and of Hermeneutics, and of the formation of the mythical theory
is most ably presented:(818)--secondly, the main body of the work, which
consists of a critical examination of the life of Christ,(819) subdivided
into three parts; viz. an examination of the birth and childhood of
Jesus,(820) of his public life,(821) and of his death;(822) the object of
which is to point out in the narrative the historic or mythic
elements:--and thirdly, a philosophical conclusion,(823) in which the
doctrinal significance of the life is given. As a specimen of didactic and
critical writing it is perhaps unrivalled in the German literature. The
second part is the embodiment of all the difficulties which destructive
criticism had presented. If the historic sketches captivate by their
clearness, the critical do so by their surprising acuteness and
dialectical power; and the philosophical by the appreciation of the ideal
beauty of the very doctrines, the historic embodiment of which is denied.
It is the work of a mind endowed with remarkable analytical power; in
which the force of reflective theory has overwhelmed the intuitional
perception of the personality and originality of the sacred character
which is the subject of his study.(824)

The effect of the publication of the work was astonishing. It produced a
religious panic unequalled since the Wolfenbuettel fragments. The first
impulse of the Prussian government was to prevent the introduction of the
book into the Prussian kingdom; but Neander stood up to resist the
proposal, with a courage which showed his firm confidence in the permanent
victory of truth; saying that it must be answered by argument, not
suppressed by force; and forthwith wrote his own beautiful work on the
life of Christ in reply to it. Yet neither the peculiarity of Strauss's
theory nor the nature of the work gave ground for the panic. For the book
was in truth not a novelty, but merely a fuller development of principles
already existing in Germany; and Schleiermacher, before his death, when
contemplating the tendency of religious criticism, had predicted(825) the
probability of such an attempt being made. Nor was the work irreligious
and blasphemous in its spirit, like the attacks of the last century. It
professed to be executed solely in the interests of science; and, though
subversive of historic religion, to be conservative of ideal. The critical
part was only a means to an end; its real basis was speculative. But the