were joined by all those over whom Oriental religious
+wisdom and Greek philosophy had won a commanding influence (see above,
+p. 242 f.)
+
+In the first century these Jewish Christians formed the majority in
+Palestine, and perhaps also in some neighbouring provinces. But they
+were also found here and there in the West.
+
+Now the great question is, whether this Jewish Christianity as a whole,
+or in certain of its tendencies, was a factor in the development of
+Christianity to Catholicism. This question is to be answered in the
+negative, and quite as much with regard to the history of dogma as with
+regard to the political history of the Church. From the stand-point of
+the universal history of Christianity, these Jewish Christian
+communities appear as rudimentary structures which now and again, as
+objects of curiosity, engaged the attention of the main body of
+Christendom in the East, but could not exert any important influence on
+it, just because they contained a national element.
+
+The Jewish Christians took no considerable part in the Gnostic
+controversy, the epoch-making conflict which was raised within the pale
+of the larger Christendom about the decisive question, whether, and to
+what extent, the Old Testament should remain a basis of Christianity,
+although they themselves were no less occupied with the question.[407]
+The issue of this conflict in favour of that party which recognised the
+Old Testament in its full extent as a revelation of the Christian God,
+and asserted the closest connection between Christianity and the Old
+Testament religion, was so little the result of any influence of Jewish
+Christianity, that the existence of the latter would only have rendered
+that victory more difficult, unless it had already fallen into the
+background, as a phenomenon of no importance.[408] How completely
+insignificant it was is shewn not only by the limited polemics of the
+Church Fathers, but perhaps still more by their silence, and the new
+import which the reproach of Judaising obtained in Christendom after the
+middle of the second century. In proportion as the Old Testament, in
+opposition to Gnosticism, became a more conscious and accredited
+possession in the Church, and at the same time, in consequence of the
+naturalising of Christianity in the world, the need of regulations,
+fixed rules, statutory enactments etc., appeared as indispensable, it
+must have been natural to use the Old Testament as a holy code of such
+enactments. This procedure was no falling away from the original
+anti-Judaic attitude, provided nothing national was taken from the book,
+and some kind of spiritual interpretation given to what had been
+borrowed. The "apostasy" rather lay simply in the changed needs. But one
+now sees how those parties in the Church, to which for any reason this
+progressive legislation was distasteful, raised the reproach of
+"Judaising,"[409] and further, how conversely the same reproach was
+hurled at those Christians who resisted the advancing hellenising of
+Christianity, with regard, for example, to the doctrine of God,
+eschatology, Christology, etc.[410] But while this reproach is raised,
+there is nowhere shewn any connection between those described as
+Judaising Christians and the Ebionites. That they were identified
+off-hand is only a proof that "Ebionitism" was no longer known. That
+"Judaising" within Catholicism which appears, on the one hand, in the
+setting up of a Catholic ceremonial law (worship, constitution, etc.),
+and on the other, in a tenacious clinging to less hellenised forms of
+faith and hopes of faith, has nothing in common with Jewish
+Christianity, which desired somehow to confine Christianity to the
+Jewish nation.[411] Speculations that take no account of history may
+make out that Catholicism became more and more Jewish Christian. But
+historical observation, which reckons only with concrete quantities, can
+discover in Catholicism, besides Christianity, no element which it would
+have to describe as Jewish Christian. It observes only a progressive
+hellenising, and in consequence of this, a progressive spiritual
+legislation which utilizes the Old Testament, a process which went on
+for centuries according to the same methods which had been employed in
+the larger Christendom from the beginning.[412] Baur's brilliant attempt
+to explain Catholicism as a product of the mutual conflict and
+neutralising of Jewish and Gentile Christianity, (the latter according
+to Baur being equivalent to Paulinism) reckons with two factors, of
+which, the one had no significance at all, and the other only an
+indirect effect, as regards the formation of the Catholic Church. The
+influence of Paul in this direction is exhausted in working out the
+universalism of the Christian religion, for a Greater than he had laid
+the foundation for this movement, and Paul did not realise it by himself
+alone. Placed on this height Catholicism was certainly developed by
+means of conflicts and compromises, not, however, by conflicts with
+Ebionitism, which was to all intents and purposes discarded as early as
+the first century, but as the result of the conflict of Christianity
+with the united powers of the world in which it existed, on behalf of
+its own peculiar nature as the universal religion based on the Old
+Testament. Here were fought triumphant battles, but here also
+compromises were made which characterise the essence of Catholicism as
+Church and as doctrine.[413]
+
+A history of Jewish Christianity and its doctrines does not therefore,
+strictly speaking, belong to the history of dogma, especially as the
+original distinction between Jewish Christianity and the main body of
+the Church lay, as regards its principle, not in doctrine, but in
+policy. But seeing that the opinions of the teachers in this Church
+regarding Jewish Christianity, throw light upon their own stand-point,
+also that up till about the middle of the second century Jewish
+Christians were still numerous and undoubtedly formed the great majority
+of believers in Palestine,[414] and finally, that attempts--unsuccessful
+ones indeed--on the part of Jewish Christianity to bring Gentile
+Christians under its sway, did not cease till about the middle of the
+third century, a short sketch may be appropriate here.[415]
+
+Justin vouches for the existence of Jewish Christians, and distinguishes
+between those who would force the law even on Gentile-Christians, and
+would have no fellowship with such as did not observe it, and those who
+considered that the law was binding only on people of Jewish birth, and
+did not shrink from fellowship with Gentile Christians who were living
+without the law. How the latter could observe the law and yet enter into
+intercourse with those who were not Jews, is involved in obscurity, but
+these he recognises as partakers of the Christian salvation and
+therefore as Christian brethren, though he declares that there are
+Christians who do not possess this large heartedness. He also speaks of
+Gentile Christians who allowed themselves to be persuaded by Jewish
+Christians into the observance of the Mosaic law, and confesses that he
+is not quite sure of the salvation of these. This is all we learn from
+Justin,[416] but it is instructive enough. In the first place, we can
+see that the question is no longer a burning one: "Justin here
+represents only the interests of a Gentile Christianity whose stability
+has been secured." This has all the more meaning that in the Dialogue
+Justin has not in view an individual Christian community, or the
+communities of a province, but speaks as one who surveys the whole
+situation of Christendom.[417] The very fact that Justin has devoted to
+the whole question only one chapter of a work containing 142, and the
+magnanimous way in which he speaks, shew that the phenomena in question
+have no longer any importance for the main body of Christendom.
+Secondly, it is worthy of notice that Justin distinguishes two
+tendencies in Jewish Christianity. We observe these two tendencies in
+the Apostolic age (Presupp. Sec. 3); they had therefore maintained
+themselves to his time. Finally, we must not overlook the circumstance
+that he adduces only the [Greek: ennomos politeia], "legal polity," as
+characteristic of this Jewish Christianity. He speaks only incidentally
+of a difference in doctrine, nay, he manifestly presupposes that the
+[Greek: didagmata Christou], "teachings of Christ," are essentially
+found among them just as among the Gentile Christians; for he regards
+the more liberal among them as friends and brethren.[418]
+
+The fact that, even then, there were Jewish Christians here and there
+who sought to spread the [Greek: ennomos politeia] among Gentile
+Christians, has been attested by Justin and also by other contemporary
+writers.[419] But there is no evidence of this propaganda having
+acquired any great importance. Celsus also knows Christians who desire
+to live as Jews according to the Mosaic law (V. 61), but he mentions
+them only once, and otherwise takes no notice of them in his delineation
+of, and attack on, Christianity. We may perhaps infer that he knew of
+them only from hearsay, for he simply enumerates them along with the
+numerous Gnostic sects. Had this keen observer really known them he
+would hardly have passed them over, even though he had met with only a
+small number of them.[420] Irenaeus placed the Ebionites among the
+heretical schools,[421] but we can see from his work that in his day
+they must have been all but forgotten in the West.[422] This was not yet
+the case in the East. Origen knows of them. He knows also of some who
+recognise the birth from the Virgin. He is sufficiently intelligent and
+acquainted with history to judge that the Ebionites are no school, but
+as believing Jews are the descendants of the earliest Christians, in
+fact he seems to suppose that all converted Jews have at all times
+observed the law of their fathers. But he is far from judging of them
+favourably. He regards them as little better than the Jews ([Greek:
+Ioudaioi kai hoi oligo diapherontes auton Ebionaioi], "Jews and
+Ebionites who differ little from them"). Their rejection of Paul
+destroys the value of their recognition of Jesus as Messiah. They appear
+only to have assumed Christ's name, and their literal exposition of the
+Scripture is meagre and full of error. It is possible that such Jewish
+Christians may have existed in Alexandria, but it is not certain. Origen
+knows nothing of an inner development in this Jewish Christianity.[423]
+Even in Palestine, Origen seems to have occupied himself personally with
+these Jewish Christians, just as little as Eusebius.[424] They lived
+apart by themselves and were not aggressive. Jerome is the last who
+gives us a clear and certain account of them.[425] He, who associated
+with them, assures us that their attitude was the same as in the second
+century, only they seem to have made progress in the recognition of the
+birth from the Virgin and in their more friendly position towards the
+Church.[426] Jerome at one time calls them Ebionites and at another
+Nazarenes, thereby proving that these names were used synonymously.[427]
+There is not the least ground for distinguishing two clearly marked
+groups of Jewish Christians, or even for reckoning the distinction of
+Origen and the Church Fathers to the account of Jewish Christians
+themselves, so as to describe as Nazarenes those who recognised the
+birth from the Virgin, and who had no wish to compel the Gentile
+Christians to observe the law, and the others as Ebionites. Apart from
+syncretistic or Gnostic Jewish Christianity, there is but one group of
+Jewish Christians holding various shades of opinion, and these from the
+beginning called themselves Nazarenes as well as Ebionites. From the
+beginning, likewise, one portion of them was influenced by the existence
+of a great Gentile Church which did not observe the law. They
+acknowledged the work of Paul and experienced in a slight degree
+influences emanating from the great Church.[428] But the gulf which
+separated them from that Church did not thereby become narrower. That
+gulf was caused by the social and political separation of these Jewish
+Christians, whatever mental attitude, hostile or friendly, they might
+take up to the great Church. This Church stalked over hem with iron
+feet, as over a structure which in her opinion was full of
+contradictions throughout ("Semi-christiani"), and was disconcerted
+neither by the gospel of these Jewish Christians nor by anything else
+about them.[429] But as the Synagogue also vigorously condemned them,
+their position up to their extinction was a most tragic one. These
+Jewish Christians, more than any other Christian party, bore the
+reproach of Christ.
+
+The Gospel, at the time when it was proclaimed among the Jews, was not
+only law, but theology, and indeed syncretistic theology. On the other
+hand, the temple service and the sacrificial system had begun to lose
+their hold in certain influential circles.[430] We have pointed out
+above (Presupp. Sec.Sec.. 1. 2. 5) how great were the diversities of Jewish
+sects, and that there was in the Diaspora, as well as in Palestine
+itself, a Judaism which, on the one hand, followed ascetic impulses, and
+on the other, advanced to a criticism of the religious tradition without
+giving up the national claims. It may even be said that in theology the
+boundaries between the orthodox Judaism of the Pharisees and a
+syncretistic Judaism were of an elastic kind. Although religion, in
+those circles, seemed to be fixed in its legal aspect, yet on its
+theological side it was ready to admit very diverse speculations, in
+which angelic powers especially played a great role.[431] That
+introduced into Jewish monotheism an element of differentiation, the
+results of which were far-reaching. The field was prepared for the
+formation of syncretistic sects. They present themselves to us on the
+soil of the earliest Christianity, in the speculations of those Jewish
+Christian teachers who are opposed in the Epistle to the Colossians, and
+in the Gnosis of Cerinthus (see above, p. 246). Here cosmological ideas
+and myths were turned to profit. The idea of God was sublimated by both.
+In consequence of this, the Old Testament records were subjected to
+criticism, because they could not in all respects be reconciled with the
+universal religion which hovered before men's minds. This criticism was
+opposed to the Pauline in so far as it maintained, with the common
+Jewish Christians, and Christendom as a whole, that the genuine Old
+Testament religion was essentially identical with the Christian. But
+while those common Jewish Christians drew from this the inference that
+the whole of the Old Testament must be adhered to in its traditional
+sense and in all its ordinances, and while the larger Christendom
+secured for itself the whole of the Old Testament by deviating from the
+ordinary interpretation, those syncretistic Jewish Christians separated
+from the Old Testament, as interpolations, whatever did not agree with
+their purer moral conceptions and borrowed speculations. Thus, in
+particular, they got rid of the sacrificial ritual, and all that was
+connected with it, by putting ablutions in their place. First the
+profanation, and afterwards, the abolition of the temple worship, after
+the destruction of Jerusalem, may have given another new and welcome
+impulse to this by coming to be regarded as its Divine confirmation
+(Presupp. Sec. 2). Christianity now appeared as purified Mosaism. In these
+Jewish Christian undertakings we have undoubtedly before us a series of
+peculiar attempts to elevate the Old Testament religion into the
+universal one, under the impression of the person of Jesus; attempts,
+however, in which the Jewish religion, and not the Jewish people, was to
+bear the costs by curtailment of its distinctive features. The great
+inner affinity of these attempts with the Gentile Christian Gnostics has
+already been set forth. The firm partition wall between them, however,
+lies in the claim of these Jewish Christians to set forth the pure Old
+Testament religion, as well as in the national Jewish colouring which
+the constructed universal religion was always to preserve. This national
+colouring is shewn in the insistence upon a definite measure of Jewish
+national ceremonies as necessary to salvation, and in the opposition to
+the Apostle Paul, which united the Gnostic Judaeo-Christians with the
+common type, those of the strict observance. How the latter were related
+to the former, we do not know, for the inner relations here are almost
+completely unknown to us.[432]
+
+Apart from the false doctrines opposed in the Epistle to the Colossians,
+and from Cerinthus, this syncretistic Jewish Christianity which aimed at
+making itself a universal religion, meets us in tangible form only in
+three phenomena:[433] in the Elkesaites of Hippolytus and Origen, in the
+Ebionites with their associates of Epiphanius, sects very closely
+connected, in fact to be viewed as one party of manifold shades,[434]
+and in the activity of Symmachus.[435] We observe here a form of
+religion as far removed from that of the Old Testament as from the
+Gospel, subject to strong heathen influences, not Greek, but Asiatic,
+and scarcely deserving the name "Christian," because it appeals to a new
+revelation of God which is to complete that given in Christ. We should
+take particular note of this in judging of the whole remarkable
+phenomenon. The question in this Jewish Christianity is not the
+formation of a philosophic school, but to some extent the establishment
+of a kind of new religion, that is, the completion of that founded by
+Christ, undertaken by a particular person basing his claims on a
+revealed book which was delivered to him from heaven. This book which
+was to form the complement of the Gospel, possessed, from the third
+century, importance for all sections of Jewish Christians so far as
+they, in the phraseology of Epiphanius, were not Nazarenes.[436] The
+whole system reminds one of Samaritan Christian syncretism;[437] but we
+must be on our guard against identifying the two phenomena, or even
+regarding them as similar. These Elkesaite Jewish Christians held fast
+by the belief that Jesus was the Son of God, and saw in the "book" a
+revelation which proceeded from him. They did not offer any worship to
+their founder,[438] that is, to the receiver of the "book," and they
+were, as will be shewn, the most ardent opponents of Simonianism.[439]
+
+Alcibiades of Apamea, one of their disciples, came from the East to Rome
+about 220-230, and endeavoured to spread the doctrines of the sect in
+the Roman Church. He found the soil prepared, inasmuch as he could
+announce from the "book" forgiveness of sins to all sinful Christians,
+even the grossest transgressors, and such forgiveness was very much
+needed. Hippolytus opposed him, and had an opportunity of seeing the
+book and becoming acquainted with its contents. From his account and
+that of Origen we gather the following: (1) The sect is a Jewish
+Christian one, for it requires the [Greek: nomou politeia] (circumcision
+and the keeping of the Sabbath), and repudiates the Apostle Paul; but it
+criticises the Old Testament and rejects a part of it. (2) The objects
+of its faith are the "Great and most High God", the Son of God (the
+"Great King"), and the Holy Spirit (thought of as female); Son and
+Spirit appear as angelic powers. Considered outwardly, and according to
+his birth, Christ is a mere man, but with this peculiarity, that he has
+already been frequently born and manifested ([Greek: pollakis
+gennethenta kai gennomenon pephenenai kai phuesthai, allassonta geneseis
+kai metensomatoumenon], cf. the testimony of Victorinus as to
+Symmachus). From the statements of Hippolytus we cannot be sure whether
+he was identified with the Son of God,[440] at any rate the assumption
+of repeated births of Christ shews how completely Christianity was meant
+to be identified with what was supposed to be the pure Old Testament
+religion. (3) The "book" proclaimed a new forgiveness of sin, which, on
+condition of faith in the "book" and a real change of mind, was to be
+bestowed on every one, through the medium of washings, accompanied by
+definite prayers which are strictly prescribed. In these prayers appear
+peculiar Semitic speculations about nature ("the seven witnesses:
+heaven, water, the holy spirits, the angels of prayer, oil, salt,
+earth"). The old Jewish way of thinking appears in the assumption that
+all kinds of sickness and misfortune are punishments for sin, and that
+these penalties must therefore be removed by atonement. The book
+contains also astrological and geometrical speculations in a religious
+garb. The main thing, however, was the possibility of a forgiveness of
+sin, ever requiring to be repeated, though Hippolytus himself was unable
+to point to any gross laxity. Still, the appearance of this sect
+represents the attempt to make the religion of Christian Judaism
+palatable to the world. The possibility of repeated forgiveness of sin,
+the speculations about numbers, elements, and stars, the halo of
+mystery, the adaptation to the forms of worship employed in the
+"mysteries", are worldly means of attraction which shew that this Jewish
+Christianity was subject to the process of acute secularization. The
+Jewish mode of life was to be adopted in return for these concessions.
+Yet its success in the West was of small extent and short-lived.
+
+Epiphanius confirms all these features, and adds a series of new ones.
+In his description, the new forgiveness of sin is not so prominent as in
+that of Hippolytus, but it is there. From the account of Epiphanius we
+can see that these syncretistic Judaeo-Christian sects were at first
+strictly ascetic and rejected marriage as well as the eating of flesh,
+but that they gradually became more lax. We learn here that the whole
+sacrificial service was removed from the Old Testament by the Elkesaites
+and declared to be non-Divine, that is non-Mosaic, and that fire was
+consequently regarded as the impure and dangerous element, and water as
+the good one.[441] We learn further, that these sects acknowledged no
+prophets and men of God between Aaron and Christ, and that they
+completely adapted the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew to their own views.[442]
+In addition to this book, however, (the Gospel of the 12 Apostles),
+other writings, such as [Greek: Periodoi Petrou dia Klementos,
+Anabathmoi Iakobou] and similar histories of Apostles, were held in
+esteem by them. In these writings the Apostles were represented as
+zealous ascetics, and, above all, as vegetarians, while the Apostle Paul
+was most bitterly opposed. They called him a Tarsene, said he was a
+Greek, and heaped on him gross abuse. Epiphanius also dwells strongly
+upon their Jewish mode of life (circumcision, Sabbath), as well as their
+daily washings,[443] and gives some information about the constitution
+and form of worship of these sects (use of baptism: Lord's Supper with
+bread and water). Finally, Epiphanius gives particulars about their
+Christology. On this point there were differences of opinion, and these
+differences prove that there was no Christological dogma. As among the
+common Jewish Christians, the birth of Jesus from the Virgin was a
+matter of dispute. Further, some identified Christ with Adam, others saw
+in him a heavenly being ([Greek: anothen on]), a spiritual being, who
+was created before all, who was higher than all angels and Lord of all
+things, but who chose for himself the upper world; yet this Christ from
+above came down to this lower world as often as he pleased. He came in
+Adam, he appeared in human form to the patriarchs, and at last appeared
+on earth as a man with the body of Adam, suffered, etc. Others again, as
+it appears, would have nothing to do with these speculations, but stood
+by the belief that Jesus was the man chosen by God, on whom, on account
+of his virtue, the Holy Spirit--[Greek: hoper estin ho Christos]--
+descended at the baptism.[444] (Epiph. h. 30. 3, 14, 16). The account
+which Epiphanius gives of the doctrine held by these Jewish Christians
+regarding the Devil, is specially instructive (h. 30. 16): [Greek: Duo
+de tinas sunistosin ek theou tetagmenous, ena men ton Christon, ena de
+ton diabolon. kai ton men Christon legousi tou mellontos aionos
+eilephenai ton kleron, ton de diabolon touton pepisteusthai on aiona, ek
+prostages dethen tou pantokratopos kata aitesin ekateron auton]. Here we
+have a very old Semitico-Hebraic idea preserved in a very striking way,
+and therefore we may probably assume that in other respects also, these
+Gnostic Ebionites preserved that which was ancient. Whether they did so
+in their criticism of the Old Testament, is a point on which we must not
+pronounce judgment.
