Table Of Contentdemning_
It
THE ORIGIN AND
MEANING OF
CHRISTIANITY
THE ORIGIN AND
MEANI NG OF
CHRISTIANITY
GILBERT T. SADLER
M.A. (OXON.B).,A .L,L .B(.L OND.)
AUTHOR OF "A SHORT INTRODUCTION 1'0 THE DIBLE,"
LONDON:
C. W. DANIEL, LTD.,
S,T UDOR STREET, E.C.
TO THE CHURCH OF
ALL ASPIRING SOULS.
FOR EWORD.
Thisb ooki st heb riesfu mmaryo fr esults
reachebdy continuowuosr kd urintgw enty
yearosf m inistirnyC ongregaticohnuarlc hes.
It may be saidt ob e bothc ritiacnadl
constructcirviet,ib ceacla usceo nstructive.
Ith umblyu rgerse asoangsa inst
theh istoriocfi.J teys uCsh rist,
thee xternaliosfiG nogd ,
thee nslavemeonfmt a n,
becausiets eektso u pholtdh at
Chrisitst heI deailn G od,
God ist heL ifeu nitinagl lt hings,
Lovei sm an'st rue law.
'I'hmeea ninogf t hesies d evelopiendt he
follo8'w ipnages.T hey forma unitya,n
outlooakn,d ,i ti sh opedt,h eyw illb e an
inspirattioo mna ny.
G.T . S.
CO NTENTS.
PART I.
THE ORIGINA ND EARLY MEANING OF
CHRISTIANITY.
PAGE
ReligiTohuosu ghitn A .D.3 0 3
2 The experienocfee sa rlCyh ristians 13
3 Pault heA post.l.e. 30
4 The "EpistloefsP aul" 37
5 The "Logia"o r" TeachinogfsJ esus" 40
6 The Gospeolf M ark. .. 56
1 The Infancy-stionrM iaetst heawn dL uke.. . 61
B The Booko fA cts 69
9 The Gospeolf J ohn 11
10 Answertso d ifficulties 81
PART II.
THE MEANING OF CHRISTIANITIYN MODERN
THOUGHT AND LIFE.
PAGE
A. IN MoDERNT HOUGH'!'.
1 The Christeixapn erieonfcG eo d 102
2 The fullmeord erind eao fG od: 112
(a)T he spirituaolfmi attyt er.
(b)T hel iviunngi toyf t heu niverse.
(c)T he methodo fe volution.
(d)T he self-limiotfaG toido.n
00 NTE NTS-cont·inuecl.
3 The difficultiinevso lviend" evi"l : 131
(a)C ontingency.
(b)S uperstition.
(c)S in.
(d)P ain.
(e) Death.
B. IN MonERNL IFE.
1 The inwarCdh ristiIadne al 158
2 The moderna pplicatoifto hne I deatlo 160
(a.) Women.
(b)W ork.
(c) War.
3 The newC hurch-groups 211
APPElmr: xB ibliography.
PART I.
THE ORIGIN AND EARLY MEANING OF
CHRISTIANITY.
PART I.
THE ORIGIN AND MEANING
OF
EARLY CHRISTIANITY.
THE story of Jesus Christ is the greatest of all
stories. It is told in all lands. Men everywhere
have heard of One who was in the form of God,
who left heaven, was born of a Virgin in Bethlehem,
who live.d in seclusion at Nazareth in Galilee,
became a teacher, sent out twelve disciples, cured
men of blindness, of demons, of lunacy, raised some
from the dead, preached by parables, was trans
figured on a :mountain, went to Jerusalem, was be
trayed by Judas, arrested and tried in the night,
was sent to Pilate, was crucified between two
thieves, left the tomb after three days, and ascended
to heaven.
For centuries it has been thought that this Jesus
was a man, a Jew, though lately some have doubted
whether this were so. Fierce di�<cussions have
ranged around the person of Christ: was he eternal,
divine? Had he two natures or one? Did he
perform miracles? Did he raise his body from the
grave?
The purpose of the present essay is to show that,
in all probability, the story is not history but some
thing better. It i;; symbol. It is a mystic story,
a spiritual alleg<:�ry of God in the souls of the early
Christians and o£ a pror.ess ever going on.
The story contains referenees to the outer history
of the early Christian community in Jerusalem,
their thoughts, conflicts, experiences. But in itself
it is the story of the God these Christians
experienced, the God whom they felt as a Love
movement ending the Jewish law, bringing in the
kingdom of God on earth. There was no ma11
Jesus. Jesus is not now a Jew in heaven. Jesus
2
has not " taken to henveu a human brow." Jesus
means "Saviour" (Joshua), and was the name given
to a real revelation of the Ultiina.te Reality in the
early Christ-men, the Hellenistic ,Jews who £.elt the
love that fulfils the law, is the Will of the all
pervading God, is the LogQs or ·wisdom of God,
the Way, Truth and very Life of men. " Christ"
is an aspect Qf God, regarded as a distinct person :
for the ancient world did not hesitate to personify
aspects of God, such as " Wisdom " is spoken of in
The Book of Proverbs and 'rhe Wisdom of Solomon.
As the " afflatus " in 'the early Christians, the
revelation felt by intuitive direct experience, grew
less, this " Ghrist " came to be spoken of a..; a person
wh<l had left heaven, been born, bad died and
ascended back to heaven. So, after A.D. 70, when
J erm:alem was destroyed by the Romans, there grew
up Christian writings, epistles of Paul, of Peter,
of John, i.e., of the Schools of Paul, Peter, John:
and Gospels arose, giving greater " details " of
this Christ, and thus grew up the New Testament.
The method of free criticism of the reoords of
early Christianity may seem to some to be destruc
tive, but really it is constructive. The two go to
gether. Copernicus destroyed the old idea of the
stars revolving around the earth, as Ptolemy (at
Alexandria c. 150 A.D.) had propounded, but Coper
nicus (a Pole, died 1543) did -so because he was
constructing a better idea of reality. The word
" criticism " does n.ot mean oomplaining or con
demning_ when used in relati.on to the New Testa
ment. It means examining. Take an illustration
in philosophy. The greatest change in human
thought was the realisation of God as the Soul of
the Universe, instead of as an Onlooker outside the
Universe. Scienee criticised the old idea, showing
by evolution and variation that there were no
"special sudden creations," and by astronomy that
there was no gr-eat Being in a heaven up above.
There was no "above," since what was above to those
in Britain was below to those in Australia. Biblical
Res-earch Scienee showed that the books of the Bible
were by fallible men, and for the most part not by
