New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-03-24
THE NEW REFORMATION.
ASST APPEARS TO MRS. HUMPHREY WARD.

q generation has passed away since BasIr died
Professionally strike balance Of results. DO you re-
member HarnacRs article on the present state Of
critical theology In Tho Contemporary two years OF
extraordinary industry, largely read IN Germany and
beginning to be largely read here. We-as compared
so n6nson school ~ %Ss ~ s sn heh his verdict or
tho knowledge OF to-day Is simply this-'reher In
historical points of vlew.' Harnack himself has car
Rcd opposition to some Of the most characteristic
TubIngen conclusions almost 10 extravaganza; but
here In this careful and falrmindod summary Is not
master not a word Of an attack which has failed
Because the person who Is speaking knows oetter
Yet he draws with firm hand the positive advances.
the altered aspects OF knowledge Why have we come
10 know of that problem of the rise OF Cathol-
lcism, to which BaT devoted his life, than
we we have grown mon realistic, nOrO
elastic, the historical temper has developed We have
o cSsr sss pe Great
have taught us this: Then we have realized that
as ss section Sne e. s ws Sso snf Of
csnIot be understood except In resSe 10 eS at
msSS was ana aa usaoR o. Ssse RPcr
pared with my Oxford divinity training was ~ Ike
ing breathing humanity. Each Of my three pro
fessors on HIS own ground was p9pplng WIN the
ssu 2, RS and al
the while perfectly, freely unbsmpered 6y suoiGrlp
oSa own or srt SsSS Or oaS 1Ss noa Ike the
s@oas Is; 4 viii tsSo the effort 81 generation 70
TWO books in particular to me-if you arc not
des Judischen voifes i'm zeit2ltr Jesa Christi, and
h1si sSS h1 sSsn %f1i b s s q "a
Eanty. In the second you hsve tho. same
materials, only handled IN moro conseeatGs and
S SeSSs AND %S sOrWa for he history Of & Apostles
II you compare them with Strauss, you sec with
startling oeApess how far we have travelled n half
personality, and IN its stead the play Of philosophical
obstruction. Here, a Landscape Of oxtraofdhary de-
populations which belong to II; Pbarisee and Essene
sadducse and HeIlenist standing out viii the dress
and uterance and gesture native 10 each snd IN thelr
midst the figure which is last becoming roal Intel
igible, human, as 1t has never yet been ana which
u sssS S Of 6a, *. We , S p oas Sh sn T
and obeyed! Tho contrast sets us looking back with
wonder over the long, long road But thsre Is no
tin now the driving impulse has been the sane-the
impulse to understand, the yeaTning toward unified
necessary, and each step development diluted
and fastfed history FIST driven out by thought,
wS was then as + WERE left alone i Time on on
has replaced the old losses by history, fuller
ana eSsSssr rsnge Of IN sSoM SnISS
than this common English label applied TO great
and 50 far1rinmphant movement'of thought
Looking back over the controversy, whether Is
70 the Ola Testament or the New, see similar orto-
orally as AZ Immediate prelude 20 some fresh and I'm.
and Sssn routed q BY sy critical e: present.
moment u could only arise, llke your quotation OF
asaa you country S ' and DC Minds for mean ne nd
part wfllngy Ignorant Qt the weole actual situation
sSa p %sSR Roman SnS f q has
much as the scientific investigation Of Buddhism dur
gree has he critical lnH a Of chsasnity
tnS In az ss ss' ,I ss y. ass sssa
Of speculative thought motGed By controlling fact.
But bsoanso some OF Nleouhrs views as 10 the rust
sre N 90 y SoS sense ~ Ms
--eeeaase senart,s speeulstions as to the myhcs
directions By Che conviction Of a later school tia,
from the Pail texts now being brought 30 hight
&C. To y SaaGRS and M ne s pTSs ss o.
order than was at one time s1specied-beeAnse o.
ne me MODERN Sdsr Studies Of Roman history or q
3 % ss@t 70 sun ~ S SS S s R sss ysS %
find the miracles OF early Buddhism more historically
convnoinel'
your parallel for q moment In The first place, Tho
Christian phenomena upigne In the history Of the
world, and cannot be profiiably compared en- equal
terms with Rny other series Of phenomena. In the
seoopd, the variations which do not substantially
20 far over time and place Roman history or Budd.
hism arc Of vitai consequence when Il comes to
posslsiiItiss 70 much morc IfnIbedL To throw back
be Gospels from the second century where Banr and
nrst Is practically 10 surrender the bases Of the
donahst theory. You give yourself 10 time ior The
writing mythical and beaTsy accounts. the critic
himself brings rs back into The presence OF eor eye
nesses. lie has treated he testimony as he pleased,
has subjected 70 every harsh sr".ere rent, st his
I'd Of Il whossaio, or forcing into the mould Of his
own arbitrary conceptions. be b Obliged 10 put up
With + 70 s0owsdgG g u RowfEF v b et ;sS over
.06liEed 70 Eut up With T. sad se ,1Gs %n
~h How odd S pSsS
that patient loving investigation Of every vostise and
fragment o. CssIan antiquity EheP hb Des n,So e
dox Church, little she VIII acknowledge IT, owes all
the greater roasonabensss and lyngnefs Of her own
ike Harnsck and Hausrath have no quarrel with
Christian testimony, no antpaihy whatever TO what
. n SnS 90 II y be abe % translate ' They
and vast section Of tho thinking Christian world with
more than il can give. They have come to recognize
that il considered BY certain necessities Of CUE
ure certain laws Of thought: that 10 time which had
porting, 10 time which produced the ale;
Interpretations OF 81 Paul and The gospels, shc hstor
csl method Of Josephqs, the supersttons Of Justin
Irenaeus, and the mass Of pSeudepigraphcRi lkora-
ture which meetS US at every turn beforc ana In,
70 ind hlstory which Is not largely legend tsaat
ton which is not largely dsuson. Lcd by experience
bus from all history, they expect
beforehand what the Christian Documents reveal
They SEQ sense OF history 20 weak that In pTeSorv.
Ing the tradition OF tho Lord oannot koo clear and
free from manifest contradiction even the most essen
tal facts not even the netive place Of HIS parents,
the duration Of His ministry, the date OF HIS death
the place and time and order Of the Resurrection aP
TIE hhgh OF the mysterious period inter.
yening botwccn tho Resurrection and ascension ana
In preserving the tradition Of tho Apostes, cannot
record With certainty for eber Disciples even the
most essential facts 9s to their letcr Ives the 6eenes
Of Their lab0ts, tho manner Of thor deaths' On Al
these points the documents show nMvely-as all early
traditions dothe most irreconciiaoe discIepanSies.
The critical historian could have fDreold them hnds
lhem the most natural thing IN the word. On The
other hand he grows familiar. the inquiry grows
superstos belief nationalist hope. IN the mind Of
the first Christian period the bulk OF which he Knows
n he much older than the appesanco Of Jesus q Nara
roth, and wherein he can trace de clements which
s0ndinoned the activity Of the Master and eoyored all
lhe thoughts Of HIS primitive followers about Him
ne measures the strength Of these featastc or poedo
of nature and history by the absence
NJ Ueahnnxs IN the sDetety producing them, OF |