Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

It is of course the business of historical science to understand everything that happens; but a development is not unintelligible even if it runs far ahead of its own time, and afterwards falls back upon the footsteps it has already outrun, to retraverse them anew, step by step. Were this otherwise, we should have to eliminate from history all its great and epoch-making men-Luther, for example, and, in the end, Jesus himself" (Schmiedel, EBi, ii. 1621).-P. 66, n. 1: Add Montefiore's study on Paul and Jesus (Jew. Quart. Rev. 1901, 161-217), and Holtzmann, "Zum Thema 'Jesus und Paulus'PM (1900), pp. 463-468, with Brückner's article, 'Christologie des Marcus-Evangeliums" (ibid., 1900, pp. 415-438).-Pp. 67, 70: Even when tested by standards which seem unduly severe and sceptical, the evangelic tradition emerges with so large a measure of credibility (EBi, ii. 1872-1889), that we are sensible, especially when these results are revised in the light of a more reasonable though none the less thorough research, how far we have travelled in regard to the trustworthiness of the gospels since the days when Clough could write in sad and sincere fashion fifty years ago, that he did not see "how any one who will not tell lies to himself, can dare to affirm that the narrative of the four gospels is an essential integral part" of the great religious tradition. The substantial credibility of the historic element in the synoptic gospels, which is largely beyond dispute in most schools of criticism to-day, is not bound up, however, with a very early date for these gospels. Nor does it depend upon the absolute elimination from them of what is termed "inferior tradition, ," "legend," or sensuous conceptions." It would be simply unscientific to write as if the major contents of the gospels represented a mere precipitate, more or less subjective and imaginative, of what early Christianity hoped, believed, and achieved. But it is none the less accurate to hold that in their extant form the gospels are historical products of a religious life within the Christian communities, which in turn was the direct outcome and reflection of Christ's personality; and also that while they convey the substance of the evangelic tradition, and exhibit the individuality and teaching of Jesus with an accuracy which for all practical purposes is as unimpeachable as it is final and impressive, the antecedents and circumstances of their origin have not been wholly without influence in the shaping of their form and contents. Loyalty to historical research, e.g., makes it almost impossible either to ignore or to exaggerate the presence of inferior strata in a restricted extent throughout the gospels. This is admitted on all hands (cp. Bruce, EBi, ii. 24522453; Beyschlag, NTTh, ii. 474, 478; Jülicher, Einl. 292 f.; Bacon, INT, pp. 182, 198, 210; Harnack, HD, i. pp. 99 f., 106 n., etc.). But it is only when the historical strata of the gospels are thus recognised as occupying different planes, that the absolute fidelity and splendid certainty of their major contents can be satisfactorily established. In the acute and useful article already referred to, Schmiedel, like Bacon (INT, ch. ix.), postulates a number of sources behind even the Ur-Marcus and the Logia a genetic treatment which, though opposed as superfluous and airy by Jülicher, throws light upon some parts of the question, even while it seems to unduly complicate others. Like the majority of recent investigators, Schmiedel minimises partytendency, and is upon the whole conservative with regard to the creation of narrative out of ideas, and prophetic beliefs (EBi, ii. 1844 f.). Needlessly suspicious, his treatment is a distinct advance upon that of Brandt. Soltau's new monograph (Unsere Evang. und ihr Quellenwert vom Standpunkt des Historikers aus betrachtet, 1901) carries the problem still farther forward.-Upon one important factor in the relation of historical literature to its subject, in early Christianity, some light is incidentally thrown in an article on "Memory in Old Age" (Spectator, April, 1901, pp. 614-615), where the effects of time upon veracity are discussed, especially with regard to alterations, inaccuracies, and omissions compatible with entire good faith upon the part of the reporter, and due to the modifying and discolouring influence of imagination, as it plays round words and events in the dim past. Much depends on the individual temperament; much also on the topic; something too upon the nature of the intervening space. But in many cases "imagination, below the threshold of consciousness, seems "compelled to supply the details of a situation of which a passive reflection" cannot, for some reason or other, be obtained. "The historian must therefore exercise much care in accepting as absolutely true a narrative which nevertheless its narrator had no intention of making anything but a photograph." That is, even the absence of conscious tendency does not ipso facto guarantee the historicity of a report (cp. pp. 274, 412-419, etc.). Of this canon, however, we may repeat what Darwin once said of the law of universal struggle in the natural world: nothing is easier than to admit it in words, nothing harder than to bear it constantly in mind, as one is at work observing and comparing the phenomena.

HISTORICAL TABLES

Chronology enters into the important parts of history as one of the main conditions under which history itself is intelligible, or under which history makes other things intelligible for any profitable purpose. Chronology either combines with the facts of history, so as to create them into a new life, and to impress upon them a moral meaning, such as nakedly and separately those facts would not possess; or else forms a machinery for recalling and facilitating the memorial conquest of historical facts in their orderly succession.-De Quincey.

It is impossible to separate the religious phenomena from the other phenomena, in the same way that you can separate a vein of silver from the rock in which it is embedded. They are as much determined by the general characteristics of the race as the fauna and flora of a geographical area are determined by its soil, its climate, and its cultivation. They are separable from the whole mass of phenomena not in fact, but only in thought. We may concentrate our attention chiefly upon them, but they still remain part of the whole complex life of the time, and they cannot be understood except in relation to that life.-Hatch.