+
+We might conclude by referring to the fact that this syncretistic Jewish
+Christianity, apart from a well-known missionary effort at Rome, was
+confined to Palestine and the neighbouring countries, and might consider
+it proved that this movement had no effect on the history and
+development of Catholicism,[445] were it not for two voluminous writings
+which still continue to be regarded as monuments of the earliest epoch
+of syncretistic Jewish Christianity. Not only did Baur suppose that he
+could prove his hypothesis about the origin of Catholicism by the help
+of these writings, but the attempt has recently been made on the basis
+of _the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies_, for these are the
+writings in question, to go still further and claim for Jewish
+Christianity the glory of having developed by itself the whole doctrine,
+worship and constitution of Catholicism, and of having transmitted it to
+Gentile Christianity as a finished product which only required to be
+divested of a few Jewish husks.[446] It is therefore necessary to
+subject these writings to a brief examination. Everything depends on the
+time of their origin, and the tendencies they follow. But these are just
+the two questions that are still unanswered. Without depreciating those
+worthy men who have earnestly occupied themselves with the
+Pseudo-Clementines,[447] it may be asserted, that in this region
+everything is as yet in darkness, especially as no agreement has been
+reached even in the question of their composition. No doubt such a
+result appears to have been pretty nearly arrived at as far as the time
+of composition is concerned, but that estimate (150-170, or the latter
+half of the second century) not only awakens the greatest suspicion, but
+can be proved to be wrong. The importance of the question for the
+history of dogma does not permit the historian to set it aside, while,
+on the other hand, the compass of a manual does not allow us to enter
+into an exhaustive investigation. The only course open in such
+circumstances is briefly to define one's own position.
+
+1. The Recognitions and Homilies, in the form in which we have them, do
+not belong to the second century, but at the very earliest to the first
+half of the third. There is nothing, however, to prevent our putting
+them a few decades later.[448]
+
+2. They were not composed in their present form by heretical Christians,
+but most probably by Catholics. Nor do they aim at forming a theological
+system,[449] or spreading the views of a sect. Their primary object is
+to oppose Greek polytheism, immoral mythology, and false philosophy, and
+thus to promote edification.[450]
+
+3. In describing the authors as Catholic, we do not mean that they were
+adherents of the theology of Irenaeus or Origen. The instructive point
+here rather, is that they had as yet no fixed theology, and therefore
+could without hesitation regard and use all possible material as means
+of edification. In like manner, they had no fixed conception of the
+Apostolic age, and could therefore appropriate motley and dangerous
+material. Such Christians, highly educated and correctly trained too,
+were still to be found, not only in the third century, but even later.
+But the authors do not seem to have been free from a bias, inasmuch as
+they did not favour the Catholic, that is, the Alexandrian apologetic
+theology which was in process of formation.
+
+4. The description of the Pseudo-Clementine writings, naturally derived
+from their very form, as "edifying, didactic romances for the refutation
+of paganism", is not inconsistent with the idea, that the authors, at
+the same time, did their utmost to oppose heretical phenomena,
+especially the Marcionite church and Apelles, together with heresy and
+heathenism in general, as represented by Simon Magus.
+
+5. The objectionable materials which the authors made use of were
+edifying for them, because of the position assigned therein to Peter,
+because of the ascetic and mysterious elements they contained, and the
+opposition offered to Simon, etc. The offensive features, so far as they
+were still contained in these sources, had already become unintelligible
+and harmless. They were partly conserved as such and partly removed.
+
+6. The authors are to be sought for perhaps in Rome, perhaps in Syria,
+perhaps in both places, certainly not in Alexandria.
+
+7. The main ideas are: (1) The monarchy of God. (2) the syzygies (weak
+and strong). (3) Prophecy (the true Prophet). (4) Stoical rationalism,
+belief in providence, good works. [Greek: Philanthropia], etc.--Mosaism.
+The Homilies are completely saturated with stoicism, both in their
+ethical and metaphysical systems, and are opposed to Platonism, though
+Plato is quoted in Hom. XV. 8, as [Greek: Hellenon sophistia] (a wise
+man of the Greeks). In addition to these ideas we have also a strong
+hierarchical tendency. The material which the authors made use of was in
+great part derived from syncretistic Jewish Christian tradition, in
+other words, those histories of the Apostles were here utilised which
+Epiphanius reports to have been used by the Ebionites (see above). It is
+not probable, however, that these writings in their original form were
+in the hands of the narrators; the likelihood is that they made use of
+them in revised forms.
+
+8. It must be reserved for an accurate investigation to ascertain
+whether those modified versions which betray clear marks of Hellenic
+origin, were made within syncretistic Judaism itself, or whether they
+are to be traced back to Catholic writers. In either case, they should
+not be placed earlier than about the beginning of the third century, but
+in all probability one or two generations later still.
+
+9. If we adopt the first assumption, it is most natural to think of that
+propaganda which, according to the testimony of Hippolytus and Origen,
+Jewish Christianity attempted in Rome in the age of Caracalla and
+Heliogabalus, through the medium of the Syrian, Alcibiades. This
+coincides with the last great advance of Syrian cults into the West, and
+is, at the same time, the only one known to us historically. But it is
+further pretty generally admitted that the immediate sources of the
+Pseudo-Clementines already presuppose the existence of Elkesaite
+Christianity. We should accordingly have to assume that in the West,
+this Christianity made greater concessions to the prevailing type, that
+it gave up circumcision and accommodated itself to the Church system of
+Gentile Christianity, at the same time withdrawing its polemic against
+Paul.
+
+10. Meanwhile the existence of such a Jewish Christianity is not as yet
+proved, and therefore we must reckon with the possibility that the
+remodelled form of the Jewish Christian sources, already found in
+existence by the revisers of the Pseudo-Clementine Romances, was solely
+a Catholic literary product. In this assumption, which commends itself
+both as regards the aim of the composition and its presupposed
+conditions, we must remember that, from the third century onwards,
+Catholic writers systematically corrected, and to a great extent
+reconstructed, the heretical histories which were in circulation in the
+churches as interesting reading, and that the extent and degree of this
+reconstruction varied exceedingly, according to the theological and
+historical insight of the writer. The identifying of pure Mosaism with
+Christianity was in itself by no means offensive when there was no
+further question of circumcision. The clear distinction between the
+ceremonial and moral parts of the Old Testament, could no longer prove
+an offence after the great struggle with Gnosticism.[451] The strong
+insistence upon the unity of God, and the rejection of the doctrine of
+the Logos, were by no means uncommon in the beginning of the third
+century; and in the speculations about Adam and Christ, in the views
+about God and the world and such, like, as set before us in the
+immediate sources of the Romances, the correct and edifying elements
+must have seemed to outweigh the objectionable. At any rate, the
+historian who, until further advised, denies the existence of a Jewish
+Christianity composed of the most contradictory elements, lacking
+circumcision and national hopes, and bearing marks of Catholic and
+therefore of Hellenic influence, judges more prudently than he who
+asserts, solely on the basis of Romances which are accompanied by no
+tradition and have never been the objects of assault, the existence of a
+Jewish Christianity accommodating itself to Catholicism which is
+entirely unattested.
+
+11. Be that as it may, it may at least be regarded as certain that the
+Pseudo-Clementines contribute absolutely nothing to our knowledge of the
+origin of the Catholic Church and doctrine, as they shew at best in
+their immediate sources a Jewish Christianity strongly influenced by
+Catholicism and Hellenism.
+
+12. They must be used with great caution even in seeking to determine
+the tendencies and inner history of syncretistic Jewish Christianity. It
+cannot be made out with certainty, how far back the first sources of the
+Pseudo-Clementines date, or what their original form and tendency were.
+As to the first point, it has indeed been said that Justin, nay, even
+the author of the Acts of the Apostles, presupposes them, and that the
+Catholic tradition of Peter, in Rome, and of Simon Magus, are dependent
+on them (as is still held by Lipsius); but there is so little proof of
+this adduced, that in Christian literature up to the end of the second
+century (Hegesippus?) we can only discover very uncertain traces of
+acquaintance with Jewish Christian historical narrative. Such
+indications can only be found, to any considerable extent, in the third
+century, and I do not mean to deny that the contents of the Jewish
+Christian histories of the Apostles contributed materially to the
+formation of the ecclesiastical legends about Peter. As is shewn in the
+Pseudo-Clementines, these histories of the Apostles especially opposed
+Simon Magus and his adherents (the new Samaritan attempt at a universal
+religion), and placed the authority of the Apostle Peter against them.
+But they also opposed the Apostle Paul, and seem to have transferred
+Simonian features to Paul, and Pauline features to Simon. Yet it is also
+possible that the Pauline traits found in the magician were the outcome
+of the redaction, in so far as the whole polemic against Paul is here
+struck out, though certain parts of it have been woven into the polemic
+against Simon. But probably the Pauline features of the magician are
+merely an appearance. The Pseudo-Clementines may, to some extent, be
+used, though with caution, in determining the doctrines of syncretistic
+Jewish Christianity. In connection with this we must take what
+Epiphanius says as our standard. The Pantheistic and Stoic elements
+which are found here and there must of course be eliminated. But the
+theory of the genesis of the world from a change in God himself (that is
+from a [Greek: probole]), the assumption that all things emanated from
+God in antitheses (Son of God--Devil; heaven--earth; male--female; male
+and female prophecy), nay, that these antitheses are found in God
+himself (goodness, to which corresponds the Son of God--punitive
+justice, to which corresponds the Devil), the speculations about the
+elements which have proceeded from the one substance, the ignoring of
+freedom in the question about the origin of evil, the strict adherence
+to the unity and absolute causality of God, in spite of the dualism, and
+in spite of the lofty predicates applied to the Son of God--all this
+plainly bears the Semitic-Jewish stamp.
+
+We must here content ourselves with these indications. They were meant
+to set forth briefly the reasons which forbid our assigning to
+syncretistic Jewish Christianity, on the basis of the Pseudo-
+Clementines, a place in the history of the genesis of the Catholic
+Church and its doctrine.
+
+Bigg, The Clementine Homilies (Studia Biblica et Eccles. II. p. 157
+ff.), has propounded the hypothesis that the Homilies are an Ebionitic
+revision of an older Catholic original (see p. 1841: "The Homilies as we
+have it, is a recast of an orthodox work by a highly unorthodox editor."
+P. 175: "The Homilies are surely the work of a Catholic convert to
+Ebionitism, who thought he saw in the doctrine of the two powers the
+only tenable answer to Gnosticism. We can separate his Catholicism from
+his Ebionitism, just as surely as his Stoicism"). This is the opposite
+of the view expressed by me in the text. I consider Bigg's hypothesis
+well worth examining, and at first sight not improbable; but I am not
+able to enter into it here.
+
+
+[Footnote 403: The attitude of the recently discovered "Teaching of the
+twelve Apostles" is strictly universalistic, and hostile to Judaism as a
+nation, but shews us a Christianity still essentially uninfluenced by
+philosophic elements. The impression made by this fact has caused some
+scholars to describe the treatise as a document of Jewish Christianity.
+But the attitude of the Didache is rather the ordinary one of
+universalistic early Christianity on the soil of the Graeco-Roman world.
+If we describe this as Jewish Christian, then from the meaning which we
+must give to the words "Christian" and "Gentile Christian", we tacitly
+legitimise an undefined and undefinable aggregate of Greek ideas, along
+with a specifically Pauline element, as primitive Christianity, and this
+is perhaps not the intended, but yet desired, result of the false
+terminology. Now, if we describe even such writings as the Epistle of
+James and the Shepherd of Hermas as Jewish Christian, we therewith
+reduce the entire early Christianity, which is the creation of a
+universal religion on the soil of Judaism, to the special case of an
+indefinable religion. The same now appears as one of the particular
+values of a completely indeterminate magnitude. Hilgenfeld (Judenthum
+und Juden-christenthum, 1886; cf. also Ztschr f. wiss. Theol. 1886, II.
+4) advocates another conception of Jewish Christianity in opposition to
+the following account. Zahn, Gesch. des N.T-lich. Kanons, II. p. 668 ff.
+has a different view still.]
+
+[Footnote 404: Or even Ebionitism; the designations are to be used as
+synonymous.]
+
+[Footnote 405: The more rarely the right standard has been set up in the
+literature of Church history, for the distinction of Jewish
+Christianity, the more valuable are those writings in which it is found.
+We must refer, above all, to Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der
+Christl. Kirche, p. 44, note 7.]
+
+[Footnote 406: See Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1883. Col. 409 f. as to the attempt
+of Joel to make out that the whole of Christendom up to the end of the
+first century was strictly Jewish Christian, and to exhibit the complete
+friendship of Jews and Christians in that period ("Blicke in die
+Religionsgesch." 2 Abth. 1883). It is not improbable that Christians
+like James, living in strict accordance with the law, were for the time
+being respected even by the Pharisees in the period preceding the
+destruction of Jerusalem. But that can in no case have been the rule. We
+see from, Epiph., h. 29. 9. and from the Talmud, what was the custom at
+a later period.]
+
+[Footnote 407: There were Jewish Christians who represented the position
+of the great Church with reference to the Old Testament religion, and
+there were some who criticised the Old Testament like the Gnostics.
+Their contention may have remained as much an internal one, as that
+between the Church Fathers and Gnostics (Marcion) did, so far as Jewish
+Christianity is concerned. There may have been relations between Gnostic
+Jewish Christians and Gnostics, not of a national Jewish type, in Syria
+and Asia Minor, though we are completely in the dark on the matter.]
+
+[Footnote 408: From the mere existence of Jewish Christians, those
+Christians who rejected the Old Testament might have argued against the
+main body of Christendom and put before it the dilemma: either Jewish
+Christian or Marcionite. Still more logical indeed was the dilemma:
+either Jewish, or Marcionite Christian.]
+
+[Footnote 409: So did the Montanists and Antimontanists mutually
+reproach each other with Judaising (see the Montanist writings of
+Tertullian). Just in the same way the arrangements as to worship and
+organisation, which were ever being more richly developed, were
+described by the freer parties as Judaising, because they made appeal to
+the Old Testament, though, as regards their contents, they had little in
+common with Judaism. But is not the method of claiming Old Testament
+authority for the regulations rendered necessary by circumstances nearly
+as old as Christianity itself? Against whom the lost treatise of Clement
+of Alexandria "[Greek: kanon ekklesiastikos he pros tous Ioudaizontas]"
+(Euseb., H. E. VI. 13. 3) was directed, we cannot tell. But as we read,
+Strom., VI. 15, 125, that the Holy Scriptures are to be expounded
+according to the [Greek: ekklesiastikos kanon], and then find the
+following definition of the Canon: [Greek: kanon de ekklesiastikos he
+sunodia kai sumphonia nomon te kai propheton te kata ten tou kuriou
+parousian paradidomenei diathekei], we may conjecture that the Judaisers
+were those Christians, who, in principle, or to some extent, objected to
+the allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament. We have then to
+think either of Marcionite Christians or of "Chiliasts," that is, the
+old Christians who were still numerous in Egypt about the middle of the
+third century (see Dionys. Alex, in Euseb., H. E. VII. 24). In the first
+case, the title of the treatise would be paradoxical. But perhaps the
+treatise refers to the Quarto-decimans, although the expression [Greek:
+kanon ekklesiastikos] seems too ponderous for them (see, however, Orig.,
+Comm. in Matth. n. 76, ed. Delarue III. p. 895) Clement may possibly
+have had Jewish Christians before him. See Zahn, Forschungen, vol. III.
+p. 37 f.]
+
+[Footnote 410: Cases of this kind are everywhere, up to the fifth
+century, so numerous that they need not be cited. We may only remind the
+reader that the Nestorian Christology was described by its earliest and
+its latest opponents as Ebionitic.]
+
+[Footnote 411: Or were those western Christians Ebionitic who, in the
+fourth century still clung to very realistic Chiliastic hopes, who, in
+fact, regarded their Christianity as consisting in these?]
+
+[Footnote 412: The hellenising of Christianity went hand in hand with a
+more extensive use of the Old Testament; for, according to the
+principles of Catholicism, every new article of the Church system must
+be able to legitimise itself as springing from revelation. But, as a
+rule, the attestation could only be gathered from the Old Testament,
+since religion here appears in the fixed form of a secular community.
+Now the needs of a secular community for outward regulations gradually
+became so strong in the Church as to require palpable ceremonial rules.
+But it cannot be denied, that from a certain point of time, first by
+means of the fiction of Apostolic constitutions (see my edition of the
+Didache, Prolegg. p. 239 ff.), and then without this fiction, not,
+however, as a rule, without reservations, ceremonial regulations were
+simply taken over from the Old Testament. But this transference (See Bk.
+II.) takes place at a time when there can be absolutely no question of
+an influence of Jewish Christianity. Moreover, it always proves itself
+to be catholic by the fact that it did not in the least soften the
+traditional anti-Judaism. On the contrary, it attained its full growth
+in the age of Constantine. Finally, it should not be overlooked that at
+all times in antiquity, certain provincial churches were exposed to
+Jewish influences, especially in the East and in Arabia, that they were
+therefore threatened with being Judaised, or with apostasy to Judaism,
+and that even at the present day, certain Oriental Churches shew tokens
+of having once been subject to Jewish influences (see Serapion in Euseb,
+H. E. VI. 12. 1, Martyr. Pion., Epiph. de mens. et pond. 15. 18; my
+Texte u. Unters. I. 3. p. 73 f., and Wellhausen, Skizzen und
+Vorarbeiten, Part. 3. p. 197 ff.; actual disputations with Jews do not
+seem to have been common, though see Tertull. adv. Jud. and Orig. c.
+Cels. I. 45, 49, 55: II. 31. Clement also keeps in view Jewish
+objections.) This Jewish Christianity, if we like to call it so, which
+in some regions of the East was developed through an immediate influence
+of Judaism on Catholicism, should not, however, be confounded with the
+Jewish Christianity which is the most original form in which
+Christianity realised itself. This was no longer able to influence the
+Christianity which had shaken itself free from the Jewish nation (as to
+futile attempts, see below), any more than the protecting covering
+stripped from the new shoot, can ever again acquire significance for the
+latter.]
+
+[Footnote 413: What is called the ever-increasing legal feature of
+Gentile Christianity and the Catholic Church is conditioned by its
+origin, in so far as its theory is rooted in that of Judaism
+spiritualised and influenced by Hellenism. As the Pauline conception of
+the law never took effect and a criticism of the Old Testament religion
+which is just law neither understood nor ventured upon in the larger
+Christendom--the forms were not criticised, but the contents
+spiritualised--so the theory that Christianity is promise and spiritual
+law is to be regarded as the primitive one. Between the spiritual law
+and the national law there stand indeed ceremonial laws, which, without
+being spiritually interpreted, could yet be freed from the national
+application. It cannot be denied that the Gentile Christian communities
+and the incipient Catholic Church were very careful and reserved in
+their adoption of such laws from the Old Testament, and that the later
+Church no longer observed this caution. But still it is only a question
+of degree for there are many examples of that adoption in the earliest
+period of Christendom. The latter had no cause for hurry in utilizing
+the Old Testament so long as there was no external or internal policy or
+so long as it was still in embryo. The decisive factor lies here again
+in enthusiasm and not in changing theories. The basis for these was
+supplied from the beginning. But a community of individuals under
+spiritual excitement builds on this foundation something different from
+an association which wishes to organise and assert itself as such on
+earth. (The history of Sunday is specially instructive here, see Zahn,
+Gesch. des Sonntags, 1878, as well as the history of the discipline of
+fasting, see Linsenmayr, Entwickelung der Kirchl Fastendisciplin, 1877,
+and Die Abgabe des Zehnten. In general, Cf. Ritschl Entstehung der
+Altkath Kirche 2 edit. pp. 312 ff., 331 ff., 1 Cor. IX. 9, may be
+noted).]
