[401] "Jesus u. d. neutestamentl. Schriftsteller," ii. 43. Let us take the final paragraph in E. Petersen's "Die wunderbare Geburt des Heilandes," which reaches the zenith in proving the mythical nature of the evangelical account of the Saviour's birth: "If, not because we wish it, but because we are forced to do so by the necessity of History, we remove the sentence, 'Conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary'--Jesus nevertheless remains the 'Son of God.' He remains such because he experienced God as his father, and because he stands at God's side for us. Also, in spite of our setting aside the miraculous birth as unhistorical, we are quite justified in declaring 'Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.'" M. Brückner speaks similarly at the close of his otherwise excellent work. "Der sterbende und auferstehende Gottheiland." For the person to whom such phraseology is not--futile, there is no help. [402] Cf. "Jesus Christus," a course of lectures delivered at the University of Freiburg i. B., 1908. [403] Schäfer, "Die Evangelien und die Evangelienkritik," 1908, 123. The story of the Church's development in the first century is a story of shameless literary falsifications, of rough violence in matters of faith, of unlimited trial of the credence of the masses. So that for those who know history the iteration of the "credibility" of the Christian writers of the age raises at most but an ironical smile. Cf. Robertson, "History of Christianity," 1910. [404] Cf. Hochart, "Études au sujet de la persécution des Chrétiens sous Néron," 1885, cp. 4. [405] A. Kalthoff, "Das Christusproblem, Grundzüge zu einer Sozialtheologie," 1902, 14 sq. [406] Kalthoff, "Die Entstehung des Christentums: Neue Beiträge zum Christusproblem," 1904, 8. [407] If v. Soden ("Hat Jesus gelebt?" vii. 45) has proved wrong the comparison with the Tell-legend, and thinks I have "probably once more" forgotten that Schiller first transformed a very meagre legend, which was bound up in a single incident, from grey antiquity into a living picture, he can know neither Tschudi nor J. v. Müller. Cf. Hertslet, "Der Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte," 6 Aufl., 1905, 216 sqq. [408] The passage runs: "At this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a man, for he accomplished miracles and was a teacher of men who joyously embrace the truth, and he found a great following among Jews and Greeks. This one was the Christ. Although at the accusation of the leading men of our people Pilate sentenced him to the cross, those who had first loved him remained still faithful. For he appeared again to them on the third day, risen again to a new life, as the prophets of God had foretold of him, with a thousand other prophecies. After him are called the Christians, whose sect has not come to an end." [409] "Einl. ins N.T.," 1836, 581. [410] "Gesch. d. jüd. Volkes," i. 548.