The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-25
AN ESSAY WRITTEN FOR THE
ACADEMY OF APOLOGETIcS,
ST. PAUL SEMINARY, BY ARTH-
UR r. TERLEcKI.

While discussion regarding the
reality of Christ's existence is at the
same time interesting and important,
one is always somewhat dimident in
approaching it. A Christian, espe-
cially Catholic, regards such a
study as something verging on bias
phemy, for to him the subject i'm
plies doubt; a doubt regarding that
which he considers most sacred and
certain; doubt which would shatter
his entire view of life and all that it
contains, either here or hereafter.
Realizing this, the skeptic, the ma
terialist, and the unbeliever proceed
boldly to the attack and endeayor TO
show by all means, fair or foul that
He Whom we adore and venerate, He
upon Whom we place all our hopes,
He in Whom we find our ultimate
source and our final end, is nothing
but myth or a legend. Having sue
ceeded in this to their satisfaction
they would eradicate the name Chris
tan with all it implies, and give us
instead of Christianity's sublime doc
trines, the ethics of a Buddha, an
Epicurus, or a Mithra; for in one or
the other of these, the liberal schol-
ars claim to have discovered the
source of the "Christ-myth."
When confronted by the knowl-
edge of this purpose, the Christian,
especially the Catholic, ceases to
scruple about the propriety of max
ing Our Lord the topic of discussion
and launches bravely to the defense
He investigates his opponents con-
tentions, discovers their weak points,
refutes their erroneous suppositions,
and finally stands forth victorious, and
happy in the knowledge that he has
succeeded i'll showing the very cogent
reasons for his faith and convictions.
The Testimony of History.
We know well what history has to
tell us about Jesus of Nazareth; His
humble birth; His hidden life; His
sublime teaching; His cruel death;
and His glorious resurrection. We
have often mediated on the miracu-
lous rapidity with which the belief in
Him and His promises has spread
over the whole world. We have also
wondered how persecution and oppo-
sition, both from within and without,
have left it unframed. Then, in the
sixteenth century, we have seen the
great struggle which resulted in the
division of Christianity Pride and
the spirit of human liberty caused a
few men to break away from the true
faith, and to set up for themselves
new teaching, free from restraint,
subject only to the authority of the
individual. These men claimed that
the doctrines of the church were cor
rupt,-that they were not the teach
ing of Christ. They-the Reformers,
were the only true opponents of
Christ's doctrines, and now, after
sixteen centuries Of darkness they
were at last going to give the world
the true word of God. But, as there
was no hand to guide them Alright,
they soon deviated from the path of
orthodoxy, and wandered farther and
farther from the way pointed out by
the Master. They began to drop as
Superfluous, one after another of the
most halloWed dogrnas of the Faith,
until at last even the sacred personal
ity of it's Founder was no longer safe.
Evolution in Religion.
This was the state of affairs in the
critical world, when the doctrine of
evolution entered upon the scene, with
overlook the world. Everything was
to be explained i'll terms of evolu-
ton, and religion was no exception.
1t was simply an evolution of the
human emotion known as religious
experience or the feeling of depend
ence, which again is simply an out
growth from the feeling of loneliness,
the desire of All indefinable some
thing. But if this be so, then
Christianity is simply one phase, or
one arm, if it may be so called, of
an evolutionary process, whose other
whose latest manifestation is on the
one hand Modernism, and on the other
Theosophy. What, then, is the
necessity of Christ's existence? He
is at most a very vague parsonage,
about whom profane history has been
strangely silent. Saul of Tarsus is
the center Of ecclesiastical history,
and without doubt, Christ is but a
Pigment of his brain, a character
about whom he might center his re-
ligious doctrines. But now our re-
ligion has progressed SO far that
Christ has ceased to be our ideal.
In it's place, those who use this line
of argument, propose humanitarian
ism and the so-called religion of social
interest.
This is the extent to which the radi-
Gals of our day are prepared to go.
But they do not remember that
humanitarianism was a principle of
pagan life, and failure; they forget
that social interest means either eget-
ism, or undue interference in the
rights of others. They do not real
ize that at most these systems can
satisfy only the purely natural de-
mands of man. One, and only one
religion can satisfy every aspiration
of mankind, that that is Christianity.
One, and only one thing can make
Christianity a reality, and that is the
fact of Christ's existence. Take