HISTORY OF ETHICS WITHIN ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCTION I. However difficult it may be to define scientifically the great historic force in the world's history which men call Christianity, one note it has which separates it from all kindred movements: it is linked in the traditions of all its professed followers with the message of the man Jesus Christ. This Jesus appears, however, in history, primarily as a new inspiration and vital force. We have no detailed and exhaustive account of his activity and no exact summary of his actual doctrine. For a biography of him we must depend upon the imperfect memories of loving interpreters, whose materials are given in such a way as to preclude accurate chronological rearrangement. At best such reordering is hypothetical, however attractive. Honest and devout men and women gave their explanations of what Jesus had taught, and interpreted him to the eager numbers who, after his death, became his followers. These questions they answered with a large freedom, so that it is now often quite impossible to say how far we have the words of Jesus and how far the commentary of the disciple. In some cases, as in the case of Paul, the claim was advanced for inward spiritual authority to speak in the name of Jesus even after his death. Yet, in spite of the meagre records, the significance of this life has been simply overwhelming. No matter what men may yet 1 1 Cf. especially the discourses of John's Gospel. For the literature that deals with the question whether Jesus was an historical personage at all, see under the heading, "The Ethics of Jesus," the literature there noticed, p. 49. 3 |