The Washington times., 1922-02-05

r T was In the first half Of the
nineteenth century that q
minute, verbal. word-by-word
criticism Of the New Testament
was begun by Strauss. a man OF
such great patience that the image
which rises up In the mind when
we lay aside his book after reading
il for an hour is Of one who has
undertaken to pick a great stretch
Of carpet to pieces with q needle.
thread by thread.
Strauss had many disciples. and
the work Of the master was carried
forward after his death-the count
ing and weighing Of words, the
collation. Of the different senses
and the associations In which they
appeal. the bringing to light Of
secondary meanings, and the writ
ing Of pages Of comment and con-
lecture regarding every faintest
historical allusion: and 30 thirsty
were these critics. for truth that
even the translation Of the New
Testament into Aramaic seems to
have been attempted in the hope
Of discovering how far the Greek
is burdened with JEWS idiom.
In the midst Of so much literary
. activity II is not strange that the
genius Of st. Paul was overlooked.
his literary genius being Of little or
no interest 10th exegetists. who
were concerned with Paul's con.
version on Christianity on the road
to Damascus, whether It can DO
explained by medical experts, and
above all. how he came to formu-
late q complete system Of theology
within twenty years Of the death
Of Jesus. A system Of theology.
said the exegetists, Is formulated
slowly, not by one man but by
many. and to produce Paul's
system fifty years, or perhaps .
hundred years. were necessary.
And the question then came to DO
debated whether Christianity was
anterior to Christ, the most ad.
vanced theory Of the Dutch critics
being that Paul a. We know him
In the Epistles never existed in
the flesh, but was an invention
of . school Of writer's In the second
writer's
GIFT OF vEHEMENCE.
In brief. II was not Paul but q
desire to rid the world they lived
In OF Christianity that inspired the
labors Of the early exsgetists. for
could they but prove him to b .
myth Christianity would be with
out tiue-deeds. Some were inter
ested in the spiritual Paul, but
their interest was biased by the
hope Of finding support for their
different doctrines In his writings,
and none seems to have suspected
q grsat writer. . great post, In
Paul. Nor n this strange: Poets
discover poets, sculptors sculptors,
painters paintsrs. and poetry was
Tar from the minds Of the exeget-
lists: but they an knew Greek. and
a. Paul's Creek was not the Greek
Of Athens, Il was assumed that he
could not DO . great writer, which
IL not strange. for to this day
scholars think that there can b
no great writing done Outside Of
grammar: yet scholars win praise
Theocritus and Burns. who depart
one - widely - the other. from
the standards Of Athens and Lon
don.
PERSONAL PASSION.
The sift Of vehemenos n oso-
coded to Paul. - It might b -
any other preachsr-shali ~ ~
8purreonf-anA II II forSuttsa
that though his preaching cannot
have converted moro than . thou
sand. his writings have nvsd
Christianity. For - great IN
achievement . unique gift coming
from within and expressing itssH
in forms unknown before In iitsra-
turs warneeded: and though the
distinctions 6f Paul's style were
the needed distinctions. critics
have attributed to him Epistiss
which he could not have written
the Mpistlss 70 the Hobrsws. 10
Timothy. and b TITUS, the three
altogether lacking the quality Of
heat which makes Panl's style
what It Is. -
Jean Jacques Rousseau At
trfbuted the success Of his writ
ings to . certain heat, but
the heat that they give Ia
feeble indeed compared to the
heat Of Paul's words; and a. this
quality Of heat will b mentioned
moro than once in the course of
this essay, II il necessary to give
1t q name. We will call II personal.
passion, and declare our belief to
be that personal passion 10 the rar-