“From this it will be manifest also in what way the free and the confined movements of religion which now go side by side will come together in unity. False compromises are of no avail. All concessions by which the free conception seeks to approach the confined can only result in ambiguity and inconsequence. The differences lie in the thought [pg 057] material which is presupposed on either side. All efforts after an agreement in this sphere are hopeless. These differences appear so prominent because there is a lack of elementary and vital religiousness. Two threads of water wind along side by side through the boulders and gravel of a great stream bed. It is of no avail that one seeks here and there to clear out of the way the masses that are piled up between them, in order that they may flow on in one bed. But when the water rises and overflows the boulders they find themselves together as a matter of course. So will the confined and the free spirit of religion come together when will and hope are directed again towards the Kingdom of God, and the fellowship with the spirit of Jesus becomes in them something elemental and mighty, and they are thereby brought so near together in the essence of their _Weltanschauung_ and religion that the differences of thought material still exist indeed, but sink beneath the surface, as the boulders are covered by the rising flood and in the end barely glimmer out of the depths. “The names by which Jesus was called in the thought material of late Judaism—Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God—have [pg 058] become to us historical parables. Even when he applied these titles to himself, this was an historically conditioned expression of his apprehension of himself as a commander and ruler. We find no designation that might express his nature for us. “Unknown and nameless he comes to us, as he approached those men on the seashore that knew not who he was. He says the same word: But do thou follow me! and he sets before us the tasks which we in our generation must accomplish. He commands. And to those that obey him, wise and unwise, he will reveal himself in what may be given them to experience in his fellowship of peace and activity, conflict and suffering, and as an unutterable secret they shall come to know who he is. ...” FOOTNOTES 1 _Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien,_ 1901. 2 _Christusmythe._ 3 _The Life of Christ in Recent Research,_ 1907. 4 _Eschatology of the Gospels,_ 1910. 5 _Geschichte der paulinischen Forschung,_ 1911. 6 _Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu,_ 1st ed., 1888. 7 _Die Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Gottes,_ 2d ed., 1900; also _Das älteste Evangelium,_ 1903. 8 _Quest of the Historical Jesus,_ cap. XX. 9 _Das Christus-Problem,_ 1902. 10 _Op. cit._ 11 _Hibbert Journal,_ Oct., 1911, p. 84. 12 _Vide The Living Word_ by Elwood Worcester, 1908. [pg 059] CHAPTER I THE MODERN “HISTORICAL” SOLUTION