SCIENCE AND CHKISTIANITY. 321 



Galatians, and Corinthians) were written before the 

 canonical gospels, and contain less incredible mira- 

 culous matter than they. They are also more 

 concerned than the gospels to adjust themselves with 

 a rational view of the world. Hence the advanced 

 theology of modern times constructs its " ideal Chris- 

 tianity" rather on the base of the Pauline epistles 

 than on the gospels, so that it has been called 

 "Paulinism.'' 



The remarkable personality of Paul, who possessed 

 much more culture and practical sense than Christ, is 

 extremely interesting, from the anthropological point 

 of view, from the fact that the racial origin of the two 

 great religious founders is very much the same. 

 Recent historical investigation teaches that Paul's 

 father was of Greek nationality, and his mother of 

 Jewish. 1 The half-breeds of these two races, which 

 are so very distant in origin (although they are 

 branches of the same species, the homo mcditerraneus) , 

 are often distinguished by a happy blending of talents 

 and temperament, as we find in many recent and 

 actual instances. The plastic Oriental imagination 

 and the critical Western reason often admirably 

 combine and complete each other. That is visible in 

 the Pauline teaching, which soon obtained a greater 

 influence than the earliest Christian notions. Hence 

 it is not incorrect to consider Paulinism a new 

 phenomenon, of which the father was the philosophy 

 of the Greeks, and the mother the religion of 

 the Jews. Neo-Platonism is an analogous combina- 

 tion. 



As to the real teaching and aims of Christ (and as 



1 Ab to the Greek paternity of Christ, vide p. 337. 



Y 



