The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-17
Prof Lucls Hopkins Miller Says That Problem of Christs
Relation to God May Be Solved by
Scientific Methods

period and the appearance OF the Cos
pei II Joan there arose the view OF
the Person OF Jesus so appealingly
set forth In the beautiful stories of the
infancy We need not discuss here
whether these narratives OF Matthew
and Luke arose b fore or after the time
Of Paul nor whether they were placed
where they are by the evangelsts
themselves or ny later editors. II sat
. isles our present purpose to remark
that here We have a distinct attempt
to account for Jesus's divine or gin,
this being already believed in on other
grounds We do not have 20 import
myths in order to account for this
phenomenon, The Hebrew ancestors
OF these Jewish Christians had often
manifested a tendency to asCrbe a
supernatural birth to those whom they
regarded as their great religious
leaders, AZ in the cases Of Isaac and
~ Samuel. 4 similar hut, naturally,
much stronger tendency gave rise,
probably, to the accounts Of Jesus's
birth and infancy. The idea these
stories embody Is that OF physical fila
ton" They were creations of "popu-
lar devotion. destined to explain the
divine sonship Of Christ by his super
natural generation" This important
product OF popular theology eventually
became cardinal factor In the final
shaping OF the Christian creeds in
which IL was amalgamated with vari-
GUS other clements primitive Jewish
Christian. Pauline. Iohaunine and
others That It was not such Il factor
In the first century Is evident from the
ftot that il is ignored by Paul and the
author Of the Gospel of John. Indeed,
such a theory as that Of physical filia-
tiun" Is far from compatible with either
~ these other historic Christian view
points, namely, the Pauline and the
Johanuine.
Pauls Christian experience was OF
the transcendcnt type. Its conscious
beginning was surrounded by abnor-
NAL conditions and the vision OF Christ
on the road 10 Damascus was ever the
burning centre Of his religious and
choolog cal universe Further. he cut
himself on. In large part. from the de-
tails of Jcsus's historical career which
So determined the thought Of his Jew
.sh-Christian brothers. Hence It was
but natural that the heavenly Christ
should be the burden Of his Thoughts
and that correspondingly lofty c8ncep-
his way he gave Jesus the first place
And Yet he everywhere subordnates
him to God. even the Father" to
whom he shall deliver up the King
dom" at Tho end"
What Paul did in his way the author
OF the Fourth Gospel also did but in
a way peculiar to himself Accus-
toned 20 tho thought Of the Philonic
school, he exalted his Lord and Master
in the terms that lay at hand In so
doing he performed a great service
FOR the thinking people OF his day.
Jesus was to him the Word maze
flesh" This was Understandable 10 a
Greek and doubtless many were led to
a proper estimate Of Jesus through
this way az describing him. The
/ Ph!onic definitions Of the Word" ara
| somewhat confusing. Sometimes 1.-THE
Word Is spoken OF as equal with God
and sometimes in terms Of subordna-
| ton 10 him. 1t was really a term OF
mediation for a day when the gap be-
! tween God and man was felt to he
much greater than Il is now felt to be
or, as we may remark in passing, than
Jesus evidently felt II to be The
| Word" was the highest OF all divine
| Intermediates; the first step OF God
downward toward man. The author Of
| the Fourth Gospel possessed deep
/ Christian experience together with an
AleNandrlan education and he could not
/ trd a better or more suitable name for
his Master than this term Of media
ton current IN the AleXandrian school.
Two centuries Of conflict conquest
and compromise passed over the Chris
tian fauh Out OF these things came
the great Creeds Of Christendom.
Christianity was enthroned upon the
seat nj power. No longer could il he
said, Not many wise, not many mighty
are called" Probably the great moving
life Of the religion was then, as always,
down in the midst Of the mass Of com
mon humanity. but the shaping Of