We propose to consider some of the attempts which liave thus been made from ditt'erent sides to prove the indebtedness of Christ to those who preceded Him, anil to discuss the Avorth of the ciiarge of want of originality based uj)on the CA'i- dence thus adduced. In some of the cases Ave have to consider, it is the question of the originality not so much of Christ as of Christianity that is in- volved, as the Person of Christ is either left out of account as a pure piece of fiction, or reduced to such mean proportions as rob it of all histori- cal significance. But inasmuch as in such cases the attempt is made to disjirove the originality of that religious movement Avhich Ave, at any rate, associate Avith the Person of Christ, Ave may fitly consider them here, so far, at least, as the criticism in question involves the doctrine of the Master as distinguished from the Apostles.
i. Christianity and Grseco - Roman thought. — Occasional attempts Ikuc l)een made to trace the indebtedness of Christianity to Greek and Grwco- Roman thought. We do not refer here to the endeaA-ours of such men as Hatch and Harnack
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to prove the influence of Greek philosophy on the development of Christian doctrine, but to the much more revolutionary tendency of such writers as Bruno Bauer and Ernest Havet, who have sought to account not only for the development of Christian doctrine, but for the origin of Christianity itself, upon such lines.
In his work, Christus xmd die Ccesarcn : Der Ursprung de.s ChriMenthums aus don rumischeit Griechciitkum (1877, 2nd ed. 1879), Bauer seriously undertakes to prove tliatChrisvianityis not Jewish in its origin, but is really the product of Grieco- Roman thought. Its birthplace was not Palestine, but the two cities in which the blending of East and West took place, — Alexandria and Rome. Judaism in its monotheism did but give the skele- ton ; it was the West that gave the soul. Philo and Seneca were its real founders. At Alexandria, Judaism was enriched by a combination of the Platonic world of ideas with the Heraclitic Logos. Philo made of this Logos a priestly mediator who brings the extremes of the Divine and the human into relation to one another. Seneca gave to this mediator reality, brought him down to earth into touch with men, and made him approve himself by suffering. In the picture he has painted of the ideal man who would one day arise and fulfil the destiny of mankind, he is the real creator of the Christian Messiah. He introduced to the masses the wisdom of Greece, with its call to self-denial and renunciation of the world, whereby man may attain to God-likeness and eternal peace. It was Seneca who laid the foundation for Christian Rome. In the contrast which he presents between the old law with its formal requirements and the new with its higher, more spiritualistic demands, he has supplied the theme for the Sermon on the Mount. Many of his sayings have been reproduced in the NT, sometimes in a manner which conclusively proves the secondariness of the Scripture version. It is true that he is never mentioned by name in the NT. This Bauer would explain by the fact that the NT literature is so late in date that its compilers were ignorant of the fact that Seneca was the author of the maxims which were current among the society for whom they wrote. Still, in some cases the correspondence between the NT parallels and the original utterances of Seneca is so close, that Bauer is of opinion that the NT authors must have had the writings of the Roman sage before them.
Another factor to which Bauer attaches importance in ac- counting for the origin of Christianity, is the influence of the political conditions of the time. Despair over the downfall of the Republic, which seemed to portend the end of the world, awakened the yearning for a new spiritual world. The levelling of classes, which followed on the establishment of the Empire, begot a faith in human rights and inspired a feeling of mutual dependence such as the Republic had never awakened. Further, the emperors themselves contributed to the ideal which was gradually taking shape in the mind of the age. The Christian Saviour and the Roman emperors are both products of the same tendency, which sought to sum up the aspirations and immaterial goods of antiquity in one personal, all-powerful form. Augustus was the prince of peace who healed the wounds of the Civil War ; Tiberius, the servant of the community ; Caligula, the god-man and world-judge ; Nero, the philanthropist who dedi- cated himself to the service of humanity ; Vespasian caused the Jewish oracle, which had called him to be ruler of the world, to be carried before his legions ; Nerva and his successors gave to the Roman world an example of mildness and tranquillity. The central figure of the new religion is a composite character constructed out of the aspirations and ideals of Greek philosophy and various traits borrowed from the occupants of the imperial throne, in whom the Roman world recognized the mediators between heaven and earth.
Such are the lines on which Bauer seeks to ascribe the origin of Christianity to Grseco-Roman influence. It is evident that his theory involves not only the complete overturn of all but the most extreme theories as to the date of the NT litera- ture, but also a very different reading of the course of profane history from that which has hitherto ob- tained. Bauer has no hesitation in setting aside the testimony of Tacitus, Suetonius, and the other Roman historians. A theory which represents Nero in the character of philanthropist, and finds in his reign an anticipation of the Messianic blessed- ness, makes the strongest demands on our credulity. Bauer's views as to the date of the NT writings are wild in the extreme. The Epistles to the Corin- thians are a late composition of the 2nd cent. ; the Urcvangclium is ascribed to the first half of Hadrian's reign ; the Apocalypse and Fourth Gospel to the time of Marcus Aurelius, the latter being an attempt to carry out systematically tiie Gnostic opposition to Judaism. The Jewish ele- ment in the NT is persistently denied. The author of the Urevangdium is ' an Italian by birth, Avho .