Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-27

Discussion Of THE Jesus Christ of tho
Gospels and Of Theology" occupied all
Of the time at this mornings meeting
Of the twenty-ninth church congress. in
session in Continental Memorial Hall,
and several valued contributions were
made to advanced thought. ON the one
ness Of the man Jesus and the divine
Christ.
Rev. DR.. Elwood Worcester. rector OF
Emmanuel Church. Boston, and founder
Of the Emmanuel movement, probably
struck the keynote Of the debate when
he declared that the theology Of every
age was limited only by the modes OF
thought of the age. and that the theology
Of an age had no greater permanence
that the era in which 1t lived.
Jesus Is not merely the founder
OF Christianity. He is its ideal and its
continued inspiration" DR.. Worcester
declared. Expressing the practical re-
suit Of continued study OF the theo-
logians. DR.. Worcester said that with
greater knowledge Of Christ our Sec
tartan differences are becoming con-
stantly less
Other speakers on the same subject
were Rev. George c. Stewart, rector
of st. Luke's Church, Evanston, ILL.,.
and Rev. DIR. Cyrus Townsend Brady,
City. Mo.
Christ of Gospels and Theology.
The forcibly drawn conclusion Of Rev.
DR.. William NJ. Groton, reader Of the
first paper. was that the person OF Christ
In the Gospel and the person Of Christ in
theology are the same. In support OF his
argument, DIR. Groton. who is dean. OF
the Divinity School Of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, Philadelphia. said in
part:
1.-THE critical study OF the New Tes-
lament during the last century has
drawn the attention Of biblical schol.
arship with ever-increasing interest to
the historic person Of Christ. Begin
canonical gospels as literary and his
toric documents, 1T has concentrated it
self more and more exclusively on the
central figure OF the gospel-Jesus hinj
this criticism aiming to dispel the mya-
terry Of His person by depriving II utterly
| If its superhuman features has ended
only in deepening the mystery. and rails
ing for its own side questions numerous
and banning. The difficulty of solving
the problem thus created by skeptical
| criticism itself has brought into exist
ence another school. more radical still.
which denies the historic reality of
Christ. and views Him either as the god
| of a secret pre-Christian Jewish cult. or
as the reproduction of some deity OF the
oriental-Greek mysteries. or as the re-
| embodiment, In new form. of the old
Babylonian Gilgamesh epic.
consequently so-called liberalism has
simply frightened the knot which II hoped
| to unite. so that one member Of the more
! extreme school. just mentioned. Prof.
William b. Smith Of Tulane University.
advocating the first form Of the mythical
| idea Of Jesus, has just styled liberalism
! as 'deplorably illogical. limping on both
| legs However. one OF the results OF all
\ this criticism. result apparently salts
| factory to all. even to the orthodox be-
lever. is that the Jesus Of the gospels 10
q supernatural person.
| The Real Problem.
THE real problem today IL not whether
the Jesus Christ Of the gospels IL a su-
pernatural person. but whether His su-
pernatural characteristics are an accre-
ton. subsequently attached to Him by
the devotion and enthusiasm Of His dis
ciples, or whether these characeeristics
belong to Him from the beginning and
| therefore are an inseparable element OF
the gospel portrayal OF Him. liberalism
advances the hrst proposition as its So
i e,,%t ~ ~ ~ Ia