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New Century Books
Beginnings of Christianity. Vol. II.
Beginnings of Christianity. Vol. II.
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IN the first volume of this work Professor Wernle deals with the rise
of the Christian religion as it manifests itself in the personality and
teaching of Jesus and His immediate followers. This is the creative
period, the period of great men. In the second volume we follow the
fortunes of the new faith when the great men are succeeded by a great
ecclesiastical organization. Henceforth it is within the rules and
forms imposed upon it by this mighty organization that the Gospel has
to find a footing and make its way among the populations of the ancient
world. The free creative period, the period of the unfettered spirit,
is succeeded by an age of anonymity in which institutions, dogmas and
sacraments rise up and fill the place originally occupied by the great
personalities of the first Christian generation. Many ecclesiastical
historians have regarded the elaborate process which took place in the
second century of incorporating the Gospel into a hard and fast group
of institutions, forms and ceremonies, as a time of 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.
THE author considers it advisable to direct attention to two points in
which a slight difference exists between the first and second volumes.
In the first volume the origin of the conception of the sacraments is
derived from St Paul (p. 273), and not from the earliest Christian
community; whereas vol. ii. presupposes the existence of the sacraments
in the earliest Church, and even suggests that they are anterior to
Christianity itself (vol. ii. p. 128). On this point the author has
accepted the arguments advanced by Bousset and Heitm�ller.
of the Christian religion as it manifests itself in the personality and
teaching of Jesus and His immediate followers. This is the creative
period, the period of great men. In the second volume we follow the
fortunes of the new faith when the great men are succeeded by a great
ecclesiastical organization. Henceforth it is within the rules and
forms imposed upon it by this mighty organization that the Gospel has
to find a footing and make its way among the populations of the ancient
world. The free creative period, the period of the unfettered spirit,
is succeeded by an age of anonymity in which institutions, dogmas and
sacraments rise up and fill the place originally occupied by the great
personalities of the first Christian generation. Many ecclesiastical
historians have regarded the elaborate process which took place in the
second century of incorporating the Gospel into a hard and fast group
of institutions, forms and ceremonies, as a time of 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.
THE author considers it advisable to direct attention to two points in
which a slight difference exists between the first and second volumes.
In the first volume the origin of the conception of the sacraments is
derived from St Paul (p. 273), and not from the earliest Christian
community; whereas vol. ii. presupposes the existence of the sacraments
in the earliest Church, and even suggests that they are anterior to
Christianity itself (vol. ii. p. 128). On this point the author has
accepted the arguments advanced by Bousset and Heitm�ller.
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