This volume is valuable as a diagnosis and as suggesting a remedy. It is symptomatic of a state of mind which is calling forth numerous books and essays indicating wide-spread discontent with the traditional treatment of Jesus Christ. It has a ministry in that it briefly and in somewhat sketchy fashion indicates the lines of the reconstructed thought. Professor Miller undertakes to outline briefly the Sources, the Life, the Teachings of Jesus, and the resultant Conceptions of Him. The spirit of the discussions is modern and ...
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This volume is valuable as a diagnosis and as suggesting a remedy. It is symptomatic of a state of mind which is calling forth numerous books and essays indicating wide-spread discontent with the traditional treatment of Jesus Christ. It has a ministry in that it briefly and in somewhat sketchy fashion indicates the lines of the reconstructed thought. Professor Miller undertakes to outline briefly the Sources, the Life, the Teachings of Jesus, and the resultant Conceptions of Him. The spirit of the discussions is modern and wise; and the book will take its place among a considerable output of literature seeking to orient to the modern mind the Christological problem. It is essentially a historical study; and throughout the author has in mind the scientific conscience with its aversion to the miraculous and the supernatural. He seeks to indicate the principles by which the modern solutions must be sought. A brief quotation from the Preface will help to introduce the author and his suggestive book. "I wish to emphasize that I am not particularly interested in pressing a new point of view upon any who honestly and intelligently hold to the age-old formulae and derive comfort and power from them. The religious life is the main thing for us all. But many of us have been obliged to readjust our views for the very sake of that Christian faith we long for and need. Many others have turned their backs upon the Church, and even upon all religion, because they have not been helped to a new view which would have shown them that such desertion is unnecessary, harmful, and wrong." The book is irenic and constructive in spirit. - The Harvard Theological Review [1917]
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