The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
Evoiutien a.d Theology.

We ara indebted TO the Messrs. Macmillan
for a volume comprising ten essays under the
collective title Of Evolution and Theology. by
Or. OTTO ~PrLEIpERER. professor of theology
at the University OF Berlin. Among the many
topics discussed In this book arc the relation
Of theology TO historical science, the task Of
scientific theology for the church Of the pres
ent day and the question whether. morality
without religion is possible or desirable. 1t
il well known that the author Is one Of the fore
most German theolosians and scholars Of the
century, and the publishers have rendered
English readers a service by max ing accessible
to them some OF his moro Characteristic and
valuable writings, We shall here direct atten-
ton TO Or. Pneiderer's defense Of the applica-
ton Of historical criticism to the Bible, after
~glancine at his fundamental position that Chris
tian theology is not a final deliverance. but
subject TO the laws Of evolution.
The authors fundamental position will be
found outlined In the first OF the ten essays
here translated DR.. Pneiderer submits that
ne who identifies the historical Jesus with
the idea of mankind or, what amounts to the
same thing. persists In seeing In him the per-
feet revelation Of God. must, II he Is not merely
making phrases but thinking logically. take
upon himself the consequence Of recognizing
all the sayings Of Jesus, or at least all those
which are concerned with religious and ethical
matters. a. constituting an unconditional and
binding authority" Even II We leave out Of
the account by reason OF their certainly doubt
full authenticity the apocalyptic sayings Of
His early second coming with the angels Of
heaven. which are contradicted by history.
there remain many ma1ims which II Ia hardly
possible for a modern man TO recognize a.
authoritative. Who believes to-day in pos
session, In the causing Of diseases by demoniac
inhuences? Happily nobody, for in witch
trials the error has cost Christendom dear.
Then We have the twice attested, and hence
very probably genuine saying as to the per-
petual validity OF the Mosaic law Matt, ", 10;
Luke. xvi. ny and another saying. likewise
twice attestsd. on the Limitation Of Josus's
mission to Israel Matt. T.. {: ~. 24l II the
church had held strictly to these words there
would have been no gentle Christianity, and
accordingly no Christian church"
DR.. phsiderer proceeds a. follows: Then
there Is the saving In the Sermon on the Mount
lin the most genuine Of the genuine. ,: Resist
not evil: but whoever shall smite thee on thy
right check. turn to him the other also Where
Il there a man among US who would be able
and willing literally to fulfil this command
ment? To set II up as a principle is equivalent
to making every legal ordinance impossible.
And how do We stand toward the 40 earnestly
and often expressed requirements: Sell Whist
thou hast and give to tho poor; every one who
does not renounce all that he has cannot be nv
disciple: II any one come to me and does not
hate his father and his mother and his wife and
his brothers and his sisters and his own life also.
he cannot be my disciple'' There have. indeed
been Christians who took all this In earnest. and
monasticism grew out Of this ascetic rupture
with the world: but how do We Professionals
stand toward these teachings' We ignore
them entirely. and. at the SAINT time. declare
that wa recognize Jesus a our uncon ditional
authority, Ar honest Christian must, so long
"a historical science does not come to his aid,
be placed In a condition OF painful unrest
by tho question whether he ought to
observe all these maxims. Shall he re-
gard them all n really binding? Or. II
he cannot do that. must he think himself TO be
no longer a disciple OF Jesus, q Christian? Here
Is the evolutionary view OF history which fur
nishes an escape from this dilemma. For IL
teaches us to distinguish between that which
in Jesus Is the divine. true and good. and that
which Is only the historically conditioned limita-
ton OF his personality. To the latter belong
the supernatural Messianism and the harsh
world-renouncing Wceticism connected with
1t. Both these were by no means subsidiary
matters for his personal thinking and historical
activity. and vet they constitute only the In
dividually conditioned and hence transient form
Of a universally valid and permanent content Of
truth"
In the essay on theology and historical science,
DR.. Pneiderer points out that the method by
which Baur Illuminated primitive Christian
history has been applied In the last few decades