M. Schneckenburger (d. 1848): Vorlesungen über N. Testamentliche Zeitgeschichte, aus dessen
Nachlass herausgegeben von Löhlein, mit Vorwort von Hundeshagen. Frankf. a M. 1862.
A. Hausrath: N. Testamentliche Zeitgeschichte. Heidelb. 1868 sqq., 2d ed. 1873–’77, 4 vols. The
first vol. appeared in a third ed. 1879. The work includes the state of Judaism and heathenism
in the time of Christ, the apostolic and the post-apostolic age to Hadrian (a.d. 117). English
translation by Poynting and Guenzer, Lond. 1878 sqq.
E. Schürer: Lehrbuch der N. Testamentlichen Zeitgeschichte. Leipz. 1874. Revised and enlarged
under the title: Gesch. des jüd. Volkes im Zeitalter Christi. 1886, 2 vols. Engl. translation,
Edinb. and N. Y.
H. Schiller: Geschichte des römischen Kaiserreichs unter der Regierung des Nero. Berlin, 1872.
L. Freidländer: Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms in der Zeit von Augustus bis zum
Ausgang der Antonine. Leipzig, 5th ed., revised, 1881, 3 vols. A standard work.
Geo. P. Fisher (of Yale College, New Haven): The Beginnings of Christianity. N. York, 1877. Chs.
II.-VII.
Gerhard Uhlhorn: The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. Transl. by Egbert C. Smyth and
C. T H. Ropes. N. York, 1879. Book I. chs. 1 and 2. The German original appeared in a 4th ed.,
1884.
§ 8. Central Position of Christ in the History of the World.
To see clearly the relation of the Christian religion to the preceding history of mankind, and to
appreciate its vast influence upon all future ages, we must first glance at the preparation which
existed in the political, moral, and religious condition of the world for the advent of our Saviour.
As religion is the deepest and holiest concern of man, the entrance of the Christian religion
into history is the most momentous of all events. It is the end of the old world and the beginning
of the new. It was a great idea of Dionysius "the Little" to date our era from the birth of our Saviour.
Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the prophet, priest, and king of mankind, is, in fact, the centre and
turning-point not only of chronology, but of all history, and the key to all its mysteries. Around
him, as the sun of the moral universe, revolve at their several distances, all nations and all important
events, in the religious life of the world; and all must, directly or indirectly, consciously or
unconsciously, contribute to glorify his name and advance his cause. The history of mankind before
his birth must be viewed as a preparation for his coming, and the history after his birth as a gradual
diffusion of his spirit and progress of his kingdom. "All things were created by him, and for him."
He is "the desire of all nations." He appeared in the "fulness of time,"^46 when the process of
preparation was finished, and the world’s need of redemption fully disclosed.
This preparation for Christianity began properly with the very creation of man, who was
made in the image of God, and destined for communion with him through the eternal Son; and with
the promise of salvation which God gave to our first parents as a star of hope to guide them through
the darkness of sin and error.^47 Vague memories of a primitive paradise and subsequent fall, and
hopes of a future redemption, survive even in the heathen religions.
With Abraham, about nineteen hundred years before Christ, the religious development of
humanity separates into the two independent, and, in their compass, very unequal branches of(^46) Mark 1:15; Gal. 4:4
(^47) Gen. 3:15
A.D. 1-100.