PROBLEMS OF NEW TESTAMENT STUDY 595 



ing the Jewish literature, both Palestinian and no n- Palestinian, and 

 yet more in the still more difficult task of coordinating into one his- 

 torical view results derived from the study of many documents, in- 

 cluding Psalms, Apocalypse, Targums, Midrash, and Mishna, none 

 who have even an elementary knowledge of the subject will deny. 

 Whether there are tasks that still await accomplishment in the field of 

 Graeco-Roman literature and thought, it does not belong to this essay 

 to say. But the New Testament student is well aware that the suc- 

 cessful accomplishment of his task requires a broad and accurate 

 knowledge of the history of the Roman Empire in the early Christ- 

 ian centuries, and that there is still much to be accomplished in the 

 investigation of the question of the extent to which, and the points 

 at which, the thought of the New Testament writers has been af- 

 fected by Greek ideas concerning God and man and the world and 

 their relations one to another. But here perhaps we are trenching 

 upon another division of our field the interpretation of New 

 Testament books and the history of New Testament thought. 



(4) Special introduction, to speak from the point of view which we 

 have assumed and defended, deals with questions pertaining to the 

 origin of those books which constitute the sources for the history of 

 the rise of Christianity. Such a definition of the field raises a ques- 

 tion concerning the particular books to be included in it, which was 

 formerly regarded as answered by the limits of the canon. In gen- 

 eral, what we seek is the creative period and literature of Christianity, 

 the period of those who not simply received Christianity, but exerted 

 a formative influence upon it, determining in some measure the char- 

 acter of the new religion. Among these Jesus stands preeminent 

 and unique, and because he did not write books, but the record of his 

 life and teachings comes to us in the writings of others, we must 

 include in the scope of our study any and every book which makes 

 a real contribution to our knowledge of his life and teachings. But 

 while Christianity rightlj r takes its name from Jesus, it would be idle 

 to deny to Paul a place among the makers of Christianity in a second- 

 ary but true sense, forward though he himself would be to refuse to 

 stand in any sense upon the plane with Jesus. But Paulinism was 

 not the only formative force, after Jesus, that was active in the 

 formative period of Christianity, and to the sources for the life and 

 teachings of Jesus, and those that give us like information concern- 

 ing Paul, we have to add such other books as the Apocalypse, the 

 epistle to the Hebrews, and some at least of the catholic epistles 

 which illuminate for us the early days of our religion. The boundary 

 to be drawn is not a strictly chronological one, as if the creative 

 literature of the character of which we are speaking necessarily 

 ceased to be produced as soon as that of a more secondary character 

 was produced. But we shall probably not be far from right if we 



