RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jesus Christ
averting the danger of Messianistic outbreak, and asserted the religious rights of the " lost sons " in the central sanctuary, without affording a just pretext for Roman intervention. But his success was short-lived. He had to deal with a hierocracy which had no scruples about defending its supremacy by intrigue and midnight assassination; a Roman governor notorious for his ruthless harshness and readiness to shed innocent blood; and for support the broken reed of a fickle populace, ready at a moment's notice to forsake the champion of their rights in the kingdom of God. The tragedy as related by the first witnesses has but a single act — " the night in which he was betrayed." The scenes of that night, the last supper with its warning of the end, its pathetic " memorial," Gethsemane, the arrest, with desertion of the twelve, sequestration of Jesus till the morning in the high priest's house, Peter's denial and flight, show a vividness unequaled elsewhere in the Gospel story. All that follows is relatively vague and self-contradictory. Trial was impossible from time conditions alone. It could only prove self-stultifying to the accusers, if attempted. Annas and his fellow conspirators were far too shrewd to involve themselves in such public responsibility. They merely " delivered over " Jesus to Pilate as a Messianistic agitator. It may well be believed that Pilate put no faith in the disinterestedness of such accusers, and even that he hesitated at another judicial murder. But he soon discovered that the popularity of Jesus was less formidable than the pressure of synagogue authorities and priestly aristocracy. Jesus' conscience-stricken disciples emerged from their hiding-places to hear the awful issue. On the day before the Passover, as the priests had planned (Mark xiv. 2), Jesus was crucified. The accusation was written as custom prescribed upon his cross. He died as having aspired to the throne of David. Friendly but unknown hands accorded him hasty burial.
Such is the career whose outline critical analysis dimly discerns beneath the tradition of the Church. The vindication came, though not as Jesus expected it. The throne to which he had not aspired 9 The was S^ven Qim by the love and faith Issue. °f humanity. There was a " turning again " when the influence of Jesus, whether by the reaction of memories of the past, or in direct spiritual intervention from the unseen world, reawakened the faith of Simon Peter, and Christianity began, founded in devotion to the risen and glorified Lord. Benjamin W. Bacon.
Bibliography: The literature is enormous and the following is no more than a selection aiming to direct to the most useful works from various points of view. The literature cited is exclusive of works on the teaching, work, and character of Jesus, and on special topics or phases of his life, trial, death, resurrection, and ascension. A bibliography carrying all these and other topics is: S. G. Ayres, Jesus Christ Our Lord; an English Bibliography of Christology comprising over 5,000 Titles annotated and classified, New York, 1906; cf. W. B. Hill, A Guide to the hives of Christ for English Readers, New York, 1905 (gives evaluation of thirty-six lives of Christ). Volumes which review discussions of the life and works of Christ are: A. Schweitzer, Von Reimarus zu Wrede, Eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung, Strasburg, 1906 (reviews the attempts up to date to write the life of Jesus);
H. Jordan, Jesus im Kampfe der Parteien der Gegenwart, Stuttgart, 1907; F. Spitta, Streitfragen der Geschichte der Jesu, Gottingen, 1907; W. Sanday, Life of Christ in Recent Research, New York, 1907; H. Weinel, Jesus im 19. Jahrhundert, Tubingen, 1907 (a review of the work of the century); G. Pfanmuller, Jesus im Urteil der Jahrhunderte, Leipsic, 1908.
Possibly the earliest attempt at a systematic life was that in a series of Meditationes vitae Christi attributed to Bonaventura, Eng. transl. by W. H. Hutchings, New York, 1881; a corresponding effort in English is Jeremy Taylor's Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life, London, 1649 (devotional). A new period opened with J. G. von Herder, Erlbser des Menschen and Von Gottes Sohn, in his Christliche Schriften, Riga, 1794-98 (the first notable works to apply scientific research). Stadia were marked by H. E. G. Paulus, Das Leben Jesu, Heidelberg, 1828 (rationalistic); D. F. Strauss, Das Leben Jesu, 2 vols., Tubingen, 1835-36; Eng. transls., e.g., 3 vols., London, 1846, and Das Leben Jesu fur das deutsche Volk, Leipsic, 1864, Eng. transls., London, 1879 (advanced the mythical theory and evoked a storm of protest and a large number of replies); A. Neander, Das Leben Christi, Gotha, 1837, Eng. transl., London, 1846 (one of the earliest and best answers to Strauss); E. Renan, Vie de Jesus, Paris, 1863, Eng. transls., frequent eds., e.g., New York, 1904 (more appreciative than Strauss of historical verities, but yet so stressed the legendary that it evoked as much opposition as Strauss's work); T. Keim, Geschichte Jesu von Nazara, 3 vols., Zurich, 1867-72, Eng. transl., 6 vols., London, 1873, new ed., 1897 (critical, rationalistic, yet to be reckoned with) . It may be serviceable to the historical student to know that the British Museum Catalogue gives in the entries under each of these notable works the titles of replies or criticisms which they evoked. While the works just named in a way mark stages in the study, the lives which follow are those which are of chief value among the very large number of works on the life of Christ; F. W. Farrar, Life of Christ; with an appendix, 2 vols., London, 1874 (popular); C. Geikie, ib. 1876; E. De Pressense\ London, 1879; J. Stalker, Edinburgh, 1879; A. M. Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ, New York, 1882; A. Edersheim, London, 1883 (utilizes rabbinic sources); S. J. Andrews, New York, 1884 (one of the best in English); B. Weiss, 2 vols., Berlin, 1884, Eng. transl., 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1884; G. Dalman and A. W. Streane, Jesus Christ in the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, and the Liturgy of the Synagogue, texts and transl., London, 1893; A. Robinson, A Study of the Saviour in the Newer Light, London, 1898 (critical but reverent); G. Matheson, Studies in the Portrait of Christ, 2 vols., London, 1900 (sympathetic and spiritual); R. Rhees, New York, 1900 (concise); O. Holtzmann, Tubingen, 1901, Eng. transl., London, 1904; N. Schmidt, The Prophet of Nazareth, New York, 1905 (critical, of high value); D. Smith, The Days of His Flesh, London, 1905 (highly esteemed); A. Whyte, The Walk, Conversation and Character of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Edinburgh, 1905 (brilliant and original); W Bousset, Jesus, Eng. transl., London, 1906 (a judicial consideration of the testimony of the Gospels); A. ReVille, 2 vols., Paris, 1906 (critical); W. Sanday, Outlines of the Life of Christ, 2d ed., Edinburgh, 1906. For the critical literature on the sources see under Gospels; Paul the Apostle; and under the articles on the separate Gospels.
JESUS CHRIST, BROTHERS OF. See James, I., 3, §§ 1-2.