The Criticism of the Fourth Gospel / Eight Lectures on the Morse Foundation, Delivered in the Union Seminary, New York in October and November 1904

by W. Sanday

21. The workings of Divine Providence, as we have experience of them, do not indeed always correspond to what we should antecedently expect. They are such as belong to a world, not of perfect, but of imperfect beings. The Divine purpose as we see it, does not take effect at once, but by slow and gradually expanding degrees.

22. In a world so mixed and chequered progress also has been mixed and chequered; it has not been exactly what we, with our limited faculties, could at once recognize as ideal. It has been progress by tentative experiment, by gradual formulation, by description, at first rough and approximate, but improved little by little as time went on. Any reconstruction of Christian history which agrees with these broad conditions is legitimate, I mean, any reconstruction which recognizes the tentative, experimental, imperfect but gradually improved formulation of Christian belief. It is incumbent upon us, in our own day, to take our part in the attempt to formulate our conceptions of truth, whether historical or doctrinal, with all the accuracy in our power; and we may be quite sure that future generations will improve upon anything that we leave behind us.

23. Any method of reconstructing history on these lines is, as I have stated, legitimate and worthy of a Christian who is loyal to his faith. But a view of history that cannot be expressed in terms fit to describe the operation of Divine Providence; that sees in it nothing but huge blunders and gross deteriorations; that regards the Church of Christ as built on fundamental untruth, which only becomes worse and not better as the centuries advance; such a view seems to me to be not loyal and not really Christian.

