have regained the nerve which that
age had lost may have the gift and high adventure of separating moral
truth from theological illusion.

{72}

CHAPTER VI

THE PROPHET OF NAZARETH

Of recent years a strong reaction against the Pauline interpretation of
Christianity--or shall we say the Pauline type of Christianity?--has
set in. We have so completely outgrown the primitive notions of
sacrifice, and the Jewish belief in the necessity of an atonement is so
contrary to our idea of God, that Paul's rabbinical theology does not
strike a sympathetic chord. After all is said, we are descendants in
the spirit of those gentiles for whom Paul's message was nonsense.
Intellectually, we are the sons of Plato and Aristotle, of Archimedes
and Justinian. During the Middle Ages, the ideas of the period of the
Graeco-Roman decline were mingled with the social ideas of feudalism.
To-day, science and philosophy have lifted us back to the serener
heights of classic times, and bid fair to surpass that glorious period
in solid construction if not in delicacy of inspiration. The result
is, that the social mind is dropping those elements from Christianity
which do not harmonize with our moral and intellectual temper. Now,
the synoptic gospels are of a nature to lend themselves to this
shifting of interest from the theological and the sacrificial to the
more human and ethical. They present an idealized picture of Jesus
Christ after the flesh, whereas Paul preaches only the second Adam,
Jesus Christ after the spirit. Paul was {73} interested in the world
to come and the heavenly world above the clouds where sit the aeons, the
principalities, and the powers. We are interested chiefly in the world
here and now, in social justice and democratic fellowship. As
humanitarianism became aggressive, Christianity reflected the change.
Is there any reason to suppose that its theological envelope will be
able to place a boundary to the extent of this change? The real forces
at work are those of to-day, those of our own spirit and mind. Only
for a time will they seek to find themselves in the past. Only while
they are gathering force and confidence will they masquerade as a mere
revival of a truer primitive Christianity.

It is extremely suggestive that the more democratic movements within
Christianity have always stressed the kindlier, more human, and more
homely phases of the bible. The followers of St. Francis of Assisi
were, at