Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-27
leader. but whose story was gradually
clothed with legend OF the miraculous

| leader. but whose story was gradually
clothed with legend of the miraculous
sort
ION the other hand, the supporters OF
the Christ-myth hypothesis advance the
! second proposition as their solution; that
there never was a historic person such
| as is delineated in the New Testament:
the Gospel narrative is essentially the
days Jesu. or Adonis or Osiris, or Gilga-
mesch. and given place In space and
time in the form of an imagined human
individual. or Of real. but now I'M
! Of producing conviction and faith In the
| followers of what was but an old and
| now revamped religion. In otner words,
the first school believes in dsified man
school believes in a humani1ed pagan
deity as that Jesus.
| THE tendency of the western world-a
! tendency dinerentiating its Christianity
terruptedly been to emphasize the human
side Of the being Of Christ.
| Can we assign to the Jesus Christ OF
the gospels the attributes which We as
Such considerations and questions ex-
| press, in general way, the chief form
| OF perplexity which has risen among the
more orthodox Christians as one of the
| dare say that the grounds of this per-
plexity. which in Itself is sincere, are
| often exegetically mistaken, unduly
| urged: For example. no one can say
such fact in life as demoniacal possession.
Different Point Of View.
eve attribute this early belief to the
general disposition in apostolic times to
assign every mysterious manifestation to
supernatural agency. But are we quite
sure that we are not erring in the other
direction by our own general disposition
to assign every mysterious manifestation
I to mere earthly causation? Our inclina-
| tons are, perhaps, the very opposite OF
the inclination OF men in the first century.
Has our point Of view thereby become
wholly infallible, while theirs was utterly
| undiscerning and unintelligent? The re-
! markable results Of psychfcal research
| are teaching us the wisdom OF suspending
our Judgment in reference to many a
biblical phenomenon. which we have been
prone to call incredible and silly.
| 1T IL quite possible that 1t would have
been better for the church II her theology
had ended its development with its ex-
preston Ia the New Testament. And 1t is
more than probable that the early church
would have had it end there. The truth
| that the church In her earlier days ex-
| hibited the utmost reluctance to take up
the work Of formulating her theology and
| ment which it subsequently assumed is
| not sufficiently recognized.
"All efforts to define the interrelations
Of the phenomena in the gospel orig1-
| mated outside of her own corporate &C
| tivity. and all the resulting conflicts all
the calls for determining councils, were
forced on her. She never once in this
field moved Of her own free will. but
moved only in response to some opinion
shocked the instinctiye Christian con-
sciousness. and reduced the advocate of
| 1t to the position Of hereto. Consequent
iy our creeds are negative in character;
| our Nicene theology is but a barrier
ideas.
Theology Of Nicene Age.
Il pass over the problem Of whether
| our theology Of the person OF Christ will
some day need restatement for we can
! not predict the nature Of the enlighten-
ment and needs Of generations yet I'M
| born. But for the immediate future the
| theology Of the Nicene age with it's great
| creed. the Nicene. will stand firm.
I'm conclusion. the person OF Christ in
the Gospel and the person Of Christ in
| theology are the same Granted that tho
person In the gospel Is essentially su-
perhuman, as well as human, which both
Christus myth, so different in their main
point Of view. alike affirm, there Is no
reason to deny His identity with the SUI
perhuman person of theology. Why two
| as the Jesus Of the gospels and the other
as the Christ Of theology, which we are
asked to do? Why not affirm as our sub
1ect afirms: the Jesus Christ Of the COS
noU7 In fonf
must be ADEQUATE to its effect. We can
| hardly understand the sustained and con-
quering influence Of the Christ-power
among us. more forcible now than ever.
source like Christ power
speaking on the same subject, Rev.
Harold g; Brewster. rector Of st. Agnes
Church, East Orange, N. j., said:
THE church will misrepresent the Lord
Jesus whenever 1t sets forth the deepest
| religious experiences as anything less
than personal. The passion for organized
power Pow rs - constantly a endansering higher
army. business system, a legislature or
| by the remotest suggestion q court of
law. 1t is q family. Our spiritual rela-
'tions are not official. but personal. and M
| officer stands between US and the Su
preme Person, whose likeness | never
want to see more clearly than 1t lies in
Jesus Christ
] The Nature Of Jesus.
| In leading up to this conclusion Rev.
| Mr.. Brewster said:
| I'VE have to begin with the fact that
He was mana man Of whom each age
has seen something and Of whom every
age has missed seeing ALL Modern
I thought tends to look at Him as the mere
man Jesus. whose real likeness is OBJ
scured for us by the legendary impression
of Him which is called Christ. Jesus or
Christ? is the typical modern way of
putting the ChrisoIosical problem Is II
they were terms that are exclusive of
each other.
But those Of us who have that faith