What Then Is Christianity? The Materials for the True Inquiry

To return to Dr. Harnack’s book; his “Christianity” is merely the highest expres ‘sion of natural religion. Had he lived in the ‘first century he would have taught the Jew that there was no “offense,” and the Greek that there was no “foolishness” in the cross. t His book would have taken Athens and Jerusalem by storm. But to call this Christianity

is a sheer abuse of language; for Christianity

is, in contrast with natural religion, a divine revelation. What, then, is that revelation? Destructive criticism of this book only clears the ground for consideration of the question, “What is Christianity?” For the answer which Dr. Harnack supplies is not only inadequate, but false.

And we must begin by rejecting much that he includes, and by insisting on much that he rejects. The question is to be answered in the light of the Bible as a whole, and not of capriciously selected fragments of the New Testament. And the inquiry must not be prejudiced by reference to the history of Christendom. For “the Christian religion” bears the same relation to the New Testament that “the Jew’s religion” bears to the Old: it is a human system based on a divine revelation. What concerns us here is the character and scope of that revelation.