History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity. A.D. 1-100.

Testament, containing Westcott and Hort’s Greek Text and the Revised English Version on

opposite pages, with introduction by Schaff. New York (Harper & Brothers), 1882, revised ed.

1888.

II. The historico-critical Introductions, or literary Histories of the New Testament by Hug, De

Wette, Credner, Guericke, Horne, Davidson, Tregelles, Grau, Hilgenfeld, Aberle, (R. Cath.),

Bleek (4th ed. by Mangold, 1886), Reuss (6th ed. 1887), Holtzmann (2d ed. 1886), Weiss

(1886), Salmon (3d ed. 1888).

III. Thiersch: Herstellung des historischen Standpunktes für die Kritik der neutestamentl. Schriften.

Erlangen, 1845. (Against Baur and the Tübingen School.)—Edward C. Mitchell: Critical

Handbook to the New Test. (on Authenticity, Canon, etc.). Lond. and Andover, 1880; French

translation, Paris, 1882.—J. P. Lange:Grundriss der Bibelkunde. Heidelberg, 1881.—Philip

Schaff: Companion to the Greek Testament and the English Version. N. Y. and Lond., 1883,

3d ed. revised 1888.—G. D. Ladd: The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture, N.York, 1883, 2 vols.

The same, abridged, 1888.

IV. The works quoted below on the Gospels and Epistles.

V. On the Canon of the New Test., the works of Kirchhofer (Quellensammlung, etc. Zürich, 1844,

Engl. transl. enlarged by Charteris: Canonicity, etc. Edinb., 1881); Credner (Zur Gesch. des

Kanon. Halle, 1847; Geschichte des Neutest. Kanon, herausg. von Volkmar. Berlin, 1860);

Gaussen (Engl. transl., London, 1862; abridged transl. by Kirk, Boston, 1862); Tregelles (Canon

Muratorianus. Oxford, 1867); Sam. Davidson (Lond., 1878, 3d ed., 1880); Westcott (Cambridge

and London, 1855; 6th ed., 1889); Reuss (Histoire du canon des S. Écritures. Strasb., 2d ed.,

1864); Ad. Harnack (Das muratorische Fragment und die Entstehung einer Sammlung

Apost.-katholischer Schriften, in Brieger’s "Zeitschrift f. Kirchengeschichte," 1879, III., 358

sqq.; comp. 595 sqq.); F. Overbeck (Zur Geschichte des Kanons. Chemnitz, 1880); Réville

(French, 1881); Theod. Zahn (Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentl. Kanons, Part

I-III., 1881–84; and Geschichte des Kanons d. N. T., Leipz., 1888 sqq., 3 vols). Comp. Harnack:

Das N. T. um das Jahr. 200, Freiburg, 1889 (against Zahn), and Zahn’s reply, Leipz., 1889.

§ 75. Rise of the Apostolic Literature.

Christ is the book of life to be read by all. His religion is not an outward letter of command,

like the law of Moses, but free, quickening spirit; not a literary production, but a moral creation;

not a new system of theology or philosophy for the learned, but a communication of the divine life

for the redemption of the whole world. Christ is the personal Word of God, the eternal Logos, who

became flesh and dwelt upon earth as the true Shekinah, in the veiled glory of the only begotten

from the Father, full of grace and truth. He spoke; and all the words of his mouth were, and still

are, spirit and life. The human heart craves not a learned, letter-writing, literary Christ, but a

wonder-working, cross-bearing, atoning Redeemer, risen, enthroned in heaven, and ruling the

world; furnishing, at the same time, to men and angels an unending theme for meditation, discourse,

and praise.

So, too, the Lord chose none of his apostles, with the single exception of Paul, from the

ranks of the learned; he did not train them to literary authorship, nor give them, throughout his

earthly life, a single express command to labor in that way. Plain fishermen of Galilee, unskilled

A.D. 1-100.