ve been naturalised in the Christian Church, which
were in no way demanded by the contents of the Gospel? have these
elements been simply weakened in course of the development, or have some
of them been strengthened by a peculiar combination with the Greek? We
have to do here, in the first instance, with the doctrine of Demons and
Angels, the view of history, the growing exclusiveness, the fanaticism;
and on the other hand, with the cultus, and the Theocracy, expressing
itself in forms of law.

1. Although Jesus had in principle abolished the methods of pedantry,
the casuistic treatment of the law, and the subtleties of prophetic
interpretation, yet the old Scholastic exegesis remained active in the
Christian communities above all the unhistorical local method in the
exposition of the Old Testament, both allegoristic and Haggadic; for in
the exposition of a sacred text--and the Old Testament was regarded as
such--one is always required to look away from its historical
limitations and to expound it according to the needs of the present.[93]
The traditional view exercised its influence on the exposition of the
Old Testament, as well as on the representations of the person, fate and
deeds of Jesus, especially in those cases where the question was about
the proof of the fulfilment of prophecy, that is, of the Messiahship of
Jesus. (See above Sec. 3, 2). Under the impression made by the history of
Jesus it gave to many Old Testament passages a sense that was foreign to
them, and, on the other hand, enriched the life of Jesus with new facts,
turning the interest at the same time to details which were frequently
unreal and seldom of striking importance.[94]

2. The Jewish Apocalyptic literature, especially as it flourished since
the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and was impregnated with new elements
borrowed from an ethico-religious philosophy, as well as with Babylonian
and Persian myths (Greek myths can only be detected in very small
number), was not banished from the circles of the first professors of
the Gospel, but was rather held fast, eagerly read, and even extended
with the view of elucidating the promises of Jesus.[95] Though their
contents seem to have been modified on Christian soil, and especially
the uncertainty about the person of the Messiah exalted to victory and
coming to judgment,[96] yet the sensuous earthly hopes were in no way
repressed. Green fat meadows and sulphurous abysses, white horses and
frightful