+
+[Footnote 414: Justin. Apol. I. 53, Dial. 47, Euseb. H. E. IV. 5, Sulpic
+Sev. Hist. Sacr. II. 31, Cyrill. Catech. XIV. 15. Important testimonies
+in Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius and Jerome.]
+
+[Footnote 415: No Jewish Christian writings have been transmitted to us
+even from the earliest period, for the Apocalypse of John, which
+describes the Jews as a synagogue of Satan, is not a Jewish Christian
+book (III. 9 especially shews that the author knows of only one covenant
+of God, viz. that with the Christians). Jewish Christian sources lie at
+the basis of our synoptic Gospels, but none of them in their present
+form is a Jewish Christian writing. The Acts of the Apostles is so
+little Jewish Christian, its author seemingly so ignorant of Jewish
+Christianity, at least so unconcerned with regard to it that to him the
+spiritualised Jewish law, or Judaism as a religion which he connects as
+closely as possible with Christianity, is a factor already completely
+detached from the Jewish people (see Overbeck's Commentar z Apostelgesch
+and his discussion in the Ztschr f wiss. Theol. 1872 p. 305 ff.)
+Measured by the Pauline theology we may indeed, with Overbeck, say of
+the Gentile Christianity, as represented by the author of the Acts of
+the Apostles, that it already has germs of Judaism, and represents a
+falling off from Paulinism; but these expressions are not correct,
+because they have at least the appearance of making Paulinism the
+original form of Gentile Christianity. But as this can neither be proved
+nor believed, the religious attitude of the author of the Acts of the
+Apostles must have been a very old one in Christendom. The Judaistic
+element was not first introduced into Gentile Christianity by the
+opponents of Paul, who indeed wrought in the national sense, and there
+is even nothing to lead to the hypothesis that the common Gentile
+Christian view of the Old Testament and of the law should be conceived
+as resulting from the efforts of Paul and his opponents, for the
+consequent effect here would either have been null, or a strengthening
+of the Jewish Christian thesis. The Jewish element, that is the total
+acceptance of the Jewish religion _sub specie aeternitatis et Christi_,
+is simply the original Christianity of the Gentile Christians itself
+considered as theory. Contrary to his own intention, Paul was compelled
+to lead his converts to this Christianity, for only for such
+Christianity was "the time fulfilled" within the empire of the world.
+The Acts of the Apostles gives eloquent testimony to the pressing
+difficulties which under such circumstances stand in the way of a
+historical understanding of the Gentile Christians in view of the work
+and the theology of Paul. Even the Epistle to the Hebrews is not a
+Jewish Christian writing, but there is certainly a peculiar state of
+things connected with this document. For, on the one hand, the author
+and his readers are free from the law; a spiritual interpretation is
+given to the Old Testament religion, which makes it appear to be
+glorified and fulfilled in the work of Christ; and there is no mention
+of any prerogative of the people of Israel. But, on the other hand,
+because the spiritual interpretation, as in Paul, is here teleological,
+the author allows a temporary significance to the cultus as literally
+understood, and therefore, by his criticism he conserves the Old
+Testament religion for the past, while declaring that it was set aside,
+as regards the present, by the fulfilment of Christ. The teleology of
+the author, however, looks at everything only from the point of view of
+shadow and reality, an antithesis which is at the service of Paul also,
+but which in his case vanishes behind the antithesis of law and grace.
+This scheme of thought, which is to be traced back to a way of looking
+at things which arose in Christian Judaism, seeing that it really
+distinguishes between old and new, stands midway between the conception
+of the Old Testament religion entertained by Paul, and that of the
+common Gentile Christian as it is represented by Barnabas. The author of
+the Epistle to the Hebrews undoubtedly knows of a twofold covenant of
+God. But the two are represented as stages, so that the second is
+completely based on the first. This view was more likely to be
+understood by the Gentile Christians than the Pauline, that is, with
+some seemingly slight changes, to be recognised as their own. But even
+it at first fell to the ground, and it was only in the conflict with the
+Marcionites that some Church Fathers advanced to views which seem to be
+related to those of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Whether the author of
+this Epistle was a born Jew or a Gentile--in the former case he would
+far surpass the Apostle Paul in his freedom from the national claims--we
+cannot, at any rate, recognise in it a document containing a conception
+which still prizes the Jewish nationality in Christianity, nay, not even
+a document to prove that such a conception was still dangerous.
+Consequently, we have no Jewish Christian memorial in the New Testament
+at all, unless it be in the Pauline Epistles. But as concerns the early
+Christian literature outside the Canon, the fragments of the great work
+of Hegesippus are even yet by some investigators claimed for Jewish
+Christianity. Weizsaecker (Art "Hegesippus" in Herzog's R. E. 2 edit) has
+shewn how groundless this assumption is. That Hegesippus occupied the
+common Gentile Christian position is certain from unequivocal testimony
+of his own. If, as is very improbable, we were obliged to ascribe to him
+a rejection of Paul, we should have to refer to Eusebius, H. E. IV. 29.
+5. ([Greek: Seuerianoi blasphemountes Paulon ton apostolon athetousin
+autou tas epistolas mede tas praxeis ton apostolon katadechomenoi], but
+probably the Gospels; these Severians therefore, like Marcion,
+recognised the Gospel of Luke, but rejected the Acts of the Apostles),
+and Orig. c. Cels. V. 65: ([Greek: eisi gar tines haireseis tas Paulou
+epistolas tou apostolou me prosiemenai hosper Ebionaioi amphoteroi kai
+hoi kaloumenoi Enkratetai]). Consequently, our only sources of knowledge
+of Jewish Christianity in the post-Pauline period are merely the
+accounts of the Church Fathers, and some additional fragments (see the
+collection of fragments of the Ebionite Gospel and that to the Hebrews
+in Hilgenfeld, Nov. Test, extra can. rec. fasc. IV. Ed 2, and in Zahn,
+l. c. II. p 642 ff.). We know better, but still very imperfectly,
+certain forms of the syncretistic Jewish Christianity, from the
+Philosoph. of Hippolytus and the accounts of Epiphanius, who is
+certainly nowhere more incoherent than in the delineation of the Jewish
+Christians, because he could not copy original documents here, but was
+forced to piece together confused traditions with his own observations.
+See below on the extensive documents which are even yet as they stand,
+treated as records of Jewish Christianity, viz., the Pseudo-Clementines.
+Of the pieces of writing whose Jewish Christian origin is controverted,
+in so far as they may be simply Jewish, I say nothing.]
+
+[Footnote 416: As to the chief localities where Jewish Christians were
+found, see Zahn, Kanonsgesch. II. p. 648 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 417: Dialogue 47.]
+
+[Footnote 418: Yet it should be noted that the Christians who, according
+to Dial. 48, denied the pre-existence of Christ and held him to be a
+man, are described as Jewish Christians. We should read in the passage
+in question, as my recent comparison of the Parisian codex shews,
+[Greek: apo tou umeterou genous]. Yet Justin did not make this a
+controversial point of great moment.]
+
+[Footnote 419: The so-called Barnabas is considerably older than Justin.
+In his Epistle (4. 6) he has in view Gentile Christians who have been
+converted by Jewish Christians, when he utters a warning against those
+who say [Greek: hoti a diatheke ekeinon] (the Jews) [Greek: kai hemon
+(estin)]. But how great the actual danger was cannot be gathered from
+the Epistle. Ignatius in two Epistles (ad Magn. 8-10, ad Philad. 6. 9)
+opposes Jewish Christian intrigues, and characterises them solely from
+the point of view that they mean to introduce the Jewish observance of
+the law. He opposes them with a Pauline idea (Magn. 8 1: [Greek: ei gar
+mechri nun kata nomon. Ioudaismon zomen homologoumen charin me
+eilephenai]), as well as with the common Gentile Christian assumption
+that the prophets themselves had already lived [Greek: kata Christon].
+These Judaists must be strictly distinguished from the Gnostics whom
+Ignatius elsewhere opposes (against Zahn, Ignat. v. Ant. p. 356 f.). The
+dangers from this Jewish Christianity cannot have been very serious,
+even if we take Magn. 11. 1, as a phrase. There was an active Jewish
+community in Philadelphia (Rev. III. 9), and so Jewish Christian plots
+may have continued longer there. At the first look it seems very
+promising that in the old dialogue of Aristo of Pella, a Hebrew
+Christian, Jason, is put in opposition to the Alexandrian Jew, Papiscus.
+But as the history of the little book proves, this Jason must have
+essentially represented the common Christian and not the Ebionite
+conception of the Old Testament and its relation to the Gospel, etc; see
+my Texte u. Unters. I. 1 2. p. 115 ff.; I. 3 p. 115-130. Testimony as to
+an apostasy to Judaism is occasionally though rarely given; see Serapion
+in Euseb., H. E. VI. 12, who addresses a book to one Domninus, [Greek:
+ekpeptokota para ton tou diogmou kairon apo tes eis Christon pisteos epi
+ten Ioudaiken ethelothreskeian]; see also Acta Pionii, 13. 14. According
+to Epiphanius, de mens. et pond. 14, 15, Acquila, the translator of the
+Bible, was first a Christian and then a Jew. This account is perhaps
+derived from Origen, and is probably reliable. Likewise according to
+Epiphanius (l. c. 17. 18), Theodotion was first a Marcionite and then a
+Jew. The transition from Marcionitism to Judaism (for extremes meet) is
+not in itself incredible.]
+
+[Footnote 420: It follows from c. Cels II. 1-3, that Celsus could hardly
+have known Jewish Christians.]
+
+[Footnote 421: Iren. I. 26. 2; III 11. 7; III. 15. 1, 21. 1; IV. 33. 4;
+V. 1. 3. We first find the name Ebionaei, the poor, in Irenaeus. We are
+probably entitled to assume that this name was given to the Christians
+in Jerusalem as early as the Apostolic age, that is, they applied it to
+themselves (poor in the sense of the prophets and of Christ, fit to be
+received into the Messianic kingdom). It is very questionable whether we
+should put any value on Epiph. h. 30. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 422: When Irenaeus adduces as the points of distinction between
+the Church and the Ebionites, that besides observing the law and
+repudiating the Apostle Paul, the latter deny the Divinity of Christ and
+his birth from the Virgin, and reject the New Testament Canon (except
+the Gospel of Matthew), that only proves that the formation of dogma has
+made progress in the Church. The less was known of the Ebionites from
+personal observation, the more confidently they were made out to be
+heretics who denied the Divinity of Christ and rejected the Canon. The
+denial of the Divinity of Christ and the birth from the Virgin was, from
+the end of the second century, regarded as the Ebionite heresy _par
+excellence_, and the Ebionites themselves appeared to the Western
+Christians, who obtained their information solely from the East, to be a
+school like those of the Gnostics, founded by a scoundrel named Ebion
+for the purpose of dragging down the person of Jesus to the common
+level. It is also mentioned incidentally, that this Ebion had commanded
+the observance of circumcision and the Sabbath; but that is no longer
+the main thing (see Tertull, de carne 14, 18, 24: de virg. vel. 6: de
+praescr. 10. 33; Hippol, Syntagma, (Pseudo-Tertull, 11; Philastr. 37;
+Epiph. h. 30); Hippol, Philos. VII. 34. The latter passage contains the
+instructive statement that Jesus by his perfect keeping of the law
+became the Christ). This attitude of the Western Christians proves that
+they no longer knew Jewish Christian communities. Hence it is all the
+more strange that Hilgenfeld (Ketzergesch. p. 422 ff.) has in all
+earnestness endeavoured to revive the Ebion of the Western Church
+Fathers.]
+
+[Footnote 423: See Orig. c. Cels II. 1; V. 61, 65; de princip. IV. 22;
+hom. in Genes. III. 15 (Opp. II. p. 65); hom. in Jerem XVII. 12 (III. p.
+254); in Matth. T. XVI. 12 (III. p. 494), T. XVII. 12 (III. p. 733); cf.
+Opp. III. p. 895; hom in XVII. (III. p. 952). That a portion of the
+Ebionites recognised the birth from the Virgin was according to Origen
+frequently attested. That was partly reckoned to them for righteousness
+and partly not, because they would not admit the pre-existence of
+Christ. The name "Ebionites" is interpreted as a nickname given them by
+the Church ("beggarly" in the knowledge of scripture, and particularly
+of Christology).]
+
+[Footnote 424: Eusebius knows no more than Origen (H. E. III. 27),
+unless we specially credit him with the information that the Ebionites
+keep along with the Sabbath also the Sunday. What he says of Symmachus,
+the translator of the Bible, and an Ebionite, is derived from Origen (H.
+E. VI. 17). The report is interesting, because it declares that
+Symmachus _wrote_ against Catholic Christianity, especially against the
+Catholic Gospel of Matthew (about the year 200). But Symmachus is to be
+classed with the Gnostics, and not with the common type of Jewish
+Christianity (see below). We have also to thank Eusebius (H. E. III. 5.
+3) for the information that the Christians of Jerusalem fled to Pella,
+in Peraea, before the destruction of that city. In the following period
+the most important settlements of the Ebionites must have been in the
+countries east of the Jordan, and in the heart of Syria (see Jul. Afric.
+in Euseb. H. E. I. 7. 14; Euseb. de loc. hebr. in Lagarde, Onomast p.
+301; Epiph., h. 29. 7; h. 30. 2). This fact explains how the bishops in
+Jerusalem and the coast towns of Palestine came to see very little of
+them. There was a Jewish Christian community in Beroea with which Jerome
+had relations (Jerom., de Vir inl 3).]
+
+[Footnote 425: Jerome correctly declares (Ep. ad. August. 122 c. 13,
+Opp. I. p. 746), "(Ebionitae) credentes in Christo propter hoc solum a
+patribus anathematizati sunt, quod legis caeremonias Christi evangelio
+miscuerunt, et sic nova confessi sunt, ut vetera non omitterent."]
+
+[Footnote 426: Ep. ad August. l. c.: "Quid dicam de Hebionitis, qui
+Christianos esse se simulant? usque hodie per totas orientis synagogas
+inter Judaeos(!) haeresis est, que dicitur Minaeorum et a Pharisaeis nunc
+usque damnatur, quos vulgo Nazaraeos nuncupant, qui credunt in Christum
+filium dei natum de Virgine Maria et eum dicunt esse, qui sub pontio
+Pilato passus est et resurrexit, in quem et nos credimus; sed dum volunt
+et Judaei esse et Christiani, nec Judaei sunt nec Christiani." The
+approximation of the Jewish Christian conception to that of the
+Catholics shews itself also in their exposition of Isaiah IX. 1. f. (see
+Jerome on the passage). But we must not forget that there were such
+Jewish Christians from the earliest times. It is worthy of note that the
+name Nazarenes, as applied to Jewish Christians, is found in the Acts of
+the Apostles XXIV. 5, in the Dialogue of Jason and Papiscus, and then
+first again in Jerome.]
+
+[Footnote 427: Zahn, l. c. p. 648 ff. 668 ff. has not convinced me of
+the contrary, but I confess that Jerome's style of expression is not
+everywhere clear.]
+
+[Footnote 428: Zahn, (l. c.) makes a sharp distinction between the
+Nazarenes, on the one side, who used the Gospel of the Hebrews,
+acknowledged the birth from the Virgin, and in fact the higher
+Christology to some extent, did not repudiate Paul, etc., and the
+Ebionites on the other, whom he simply identifies with the Gnostic
+Jewish Christians, if I am not mistaken. In opposition to this, I think
+I must adhere to the distinction as given above in the text and in the
+following: (1) Non-Gnostic, Jewish Christians (Nazarenes, Ebionites) who
+appeared in various shades, according to their doctrine and attitude to
+the Gentile Church, and whom, with the Church Fathers, we may
+appropriately classify as strict or tolerant (exclusive or liberal). (2)
+Gnostic or syncretistic Judaeo-Christians who are also termed Ebionites.]
+
+[Footnote 429: This Gospel no doubt greatly interested the scholars of
+the Catholic Church from Clement of Alexandria onwards. But they have
+almost all contrived to evade the hard problem which it presented. It
+may be noted, incidentally, that the Gospel of the Hebrews, to judge
+from the remains preserved to us, can neither have been the model nor
+the translation of our Matthew, but a work independent of this, though
+drawing from the same sources, representing perhaps to some extent an
+earlier stage of the tradition. Jerome also knew very well that the
+Gospel of the Hebrews was not the original of the canonical Matthew, but
+he took care not to correct the old prejudice. Ebionitic conceptions,
+such as that of the female nature of the Holy Spirit, were of course
+least likely to convince the Church Fathers. Moreover, the common Jewish
+Christians hardly possessed a Church theology, because for them
+Christianity was something entirely different from the doctrine of a
+school. On the Gospel of the Hebrews, see Handmann (Texte u. Unters V.
+3), Resch, Agrapha (I. c. V. 4), and Zahn, 1. c. p. 642 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 430: We have as yet no history of the sacrificial system, and
+the views as to sacrifice in the Graeco-Roman epoch, of the Jewish
+Nation. It is urgently needed.]
+
+[Footnote 431: We may remind readers of the assumptions, that the world
+was created by angels, that the law was given by angels, and similar
+ones which are found in the theology of the Pharisees Celsus (in Orig.
+I. 26; V. 6) asserts generally that the Jews worshipped angels, so does
+the author of the Praedicatio Petri, as well as the apologist Aristides.
+Cf Joel, Blicke in die Religionsgesch I. Abth, a book which is certainly
+to be used with caution (see Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1881. Coll. 184 ff.).]
+
+[Footnote 432: No reliance can be placed on Jewish sources, or on Jewish
+scholars, as a rule. What we find in Joel, l. c. I. Abth. p. 101 ff. is
+instructive. We may mention Graetz, Gnosticismus und Judenthum
+(Krotoschin, 1846), who has called attention to the Gnostic elements in
+the Talmud, and dealt with several Jewish Gnostics and Antignostics, as
+well as with the book of Jezira. Graetz assumes that the four main
+dogmatic points in the book Jezira, viz., the strict unity of the deity,
+and, at the same time, the negation of the demiurgic dualism, the
+creation out of nothing with the negation of matter, the systematic
+unity of the world and the balancing of opposites, were directed against
+prevailing Gnostic ideas.]
+
+[Footnote 433: We may pass over the false teachers of the Pastoral
+Epistles, as they cannot be with certainty determined, and the
+possibility is not excluded that we have here to do with an arbitrary
+construction; see Holtzman, Pastoralbriefe, p. 150 f.]
+
+[Footnote 434: Orig. in Euseb. VI. 38; Hippol., Philos. IX. 13 ff., X.
+29; Epiph., h. 30, also h. 19, 53; Method, Conviv. VIII. 10. From the
+confused account of Epiphanius who called the common Jewish Christians
+Nazarenes, the Gnostic type Ebionites and Sampsaei, and their Jewish
+forerunners Osseni, we may conclude, that in many regions where there
+were Jewish Christians they yielded to the propaganda of the Elkesaite
+doctrines, and that in the fourth century there was no other
+syncretistic Jewish Christianity besides the various shades of
+Elkesaites.]
+
+[Footnote 435: I formerly reckoned Symmachus, the translator of the
+Bible, among the common Jewish Christians; but the statements of
+Victorinus Rhetor on Gal. I. 19. II. 26 (Migne T. VIII. Col. 1155, 1162)
+shew that he has a close affinity with the Pseudo-Clementines, and is
+also to be classed with the Elkesaite Alcibiades. "Nam Jacobum apostolum
+Symmachiani faciunt quasi duodecimum et hunc secuntur, qui ad dominum
+nostrum Jesum Christum adjungunt Judaismi observationem, quamquam etiam
+Jesum Christum fatentur; dicunt enim eum ipsum Adam esse et esse animam
+generalem, et aliae hujusmodi blasphemiae." The account given by Eusebius,
+H. E. VI. 17 (probably on the authority of Origen, see also Demonstr.
