An Outline of the History CHAPTER I THE ORIGINS Christianity is a literary religion. Before the first Christian century was half completed the followers of Jesus Christ had begun to write in the interests of their faith, and, from that time until the present, Christian literature has continued to grow. Today it is a literature as great and as rich as any, and is one of the most remarkable achievements of the Church. It has become naturalised in almost every Western nation, it has laid under tribute almost every European tongue, and many of its makers have been mastercraftsmen of the literary art. This immense section of the world's literature is too large and too varied for adequate description in this book, which only tries to outline the subject and to give a truthful impression of its growth and character. The study of Christian literature must begin with the New Testament, a collection of writings set apart by common consent as the primary Christian classics. This collection contains many of the forms in which the literary spirit of the Faith has clothed its messages. Here are gracious legends, authentic history, brief memorabilia, carefully arranged biographies, romances of devout speculation, hymns, meditations, prophecies, letters of sorts, and massive treatises on theology and on practical religion, The twenty-seven books of the canonical New Testament comprise four biographies of Jesus, a book of Church history, twenty-one letters, and an apocalypse. Their order is logical rather than chronological, for some of the letters were in circulation years before the biographies attained their present forms. The New Testament is the product of development; its first five books are composite works which retain many traces of the earlier writings that underlie them. Among the most important of these primitive sources was a Collection of the Sayings of Jesus. Fragments of this document are scattered in groups of Sayings over the first three Gospels, in which the same utterances are found in different forms, or in different sequences (cp. Matt. v.1-12 with Luke vi.2026; and Matt. vi.21 with Luke xii.34). Such variants are common; they show that the present groups of Sayings are not first hand reports of continuous discourses, but are the accumulated spoil of many addresses, and were arranged by other hands before the Synoptic writers used them. Many of the Sayings are perfect specimens of literary grace. Some have the picturesque character of parables; others are sermonic; others again are cast in the poetic forms of the "Wisdom" literature of the Old Testament. There is much variety and beauty in these "Wisdom" forms, which range from the simple three-lined strophe to the elaborate strophe of twelve lines. Matt. vii.7 is an excellent illustration of the former: Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Matt. vi. 19-21 is a fine specimen of the longer forms: And where thieves break through and steal: Where neither moth nor rust doth consume, And where thieves do not break through nor steal: These Sayings, now scattered over the Synoptic narratives, originally formed the contents of a carefully arranged book, which was in circulation before the year 50; its use by the Evangelists partly explains why the First and Third Gospels have so much material in common. Another of the now lost documents that preceded the present New Testament, was a Book of Testimonies,1 containing passages collected from the Old Testament to prove that Jesus was the Christ. Like the Book of Sayings, this Book of Testimonies took shape during a series of years. It was enlarged, arranged, and adjusted to the needs of the times, until its contents assumed a definite literary character. It was "classified into sections with titles, brief explanations, and frequent insertions of questions and comments" by its editors. When its original purpose of convincing the Jews had been served, it became a handbook of Christian doctrine, and as such it can be traced for several centuries. Evidences of its use by the writers of the New Testament appear in the composite character of many Old Testament quotations; in the ascription of quotations to the wrong authors; and in the forced interpretations given to some passages (cf. Mark i.2, 3; Matt. xxvii.9; Matt. ii.15, 23). All the indications point to MATTHEW the publican as the original compiler of the Testimonies, and the generous use made of the document by the author of the First Gospel, gave "his work the right to be called the Gospel according to Matthew."2 These two primitive books were soon followed by connected descriptions of the Master's career. Many such memoirs were written (cp. Luke i. 1, 2), but all are lost, save one written by JOHN MARK under the direction of 1 Rendel Harris, Testimonies (1916) Part I. F. C. Burkitt, The Gospel History and its Transmission, p. 126. |