Produced by Al Haines
LANDMARKS
IN THE HISTORY OF
EARLY CHRISTIANITY
BY
KIRSOPP LAKE, D.D.
WINN PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1920
COPYRIGHT
TO
H. R.
{vii}
PREFACE
The following chapters are the lectures given in the spring of 1919 on
the Haskell Foundation of Oberlin College. They have been somewhat
expanded in the course of preparation for the press, but have not been
materially changed.
At the time of the delivery of these lectures I was busy with the
chapter on "Primitive Christianity" in the _Prolegomena to Acts_, and
was glad of the opportunity to re-state some of the conclusions reached
in that book in a less technical form and with more attention to their
bearing on some of the larger questions of religion and thought, such
as the Teaching of Jesus, the Hope of Immortality, and the Development
of Christology. I did not hesitate to make use of one or two
paragraphs from the larger book, and I think that my friend, Mr. C. G.
Montefiore, will forgive me for having borrowed two beautiful stories
from his chapter in it.
I am greatly indebted to the Faculty of Oberlin {viii} College not only
for the privilege of lecturing to them, but also for the hospitality
extended to me during a very pleasant week and for the beginning of new
and delightful friendships.
KIRSOPP LAKE.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.,
_April_ 1920.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
GALILEE
PAGE
Introduction--The history of Christianity as a series of
syntheses--The Jewish world--The Kingdom of God--Repentance--The
teaching of Jesus as compared with his Jewish contemporaries 1