In Sprache und in Ausdrucksweise, in Cultur und Sitte, im Denken und Empfinden, weisen die Schriften über sich hinaus und verlangen zu ihrer vollen Würdigung und zu ihrem rechten Verständnis die Heranziehung und Vergleichung des Culturbodens, auf dem sie entstanden sind, der grossen geistigen Bewegung, die in der Periode nach dem Zusammenbruch von Alexanders grossen Plänen als die geistige Frucht seines Wirkens heranwuchs. Wer darum das neue Testament fördern will, darf an den Zeugen der geistigen Cultur jener Jahrhunderte nicht vorübergehen. Jedoch bedarf das Bild auch nach einer andern Seite hin noch der Vervollkommnung. Um einer historischen Grösse völlig gerecht zu werden, ist es notwendig, sie nicht nur in ihren Voraussetzungen zu studieren, sondern auch in ihren Folgen zu begreifen. So wird es notwendig sein, auch die Frage zu erwägen, was sich aus der folgenden Entwicklung der christlichen Zeit für ihre Anfänge lernen lässt.—

Preuschen.

TABLE I.-180 B.C.-30 A.D.

Die Aufgabe der biblischen Theologie des Alten Testaments hat zu schildern, wie aus der Religion Israels in Folge der Predigt der Propheten und der eigentümlichen Geschichte dieses Volkes sich das Judentum bildet, und die Entwicklung dieses zum Auftreten Jesu klar zu legen. Ja soll die Darstellung einen Ruhepunkt finden, so wird als Abschluss der ganzen Entwicklung die Predigt Jesu in kurzen Umrissen zu geben sein. In dieser finden alle die Fragen ihre Beantwortung, mit denen sonst die Darstellung in unbefriedigendster Weise schliessen müsste. Wer das religiöse Leben des Judentums in der neutestamentlichen Zeit in erschöpfender Weise zeichnen will, hat so notwendig die Predigt Jesu in die Gesammtdarstellung einzuzeichnen, wie derjenige, welcher die Predigt Jesu deutlich zeichnen will, jenes als des Hintergrundes bedarf. Für die theologische Betrachtung ist die Predigt Jesu so gut der Schlussstein der alttestamentlichen Entwicklung, wie der Ausgangspunkt für die biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments, für die Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte. Stade.

There was in the world much of the noble heritage of past centuries and an infinite abundance of pomp and glory, but little spirit, still less taste, and least of all true delight in life. It was indeed an old world; and even the richlygifted patriotism of Caesar could not make it young again. The dawn does not return till after the night has fully set in and run its course. there came to the sorely harassed peoples on the Mediterranean a tolerable But yet with him evening after the sultry noon.-Mommsen.

It is a mistake to think that ages of transition, like that immediately preceding the appearance of Christianity, are simply times of decay and disintegration, when all spiritual and religious life is completely moribund. Where an old system decays we may be sure it is because the new truth which is to succeed it is already there; the old would not decay if the new had not arrived, be it but in germ, and been long labouring to undermine and eat away the existing structure.—Baur.

[blocks in formation]

A.D.

in Gaul, 58-51.
in Britain, 55-54.

Civil war.
Reform of Calendar,
46.

Cleopatra, 69-30.
Parthian wars.
Agrippa crosses Rhine,

[blocks in formation]

First triumvirate, 60.
Cyprus, Rom. prov. 57.
Gaul, Rom. prov. 50.
Caesar in

Suicide of Cato at
Utica.

Second triumvirate, 43.
Battle of Philippi, 42.
Battle of Actium, 31.
Egypt, Rom. prov. 30.

Nabatean invasion.

Pompey in Jerusalem; siege and capture, 63.

Hyrcanus II., 63-40.

Insurrection.

Revolts of Aristobulus, c. 56.

Crassus plunders the Temple, 54.

Antipater, procurator of Judaea, 47.

Syria, 47.
M. Antonius in Syria, 42.

[blocks in formation]

Pantheon built in Rome, Samaria rebuilt, 27 (?). Hellenizing of Judaea.

27.

Galatia, Rom. prov. 25.
Campaign against Ethi-
opians, 24-22.
Conquest of Spain.
German wars.
Birth of Seneca, 7.

Theatre built in Jerusalem. Famine and plague, 25-23.

Caesarea built, 22-10 B.C. Enlargement of Herod's

Visit of Augustus to Syria, 20.

Campaigns in Pannonia and Dalmatia, 6-9. Quirinius governor of Tiberius, 14-(16 March) Rebellion of Arminius,

[blocks in formation]

territory.

Temple rebuilt, 20 f.
Intrigues in Herodian family, 14 f.
Birth of Jesus, 6 B.C.. Popular revolt under

Herod Antipas, tetrarch,
Syria: the census, 6-7.
Annas, h-priest, 6-15.

Caiaphas, h-priest, 18-36.
from Rome, 19.

Rabbis Judas and
Matthias, 4 B.C.
4-39 A.D. Anarchy.
Judas the Galilean.

Revolt of Zealots.
Defeats

Mission of John the Baptizer, 25-26.

Insurrection.
Tiberias built.

procurator, 26-36.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »