Beginnings of Christianity

Paul Wernle

Description

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Decadence, and no doubt it stands immeasurably below the classic and creative age of primitive Christianity. But it must be remembered that the Christian institutions of sub-apostolic times were the direct and inevitable outcome of the conditions in which the new religion was placed; it was only in the garment of an ecclesiastical organization that the Gospel could retain its essential character and fight its battle with the opposing forces of Jewish and Pagan thought.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Forgotten Books
• Date de parution: 27 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780243642489
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

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volume this work Professor deals W of the C ith the rise hristian religion as it manifests itself in the personality and teaching J and His imme d ate followers This is the crea tive period the period great men In the second volume we the fortunes of the faith W hen the great men are succeeded by a great ecclesiastical organization Henceforth it is W andithin the rules forms imposed it by this mighty organization that the Gospel has to a footing and make its way among the populations of the ancient worl The free creative period the period of the un ettered spirit is succeeded by an age of anonymity in W hich institutions dogmas and sacraments rise up and the place originally occupied by the reat person of the Christian generation Many ecclesiastical historians have regarded the elaborate process W century ofhich took place in the second incorporati g the Gospel into a hard and fast group institutions forms and ceremonies as a time of

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decadence and no it stands immeasurably below the classic and creative age of primitive Christianity B ut it must be remembered that the Christian institutions of sub apostolic times ere the direct and inevitable outcome of the conditions in which the religion was placed it was in the garment of an e c clesiastical organization that the Gospel coul d retain its e anssential character d its ba tle with the opposing forces of J and Pagan thought In the opening chapters of this volume Professor shows how the successors the primitive preachers of C hristianity fell into disrepute among the Christian communities and how these organized themselves into a C hurch resting on the basis of episcopa c y It is interesting to wat c h the rise of the bishop from a humble and subordinate place in the commu ty to a position dignity and power which ultimately makes him the centre the new ecclesiastical system In spite of having to face the somewhat formidable rivalry of ascetics saints and martyrs the pressure circumstan c es within the community and outside of it as well li ed the bishops into the highest position in the Chur c h and determined the character ecclesiastical insti for centuries to come A er organizing itself within the Church was conf onte d from without by the three great forces of J Hellenism and Gnosticism E cclesiastical theology

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was to a large extent the outcome of the str ggle of the Church with these rival forms belief and li e and although the Church outwardly succeeded in overcomi g its non Christian rivals it had to pay the pr ce of Victory by a d elementsmitting many alien into the C hristian creed J was conquered but J ecclesiasticism J ethics J apologetics and J apocalyptic fancies secure a home within the Church He lenism was con quered but Greek religion furnished Chr stia ity with some of its doctrines and mysteries and Greek philosophy widened its horizon and supplied it with an apologetic and a conception of the world base d on the ideas of reason and law Gnosticism was crushed but the Gnostics succeeded in introducing a scholas ic conception of Christianity into the C hurch in which the C hristian faith was confounded with intellectual orthodoxy A ll these points are brought out and illustrated by D r in his excellent chapters on the rise of E B ut thecclesiastical Theology Christian religion at heart is not a code of beliefs nor a mere ecclesiastical organization it is fundamentally a hope a redemption a life f er discussing the heology of the Testament in a chapter which does not appear in the German edition Pro appropriately closes his account of the B eginnings of Christianity with a lucid review of Christian piety in sub apostolic times We gather from this account that notwithstanding the changes

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which the Christian faith had to undergo in the second century the G ospel still remained a power in the individual life B ut produced hypocrites and apostates as well as martyrs The rise orthodoxy narrowed the original range of Christian love and tended to it within the limits of the Church but the Christian congregations in spite manifest defects were superior to their heathen surroundings and many individuals amongst them were earnestly endeavouring realize the Christian ideal in their daily lives

author considers it advisable to direct attention to two points in which a slight di erence exists betw en the and second volumes In the volume the origin of the conception of the sacraments is derived from Paul and not from the earliest Christian commun ty whereas presupposes the existence of the sacraments in the earliest Church and even suggests that they are anterior to Christianity itself vol this point the author has accepted the arguments advanced by ousset and The vo ume did not clearly settle the question whether according to Paul all Christians attained salvation or only a part of them and whereas the second volume presupposes that Pa considered all the members of his con as the elect of God s mercy ii Here the author s doubts have been removed by studies of his in later ecclesiastical history which has presented analogous cases For the work as a whole these di erences are of little importance but the author begs his E nglish rea ers to excuse the ant of complete agreement between the two volumes