+VII. I) is important: [Greek: Ton ge men hermeneuton auton de touton
+histeon, Ebionaion ton Summachon gegonenai ... kai hupomnemata de tou
+Summachou eiseti nun pheretai, hen ois dokei pros to kata Matuaion
+apoteinomenos euaggelion ten dedelomenen airesin kratunein.] Symmachus
+therefore adopted an aggressive attitude towards the great Church, and
+hence we may probably class him with Alcibiades who lived a little
+later. Common Jewish Christianity was no longer aggressive in the second
+century.]
+
+[Footnote 436: Wellhausen (l. c. Part III. p. 206) supposes that Elkesai
+is equivalent to Alexius. That the receiver of the "book" was a
+historical person is manifest from Epiphanius' account of his
+descendants (h. 19. 2; 53. 1). From Hipp, Philosoph. IX. 16, p. 468, it
+is certainly probable, though not certain, that the book was produced by
+the unknown author as early as the time of Trajan. On the other hand,
+the existence of the sect itself can be proved only at the beginning of
+the third century, and therefore we have the possibility of an
+ante-dating of the "book." This seems to have been Origen's opinion.]
+
+[Footnote 437: Epiph. (h. 53. 1) says of the Elkesaites: [Greek: oute
+christianoi huparchontes oute Ioudaioi oute Ellenes, alla meson aplos
+uparchontes.] He pronounces a similar judgment as to the Samaritan sects
+(Simonians), and expressly (h. 30. 1) connects the Elkesaites with
+them.]
+
+[Footnote 438: The worship paid to the descendants of this Elkesai,
+spoken of by Epiphanius, does not, if we allow for exaggerations, go
+beyond the measure of honour which was regularly paid to the descendants
+of prophets and men of God in the East. Cf. the respect enjoyed by the
+blood relations of Jesus and Mohammed.]
+
+[Footnote 439: If the "book" really originated in the time of Trajan,
+then its production keeps within the frame-work of common Christianity,
+for at that time there were appearing everywhere in Christendom revealed
+books which contained new instructions and communications of grace. The
+reader may be reminded, for example, of the Shepherd of Hermas. When the
+sect declared that the "book" was delivered to Elkesai by a male and a
+female angel, each as large as a mountain, that these angels were the
+Son of God and the Holy Spirit, etc., we have, apart from the fantastic
+colouring, nothing extraordinary.]
+
+[Footnote 440: It may be assumed from Philos. X. 29, that, in the
+opinion of Hippolytus, the Elkesaites identified the Christ from above
+with the Son of God, and assumed that this Christ appeared on earth in
+changing and purely human forms, and will appear again ([Greek: auton
+metangizomenon en somasi pollois pollakis, kai nun de en to Iesou,
+homoios pote men ek tou theou gegenesthai, pote de pneuma gegonenai,
+pote de ek parthenou, pote de ou kai toutou de metepeita aei en somati
+metangizesthai kai en pollois kata kairous deiknusthai]). As the
+Elkesaites (see the account by Epiphanius) traced back the incarnations
+of Christ to Adam, and not merely to Abraham, we may see in this view of
+history the attempt to transform Mosaism into the universal religion.
+But the Pharisitic theology had already begun with these
+Adam-speculations, which are always a sign that the religion in Judaism
+is feeling its limits too narrow. The Jews in Alexandria were also
+acquainted with these speculations.]
+
+[Footnote 441: In the Gospel of these Jewish Christians Jesus is made to
+say (Epiph. h. 30. 16) [Greek: elthon katalusai tas thusias, kai ean me
+pausesthe tou thuein, ou pausetai aph' humon he orge]. We see the
+essential progress of this Jewish Christianity within Judaism, in the
+opposition in principle to the whole sacrificial service (vid. also
+Epiph., h. 19. 3).]
+
+[Footnote 442: On this new Gospel see Zahn, Kanongesch II. p. 724 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 443: It is incorrect to suppose that the lustrations were
+meant to take the place of baptism, or were conceived by these Jewish
+Christians as repeated baptisms. Their effect was certainly equal to
+that of baptism. But it is nowhere hinted in our authorities that they
+were on that account made equivalent to the regular baptism.]
+
+[Footnote 444: The characteristic here, as in the Gentile Christian
+Gnosis, is the division of the person of Jesus into a more or less
+indifferent medium, and into the Christ. Here the factor constituting
+his personality could sometimes be placed in that medium, and sometimes
+in the Christ spirit, and thus contradictory formulae could not but
+arise. It is therefore easy to conceive how Epiphanius reproaches these
+Jewish Christians with a denial, sometimes of the Divinity, and
+sometimes of the humanity of Christ (see h. 30. 14).]
+
+[Footnote 445: This syncretistic Judaism had indeed a significance for
+the history of the world, not, however, in the history of Christianity,
+but for the origin of Islam. Islam, as a religious system, is based
+partly on syncretistic Judaism (including the Zabians, so enigmatic in
+their origin), and, without questioning Mohammed's originality, can only
+be historically understood by taking this into account. I have
+endeavoured to establish this hypothesis in a lecture printed in MS
+form, 1877. Cf. now the conclusive proofs in Wellhausen, l. c. Part III.
+p. 197-212. On the Mandeans, see Brandt, Die Mandaeische Religion, 1889;
+(also Wellhausen in d. deutschen Lit. Ztg., 1890 No. 1. Lagarde i. d.
+Goett. Gel. Anz., 1890, No. 10).]
+
+[Footnote 446: See Bestmann, Gesch. der Christl. Sitte Bd. II. 1 Part:
+Die juden-christliche Sitte, 1883; also, Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1883. Col. 269
+ff. The same author, Der Ursprung des Katholischen Christenthums und des
+Islams, 1884; also Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1884, Col. 291 ff.]
+
+[Footnote 447: See Schliemann, Die Clementinen etc. 1844; Hilgenfeld,
+Die Clementinischen Recogn. u. Homil, 1848; Ritschl, in d Allg
+Monatschrift f. Wissensch. u. Litt., 1852. Uhlhorn, Die Homil. u.
+Recogn., 1854; Lehmann, Die Clement. Schriften, 1869; Lipsius, in d.
+Protest. K. Ztg., 1869, p. 477 ff.; Quellen der Roemische Petrussage,
+1872. Uhlhorn, in Herzog's R. Encykl. (Clementinen) 2 Edit. III. p. 286,
+admits: "There can be no doubt that the Clementine question still
+requires further discussion. It can hardly make any progress worth
+mentioning until we have collected better the material, and especially
+till we have got a corrected edition with an exhaustive commentary." The
+theory of the genesis, contents and aim of the pseudo-Clementine
+writings, unfolded by Renan (Orig. T. VII. p. 74-101) is essentially
+identical with that of German scholars. Langen (die Clemensromane, 1890)
+has set up very bold hypotheses, which are also based on the assumption
+that Jewish Christianity was an important church factor in the second
+century, and that the pseudo-Clementines are comparatively old
+writings.]
+
+[Footnote 448: There is no external evidence for placing the
+pseudo-Clementine writings in the second century. The oldest witness is
+Origen (IV. p. 401, Lommatzsch); but the quotation: "Quoniam opera bona,
+quae fiunt ab infidelibus, in hoc saeculo iis prosunt," etc., is not found
+in our Clementines, so that Origen appears to have used a still older
+version. The internal evidence all points to the third century (canon,
+composition, theological attitude, etc.) Moreover, Zahn (Goett. Gel. Anz.
+1876. No. 45) and Lagarde have declared themselves in favour of this
+date; while Lipsius (Apokr. Apostelgesch II. 1) and Weingarten
+(Zeittafeln, 3 Edit. p. 23) have recently expressed the same opinion.
+The Homilies presuppose (1) Marcion's Antitheses, (2) Apelles'
+Syllogisms, (3) perhaps Callistus' edict about penance (see III. 70),
+and writings of Hippolytus (see also the expression [Greek: episkopos
+episkopon], Clem. ep. ad Jacob I, which is first found in Tertull, de
+pudic I.) (4) The most highly developed form of polemic against heathen
+mythology. (5) The complete development of church apologetics, as well
+as the conviction that Christianity is identical with correct and
+absolute knowledge. They further presuppose a time when there was a lull
+in the persecution of Christians, for the Emperor, though pretty often
+referred to, is never spoken of as a persecutor, and when the cultured
+heathen world was entirely disposed in favour of an eclectic monotheism.
+Moreover, the remarkable Christological statement in Hom. XVI. 15, 16.
+points to the third century, in fact probably even presupposes the
+theology of Origen; Cf. the sentence: [Greek: tou patros to me
+gegennesthai estin, huiou de to gegennesthai genneton de agenneto e kai
+autogenneto ou sunkrinetai.] Finally, the decided repudiation of the
+awakening of Christian faith by visions and dreams, and the polemic
+against these is also no doubt of importance for determining the date;
+see XVII. 14-19. Peter says, Sec. 18: [Greek: to adidaktos aneu optasias
+kai oneiron mathein apokalupsis estin], he had already learned that at
+his confession (Matt. XVI.). The question, [Greek: ei tis di optasian
+pros didaskalian sophisthenai dunatai], is answered in the negative, Sec.
+19.]
+
+[Footnote 449: This is also acknowledged in Koffmane. Die Gnosis, etc,
+p. 33].
+
+[Footnote 450: The Homilies, as we have them, are mainly composed of the
+speeches of Peter and others. These speeches oppose polytheism,
+mythology and the doctrine of demons, and advocate monotheism, ascetic
+morality and rationalism. The polemic against Simon Magus almost appears
+as a mere accessory.]
+
+[Footnote 451: This distinction can also be shewn elsewhere in the
+Church of the third century. But I confess I do not know how Catholic
+circles got over the fact that, for example, in the third book of the
+Homilies many passages of the old Testament are simply characterised as
+untrue, immoral and lying. Here the Homilies remind one strongly of the
+Syllogisms of Apelles, the author of which, in other respects, opposed
+them in the interest of his doctrine of creating angels. In some
+passages the Christianity of the Homilies really looks like a syncretism
+composed of the common Christianity, the Jewish Christianity,
+Gnosticism, and the criticism of Apelles. Hom. VIII. 6-8 is also highly
+objectionable.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I.
+
+_On the Conception of Pre-existence._
+
+
+On account of the importance of the question we may be here permitted to
+amplify a few hints given in Chap. II., Sec. 4, and elsewhere, and to draw
+a clearer distinction between the Jewish and Hellenic conceptions of
+pre-existence.
+
+According to the theory held by the ancient Jews and by the whole of the
+Semitic nations, everything of real value, that from time to time
+appears on earth has its existence in heaven. In other words it exists
+with God, that is, God possesses a knowledge of it; and for that reason
+it has a real being. But it exists beforehand with God in the same way
+as it appears on earth, that is with all the material attributes
+belonging to its essence. Its manifestation on earth is merely a
+transition from concealment to publicity ([Greek: Phanerousthai]). In
+becoming visible to the senses, the object in question assumes no
+attribute that it did not already possess with God. Hence its material
+nature is by no means an inadequate expression of it, nor is it a second
+nature added to the first. The truth rather is that what was in heaven
+before is now revealing itself upon earth, without any sort of
+alteration taking place in the process. There is no _assumptio naturae
+novae_, and no change or mixture. The old Jewish theory of pre-existence
+is founded on the religious idea of the omniscience and omnipotence of
+God, that God to whom the events of history do not come as a surprise,
+but who guides their course. As the whole history of the world and the
+destiny of each individual are recorded on his tablets or books, so also
+each thing is ever present before him. The decisive contrast is between
+God and the creature. In designating the latter as "foreknown" by God,
+the primary idea is not to ennoble the creature, but rather to bring to
+light the wisdom and power of God. The ennobling of created things by
+attributing to them a pre-existence is a secondary result (see below).
+
+According to the Hellenic conception, which has become associated with
+Platonism, the idea of pre-existence is independent of the idea of God;
+it is based on the conception of the contrast between spirit and matter,
+between the infinite and finite, found in the cosmos itself. In the case
+of all spiritual beings, life in the body or flesh is at bottom an
+inadequate and unsuitable condition, for the spirit is eternal, the
+flesh perishable. But the pre-temporal existence, which was only a
+doubtful assumption as regards ordinary spirits, was a matter of
+certainty in the case of the higher and purer ones. They lived in an
+upper world long before this earth was created, and they lived there as
+spirits without the "polluted garment of the flesh." Now if they
+resolved for some reason or other to appear in this finite world, they
+cannot simply become visible, for they have no "visible form." They must
+rather "assume flesh", whether they throw it about them as a covering,
+or really make it their own by a process of transformation or mixture.
+In all cases--and here the speculation gave rise to the most exciting
+problems--the body is to them something inadequate which they cannot
+appropriate without adopting certain measures of precaution, but this
+process may indeed pass through all stages, from a mere seeming
+appropriation to complete union. The characteristics of the Greek ideas
+of pre-existence may consequently be thus expressed. First, the objects
+in question to which pre-existence is ascribed are meant to be ennobled
+by this attribute. Secondly, these ideas have no relation to God.
+Thirdly, the material appearance is regarded as something inadequate.
+Fourthly, speculations about _phantasma_, _assumptio naturae humanae_,
+_transmutatio_, _mixtura_, _duae naturae_, etc., were necessarily
+associated with these notions.
+
+We see that these two conceptions are as wide apart as the poles. The
+first has a religious origin, the second a cosmological and
+psychological, the first glorifies God, the second the created spirit.
+
+However, not only does a certain relationship in point of form exist
+between these speculations, but the Jewish conception is also found in a
+shape which seems to approximate still more to the Greek one.
+
+Earthly occurrences and objects are not only regarded as "foreknown" by
+God before being seen in this world, but the latter manifestation is
+frequently considered as the copy of the existence and nature which they
+possess in heaven, and which remains unalterably the same, whether they
+appear upon earth or not. That which is before God experiences no
+change. As the destinies of the world are recorded in the books, and God
+reads them there, it being at the same time a matter of indifference, as
+regards this knowledge of his, when and how they are accomplished upon
+earth, so the Tabernacle and its furniture, the Temple, Jerusalem, etc.,
+are before God, and continue to exist before him in heaven, even during
+their appearance on earth and after it.
+
+This conception seems really to have been the oldest one. Moses is to
+fashion the Temple and its furniture according to the pattern he saw on
+the Mount (Exod. XXV. 9. 40; XXVI. 30; XXVII. 8; Num. VIII. 4). The
+Temple and Jerusalem exist in heaven, and they are to be distinguished
+from the earthly Temple and the earthly Jerusalem; yet the ideas of a
+[Greek: Phanerousthai] of the thing which is in heaven and of its copy
+appearing on earth, shade into one another and are not always clearly
+separated.
+
+The classing of things as original and copy was at first no more meant
+to glorify them than was the conception of a pre-existence they
+possessed within the knowledge of God. But since the view which in
+theory was true of everything earthly, was, as is naturally to be
+expected, applied in practice to nothing but valuable objects--for
+things common and ever recurring give no impulse to such
+speculations--the objects thus contemplated were ennobled, because they
+were raised above the multitude of the commonplace. At the same time the
+theory of original and copy could not fail to become a starting-point
+for new speculations, as soon as the contrast between the spiritual and
+material began to assume importance among the Jewish people.
+
+That took place under the influence of the Greek spirit; and was perhaps
+also the simultaneous result of an intellectual or moral development
+which arose independently of that spirit. Accordingly, a highly
+important advance in the old ideas of pre-existence appeared in the
+Jewish theological literature belonging to the time of the Maccabees and
+the following decades. To begin with, these conceptions are now applied
+to persons, which, so far as I know, was not the case before this
+(individualism). Secondly, the old distinction of original and copy is
+now interpreted to mean that the copy is the inferior and more
+imperfect, that in the present aeon of the transient it cannot be
+equivalent to the original, and that we must therefore look forward to
+the time when the original itself will make its appearance, (contrast of
+the material and finite and the spiritual).
+
+With regard to the first point, we have not only to consider passages in
+Apocalypses and other writings in which pre-existence is attributed to
+Moses, the patriarchs, etc., (see above, p. 102), but we must, above
+all, bear in mind utterances like Ps. CXXXIX. 15, 16. The individual
+saint soars upward to the thought that the days of his life are in the
+book of God, and that he himself was before God, whilst he was still
+un-perfect. But, and this must not be overlooked, it was not merely his
+spiritual part that was before God, for there is not the remotest idea
+of such a distinction, but the whole man, although he is [Hebrew:
+bashar] (flesh).
+
+As regards the second point, the distinction between a heavenly and an
+earthly Jerusalem, a heavenly and an earthly Temple, etc., is
+sufficiently known from the Apocalypses and the New Testament. But the
+important consideration is that the sacred things of earth were regarded
+as objects of less value, instalments, as it were, pending the
+fulfilment of the whole promise. The desecration and subsequent
+destruction of sacred things must have greatly strengthened this idea.
+The hope of the heavenly Jerusalem comforted men for the desecration or
+loss of the earthly one. But this gave at the same time the most
+powerful impulse to reflect whether it was not an essential feature of
+this temporal state, that everything high and holy in it could only
+appear in a meagre and inadequate form. Thus the transition to Greek
+ideas was brought about. The fulness of the time had come when the old
+Jewish ideas, with a slightly mythological colouring, could amalgamate
+with the ideal creations of Hellenic philosophers.
+
+These, however, are also the general conditions which gave rise to the
+earliest Jewish speculations about a personal Messiah, except that, in
+the case of the Messianic ideas within Judaism itself, the adoption of
+specifically Greek thoughts, so far as I am able to see, cannot be made
+out.
+
+Most Jews, as Trypho testifies in Justin's Dialogue, 49, conceived the
+Messiah as a man. We may indeed go a step further and say that no Jew at
+bottom imagined him otherwise; for even those who attached ideas of
+pre-existence to him, and gave the Messiah a supernatural background,
+never advanced to speculations about assumption of the flesh,
+incarnation, two natures and the like. They only transferred in specific
+manner to the Messiah the old idea of pre-terrestrial existence with
+God, universally current among the Jews. Before the creation of the
+world the Messiah was hidden with God, and, when the time is fulfilled,
+he makes his appearance. This is neither an incarnation nor a
+humiliation, but he appears on earth as he exists before God, viz., as a
+mighty and just king, equipped with all gifts. The writings in which
+this thought appears most clearly are the Apocalypse of Enoch (Book of
+Similitudes, Chap. 46-49) and the Apocalypse of Esra (Chap. 12-14).
+Support to this idea, if anything more of the kind had been required,
+was lent by passages like Daniel VII. 13 f. and Micah, V. 1. Nowhere do
+we find in Jewish writings a conception which advances beyond the notion
+that the Messiah is the man who is with God in heaven; and who will make
+his appearance at his own time. We are merely entitled to say that, as
+the same idea was not applied to all persons with the same certainty, it
+was almost unavoidable that men's minds should have been led to
+designate the Messiah as the man from heaven. This thought was adopted
+by Paul (see below), but I know of no _Jewish_ writing which gave clear
+expression to it.
+
+Jesus Christ designated himself as the Messiah, and the first of his
+disciples who recognised him as such were native Jews. The Jewish
+conceptions of the Messiah consequently passed over into the Christian
+community. But they received an impulse to important modifications from
+the living impression conveyed by the person and destiny of Jesus. Three
+facts were here of pre-eminent importance. First, Jesus appeared in
+lowliness, and even suffered death. Secondly, he was believed to be
+exalted through the resurrection to the right hand of God, and his
+return in glory was awaited with certainty. Thirdly, the strength of a
+new life and of an indissoluble union with God was felt issuing from
+him, and therefore his people were connected with him in the closest
+way.
+
+In some old Christian writings found in the New Testament and emanating
+from the pen of native Jews, there are no speculations at all about the
+pre-temporal existence of Jesus as the Messiah, or they are found
+expressed in a manner which simply embodies the old Jewish theory and is
+merely distinguished from it by the emphasis laid on the exaltation of
+Jesus after death through the resurrection. 1. Pet. I. 18 ff. is a
+classic passage: [Greek: elutrothete timio haimati hos amnou amomou kai
+aspilou Christou, proegnosmenou men pro kataboles kosmou, phanerothentos
+de ep' eschatou ton chronon di' humas tous di autou pistous eis theon
+ton egeiranta autou ek nekron kai doxan auto donta, hoste ten pistin
+humon kai elpida einai eis theon]. Here we find a conception of the
+pre-existence of Christ which is not yet affected by cosmological or
+psychological speculation, which does not overstep the boundaries of a
+purely religious contemplation, and which arose from the Old Testament
+way of thinking, and the living impression derived from the person of
+Jesus. He is "foreknown (by God) before the creation of the world", not
+as a spiritual being without a body, but as a Lamb without blemish and
+without spot; in other words, his whole personality together with the
+work which it was to carry out, was within God's eternal knowledge. He
+"was manifested in these last days for our sake", that is, he is now
+visibly what he already was before God. What is meant here is not an
+incarnation, but a _revelatio_. Finally, he appeared in order that our
+faith and hope should now be firmly directed to the living God, _that_
+God who raised him from the dead and gave him honour. In the last clause
+expression is given to the specifically Christian thought, that the
+Messiah Jesus was _exalted_ after crucifixion and death: from this,
+however, no further conclusions are drawn.
+
+But it was impossible that men should everywhere rest satisfied with
+these utterances, for the age was a theological one. Hence the paradox
+of the suffering Messiah, the certainty of his glorification through the
+resurrection, the conviction of his specific relationship to God, and
+the belief in the real union of his Church with him did not seem
+adequately expressed by the simple formulae [Greek: proegnosmenos,
+phanerotheis]. In reference to all these points, we see even in the
+oldest Christian writings, the appearance of formulae which fix more
+precisely the nature of his pre-existence, or in other words his
+heavenly existence. With regard to the first and second points there
+arose the view of humiliation and exaltation, such as we find in Paul
+and in numerous writings after him. In connection with the third point
+the concept "Son of God" was thrust into the foreground, and gave rise
+to the idea of the image of God (2 Cor. IV. 4; Col. I. 15; Heb. I. 2;
+Phil. II. 6). The fourth point gave occasion to the formation of theses,
+such as we find in Rom. VIII. 29: [Greek: prototokos en pollois
+adelphois], Col. I. 18: [Greek: prototokos ek ton nekron] (Rev. I. 5),
+Eph. II. 6 [Greek: sunegeiren kai sunekathisen en tois epouraniois hemas
+en Christo Iesou], I. 4: [Greek: ho theos exelexato hemas en Christo pro
+kataboles kosmou], I. 22: [Greek: ho theos edoken ton Christon kephalen
+huper panta te ekklesia hetis estin to soma autou] etc. This purely
+religious view of the Church, according to which all that is predicated
+of Christ is also applied to his followers, continued a considerable
+time. Hermas declares that the Church is older than the world, and that
+the world was created for its sake (see above, p. 103), and the author
+of the so-called 2nd Epistle of Clement declares (Chap. 14) [Greek: ...
+esometha ek tes ekklesias tes protes tes pneumatikes, tes pro heliou kai
+selenes hektismenes ... ouk oiomai de humas agnoein, hoti ekklesia zosa
+soma esti Christou. legei gar hegraphe. Epoiesen ho theos ton anthropon
+arsen kai thelu. to arsen estin ho Christos to thelu he ekklesia.] Thus
+Christ and his Church are inseparably connected. The latter is to be
+conceived as pre-existent quite as much as the former; the Church was
+also created before the sun and the moon, for the world was created for
+its sake. This conception of the Church illustrates a final group of
+utterances about the pre-existent Christ, the origin of which might
+easily be misinterpreted unless we bear in mind their reference to the
+Church. In so far as he is [Greek: proegnosmenos pro kataboles kosmou],
+he is the [Greek: arche tes ktiseos tou theou] (Rev. III. 14), the
+[Greek: prototokos pases ktiseos] etc. According to the current
+conception of the time, these expressions mean exactly the same as the
+simple [Greek: proegnosmenos pro kataboles kosmou], as is proved by the
+parallel formulae referring to the Church. Nay, even the further advance
+to the idea that the world was created by him (Cor. Col. Eph. Heb.) need
+not yet necessarily be a [Greek: metabasis eis allo genos]; for the
+beginning of things [Greek: arche] and their purpose form the real force
+to which their origin is due (principle [Greek: arche]). Hermas indeed
+calls the Church older than the world simply because "the world was
+created for its sake."
+
+All these further theories which we have quoted up to this time need in
+no sense alter the original conception, so long as they appear in an
+isolated form and do not form the basis of fresh speculations. They may
+be regarded as the working out of the original conception attaching to
+Jesus Christ, [Greek: proegnosmenos pro kataboles kosmou, phanerotheis
+k.t.l.]; and do not really modify this religious view of the matter.
+Above all, we find in them as yet no certain transition to the Greek
+view which splits up his personality into a heavenly and an earthly
+portion; it still continues to be the complete Christ to whom all the
+utterances apply. But, beyond doubt, they already reveal the strong
+impulse to conceive the Christ that had appeared as a divine being. He
+had not been a transitory phenomenon, but has ascended into heaven and
+still continues to live. This post-existence of his gave to the ideas of
+his pre-existence a support and a concrete complexion which the earlier
+Jewish theories lacked.
+
+We find the transition to a new conception in the writings of Paul. But
+it is important to begin by determining the relationship between his
+Christology and the views we have been hitherto considering. In the
+Apostle's clearest trains of thought everything that he has to say of
+Christ hinges on his death and resurrection. For this we need no proofs,
+but see, more especially Rom. I. 3 f.: [Greek: peri tou huiou autou, tou
+genomenou ek spermatos Daueid kata sarka, tou horisthentos huiou theou
+en dunamei kata pneuma agiosunes ek anastaseos nekron, Iesou Christou
+tou kuriou hemon]. What Christ became and his significance for us now
+are due to his death on the cross and his resurrection. He condemned sin
+in the flesh and was obedient unto death. Therefore he now shares in the
+[Greek: doxa] of God. The exposition in 1 Cor. XV. 45, also ([Greek: ho
+eschatos Adam eis pneuma Zoopoioun, all' ou proton to pneumatikon alla
+to psuchikon, epeita to pneumatikon. ho protos anthropos ek ges choikos
+ho deuteros anthropos ex ouranou]) is still capable of being understood,
+as to its fundamental features, in a sense which agrees with the
+conception of the Messiah, as [Greek: kat' exochen,] the man from heaven
+who was hidden with God. There can be no doubt, however, that this
+conception as already shewn by the formulae in the passage just quoted,
+formed to Paul the starting-point of a speculation, in which the
+original theory assumed a completely new shape. The decisive factors in
+this transformation were the Apostle's doctrine of "spirit and flesh",
+and the corresponding conviction that the Christ who is not be known
+"after the flesh", is a spirit, namely, the mighty spiritual being
+[Greek: pneuma zoopoioun], who has condemned sin in the flesh, and
+thereby enabled man to walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
+
+According to one of the Apostle's ways of regarding the matter, Christ,
+after the accomplishment of his work, became the [Greek: pneuma
+zoopoioun] through the resurrection. But the belief that Jesus always
+stood before God as the heavenly man, suggested to Paul the other view,
+that Christ was always a "spirit", that he was sent down by God, that
+the flesh is consequently something inadequate and indeed hostile to
+him, that he nevertheless assumed it in order to extirpate the sin
+dwelling in the flesh, that he therefore humbled himself by appearing,
+and that this humiliation was the deed he performed.
+
+This view is found in 2 Cor. VIII. 9: [Greek: Iesous Christos di' humas
+eptocheusen plousios on]; in Rom. VIII. 3: [Greek: ho theos ton heautou
+huion pempsas en homoiomati sarkos hamartias kai peri hamartias
+katekrine ten hamartian en te sarki]; and in Phil. II. 5 f.: [Greek:
+Christos Iesous en morphe theou huparchon ... heauton ekenosen morphen
+doulon labon, en homoiomati anthropon genomenos, kai schemati heuretheis
+hos anthropos etapeinosen heauton k.t.l.] In both forms of thought Paul
+presupposes a real exaltation of Christ. Christ receives after the
+resurrection more than he ever possessed ([Greek: to onoma to huper pan
+onoma]). In this view Paul retains a historical interpretation of
+Christ, even in the conception of the [Greek: pneuma Christos]. But
+whilst many passages seem to imply that the work of Christ began with
+suffering and death, Paul shews in the verses cited, that he already
+conceives the appearance of Christ on earth as his moral act, as a
+humiliation, purposely brought about by God and Christ himself, which
+reaches its culminating point in the death on the cross. Christ, the
+divine spiritual being, is sent by the Father from heaven to earth, and
+of his own free will he obediently takes this mission upon himself. He
+appears in the [Greek: homoioma sarkos amartias], dies the death of the
+cross, and then, raised by the Father, ascends again into heaven in
+order henceforth to act as the [Greek: kurios zonton] and [Greek:
+nekron] and to become to his own people the principle of a new life in
+the spirit.
+
+Whatever we may think about the admissibility and justification of this
+view, to whatever source we may trace its origin and however strongly we
+may emphasise its divergencies from the contemporaneous Hellenic ideas,
+it is certain that it approaches very closely to the latter; for the
+distinction of spirit and flesh is here introduced into the concept of
+pre-existence, and this combination is not found in the Jewish notions
+of the Messiah.
+
+Paul was the first who limited the idea of pre-existence by referring it
+solely to the spiritual part of Jesus Christ, but at the same time gave
+life to it by making the pre-existing Christ (the spirit) a being who,
+even during his pre-existence, stands independently side by side with
+God.
+
+He was also the first to designate Christ's [Greek: sarx] as "assumpta",
+and to recognise its assumption as in itself a humiliation. To him the
+appearance of Christ was no mere [Greek: phanerousthai], but a [Greek:
+kenousthai, tapeinousthai] and [Greek: ptocheuein].
+
+These outstanding features of the Pauline Christology must have been
+intelligible to the Greeks, but, whilst embracing these, they put
+everything else in the system aside. [Greek: Christos ho kurios ho sosas
+hemas, hon men to proton pneuma, egeneto sarx kai houtos hemas
+ekalesen], says 2 Clem. (9. 5), and that is also the Christology of 1
+Clement, Barnabas and many other Greeks. From the sum total of
+Judaeo-Christian speculations they only borrowed, in addition, the one
+which has been already mentioned: the Messiah as [Greek: proegnosmenos
+pro kataboles kosmou] is for that very reason also [Greek: he arche tes
+ktiseos tou theou], that is the beginning, purpose and principle of the
+creation. The Greeks, as the result of their cosmological interest,
+embraced this thought as a fundamental proposition. The complete Greek
+Christology then is expressed as follows: [Greek: Christos, ho sosas
+hemas, hon men to proton pneuma kai pases ktiseos arche, egeneto sarx
+kai houtos hemas ekalesen]. _That is the fundamental theological and
+philosophical creed on which the whole Trinitarian and Christological
+speculations of the Church of the succeeding centuries are built, and it
+is thus the root of the orthodox system of dogmatics_; for the notion
+that Christ was the [Greek: arche pases ktiseos] necessarily led in some
+measure to the conception of Christ as the Logos. For the Logos had long
+been regarded by cultured men as the beginning and principle of the
+creation.[452]
+
+With this transition the theories concerning Christ are removed from
+Jewish and Old Testament soil, and also that of religion (in the strict
+sense of the word), and transplanted to the Greek one. Even in his
+pre-existent state Christ is an independent power existing side by side
+with God. The pre-existence does not refer to his whole appearance, but
+only to a part of his essence; it does not primarily serve to glorify
+the wisdom and power of the God who guides history, but only glorifies
+Christ, and thereby threatens the monarchy of God.[453] The appearance
+of Christ is now an "assumption of flesh", and immediately the intricate
+questions about the connection of the heavenly and spiritual being with
+the flesh simultaneously arise and are at first settled by the theories
+of a naive docetism. But the flesh, that is the human nature created by
+God, appears depreciated, because it was reckoned as something
+unsuitable for Christ, and foreign to him as a spiritual being. Thus the
+Christian religion was mixed up with the refined asceticism of a
+perishing civilization, and a foreign substructure given to its system
+of morality, so earnest in its simplicity.[454] But the most
+questionable result was the following. Since the predicate "Logos",
+which at first, and for a long time, coincided with the idea of the
+reason ruling in the cosmos, was considered as the highest that could be
+given to Christ, the holy and divine element, namely, the power of a new
+life, a power to be viewed and laid hold of in Christ, was transformed
+into a cosmic force and thereby secularised.
+
+In the present work I have endeavoured to explain fully how the doctrine
+of the Church developed from these premises into the doctrine of the
+Trinity and of the two natures. I have also shewn that the imperfect
+beginnings of Church doctrine, especially as they appear in the Logos
+theory derived from cosmology, were subjected to wholesome
+corrections--by the Monarchians, by Athanasius, and by the influence of
+biblical passages which pointed in another direction. Finally, the Logos
+doctrine received a form in which the idea was deprived of nearly all
+cosmical content. Nor could the Hellenic contrast of "spirit" and
+"flesh" become completely developed in Christianity, because the belief
+in the bodily resurrection of Christ, and in the admission of the flesh
+into heaven, opposed to the principle of dualism a barrier which Paul as
+yet neither knew nor felt to be necessary. The conviction as to the
+resurrection of the flesh proved the hard rock which shattered the
+energetic attempts to give a completely Hellenic complexion to the
+Christian religion.
+
+The history of the development of the ideas of pre-existence is at the
+same time the criticism of them, so that we need not have recourse to
+our present theory of knowledge which no longer allows such
+speculations. The problem of determining the significance of Christ
+through a speculation concerning his natures, and of associating with
+these the concrete features of the historical Christ, was originated by
+Hellenism. But even the New Testament writers, who appear in this
+respect to be influenced in some way by Hellenism, did not really
+speculate concerning the different natures, but, taking Christ's
+spiritual nature for granted, determined his religious significance by
+his moral qualities--Paul by the moral act of humiliation and obedience
+unto death, John by the complete dependence of Christ upon God and hence
+also by his obedience, as well as the unity of the love of Father and
+Son. There is only one idea of pre-existence which no empiric
+contemplation of history and no reason can uproot. This is identical
+with the most ancient idea found in the Old Testament, as well as that
+prevalent among the early Christians, and consists in the religious
+thought that God the Lord directs history. In its application to Jesus
+Christ, it is contained in the words we read in 1 Pet. I. 20: [Greek:
+proegnosmenos men pro kataboles kosmou, phanerotheis de di' humas tous
+di' autou pistous eis theon ton egeiranta auton ek nekron kai doxan
+autoi donta, hoste ten pistin humon kai elpida einai eis theon].
+
+
+[Footnote 452: These hints will have shewn that Paul's theory occupies a
+middle position between the Jewish and Greek ideas of pre-existence. In
+the canon, however, we have another group of writings which likewise
+gives evidence of a middle position with regard to the matter, I mean
+the Johannine writings. If we only possessed the prologue to the Gospel
+of John with its "[Greek: en arche en ho logos]," the "[Greek: panta di'
+autou egeneto]" and the "[Greek: ho logos sarx egeneto]" we could indeed
+point to nothing but Hellenic ideas. But the Gospel itself, as is well
+known, contains very much that must have astonished a Greek, and is
+opposed to the philosophical idea of the Logos. This occurs even in the
+thought, "[Greek: ho logos sarx egeneto]," which in itself is foreign to
+the Logos conception. Just fancy a proposition like the one in VI. 44,
+[Greek: oudeis dunatai elthein pros me, ean me ho pater ho pempsas me
+elkuse auton], or in V. 17. 21, engrafted on Philo's system, and
+consider the revolution it would have caused there. No doubt the
+prologue to some extent contains the themes set forth in the
+presentation that follows, but they are worded in such a way that one
+cannot help thinking the author wished to prepare Greek readers for the
+paradox he had to communicate to them, by adapting his prologue to their
+mode of thought. Under the altered conditions of thought which now
+prevail, the prologue appears to us the mysterious part, and the
+narrative that follows seems the portion that is relatively more
+intelligible. But to the original readers, if they were educated Greeks,
+the prologue must have been the part most easily understood. As nowadays
+a section on the nature of the Christian religion is usually prefixed to
+a treatise on dogmatics, in order to prepare and introduce the reader,
+so also the Johannine prologue seems to be intended as an introduction
+of this kind. It brings in conceptions which were familiar to the
+Greeks, in fact it enters into these more deeply than is justified by
+the presentation which follows; for the notion of the incarnate Logos is
+by no means the dominant one here. Though faint echoes of this idea may
+possibly be met with here and there in the Gospel--I confess I do not
+notice them--the predominating thought is essentially the conception of
+Christ as the Son of God, who obediently executes what the Father has
+shewn and appointed him. The works which he does are allotted to him,
+and he performs them in the strength of the Father. The whole of
+Christ's farewell discourses and the intercessory prayer evince no
+Hellenic influence and no cosmological speculation whatever, but shew
+the inner life of a man who knows himself to be one with God to a
+greater extent than any before him, and who feels the leading of men to
+God to be the task he had received and accomplished. In this
+consciousness he speaks of the glory he had with the Father before the
+world was (XVII. 4 f.; [Greek: ego se edoxasa epi tes ges, to ergon
+teleiosas ho dedokas moi hina poieso; kai nun doxason me su, pater, para
+seauto te doxe he eichon pro tou ton kosmon einai, para soi]). With this
+we must compare verses like III. 13: [Greek: oudeis anabebeken eis ton
+ouranon ei me ho ek tou ouranou katabas, ho huios tou anthropou], and
+III. 31: [Greek: ho anothen erchomenos epano panton estin. ho on ek tes
+ges ek tes ges estin kai ek tes ges lalei ho ek tou ouranou erchomenos
+epano panton estin] (see also I. 30: VI. 33, 38, 41 f. 50 f. 58, 62:
+VIII. 14, 58; XVII. 24). But though the pre-existence is strongly
+expressed in these passages, a separation of [Greek: pneuma (logos)] and
+[Greek: sarx] in Christ is nowhere assumed in the Gospel except in the
+prologue. It is always Christ's whole personality to which every sublime
+attribute is ascribed. The same one who "can do nothing of himself", is
+also the one who was once glorious and will yet be glorified. This idea,
+however, can still be referred to the [Greek: proegnosmenos pro
+kataboles kosmon], although it gives a peculiar [Greek: doxa] with God
+to him who was foreknown of God, and the oldest conception is yet to be
+traced in many expressions, as, for example, I. 31: [Greek: kago ouk
+edein auton, all' hina phanerothae to Israel dia touto elthon], V. 19:
+[Greek: ou duvatai ho uios poiein aph' eautou ouden an me ti blepe ton
+patera poiountai], V. 36: VIII. 38: [Greek: ha ego heoraka para to patri
+lalo], VIII. 40: [Greek: ten aletheian humin lelaleka hen ekousa para
+tou theou], XII. 49: XV. 15: [Greek: panta ha exousa para tou patros mou
+egnorisa humin.]]
+
+[Footnote 453: This is indeed counterbalanced in the fourth Gospel by
+the thought of the complete community of love between the Father and the
+Son, and the pre-existence and descent of the latter here also tend to
+the glory of God. In the sentence "God so loved the world" etc., that
+which Paul describes in Phil. II. becomes at the same time an act of
+God, in fact the act of God. The sentence "God is love" sums up again
+all individual speculations, and raises them into a new and most exalted
+sphere.]
+
+[Footnote 454: If it had been possible for speculation to maintain the
+level of the Fourth Gospel, nothing of that would have happened; but
+where were there theologians capable of this?]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+_Liturgy and the Origin of Dogma._
+
+
+The reader has perhaps wondered why I have made so little reference to
+Liturgy in my description of the origin of dogma. For according to the
+most modern ideas about the history of religion and the origin of
+theology, the development of both may be traced in the ritual. Without
+any desire to criticise these notions, I think I am justified in
+asserting that this is another instance of the exceptional nature of
+Christianity. For a considerable period it possessed no ritual at all,
+and the process of development in this direction had been going on, or
+been completed, a long time before ritual came to furnish material for
+dogmatic discussion.
