The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-25
THE HISTORICITY OF CHRIST

/ VI IhC Vi I5lu I'll HG
first critic to apply the historical
method of criticism to Scripture is
Bruno Bauer, the theOlogian of Social
ism. After he had denied the
authenticity of the entire New Tesla
ment, with the exception of the
letters to the Romans and Galatians,
and the two epistles to the CORN
thians, he proceeds to inform us that
Christ had nothing to do with the
origin of Christianity. In fact Chris
tianity did not originate in Palestine,
but in Rome. Seneca is the real
founder of Christianity, for in his
works we find whole sentences, which
correspond to those in the Gospels.
The Gnostic Marcion gave these
ideas Platonic setting. The founts
of Christianity, therefore, were Rome
and Alexandria. From Alexandria
and the Gnostics came the idea of
divine Sonship, and from Rome and
the Caesars, the idea of a mediator
between God and man.
1t is scarcely strange that Bauer,
who placed the composition of the
Gospels toward the end of the second
century, should be guilty Of making
| Christianity dependent on Gnosticism
and Stoicism. The fact is that both
Marcion and Seneca lived at time
when the influence of Christianity was
already felt at Alexandria and Rome
| as well as in Palestine. But it is
difficult to understand how he can
compare Stole Indifference and ethi-
cal suicide, as taught by Seneca and
Marcion, with the sympathetic kind
ness, charity, and patience in adver-
slty, taught and practiced by Christ
Another supposition is based on the
sociological aspect of history. At the
| beginning of the Christian era we
find i'll Rome two great classes, the
rich few, who lived in luxury, and the
| poor masses, who lived in abject
misery. The rich, disconnected with
their lot, gave themselves up to the
| forgetfulness which lies in dissipa-
ton. The poor, en- the other hand,
driven by despair, became infused
with mystical and chiliastic ideas,
and began to labor under the delusion
that some one would come from
heaven to save them from their
| miserable condition, and that this one
would be the Christ, the anointed
| of the Lord. Against this supposition
there is no better argument than that
| OF Harnack-"it is strange that the
really desperate did not accept it
| Christianity, but resisted it; strange
that the leaders, in as far as we know
them, do not give any indications of
despair; but it is most strange that
while they reject this earth and its
goods, they establish a brotherhood
of sanctity and charity which de-
| clares war on the great evil of man
kind-the thesis of a dcCadent era
and religion of misery, may suffice
to lead us into an outer court; it may
even Indicate a formulating principle;
but when it proposes itself as a key
to the Interpretation of this religion,
it must be rejected"
The only conclusion possible from
consideration, of these hypothesis is,
that without admitting the historical
existence Of Christ it is impossible to
explain the origin of Christianity, for
the era of Christ marks the first ap-
pearance of religion so essentially
different from all others in its doc
trines, its practices and it's effects,
that it has not been and cannot be
successfully traced back to any or
all pre-eXisting beliefs. Moreover, it
reVolves altogether about Christ. He
is, according to all evidences, so
necessary to Christianity, that taking
away His existence, our religion is
nothing but a monstrOus lie, and the
founders of the greatest civilizing
influence the world has ever seen, are
nothing but imposters. Is it not much
more logical to suppose that Christ
really existed?
Pagan Testimony.
When our opponents reject the
reality of Christ's existence on a
critical study of history, they either
disregard or reject as spurious, a
mass of evidence from various
sources. This testimony may be di-
vided into three classes; pagan, Jew
| ish and Christian. Among the Pagans
we find the writings Of Tacitus and
| Suetonius, and the letter of Pliny the
Younger to the Emperor Trajan.
Pliny the Younger, an intimate
friend of Trajan, was born about the
year G2 A. d. He was nephew of