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The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights
_The L. P. Stone Lectures Delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary_
The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights
By WILLIAM HALLOCK JOHNSON, Ph. D., D.D. _Professor of Greek and New
Testament Literature in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania_
With an Introduction by FRANCIS LANDEY PATTON, D.D., LL.D. _President
Emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary_
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_To_
_V. S. F._
Introduction
It was my good fortune to hear the lectures contained in this volume
when they were given in the Miller Chapel of Princeton Theological
Seminary. The high estimate I then formed of them has since been
enhanced by the reading of the proof-sheets.
Professor Johnson is a well-trained student of philosophy and for some
years has been professionally engaged in the teaching of New Testament
criticism. He may therefore be trusted as a competent judge of the
issues that are raised by anti-Christian thought in the two great fields
of contemporary controversy.
The only view of Christianity worth contending for in any serious way is
that which regards it as a supernatural revelation. The author states
his own position in the first lecture. This position is antagonized by
those who hold a naturalistic or pantheistic view of the world and also
by those who, whatever may be their philosophy, are using the weapons of
historical criticism to discredit miraculous Christianity.
I can imagine that there are two classes of Christians for whom these
lectures will have only a moderate interest: those who are possessed of
a strong and aggressive faith and who are impatient of all discussion
that seems to carry with it the implication that their religious
convictions stand in need of any defense; and those who, by reason of
their easy acquiescence in the conclusions of a minimizing theology,
look upon such discussions as having a tendency to divide the household
of faith and to divert attention from the activities of the Church.
There is, however, I am confident, a large class of men in and out of
the Church who would welcome a clear statement of the case of
Christianity in the light of current debate and to men of this class I
have great pleasure in commending the present volume.
The merit of these lectures consists largely in the fact that the author
takes a comprehensive survey of the latest phases of anti-Christian
thought, that he has a firm hold upon the central and vital questions
involved in the great debate, and that he does not allow himself to be
hampered by dealing needlessly with side issues. He is keen and
penetrating in his criticism of those who belittle the evidence in
support of revealed religion, and generous, sometimes to a fault, in his
appreciation of writers with whose dominant ideas he has but scant
sympathy. Of his learning and logical acumen there is no doubt and his
fairness in controversy is above reproach.
As the title of this volume suggests, we have no reason to fear that the
Christian faith will suffer loss by reason of the fierce light of
criticism which now beats upon it. We must not undervalue learning nor
shrink from a searching scrutiny of our beliefs. The truth of
Christianity is not hard to discover when truth is sought through the
medium of normal vision. But our opponents must remember that when
inquiry is entered upon amid the blinding mists of philosophic
preconception and historic prejudice the best instruments of
investigation will fail to overcome the condition of "low visibility"
which confronts the seeker. The searchlight is of little use in a fog.
FRANCIS L. PATTON.
Preface
A deep unsettlement of belief is characteristic of our age. We prize the
doubt that low kinds and simpler ages existed without; an interrogation
point is held to be the badge of mental superiority. While this
unsettlement is to be deplored when it leads, as it does in so many
cases, to the shipwreck of faith and even of morals, there is yet a
certain exhilaration in living in a critical age. The challenge to
faith, meeting us at every point, rouses from dogmatic slumber and dead
orthodoxy. We realize that the faith which is to survive must be not
simply a traditional faith, but an intelligent faith, sending its roots
down deep into reason and experience, and blossoming upward in the
flowers and fruits of character and of good works. As character receives
its crown in the times of persecution, so perhaps faith may grow
strongest in an age of doubt: it was the doubter among the disciples who
at last made the boldest confession of faith. A restless age may at last
heed the invitation, "Come unto Me; I will give you rest."
These lectures, delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary in February,
1914, under the title of "The Christian Faith in the Light of Modern
Knowledge," have now been revised with the addition of new matter. They
were written in the conviction that what Christianity has most to fear
is ignorance and prejudice and presupposition; that the Christian Faith,
with its motto, "Come and see," welcomes the fullest investigation; and
that every advance in knowledge, whatever temporary perplexities it may
occasion, will in the end reveal more fully the intrinsic excellence of
the Christian religion and establish more firmly its sovereign claim to
be from heaven and not from men.
W. H. J.
_Lincoln University, Pa._
Contents
CHAPTER I
WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN FAITH?
Need of a definition 15
I. The Christianity of the New Testament Writers 16
Their emphasis upon the Passion and Resurrection 16
Their emphasis upon the Person of Christ 20
II. Primitive Christianity and Pauline Christianity 21
Was Paul the Founder of Christianity? 21
Lines of connection between Paul and the Primitive Apostles 22
III. The Christianity of Jesus and of Paul 26
Harmony in their Ethical Teaching and in their blending
of Doctrine with Ethics 27
The Christological passage, Matthew xi. 25-30: its exegesis
and its alleged isolation 35
The Passion narrative in Mark: views of Bousset 41
Self-authenticating contrasts in the Character of Christ 43
IV. The Dilemma of Historical Criticism 44
Jesus as viewed by the Liberal and the Radical Schools 44
The Dilemma of Liberal Criticism 45
Lessening Significance of a merely human Jesus 49
Harnack and von Dobschütz on the "Double Gospel" 53
The Essence of Christianity 54