+
+The worship in Christian Churches grew out of that in the synagogues,
+whereas there is no trace of its being influenced by the Jewish Temple
+service (Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chretien, p. 45 ff.). Its oldest
+constituents are accordingly prayer, reading of the scriptures,
+application of scripture texts, and sacred song. In addition to these we
+have, as specifically Christian elements, the celebration of the Lord's
+Supper, and the utterances of persons inspired by the Spirit. The latter
+manifestations, however, ceased in the course of the second century, and
+to some extent as early as its first half. The religious services in
+which a ritual became developed were prayer, the Lord's Supper and
+sacred song. The Didache had already prescribed stated formulae for
+prayer. The ritual of the Lord's Supper was determined in its main
+features by the memory of its institution. The sphere of sacred song
+remained the most unfettered, though here also, even at an early
+period--no later in fact than the end of the first and beginning of the
+second century--a fixed and a variable element were distinguished; for
+responsory hymns, as is testified by the Epistle of Pliny and the still
+earlier Book of Revelation, require to follow a definite arrangement.
+But the whole, though perhaps already fixed during the course of the
+second century, still bore the stamp of spirituality and freedom. It was
+really worship in spirit and in truth, and this and no other was the
+light in which the Apologists, for instance, regarded it. Ritualism did
+not begin to be a power in the Church till the end of the second
+century; though it had been cultivated by the "Gnostics" long before,
+and traces of it are found at an earlier period in some of the older
+Fathers, such as Ignatius.
+
+Among the liturgical fragments still preserved to us from the first
+three centuries two strata may be distinguished. Apart from the
+responsory hymns in the Book of Revelation, which can hardly represent
+fixed liturgical pieces, the only portions of the older stratum in our
+possession are the Lord's Prayer, originating with Jesus himself and
+used as a liturgy, together with the sacramental prayers of the Didache.
+These prayers exhibit a style unlike any of the liturgical formulae of
+later times; the prayer is exclusively addressed to God, it returns
+thanks for knowledge and life; it speaks of Jesus the [Greek: pais
+theou] (Son of God) as the mediator; the intercession refers exclusively
+to the Church, and the supplication is for the gathering together of the
+Church, the hastening of the coming of the kingdom and the destruction
+of the world. No direct mention is made of the death and resurrection of
+Christ. These prayers are the peculiar property of the Christian Church.
+It cannot, however, be said that they exercised any important influence
+on the history of dogma. The thoughts contained in them perished in
+their specific shape; the measure of permanent importance they attained
+in a more general form, was not preserved to them through these prayers.
+
+The second stratum of liturgical pieces dates back to the great prayer
+with which the first Epistle of Clement ends, for in many respects this
+prayer, though some expressions in it remind us of the older type
+([Greek: dia tou egapemenou paidos sou Iesoun Christou], "through thy
+beloved son Jesus Christ "), already exhibits the characteristics of the
+later liturgy, as is shewn, for example, by a comparison of the
+liturgical prayer in the Constitutions of the Apostles (see Lightfoot's
+edition and my own). But this piece shews at the same time that the
+liturgical prayers, and consequently the liturgy also, sprang from those
+in the synagogue, for the similarity is striking. Here we find a
+connection resembling that which exists between the Jewish "Two Ways"
+and the Christian instruction of catechumens. If this observation is
+correct, it clearly explains the cautious use of historical and dogmatic
+material in the oldest liturgies--a precaution not to their
+disadvantage. As in the prayers of the synagogue, so also in Christian
+Churches, all sorts of matters were not submitted to God or laid bare
+before Him, but the prayers serve as a religious ceremony, that is, as
+adoration, petition and intercession. [Greek: Su ei ho theos monos kai
+Iesous Christos ho pais sou kai hemeis laos sou kai probata tes nomes
+sou], (thou art God alone and Jesus Christ is thy son, and we are thy
+people and the sheep of thy pasture). In this confession, an expressive
+Christian modification of that of the synagogue, the whole liturgical
+ceremony is epitomised. So far as we can assume and conjecture from the
+scanty remains of Ante-Nicene liturgy, the character of the ceremony was
+not essentially altered in this respect. Nothing containing a specific
+dogma or theological speculation was admitted. The number of sacred
+ceremonies, already considerable in the second century (how did they
+arise?), was still further increased in the third; but the accompanying
+words, so far as we know, expressed nothing but adoration, gratitude,
+supplication, and intercession. The relations expressed in the liturgy
+became more comprehensive, copious and detailed; but its fundamental
+character was not changed. The history of dogma in the first three
+centuries is not reflected in their liturgy.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX III.
+
+NEOPLATONISM.
+
+
+_The historical significance and position of Neoplatonism._
+
+The political history of the ancient world ends with the Empire of
+Diocletian and Constantine, which has not only Roman and Greek, but also
+Oriental features. The history of ancient philosophy ends with the
+universal philosophy of Neoplatonism, which assimilated the elements of
+most of the previous systems, and embodied the result of the history of
+religion and civilisation in East and West. But as the Roman Byzantine
+Empire is at one and the same time a product of the final effort and the
+exhaustion of the ancient world, so also Neoplatonism is, on one side,
+the completion of ancient philosophy, and, on another, its abolition.
+Never before in the Greek and Roman theory of the world did the
+conviction of the dignity of man and his elevation above nature, attain
+so certain an expression as in Neoplatonism; and never before in the
+history of civilisation did its highest exponents, notwithstanding all
+their progress in inner observation, so much undervalue the sovereign
+significance of real science and pure knowledge as the later
+Neoplatonists did. Judged from the stand-point of pure science, of
+empirical knowledge of the world, the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle
+marks a momentous turning-point, the post-Aristotelian a retrogression,
+the Neoplatonic a complete declension. But judging from the stand-point
+of religion and morality, it must be admitted that the ethical temper
+which Neoplatonism sought to beget and confirm, was the highest and
+purest which the culture of the ancient world produced. This necessarily
+took place at the expense of science: for on the soil of polytheistic
+natural religions, the knowledge of nature must either fetter and
+finally abolish religion, or be fettered and abolished by religion.
+Religion and ethic, however, proved the stronger powers. Placed between
+these and the knowledge of nature, philosophy, after a period of
+fluctuation, finally follows the stronger force. Since the ethical
+itself, in the sphere of natural religions, is unhesitatingly conceived
+as a higher kind of "nature", conflict with the empirical knowledge of
+the world is unavoidable. The higher "physics", for that is what
+religious ethics is here, must displace the lower or be itself
+displaced. Philosophy must renounce its scientific aspect, in order that
+man's claim to a supernatural value of his person and life may be
+legitimised.
+
+It is an evidence of the vigour of man's moral endowments that the only
+epoch of culture which we are able to survey in its beginnings, its
+progress, and its close, ended not with materialism, but with the most
+decided idealism. It is true that in its way this idealism also denotes
+a bankruptcy; as the contempt for reason and science, and these are
+contemned when relegated to the second place, finally leads to
+barbarism, because it results in the crassest superstition, and is
+exposed to all manner of imposture. And, as a matter of fact, barbarism
+succeeded the flourishing period of Neoplatonism. Philosophers
+themselves no doubt found their mental food in the knowledge which they
+thought themselves able to surpass; but the masses grew up in
+superstition, and the Christian Church, which entered on the inheritance
+of Neoplatonism, was compelled to reckon with that and come to terms
+with it. Just when the bankruptcy of the ancient civilisation and its
+lapse into barbarism could not have failed to reveal themselves, a
+kindly destiny placed on the stage of history barbarian nations, for
+whom the work of a thousand years had as yet no existence. Thus the fact
+is concealed, which, however, does not escape the eye of one who looks
+below the surface, that the inner history of the ancient world must
+necessarily have degenerated into barbarism of its own accord, because
+it ended with the renunciation of this world. There is no desire either
+to enjoy it, to master it, or to know it as it really is. A new world is
+disclosed for which everything is given up, and men are ready to
+sacrifice insight and understanding, in order to possess this world with
+certainty; and, in the light which radiates from the world to come, that
+which in this world appears absurd becomes wisdom, and wisdom becomes
+folly.
+
+Such is Neoplatonism. The pre-Socratic philosophers, declared by the
+followers of Socrates to be childish, had freed themselves from
+theology, that is, the mythology of the poets, and constructed a
+philosophy from the observation of nature, without troubling themselves
+about ethics and religion. In the systems of Plato and Aristotle physics
+and ethics were to attain to their rights, though the latter no doubt
+already occupied the first place; theology, that is popular religion,
+continues to be thrust aside. The post-Aristotelian philosophers of all
+parties were already beginning to withdraw from the objective world.
+Stoicism indeed seems to fall back into the materialism that I prevailed
+before Plato and Aristotle; but the ethical dualism which dominated the
+mood of the Stoic philosophers, did not in the long run tolerate the
+materialistic physics; it sought and found help in the metaphysical
+dualism of the Platonists, and at the same time reconciled itself to the
+popular religion by means of allegorism, that is, it formed a new
+theology. But it did not result in permanent philosophic creations. A
+one-sided development of Platonism produced the various forms of
+scepticism which sought to abolish confidence in empirical knowledge.
+Neoplatonism, which came last, learned from all schools. In the first
+place, it belongs to the series of post-Aristotelian systems and, as the
+philosophy of the subjective, it is the logical completion of them. In
+the second place, it rests on scepticism; for it also, though not at the
+very beginning, gave up both confidence and pure interest in empirical
+knowledge. Thirdly, it can boast of the name and authority of Plato; for
+in metaphysics it consciously went back to him and expressly opposed the
+metaphysics of the Stoics. Yet on this very point it also learned
+something from the Stoics; for the Neoplatonic conception of the action
+of God on the world, and of the nature and origin of matter, can only be
+explained by reference to the dynamic pantheism of the Stoics. In other
+respects, especially in psychology, it is diametrically opposed to the
+Stoa, though superior. Fourthly, the study of Aristotle also had an
+influence on Neoplatonism. That is shewn not only in the philosophic
+methods of the Neoplatonists, but also, though in a subordinate way, in
+their metaphysics. Fifthly, the ethic of the Stoics was adopted by
+Neoplatonism, but this ethic necessarily gave way to a still higher view
+of the conditions of the spirit. Sixthly and finally, Christianity also,
+which Neoplatonism opposed in every form (especially in that of the
+Gnostic philosophy of religion), seems not to have been entirely without
+influence. On this point we have as yet no details, and these can only
+be ascertained by a thorough examination of the polemic of Plotinus
+against the Gnostics.
+
+Hence, with the exception of Epicureanism, which Neoplatonism dreaded as
+its mortal enemy, every important system of former times was drawn upon
+by the new philosophy. But we should not on that account call
+Neoplatonism an eclectic system in the usual sense of the word. For in
+the first place, it had one pervading and all predominating interest,
+the religious; and in the second place, it introduced into philosophy a
+new supreme principle, the super-rational, or the super-essential. This
+principle should not be identified with the "Ideas" of Plato or the
+"Form" of Aristotle. For as Zeller rightly says: "In Plato and Aristotle
+the distinction of the sensuous and the intelligible is the strongest
+expression for belief in the truth of thought; it is only sensuous
+perception and sensuous existence whose relative falsehood they
+presuppose; but of a higher stage of spiritual life lying beyond idea
+and thought, there is no mention. In Neoplatonism, on the other hand, it
+is just this super-rational element which is regarded as the final goal
+of all effort, and the highest ground of all existence; the knowledge
+gained by thought is only an intermediate stage between sensuous
+perception and the super-rational intuition; the intelligible forms are
+not that which is highest and last, but only the media by which the
+influences of the formless original essence are communicated to the
+world. This view therefore presupposes not merely doubt of the reality
+of sensuous existence and sensuous notions, but absolute doubt,
+aspiration beyond all reality. The highest intelligible is not that
+which constitutes the real content of thought, but only that which is
+presupposed and earnestly desired by man as the unknowable ground of his
+thought." Neoplatonism recognised that a religious ethic can be built
+neither on sense-perception nor on knowledge gained by the
+understanding, and that it cannot be justified by these; it therefore
+broke both with intellectual ethics and with utilitarian morality. But
+for that very reason, having as it were parted with perception and
+understanding in relation to the ascertaining of the highest truth, it
+was compelled to seek for a new world and a new function in the human
+spirit, in order to ascertain the existence of what it desired, and to
+comprehend and describe that of which it had ascertained the existence.
+But man cannot transcend his psychological endowment. An iron ring
+incloses him. He who does not allow his thought to be determined by
+experience falls a prey to fancy, that is, thought, which cannot be
+suppressed, assumes a mythological aspect: superstition takes the place
+of reason, dull gazing at something incomprehensible is regarded as the
+highest goal of the spirit's efforts, and every conscious activity of
+the spirit is subordinated to visionary conditions artificially brought
+about. But that every conceit may not be allowed to assert itself, the
+gradual exploration of every region of knowledge according to every
+method of acquiring it, is demanded as a preliminary--the Neoplatonists
+did not make matters easy for themselves,--and a new and mighty
+principle is set up which is to bridle fancy, viz., _the authority of a
+sure tradition_. This authority must be superhuman, otherwise it would
+not come under consideration; it must therefore be divine. On divine
+disclosures, that is revelations, must rest both the highest
+super-rational region of knowledge and the possibility of knowledge
+itself. In a word, the philosophy which Neoplatonism represents, whose
+final interest is the religious, and whose highest object is the
+super-rational, must be a _philosophy of revelation_.
+
+In the case of Plotinus himself and his immediate disciples, this does
+not yet appear plainly. They still shew confidence in the objective
+presuppositions of their philosophy, and have, especially in psychology,
+done great work and created something new. But this confidence vanishes
+in the later Neoplatonists. Porphyry, before he became a disciple of
+Plotinus, wrote a book [Greek: peri tes eklogion philosophia]; as a
+philosopher he no longer required the "[Greek: logia]." But the later
+representatives of the system sought for their philosophy revelations of
+the Godhead. They found them in the religious traditions and cults of
+all nations. Neoplatonism learned from the Stoics to rise above the
+political limits of nations and states, and to widen the Hellenic
+consciousness to a universally human one. The spirit of God has breathed
+throughout the whole history of the nations, and the traces of divine
+revelation are to be found everywhere. The older a religious tradition
+or cultus is, the more worthy of honour, the more rich in thoughts of
+God it is. Therefore the old Oriental religions are of special value to
+the Neoplatonists. The allegorical method of interpreting myths, which
+was practised by the Stoics in particular, was accepted by Neoplatonism
+also. But the myths, spiritually explained, have for this system an
+entirely different value from what they had for the Stoic philosophers.
+The latter adjusted themselves to the myths by the aid of allegorical
+explanation; the later Neoplatonists, on the other hand, (after a
+selection in which the immoral myths were sacrificed, see, e.g. Julian)
+regarded them as _the proper material and sure foundation of
+philosophy_. Neoplatonism claims to be not only the absolute
+_philosophy_, completing all systems, but, at the same time, the
+absolute _religion_, confirming and explaining all earlier religions. A
+rehabilitation of all ancient religions is aimed at (see the philosophic
+teachers of Julian and compare his great religious experiment); each was
+to continue in its traditional form, but, at the same time, each was to
+communicate the religious temper and the religious knowledge which
+Neoplatonism had attained, and each cultus is to lead to the high
+morality which it behoves man to maintain. In Neoplatonism the
+psychological fact of the longing of man for something higher, is
+exalted to the all-predominating principle which explains the world.
+Therefore the religions, though they are to be purified and
+spiritualised, become the foundation of philosophy. The Neoplatonic
+philosophy therefore presupposes the religious syncretism of the third
+century, and cannot be understood without it. The great forces which
+were half unconsciously at work in this syncretism, were reflectively
+grasped by Neoplatonism. It is the final fruit of the developments
+resulting from the political, national and religious syncretism which
+arose from the undertakings of Alexander the Great, and the Romans.
+
+Neoplatonism is consequently a stage in the history of religion; nay,
+its significance in the history of the world lies in the fact that it is
+so. In the history of science and enlightenment it has a position of
+significance only in so far as it was the necessary transition stage
+through which humanity had to pass, in order to free itself from the
+religion of nature and the depreciation of the spiritual life, which
+oppose an insurmountable barrier to the highest advance of human
+knowledge. But as Neoplatonism in its philosophical aspect means the
+abolition of ancient philosophy, which, however, it desired to complete,
+so also in its religious aspect it means the abolition of the ancient
+religions which it aimed at restoring. For in requiring these religions
+to mediate a definite religious knowledge, and to lead to the highest
+moral disposition, it burdened them with tasks to which they were not
+equal, and under which they could not but break down. And in requiring
+them to loosen, if not completely destroy, the bond which was their only
+stay, namely, the political bond, it took from them the foundation on
+which they were built. But could it not place them on a greater and
+firmer foundation? Was not the Roman Empire in existence, and could the
+new religion not become dependent on this in the same way as the earlier
+religions had been dependent on the lesser states and nations? It might
+be thought so, but it was no longer possible. No doubt the political
+history of the nations round the Mediterranean, in their development
+into the universal Roman monarchy, was parallel to the spiritual history
+of these nations in their development into monotheism and a universal
+system of morals; but the spiritual development in the end far
+outstripped the political: even the Stoics attained to a height which
+the political development could only partially reach. Neoplatonism did
+indeed attempt to gain a connection with the Byzantine Roman Empire: one
+noble monarch, Julian, actually perished as a result of this endeavour:
+but even before this the profounder Neoplatonists discerned that their
+lofty religious philosophy would not bear contact with the despotic
+Empire, because it would not bear any contact with the "world" (plan of
+the founding of Platonopolis). Political affairs are at bottom as much a
+matter of indifference to Neoplatonism as material things in general.
+The idealism of the new philosophy was too high to admit of its being
+naturalised in the despiritualised, tyrannical and barren creation of
+the Byzantine Empire, and this Empire itself needed unscrupulous and
+despotic police officials, not noble philosophers. Important and
+instructive, therefore, as the experiments are, which were made from
+time to time by the state and by individual philosophers, to unite the
+monarchy of the world with Neoplatonism, they could not but be
+ineffectual.
+
+But, and this is the last question which one is justified in raising
+here, why did not Neoplatonism create an independent religious
+community? Since it had already changed the ancient religions so
+fundamentally, in its purpose to restore them, since it had attempted to
+fill the old naive cults with profound philosophic ideas, and to make
+them exponents of a high morality, why did it not take the further step
+and create a religious fellowship of its own? Why did it not complete
+and confirm the union of gods by the founding of a church which was
+destined to embrace the whole of humanity, and in which, beside the one
+ineffable Godhead, the gods of all nations could have been worshipped?
+Why not? The answer to this question is at the same time the reply to
+another, viz., why did the Christian church supplant Neoplatonism?
+Neoplatonism lacked three elements to give it the significance of a new
+and permanent religious system. Augustine in his confessions (Bk. VII.
+18-21) has excellently described these three elements. First and above
+all, it lacked a religious founder; secondly, it was unable to give any
+answer to the question, how one could permanently maintain the mood of
+blessedness and peace: thirdly, it lacked the means of winning those who
+could not speculate. The "people" could not learn the philosophic
+exercises which it recommended as the condition of attaining the
+enjoyment of the highest good; and the way on which even the "people"
+can attain to the highest good was hidden from it. Hence these "wise and
+prudent" remained a school. When Julian attempted to interest the common
+uncultured man in the doctrines and worship of this school, his reward
+was mockery and scorn.
