The Problem Of Christ’s Person In The Twentieth Century -- By: Philip Wendell Crannell
Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 64:254 (Apr 1907)
Article: The Problem Of Christ’s Person In The Twentieth Century
Author: Philip Wendell Crannell
BSac 64:254 (April 1907) p. 331
The Problem Of Christ’s Person In The Twentieth Century
The doctrine of the Person of Christ is always central and always vital. It is central and vital to the Scriptures, for they fall helplessly apart without him as their ground of unity and being; to the church, for her power lies in the idea of Jesus, and in the vitality of Jesus, the efficiency of which is largely mediated, measured, and molded by the idea; to philosophy, for Jesus Christ, as the supreme revelation of God in personality, is the supreme witness to personality in God; and to the progress of the race, for the heart-throb of Jesus is the dynamic of all true advance in purity, justice, and love. But to-day, especially, the doctrine is vital because of the decay of the principle of human authority. We respect the teachings of the past, but with Peter we turn to the Christ, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” The changed, and changing, attitude of men toward the Scriptures, also accentuates the problem. As they debate and question, and the results range from unbroken faith to almost complete abandonment, men turn with eagerness to the central Figure, who commands their admiration, their love, and their confidence, and who is indeed the Soul of the Scriptures and the Word within the word.
More evidently vital than ever before since the first ages, this central doctrine necessarily has its phases peculiar to our own time. The Christ is the same; but light, shade, and
BSac 64:254 (April 1907) p. 332
atmosphere vary. The Christ of this century has different features, a different expression, perhaps different dimensions from the Christ of any former time. His problem is a different problem, easier of solution in some ways, and for that reason harder in some others.
Among the forces which modify it is our larger conception of the universe and of humanity, both in space and time. This means what has been called a “larger Christ,”—a Christ of longer and wider activity than some ages, at least, have recognized; a Christ more satisfactory to the conscience, the heart, and the imagination, but more difficult to handle with our logical and exegetical tools.
The rise and conquering march of the evolutionary hypothesis, not accepted by us all, but profoundly felt by every one, is, for many, another modifying element. Where can we fit Christ into the evolutionary scheme? Can the Unclassifiable be classified? If he can be fitted in, does not his unique distinction cease? If, being unique, he be somehow fitted in, is he not a break, an intrusion, an irruption? At first sight the theory would seem to be a definite and decisive classification of Jesus in the ranks of mere humanity, but it might not ...
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