INDEX

• Abbot, Ezra, [12] f., [15].
• Abbott, Edwin A., xi.
• Alogi, [65] f., [238], [255].
• Antioch, [199].
• Apocalypse, [248]-50.
• Apocryphal Acts, [112].
• Apocryphal Gospels, [112] f.
• Apologetics, x, [3]-5, [38].
• Apostle, the title, [105] f.
• Apostolicity, [41].
• Aristion, [241];
  • see also [Presbyters of Papias].
• Arnold, Matthew, [225].
• Athanasius, Vita Antonii, [57] ff., [183].
• Augustine, St., [178].
• Bacon, Benjamin W., [19], [24] f., [35], [57], [75].
• Baldensperger, Wilhelm, [84].
• Barnabas, Epistle of, [38] f., [241].
• Bartlet, Vernon, [250].
• Basilides, [247], [256].
• Batiffol, Mgr. Pierre, [12].
• Baur, Ferdinand Christian, [43].
• ‘behold,’ meaning of, [76] f.
• ‘believe,’ [161] f.
• Bethsaida, [114].
• Beyschlag, Willibald, [10] f.
• Bousset, Wilhelm, [17], [249] f.
• Box, George H., [153].
• Briggs, Charles Augustus, [21] ff.
• Burkitt, F. Crawford, [183] f.
• Butler, Dom Cuthbert, [57], [183].
• Caius, [66], [69].
• Calmes, Père Th., [12].
• Canonicity, [39].
• Catholicity, [41].
• Ceremonies, [119] ff.
• Chapman, Dom John, [252].
• Cheyne, Thomas Kelly, x f.
• Church, the Mother, vii, [228]-33, [261].
• Chwolson, Daniel, [121], [152] f.
• Clement of Alexandria, [66], [67] ff., [72] f., [105], [238] ff.;
  • see [Presbyters].
• Continuity, [5], [234] f.
• Conybeare, Frederick C., [29], [55].
• Cosmos, [197].
• Criticism, American, [46] ff.
• — English, [44] ff.
• — French, [27] f., [31].
• — German, ix, [27] f., [48] ff.
• — Principles of, [42]-67, [142], [257]-63.
• De Boor’s Fragment, [103] f., [107], [250] ff.
• Delff, Hugo, [17] f., [21], [90], [99], [108].
• Demoniacal Possession, [130], [133] f.
• Development, alleged want of, [155]-65, [209].
• Didaché, [199], [241], [245] f.
• Dill, Samuel, [35] f.
• Dobschütz, Ernst von, [15] f., [18] f., [115].
• Dods, Marcus, [11].
• Drummond, James, [3], [15], [32] ff., [41], [67], [81], [110] ff., [115], [141], [166], [192], [197], [241], [247].
• Dualism, [196].
• Ebionism, [29], [226], [230].
• ἐκεῖνος, [77] ff.
• Encyclopaedia Biblica, [1] f., [45].
• Eusebius, [65], [67] ff., [238] f., [250] f.
• Extensions, Principle of, [178].
• Feasts, the Jewish, [117] f., [119] ff.;
  • see [Passover].
• Fisher, George P., [14].
• Fourth Gospel, Appendix to (ch. xxi), [63] f., [80] f.
• — as a ‘spiritual Gospel,’ [68], [70] ff., [96].
• — Christology of, [205]-35.
• — Criticism of, [1]-3, [5]-8, [15], [25], [32], [60] ff., [65] f., [67] ff.
• — Discourses in, [165]-9.
• — External Evidence for, [238]-48.
• — Internal Evidence, Summary of, [238] f.
• — Geographical Details in, [113] f.
• — Monotony of, [206].
• — not a biography, [70] f., [205]-7.
• — Object of, [68] f., [71] f., [205] f.
• — Relation to Synoptics, [67] ff., [71] f., [117] f., [143]-55, [166], [216]-25.
• — Author of, [67] ff., [70] ff., [79] f., [82]-108, [128], [167] ff., [188] f., [206], [244] f., [260];
  • see St. John, [Apostle] and [Presbyter].
• Furrer, Konrad, [113] f.
• Galatians, Epistle to the, [230].
• Georgius Monachus (Hamartolus), [103].
• Godet, Frédéric, [11].
• Goltz, Freiherr E. von der, [242]-4.
• Grill, Julius, [190]-2, [194]-7, [200] f.
• Gwatkin, Henry M., [58] f.
• Harnack, Adolf, [18] ff., [42] ff., [60] ff., [76], [106], [197], [200], [223], [241], [249], [250], [252].
• Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, [45]-9.
• Hebrews, Epistle to the, [207]-16.
• Heracleon, [24], [238], [240].
• Hermas, [241].
• Holtzmann, Heinrich Julius, [41], [57], [75], [115], [194], [224].
• Holtzmann, Oscar, [25] f.
• Ignatius of Antioch, [51] ff., [199], [241]-5.
• Irenaeus, [60] ff., [65] f., [73], [105], [238] ff., [251], [255].
• Jacquier, Abbé E., [12].
• Jerusalem, Destruction of, [116], [123] f.
• Jewish Ideas, [15], [128]-36.
• John, Apocryphal Acts of, [108].
• — First Epistle of, [57], [74] ff.
• — School of St., [73], [81] f., [253] f.;
  • see [Presbyters of Papias], [Presbyters of Clement].
• John the Apostle, [16] ff., [60] ff., [97]-108, [248]-56;
  • see also [Fourth Gospel, Author of].
• — Death of, [103] ff., [107] f., [251] f.
• John the Presbyter, [16] ff., [19] f., [60] ff., [97]-108, [248]-56;
  • see also [Fourth Gospel, Author of].
• Jülicher, Adolf, [1], [31] f., [75].
• Justin Martyr, [33], [139], [166], [246] f., [256].
• Keim, Theodor, [241].
• Kreyenbuhl, Johannes, xi.
• Last Discourse, [90], [94] ff.
• Last Supper, [88] f., [94], [150]-5.
• Lazarus, Story of, [87] f., [170]-2.
• Light and Life, [190] f., [201].
• Lightfoot, Joseph B., [12], [51] ff.
• Local Colour, [129]-36.