+
+Not as philosophy and not as a new religion did Neoplatonism become a
+decisive factor in history, but, if I may say so, as a frame of
+mind.[455] The feeling that there is an eternal highest good which lies
+beyond all outer experience and is not even the intelligible, this
+feeling, with which was united the conviction of the entire
+worthlessness of everything earthly, was produced and fostered by
+Neoplatonism. But it was unable to describe the contents of that highest
+being and highest good, and therefore it was here compelled to give
+itself entirely up to fancy and aesthetic feeling. Therefore it was
+forced to trace out "mysterious ways to that which is within", which,
+however, led nowhere. It transformed thought into a dream of feeling; it
+immersed itself in the sea of emotions; it viewed the old fabled world
+of the nations as the reflection of a higher reality, and transformed
+reality into poetry; but in spite of all these efforts it was only able,
+to use the words of Augustine, to see from afar the land which it
+desired. It broke this world into fragments; but nothing remained to it,
+save a ray from a world beyond, which was only an indescribable
+"something."
+
+And yet the significance of Neoplatonism in the history of our moral
+culture has been, and still is, immeasurable. Not only because it
+refined and strengthened man's life of feeling and sensation, not only
+because it, more than anything else, wove the delicate veil which even
+to-day, whether we be religious or irreligious, we ever and again cast
+over the offensive impression of the brutal reality, but, above all,
+because it begat the consciousness that the blessedness which alone can
+satisfy man, is to be found somewhere else than in the sphere of
+knowledge. That man does not live by bread alone, is a truth that was
+known before Neoplatonism; but it proclaimed the profounder truth, which
+the earlier philosophy had failed to recognise, that man does not live
+by knowledge alone. Neoplatonism not only had a propadeutic significance
+in the past, but continues to be, even now, the source of all the moods
+which deny the world and strive after an ideal, but have not power to
+raise themselves above aesthetic feeling, and see no means of getting a
+clear notion of the impulse of their own heart and the land of their
+desire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Historical Origin of Neoplatonism._
+
+The forerunners of Neoplatonism were, on the one hand, those Stoics who
+recognise the Platonic distinction of the sensible and supersensible
+world, and on the other, the so-called Neopythagoreans and religious
+philosophers, such as Posidonius, Plutarch of Chaeronea, and especially
+Numenius of Apamea.[456] Nevertheless, these cannot be regarded as the
+actual Fathers of Neoplatonism; for the philosophic method was still
+very imperfect in comparison with the Neoplatonic, their principles were
+uncertain, and the authority of Plato was not yet regarded as placed on
+an unapproachable height. The Jewish and Christian philosophers of the
+first and second centuries stand very much nearer the later Neoplatonism
+than Numenius. We would probably see this more clearly if we knew the
+development of Christianity in Alexandria in the second century. But,
+unfortunately, we have only very meagre fragments to tell us of this.
+First and above all, we must mention Philo. This philosopher, who
+interpreted the Old Testament religion in terms of Hellenism, had, in
+accordance with his idea of revelation, already maintained that the
+Divine Original Essence is supra-rational, that only ecstasy leads to
+Him, and that the materials for religious and moral knowledge are
+contained in the oracles of the Deity. The religious ethic of Philo, a
+combination of Stoic, Platonic, Neopythagorean and Old Testament gnomic
+wisdom, already bears the marks which we recognise in Neoplatonism. The
+acknowledgment that God was exalted above all thought, was a sort of
+tribute which Greek philosophy was compelled to pay to the national
+religion of Israel, in return for the supremacy which was here granted
+to the former. The claim of positive religion to be something more than
+an intellectual conception of the universal reason, was thereby
+justified. Even religious syncretism is already found in Philo; but it
+is something essentially different from the later Neoplatonic, since
+Philo regarded the Jewish cult as the only valuable one, and traced back
+all elements of truth in the Greeks and Romans to borrowings from the
+books of Moses.
+
+The earliest Christian philosophers, especially Justin and Athenagoras,
+likewise prepared the way for the speculations of the later
+Neoplatonists by their attempts, on the one hand, to connect
+Christianity with Stoicism and Platonism, and on the other, to exhibit
+it as supra-Platonic. The method by which Justin, in the introduction to
+the Dialogue with Trypho, attempts to establish the Christian knowledge
+of God, that is, the knowledge of the truth, on Platonism, Scepticism
+and "Revelation", strikingly reminds us of the later methods of the
+Neoplatonists. Still more is one reminded of Neoplatonism by the
+speculations of the Alexandrian Christian Gnostics, especially of
+Valentinus and the followers of Basilides. The doctrines of the
+Basilidians(?) communicated by Hippolytus (Philosoph. VII. c. 20 sq.),
+read like fragments from the didactic writings of the Neoplatonists:
+[Greek: Epei ouden en ouch hule, ouk ousia, ouk anousion, ouch haploun,
+ou suntheton, ouk anoeton, ouk anaistheton, ouk anthropos ... ouk on
+theos anoetos, anaisthetos aboulos aproairetos, apathos, anepithumetios
+kosmon ethelese poiesai ... Houtos ouk on theos epoiese kosmon ouk onta
+ex ouk onton, katabalomenos kai hupostesas sperma ti en echon pasan en
+heauto tes tou kosmou panspermian.] Like the Neoplatonists, these
+Basilidians did not teach an emanation from the Godhead, but a dynamic
+mode of action of the Supreme Being. The same can be asserted of
+Valentinus who also places an unnamable being above all, and views
+matter not as a second principle, but as a derived product. The
+dependence of Basilides and Valentinus on Zeno and Plato is, besides,
+undoubted. But the method of these Gnostics in constructing their mental
+picture of the world and its history, was still an uncertain one. Crude
+primitive myths are here received, and naively realistic elements
+alternate with bold attempts at spiritualising. While therefore,
+philosophically considered, the Gnostic systems are very unlike the
+finished Neoplatonic ones, it is certain that they contained almost all
+the elements of the religious view of the world, which we find in
+Neoplatonism.
+
+But were the earliest Neoplatonists really acquainted with the
+speculations of men like Philo, Justin, Valentinus and Basilides? were
+they familiar with the Oriental religions, especially with the Jewish
+and the Christian? and, if we must answer these questions in the
+affirmative, did they really learn from these sources?
+
+Unfortunately, we cannot at present give certain, and still less
+detailed answers to these questions. But, as Neoplatonism originated in
+Alexandria, as Oriental cults confronted every one there, as the Jewish
+philosophy was prominent in the literary market of Alexandria, and that
+was the very place where scientific Christianity had its headquarters,
+there can, generally speaking, be no doubt that the earliest
+Neoplatonists had some acquaintance with Judaism and Christianity. In
+addition to that, we have the certain fact that the earliest
+Neoplatonists had discussions with (Roman) Gnostics (see Carl Schmidt,
+Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache, pp. 603-665), and that
+Porphyry entered into elaborate controversy with Christianity. In
+comparison with the Neoplatonic philosophy, the system of Philo and the
+Gnostics appears in many respects an anticipation, which had a certain
+influence on the former, the precise nature of which has still to be
+ascertained. But the anticipation is not wonderful, for the religious
+and philosophic temper which was only gradually produced on Greek soil,
+existed from the first in such philosophers as took their stand on the
+ground of a revealed religion of redemption. Iamblichus and his
+followers first answer completely to the Christian Gnostic schools of
+the second century; that is to say, Greek philosophy, in its immanent
+development, did not attain till the fourth century the position which
+some Greek philosophers, who had accepted Christianity, had already
+reached in the second. The influence of Christianity--both Gnostic and
+Catholic--on Neoplatonism was perhaps very little at any time, though
+individual Neoplatonists since the time of Amelius employed Christian
+sayings as oracles, and testified their high esteem for Christ.
+
+
+_Sketch of the History and Doctrines of Neoplatonism._
+
+Ammonius Saccas (died about 245), who is said to have been born a
+Christian, but to have lapsed into heathenism, is regarded as the
+founder of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria. As he has left no
+writings, no judgment can be formed as to his teaching. His disciples
+inherited from him the prominence which they gave to Plato and the
+attempts to prove the harmony between the latter and Aristotle. His most
+important disciples were; Origen the Christian, a second heathen Origen,
+Longinus, Herennius, and, above all, Plotinus. The latter was born in
+the year 205, at Lycopolis in Egypt, laboured from 224 in Rome, and
+found numerous adherents and admirers, among others the Emperor Galienus
+and his consort, and died in lower Italy about 270. His writings were
+arranged by his disciple, Porphyry, and edited in six Enneads.
+
+The Enneads of Plotinus are the fundamental documents of Neoplatonism.
+The teaching of this philosopher is mystical, and, like all mysticism,
+it falls into two main portions. The first and theoretic part shews the
+high origin of the soul, and how it has departed from this its origin.
+The second and practical part points out the way by which the soul can
+again be raised to the Eternal and the Highest. As the soul with its
+longings aspires beyond all sensible things and even beyond the world of
+ideas, the Highest must be something above reason. The system therefore
+has three parts. I. The Original Essence. II. The world of ideas and the
+soul. III. The world of phenomena. We may also, in conformity with the
+thought of Plotinus, divide the system thus: A. The supersensible world
+(1. The Original Essence; 2. the world of ideas; 3. the soul). B. The
+world of phenomena. The Original Essence is the One in contrast to the
+many; it is the Infinite and Unlimited in contrast to the finite; it is
+the source of all being, therefore the absolute causality and the only
+truly existing; but it is also the Good, in so far as everything finite
+is to find its aim in it and to flow back to it. Yet moral attributes
+cannot be ascribed to this Original Essence, for these would limit it.
+It has no attributes at all; it is a being without magnitude, without
+life, without thought; nay, one should not, properly speaking, even call
+it an existence; it is something above existence, above goodness, and at
+the same time the operative force without any substratum. As operative
+force the Original Essence is continually begetting something else,
+without itself being changed or moved or diminished. This creation is
+not a physical process, but an emanation of force; and because that
+which is produced has any existence only in so far as the originally
+Existent works in it, it may be said that Neoplatonism is dynamical
+Pantheism. Everything that has being is directly or indirectly a
+production of the "One." In this "One" everything so far as it has
+being, is Divine, and God is all in all. But that which is derived is
+not like the Original Essence itself. On the contrary, the law of
+decreasing perfection prevails in the derived. The latter is indeed an
+image and reflection of the Original Essence, but the wider the circle
+of creations extends the less their share in the Original Essence. Hence
+the totality of being forms a gradation of concentric circles which
+finally lose themselves almost completely in non-being, in so far as in
+the last circle the force of the Original Essence is a vanishing one.
+Each lower stage of being is connected with the Original Essence only by
+means of the higher stages; that which is inferior receives a share in
+the Original Essence only through the medium of these. But everything
+derived has one feature, viz., a longing for the higher; it turns itself
+to this so far as its nature allows it.
+
+The first emanation of the Original Essence is the [Greek: Nous]; it is
+a complete image of the Original Essence and archetype of all existing
+things; it is being and thought at the same time, World of ideas and
+Idea. As image the [Greek: Nous] is equal to the Original Essence, as
+derived it is completely different from it. What Plotinus understands by
+[Greek: Nous] is the highest sphere which the human spirit can reach
+([Greek: kosmos noetos]) and at the same time pure thought itself.
+
+The soul which, according to Plotinus, is an immaterial substance like
+the [Greek: Nous],[457] is an image and product of the immovable [Greek:
+Nous]. It is related to the [Greek: Nous] as the latter is to the
+Original Essence. It stands between the [Greek: Nous] and the world of
+phenomena. The [Greek: Nous] penetrates and enlightens it, but it itself
+already touches the world of phenomena. The [Greek: Nous] is undivided,
+the soul can also preserve its unity and abide in the [Greek: Nous]; but
+it has at the same time the power to unite itself with the material
+world and thereby to be divided. Hence it occupies a middle position. In
+virtue of its nature and destiny it belongs, as the single soul (soul of
+the world), to the supersensible world; but it embraces at the same time
+the many individual souls; these may allow themselves to be ruled by the
+[Greek: Nous], or they may turn to the sensible and be lost in the
+finite.
+
+The soul, an active essence, begets the corporeal or the world of
+phenomena. This should allow itself to be so ruled by the soul that the
+manifold of which it consists may abide in fullest harmony. Plotinus is
+not a dualist like the majority of Christian Gnostics. He praises the
+beauty and glory of the world. When in it the idea really has dominion
+over matter, the soul over the body, the world is beautiful and good. It
+is the image of the upper world, though a shadowy one, and the
+gradations of better or worse in it are necessary to the harmony of the
+whole. But, in point of fact, the unity and harmony in the world of
+phenomena disappear in strife and opposition. The result is a conflict,
+a growth and decay, a seeming existence. The original cause of this lies
+in the fact that a substratum, viz., matter, lies at the basis of
+bodies. Matter is the foundation of each ([Greek: to bathos hekastou he
+hule]); it is the obscure, the indefinite, that which is without
+qualities, the [Greek: me on]. As devoid of form and idea it is the
+evil, as capable of form the intermediate.
+
+The human souls that are sunk in the material have been ensnared by the
+sensuous, and have allowed themselves to be ruled by desire. They now
+seek to detach themselves entirely from true being, and striving after
+independence fall into an unreal existence. Conversion therefore is
+needed, and this is possible, for freedom is not lost.
+
+Now here begins the practical philosophy. The soul must rise again to
+the highest on the same path by which it descended: it must first of all
+return to itself. This takes place through virtue which aspires to
+assimilation with God and leads to Him. In the ethics of Plotinus all
+earlier philosophic systems of virtue are united and arranged in
+graduated order. Civic virtues stand lowest, then follow the purifying,
+and finally the deifying virtues. Civic virtues only adorn the life, but
+do not elevate the soul as the purifying virtues do; they free the soul
+from the sensuous and lead it back to itself and thereby to the [Greek:
+Nous]. Man becomes again a spiritual and permanent being, and frees
+himself from every sin, through asceticism. But he is to reach still
+higher; he is not only to be without sin, but he is to be "God." That
+takes place through the contemplation of the Original Essence, the One,
+that is through ecstatic elevation to Him. This is not mediated by
+thought, for thought reaches only to the [Greek: Nous], and is itself
+only a movement. Thought is only a preliminary stage towards union with
+God. The soul can only see and touch the Original Essence in a condition
+of complete passivity and rest. Hence, in order to attain to this
+highest, the soul must subject itself to a spiritual "Exercise." It must
+begin with the contemplation of material things, their diversity and
+harmony, then retire into itself and sink itself in its own essence, and
+thence mount up to the [Greek: Nous], to the world of ideas; but, as it
+still does not find the One and Highest Essence there, as the call
+always comes to it from there: "We have not made ourselves" (Augustine
+in the sublime description of Christian, that is, Neoplatonic
+exercises), it must, as it were, lose sight of itself in a state of
+intense concentration, in mute contemplation and complete forgetfulness
+of all things. It can then see God, the source of life, the principle of
+being, the first cause of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment
+it enjoys the highest and indescribable blessedness; it is itself, as it
+were, swallowed up by the deity and bathed in the light of eternity.
+
+Plotinus, as Porphyry relates, attained to this ecstatic union with God
+four times during the six years he was with him. To Plotinus this
+religious philosophy was sufficient; he did not require the popular
+religion and worship. But yet he sought their support. The Deity is
+indeed in the last resort only the Original Essence, but it manifests
+itself in a fulness of emanations and phenomena. The [Greek: Nous] is,
+as it were, the second God; the [Greek: logoi], which are included in
+it, are gods; the stars are gods, etc. A strict monotheism appeared to
+Plotinus a poor thing. The myths of the popular religion were
+interpreted by him in a particular sense, and he could justify even
+magic, soothsaying and prayer. He brought forward reasons for the
+worship of images, which the Christian worshippers of images
+subsequently adopted. Yet, in comparison with the later Neoplatonists,
+he was free from gross superstition and wild fanaticism. He cannot, in
+the remotest sense, be reckoned among the "deceivers who were themselves
+deceived," and the restoration of the ancient worships of the Gods was
+not his chief aim.
+
+Among his disciples the most important were Amelius and Porphyry.
+Amelius changed the doctrine of Plotinus in some points, and even made
+use of the prologue of the Gospel of John. Porphyry has the merit of
+having systematized and spread the teaching of his master, Plotinus. He
+was born at Tyre, in the year 233; whether he was for some time a
+Christian is uncertain; from 263-268 he was a pupil of Plotinus at Rome;
+before that he wrote the work [Greek: peri tes ek logion philosophias],
+which shews that he wished to base philosophy on revelation; he lived a
+few years in Sicily (about 270) where he wrote his "fifteen books
+against the Christians"; he then returned to Rome where he laboured as a
+teacher, edited the works of Plotinus, wrote himself a series of
+treatises, married, in his old age, the Roman Lady Marcella, and died
+about the year 303. Porphyry was not an original, productive thinker,
+but a diligent and thorough investigator, characterized by great
+learning, by the gift of an acute faculty for philological and
+historical criticism, and by an earnest desire to spread the true
+philosophy of life, to refute false doctrines, especially those of the
+Christians, to ennoble man and draw him to that which is good. That a
+mind so free and noble surrendered itself entirely to the philosophy of
+Plotinus and to polytheistic mysticism, is a proof that the spirit of
+the age works almost irresistibly, and that religious mysticism was the
+highest possession of the time. The teaching of Porphyry is
+distinguished from that of Plotinus by the fact that it is still more
+practical and religious. The aim of philosophy, according to Porphyry,
+is the salvation of the soul. The origin and the guilt of evil lie not
+in the body, but in the desires of the soul. The strictest asceticism
+(abstinence from cohabitation, flesh and wine) is therefore required in
+addition to the knowledge of God. During the course of his life Porphyry
+warned men more and more decidedly against crude popular beliefs and
+immoral cults. "The ordinary notions of the Deity are of such a kind
+that it is more godless to share them than to neglect the images of the
+gods." But freely as he criticised the popular religions, he did not
+wish to give them up. He contended for a pure worship of the many gods,
+and recognised the right of every old national religion, and the
+religious duties of their professors. His work against the Christians is
+not directed against Christ, or what he regarded as the teaching of
+Christ, but against the Christians of his day and against the sacred
+books which, according to Porphyry, were written by impostors and
+ignorant people. In his acute criticism of the genesis or what was
+regarded as Christianity in his day, he spoke bitter and earnest truths,
+and therefore acquired the name of the fiercest and most formidable of
+all the enemies of Christians. His work was destroyed (condemned by an
+edict of Theodosius II. and Valentinian, of the year 448), and even the
+writings in reply (by Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, Philostorgius,
+etc.,) have not been preserved. Yet we possess fragments in Lactantius,
+Augustine, Macarius Magnes and others, which attest how thoroughly
+Porphyry studied the Christian writings and how great his faculty was
+for true historical criticism.
+
+Porphyry marks the transition to the Neoplatonism which subordinated
+itself entirely to the polytheistic cults, and which strove, above all,
+to defend the old Greek and Oriental religions against the formidable
+assaults of Christianity. Iamblichus, the disciple of Porphyry (died
+330), transformed Neoplatonism "from a philosophic theorem into a
+theological doctrine." The doctrines peculiar to Iamblichus can no
+longer be deduced from scientific, but only from practical motives. In
+order to justify superstition and the ancient cults, philosophy in
+Iamblichus becomes a theurgic, mysteriosophy, spiritualism. Now appears
+that series of "Philosophers", in whose case one is frequently unable to
+decide whether they are deceivers or deceived, "decepti deceptores," as
+Augustine says. A mysterious mysticism of numbers plays a great role.
+That which is absurd and mechanical is surrounded with the halo of the
+sacramental; myths are proved by pious fancies and pietistic
+considerations with a spiritual sound; miracles, even the most foolish,
+are believed in and are performed. The philosopher becomes the priest of
+magic, and philosophy an instrument of magic. At the same time, the
+number of Divine Beings is infinitely increased by the further action of
+unlimited speculation. But this fantastic addition which Iamblichus
+makes to the inhabitants of Olympus, is the very fact which proves that
+Greek philosophy has here returned to mythology, and that the religion
+of nature was still a power. And yet no one can deny that, in the fourth
+century, even the noblest and choicest minds were found among the
+Neoplatonists. So great was the declension, that this Neoplatonic
+philosophy was still the protecting roof for many influential and
+earnest thinkers, although swindlers and hypocrites also concealed
+themselves under this roof. In relation to some points of doctrine, at
+any rate, the dogmatic of Iamblichus marks an advance. Thus, the
+emphasis he lays on the idea that evil has its seat in the will, is an
+important fact; and in general the significance he assigns to the will
+is perhaps the most important advance in psychology, and one which could
+not fail to have great influence on dogmatic also (Augustine). It
+likewise deserves to be noted that Iamblichus disputed Plotinus'
+doctrine of the divinity of the human soul.
+
+The numerous disciples of Iamblichus (Aedesius, Chrysantius, Eusebius,
+Priscus, Sopater, Sallust and especially Maximus, the most celebrated)
+did little to further speculation; they occupied themselves partly with
+commenting on the writings of the earlier philosophers (particularly
+Themistius), partly as missionaries of their mysticism. The interests
+and aims of these philosophers are best shewn in the treatise "De
+mysteriis AEgyptiorum." Their hopes were strengthened when their disciple
+Julian, a man enthusiastic and noble, but lacking in intellectual
+originality, ascended the imperial throne, 361 to 363. This emperor's
+romantic policy of restoration, as he himself must have seen, had,
+however, no result, and his early death destroyed ever hope of
+supplanting Christianity.
+
+But the victory of the Church, in the age of Valentinian and Theodosius,
+unquestionably purified Neoplatonism. The struggle for dominion had led
+philosophers to grasp at and unite themselves with everything that was
+hostile to Christianity. But now Neoplatonism was driven out of the
+great arena of history. The Church and its dogmatic, which inherited its
+estate, received along with the latter superstition, polytheism, magic,
+myths and the apparatus of religious magic. The more firmly all this
+established itself in the Church and succeeded there, though not without
+finding resistance, the freer Neoplatonism becomes. It does not by any
+means give up its religious attitude or its theory of knowledge, but it
+applies itself with fresh zeal to scientific investigations and
+especially to the study of the earlier philosophers. Though Plato
+remains the divine philosopher, yet it may be noticed how, from about
+400, the writings of Aristotle were increasingly read and prized.
+Neoplatonic schools continue to flourish in the chief cities of the
+empire up to the beginning of the fifth century, and in this period they
+are at the same time the places where the theologians of the Church are
+formed. The noble Hypatia, to whom Synesius, her enthusiastic disciple,
+who was afterwards a bishop, raised a splendid monument, taught in
+Alexandria. But from the beginning of the fifth century ecclesiastical
+fanaticism ceased to tolerate heathenism. The murder of Hypatia put an
+end to philosophy in Alexandria, though the Alexandrian school
+maintained itself in a feeble form till the middle of the sixth century.
+But in one city of the East, removed from the great highways of the
+world, which had become a provincial city and possessed memories which
+the Church of the fifth century felt itself too weak to destroy, viz.,
+in Athens, a Neoplatonic school continued to flourish. There, among the
+monuments of a past time, Hellenism found its last asylum. The school of
+Athens returned to a more strict philosophic method and to learned
+studies. But as it clung to religious philosophy and undertook to reduce
+the whole Greek tradition, viewed in the light of Plotinus' theory, to a
+comprehensive and strictly articulated system, a philosophy arose here
+which may be called scholastic. For every philosophy is scholastic which
+considers fantastic and mythological material as a _noli me tangere_,
+and treats it in logical categories and distinctions by means of a
+complete set of formulae. But to these Neoplatonists the writings of
+Plato, certain divine oracles, the Orphic poems, and much else which
+were dated back to the dim and distant past, were documents of standard
+authority, and inspired divine writings. They took from them the
+material of philosophy, which they then treated with all the instruments
+of dialectic.
+
+The most prominent teachers at Athens were Plutarch (died 433), his
+disciple Syrian (who, as an exegete of Plato and Aristotle, is said to
+have done important work, and who deserves notice also, because he very
+vigorously emphasised the freedom of the will), but, above all, Proclus
+(411-485). Proclus is the great scholastic of Neoplatonism. It was he
+"who fashioned the whole traditional material into a powerful system
+with religious warmth and formal clearness, filling up the gaps and
+reconciling the contradictions by distinctions and speculations,"
+"Proclus," says Zeller, "was the first who, by the strict logic of his
+system, formally completed the Neoplatonic philosophy and gave it, with
+due regard to all the changes it had undergone since the second century,
+that form in which it passed over to the Christian and Mohammedan middle
+ages." Forty-four years after the death of Proclus the school of Athens
+was closed by Justinian (in the year 529); but in the labours of Proclus
+it had completed its work, and could now really retire from the scene.
+It had nothing new to say; it was ripe for death, and an honourable end
+was prepared for it. The words of Proclus, the legacy of Hellenism to
+the Church and to the middle ages, attained an immeasurable importance
+in the thousand years which followed. They were not only one of the
+bridges by which the philosophy of the middle ages returned to Plato and
+Aristotle, but they determined the scientific method of the next thirty
+generations, and they partly produced, partly strengthened and brought
+to maturity the mediaeval Christian mysticism in East and West.
+
+The disciples of Proclus, Marinus, Asclepiodotus, Ammonius, Zenodotus,
+Isidorus, Hegias, Damascius, are not regarded as prominent. Damascius
+was the last head of the school at Athens. He, Simplicius, the masterly
+commentator on Aristotle, and five other Neoplatonists, migrated to
+Persia after Justinian had issued the edict closing the school. They
+lived in the illusion that Persia, the land of the East, was the seat of
+wisdom, righteousness and piety. After a few years they returned with
+blasted hopes to the Byzantine kingdom.
+
+At the beginning of the sixth century Neoplatonism died out as an
+independent philosophy in the East; but almost at the same time, and
+this is no accident, it conquered new regions in the dogmatic of the
+Church through the spread of the writings of the pseudo-Dionysius; it
+began to fertilize Christian mysticism, and filled the worship with a
+new charm.
+
+In the West, where, from the second century, we meet with few attempts
+at philosophic speculation, and where the necessary conditions for
+mystical contemplation were wanting, Neoplatonism only gained a few
+adherents here and there. We know that the rhetorician, Marius
+Victorinus, (about 350) translated the writings of Plotinus. This
+translation exercised decisive influence on the mental history of
+Augustine, who borrowed from Neoplatonism the best it had, its
+psychology, introduced it into the dogmatic of the Church, and developed
+it still further. It may be said that Neoplatonism influenced the West
+at first only through the medium or under the cloak of ecclesiastical
+theology. Even Boethius--we can now regard this as certain--was a
+Catholic Christian. But in his mode of thought he was certainly a
+Neoplatonist. His violent death in the year 525, marks the end of
+independent philosophic effort in the West. This last Roman philosopher
+stood indeed almost completely alone in his century, and the philosophy
+for which he lived was neither original, nor firmly grounded and
+methodically carried out.
+
+
+_Neoplatonism and Ecclesiastical Dogmatic._
+
+The question as to the influence which Neoplatonism had on the history
+of the development of Christianity, is not easy to answer; it is hardly
+possible to get a clear view of the relation between them. Above all,
+the answers will diverge according as we take a wider or a narrower view
+of so-called "Neoplatonism." If we view Neoplatonism as the highest and
+only appropriate expression for the religious hopes and moods which
+moved the nations of Graeco-Roman Empire from the second to the fifth
+centuries, the ecclesiastical dogmatic which was developed in the same
+period, may appear as a younger sister of Neoplatonism which was
+fostered by the elder one, but which fought and finally conquered her.
+The Neoplatonists themselves described the ecclesiastical theologians as
+intruders who appropriated Greek philosophy, but mixed it with foreign
+fables. Hence Porphyry said of Origen (in Euseb., H. E. VI. 19): "The
+outer life of Origen was that of a Christian and opposed to the law;
+but, in regard to his views of things and of the Deity, he thought like
+the Greeks, inasmuch as he introduced their ideas into the myths of
+other peoples." This judgment of Porphyry is at any rate more just and
+appropriate than that of the Church theologians about Greek philosophy,
+that it had stolen all its really valuable doctrines from the ancient
+sacred writings of the Christians. It is, above all, important that the
+affinity of the two sides was noted. So far, then, as both
+ecclesiastical dogmatic and Neoplatonism start from the feeling of the
+need of redemption, so far as both desire to free the soul from the
+sensuous, so far as they recognise the inability of man to attain to
+blessedness and a certain knowledge of the truth without divine help and
+without a revelation, they are fundamentally related. It must no doubt
+be admitted that Christianity itself was already profoundly affected by
+the influence of Hellenism when it began to outline a theology; but this
+influence must be traced back less to philosophy than to the collective
+culture, and to all the conditions under which the spiritual life was
+enacted. When Neoplatonism arose ecclesiastical Christianity already
+possessed the fundamental features of its theology, that is, it had
+developed these, not by accident, contemporaneously and independent of
+Neoplatonism. Only by identifying itself with the whole history of Greek
+philosophy, or claiming to be the restoration of pure Platonism, was
+Neoplatonism able to maintain that it had been robbed by the church
+theology of Alexandria. But that was an illusion. Ecclesiastical
+theology appears, though our sources here are unfortunately very meagre,
+to have learned but little from Neoplatonism even in the third century,
+partly because the latter itself had not yet developed into the form in
+which the dogmatic of the church could assume its doctrines, partly
+because ecclesiastical theology had first to succeed in its own region,
+to fight for its own position and to conquer older notions intolerable
+to it. Origen was quite as independent a thinker as Plotinus; but both
+drew from the same tradition. On the other hand, the influence of
+Neoplatonism on the Oriental theologians was very great from the fourth
+century. The more the Church expressed its peculiar ideas in doctrines
+which, though worked out by means of philosophy, were yet unacceptable
+to Neoplatonism (the christological doctrines), the more readily did
+theologians in all other questions resign themselves to the influence of
+the latter system. The doctrines of the incarnation, of the resurrection
+of the body, and of the creation of the word, in time formed the
+boundary lines between the dogmatic of the Church and Neoplatonism; in
+all else ecclesiastical theologians and Neoplatonists approximated so
+closely that many among them were completely at one. Nay, there were
+Christian men, such as Synesius, for example, who in certain
+circumstances were not found fault with for giving a speculative
+interpretation of the specifically Christian doctrines. If in any
+writing the doctrines just named are not referred to, it is often
+doubtful whether it was composed by a Christian or a Neoplatonist. Above
+all, the ethical rules, the precepts of the right life, that is,
+asceticism, were always similar. Here Neoplatonism in the end celebrated
+its greatest triumph. It introduced into the church its entire
+mysticism, its mystic exercises, and even the magical ceremonies, as
+expounded by Iamblichus. The writings of the pseudo-Dionysius contain a
+Gnosis in which, by means of the doctrines of Iamblichus and doctrines
+like those of Proclus, the dogmatic of the church is changed into a
+scholastic mysticism with directions for practical life and worship. As
+the writings of this pseudo-Dionysius were regarded as those of
+Dionysius the disciple of the Apostle, the scholastic mysticism which
+they taught was regarded as apostolic, almost as a divine science. The
+importance which these writings obtained first in the East, then from
+the ninth or the twelfth century also in the West, cannot be too highly
+estimated. It is impossible to explain them here. This much only may be
+said, that the mystical and pietistic devotion of to-day, even in the
+Protestant Church, draws its nourishment from writings whose connection
+with those of the pseudo-Areopagitic can still be traced through its
+various intermediate stages.
+
+In antiquity itself Neoplatonism influenced with special directness one
+Western theologian, and that the most important, viz., Augustine. By the
+aid of this system Augustine was freed from Manichaeism, though not
+completely, as well as from scepticism. In the seventh Book of his
+confessions he has acknowledged his indebtedness to the reading of
+Neoplatonic writings. In the most essential doctrines, viz., those about
+God, matter, the relation of God to the world, freedom and evil,
+Augustine always remained dependent on Neoplatonism; but at the same
+time, of all theologians in antiquity he is the one who saw most clearly
+and shewed most plainly wherein Christianity and Neoplatonism are
+distinguished. The best that has been written by a Father of the Church
+on this subject, is contained in Chapters 9-21 of the seventh Book of
+his confessions.
+
+The question why Neoplatonism was defeated in the conflict with
+Christianity, has not as yet been satisfactorily answered by historians.
+Usually the question is wrongly stated. The point here is not about a
+Christianity arbitrarily fashioned, but only about Catholic Christianity
+and Catholic theology. This conquered Neoplatonism after it had
+assimilated nearly everything it possessed. Further, we must note the
+place where the victory was gained. The battle-field was the empire of
+Constantine, Theodosius and Justinian. Only when we have considered
+these and all other conditions, are we entitled to enquire in what
+degree the specific doctrines of Christianity contributed to the
+victory, and what share the organisation of the church had in it.
+Undoubtedly, however, we must always give the chief prominence to the
+fact that the Catholic dogmatic excluded polytheism in principle, and at
+the same time found a means by which it could represent the faith of the
+cultured mediated by science as identical with the faith of the
+multitude resting on authority.
+
+In the theology and philosophy of the middle ages, mysticism was the
+strong opponent of rationalistic dogmatism; and, in fact, Platonism and
+Neoplatonism were the sources from which in the age of the Renaissance
+and in the following two centuries, empiric science developed itself in
+opposition to the rationalistic dogmatism which disregarded experience.
+Magic, astrology, alchemy, all of which were closely connected with
+Neoplatonism, gave an effective impulse to the observation of nature
+and, consequently, to natural science, and finally prevailed over formal
+and barren rationalism Consequently, in the history of science,
+Neoplatonism has attained a significance and performed services of which
+men like Iamblichus and Proclus never ventured to dream. In point of
+fact, actual history is often more wonderful and capricious than legends
+and fables.
+
+_Literature_--The best and fullest account of Neoplatonism, to which I
+have been much indebted in preparing this sketch, is Zeller's, Die
+Philosophie der Griechen, III. Theil, 2 Abtheilung (3 Auflage, 1881) pp.
+419-865. Cf. also Hegel, Gesch. d. Philos. III. 3 ff. Ritter, IV. pp.
+571-728: Ritter et Preller, Hist. phil. graec. et rom. Sec. 531 ff. The
+Histories of Philosophy by Schwegler, Brandis, Brucker, Thilo,
+Struempell, Ueberweg (the most complete survey of the literature is found
+here), Erdmann, Cousin, Prantl. Lewes. Further: Vacherot, Hist, de
+l'ecole d'Alexandria, 1846, 1851. Simon, Hist, de l'ecole d'Alexandria,
+1845. Steinhart, articles "Neuplatonismus", "Plotin", "Porphyrius",
+"Proklus" in Pauly, Realencyclop. des klass. Alterthums. Wagenmann,
+article "Neuplatonismus" in Herzog, Realencyklopaedie f. protest. Theol.
+T. X. (2 Aufl.) pp. 519-529. Heinze, Lehre vom Logos, 1872, p. 298 f.
+Richter, Neuplatonische Studien, 4 Hefte.
+
+Heigl, Der Bericht des Porphyrios ueber Ongenes, 1835. Redepenning,
+Origenes I. p. 421 f. Dehaut, Essai historique sur la vie et la doctrine
+d'Ammonius Saccas, 1836. Kirchner, Die Philosophie des Plotin, 1854.
+(For the biography of Plotinus, cf. Porphyry, Eunapius, Suidas; the
+latter also in particular for the later Neoplatonists). Steinhart, De
+dialectica Plotini ratione, 1829, and Meletemata Plotiniana, 1840.
+Neander, Ueber die welthistorische Bedeutung des 9'ten Buchs in der
+2'ten Enneade des Plotinos, in the Abhandl. der Berliner Akademie, 1843.
+p. 299 f. Valentiner, Plotin u.s. Enneaden, in the Theol. Stud. u.
+Kritiken, 1864, H. 1. On Porphyrius, see Fabricius, Bibl. gr. V. p. 725
+f. Wolff, Porph. de philosophia ex oraculis haurienda librorum reliquiae,
+1856. Mueller, Fragmenta hist. gr. III. 688 f. Mai, Ep. ad Marcellam,
+1816. Bernays, Theophrast. 1866. Wagenmann, Jahrbuecher fuer Deutsche
+Theol. Th. XXIII. (1878) p. 269 f. Richter, Zeitschr. f. Philos. Th.
+LII. (1867) p. 30 f. Hebenstreit, de Iamblichi doctrina, 1764. Harless,
+Das Buch von den aegyptischen Mysterien, 1858. Meiners, Comment. Societ.
+Gotting IV. p. 50 f. On Julian, see the catalogue of the rich literature
+in the Realencyklop. f. prot Theol. Th. VII. (2 Aufl.) p. 287, and
+Neumann, Juliani libr. c. Christ, quae supersunt, 1880. Hoche, Hypatia,
+in "Philologus" Th. XV. (1860) p. 435 f. Bach, De Syriano philosopho,
+1862. On Proclus, see the Biography of Marinus and Freudenthal in
+"Hermes" Th. XVI. p. 214 f. On Boethius, cf. Nitzsch, Das System des
+Boethius, 1860. Usener, Anecdoton Holderi, 1877.
+
+On the relation of Neoplatonism to Christianity and its significance in
+the history of the world, cf. the Church Histories of Mosheim, Gieseler,
+Neander, Baur; also the Histories of Dogma by Baur and Nitzsch. Also
+Loeffler, Der Platonismus der Kirchenvaeter, 1782. Huber, Die Philosophic
+der Kirchenvaeter, 1859. Tzschirner, Fall des Heidenthums, 1829.
+Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantin's des Grossen, p. 155 f. Chastel, Hist.
+de la destruction du Paganisme dans l'empire d'Orient, 1850. Beugnot,
+Hist. de la destruction du Paganisme en Occident, 1835. E. V. Lasaulx,
+Der Untergang des Hellenismus, 1854. Bigg, The Christian Platonists of
+Alexandria 1886. Reville, La religion a Rome sous les Severes, 1886.
+Vogt, Neuplatonismus und Christenthum, 1836. Ullmann, Einfluss des
+Christenthums auf Porphyrius, in Stud, und Krit., 1832 On the relation
+of Neoplatonism to Monasticism, cf. Keim, Aus dem Urchristenthum, 1178,
+p. 204 f. Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in Koptischer Sprache, 1892
+(Texte u. Unters. VIII. I. 2). See, further, the Monographs on Origen,
+the later Alexandrians, the three Cappadocians, Theodoret, Synesius,
+Marius Victorinus, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus, Scotus Erigena
+and the Mediaeval Mystics. Special prominence is due to: Jahn, Basilius
+Plotinizans, 1838. Dorner, Augustinus, 1875. Bestmann, Qua ratione
+Augustinus notiones philos. Graecae adhibuerit, 1877. Loesche, Augustinus
+Plotinizans, 1881. Volkmann, Synesios, 1869. On the after effects of
+Neoplatonism on Christian Dogmatic, see Ritschl, Theologie und
+Metaphysik. 2 Aufl. 1887.
+
+
+[Footnote 455: Excellent remarks on the nature of Neoplatonism may be
+found in Eucken, Goett. Gel. Anz., 1 Maerz, 1884 p. 176 ff.: this sketch
+was already written before I saw them. "We find the characteristic of
+the Neoplatonic epoch in the effort to make the inward, which till then
+had had alongside of it an independent outer world as a contrast, the
+exclusive and all-determining element. The movement which makes itself
+felt here, outlasts antiquity and prepares the way for the modern
+period; it brings about the dissolution of that which marked the
+culminating point of ancient life, that which we are wont to call
+specifically classic. The life of the spirit, till then conceived as a
+member of an ordered world and subject to its laws, now freely passes
+beyond these bounds, and attempts to mould, and even to create, the
+universe from itself. No doubt the different attempts to realise this
+desire reveal, for the most part, a deep gulf between will and deed;
+usually ethical and religious requirements of the naive human
+consciousness must replace universally creative spiritual power, but all
+the insufficient and unsatisfactory elements of this period should not
+obscure the fact that, in one instance, it reached the height of a great
+philosophic achievement, in the case of Plotinus."]
+
+[Footnote 456: Plotinus, even in his lifetime, was reproached with
+having borrowed most of his system from Numenius. Porphyry, in his "Vita
+Plotini", defended him against this reproach.]
+
+[Footnote 457: On this sort of Trinity, see Bigg, "The Christian
+Platonists of Alexandria," p. 248 f.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7), by
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