• Logos, Doctrine of the, [185]-204, [211] ff.
• Loisy, Abbé Alfred, [2], [28], [31], [41], [200]-4, [205], [223] f., [256].
• Lucius, Ernst, [54] f.
• Luthardt, Christoph E., [11].
• Malchus, [90].
• Matthew, Apocryphal Gospel of, [112] f.
• McGiffert, A. Cushman, [19].
• Memra, [187].
• Messiah, the title, [208], [221] f.
• Messianic Expectation, [117], [136]-40, [158] f.
• Milligan, William, [11].
• Ministry, Scene of the, [144]-8.
• — Duration of, [148] f.
• Miracle, [169]-84.
• Moberly, Robert Campbell, [215].
• Moffatt, James, [19].
• Moulton, William F., [11].
• Muratorian Fragment, [66], [105], [255].
• Origen, [66], [238], [255].
• Papias, [60], [64], [73], [246], [250] ff., [254];
  • see [De Boor’s Fragment].
• Paraclete, [196] f., [219] f.
• Passover, [85], [117], [119] f., [151]-5;
  • see [Feasts].
• Paul, St., [168], [174] f., [188], [261].
• — St., and St. John, Relation of, viii, [168], [208]-16, [226]-33.
• Peter, St., and St. John, [91] f., [100], [102], [107].
• Peter, Second Epistle of, [43].
• Petronius, Satiricon, [35] f.
• Pfleiderer, Otto, [26].
• Pharisees;
  • see [Sects and Parties].
• Philip the Evangelist, [64].
• Philo, [55], [185]-200.
• — De Vita Contemplativa, [54] ff.
• Pilgrimages, [117] f.
• Polycarp, [60], [62], [242], [256].
• Polycrates, [62], [99] f., [102] f., [105].
• Pothinus, [61] f.
• Pragmatism, [109] ff.
• Presbyter, the title, [253].
• Presbyters of Clement, [67], [72] f.
• — of Papias, [60] f., [63] f., [241].
• Purification, [84] f., [120] f.
• Quadratus, [250].
• Rabbinical Schools, [132].
• Ramsay, William M., [112].
• Réville, Jean, [2], [28], [31], [200], [256].
• Ritschlianism, [47].
• Roman Government, [126] ff.
• Sadducees;
  • see [Sects and Parties].
• Salmon, George, [66].
• Samaria, Woman of, [85].
• Sanhedrin, [90] f., [100] f., [116], [124] ff.
• Schmiedel, Paul W., [2], [26] f., [37] ff., [57], [75], [239] ff., [247], [256].
• Schürer, Emil, [18], [28], [55] f.
• Schwartz, Eduard, [32], [66], [246].
• Sects and Parties, [123] ff.
• Silence, Argument from, [33] ff., [39], [171] f., [251].
• Soden, Freiherr Hermann von, viii f., [129] f.
• Soltau, Wilhelm, [21].
• Son of God, the title, [208]-26, [231].
• Spirit, the Holy, [214] f.
• ‘spiritual,’ meaning of, [71] f.
• Stanton, Vincent H., [3], [37] ff., [241].
• Stoics, [199].
• Style, Argument from Identity of, [56] f., [74] f., [81].
• Supernatural, the, [169]-84, [260] f.
• Synoptic Gospels, Criticism of, [151] ff., [170]-2, [217] f., [261];
  • see [Fourth Gospel, Relation to Synoptics].
• Tatian, [66], [238] ff.
• Temple, the, [113], [122] f.
• Temple, Cleansing of, [149] f.
• — Golden Gate of, [113].
• — Solomon’s Porch, [123], [164] f.
• — Treasury, [123].
• Tertullian, [105], [238] ff.
• Textual History, Argument from, [55] ff.
• ‘that year,’ [115].
• Thecla, Acts of Paul and, [43], [112].
• Theophilus of Antioch, [34], [238].
• Tiberias, Sea of, [114].
• Tradition, [4], [44].
• Trinity, Doctrine of the, [215] f., [218] f., [231].
• Valentinus, [247], [256].
• Ward, Miss Janet, [1].
• Watkins, Henry W., xi.
• Weingarten, Hermann, [57].
• Weiss, Bernhard, [9] f., [30].
• Wellhausen, Julius, ix.
• Wendland, Paul, [199].
• Wendt, Hans Hinrich, [21] ff., [220] f.
• Wernle, Paul, [27], [31], [75], [227]-35.
• Westcott, Brooke Foss, [13], [93].
• Wrede, William, ix, [75], [109] f.
• Zahn, Theodor, [8] f., [245].

Footnotes

[1]. It is this last work that I consider an exception to the high standard of ability in the group of which I am speaking. It is absolutely one-sided. I do not doubt the writer’s sincerity, but he is blissfully unconscious that there is another side to the argument.

[2]. Einleitung in d. N. T., 3rd ed., 1897; Das Johannes-Evangelium, 9th ed. (4th of those undertaken by Dr. Weiss), 1892.

[3]. For Beyschlag’s treatment of the Fourth Gospel see Zur johanneischen Frage, reprinted from Theol. Studien und Kritiken (Gotha, 1876); Neutest. Theologie (Halle a. S., 1891), i. 212-19; Leben Jesu (3rd ed., Halle, 1893).

[4]. English readers may be reminded that Dr. Ezra Abbot was an American Unitarian who died in 1884. He was a leading member of the American Committee which joined in the production of the Revised Version, and, after serving as Assistant Librarian, became Professor of New Testament Criticism in Harvard University in 1872. He was a scholar of retiring habits, and was one of those who spend in helping and improving the work of others time that might have been given to great work of their own. His literary remains were religiously collected after his death.