Early Christianity

C. Baur, and the members of the Tubingen school in general, found early Christianity to be a development out of specific, conflicting historical forces. The Jewish particularism of the Palestinian community on the one hand, and Pauline universalism on the other were finally synthesized through an evolutionary process into early Catholicism, and the books of the New Testament were thought to represent different points of view emerging in the course of the controversy. Although Baur's procedure thus approximated to a truly scientific historical method- a fact not always appreciated by critics of the Tubingen school- he confined attention so exclusively to the intellectual side of human activity, neglecting its emotional and volitional phases, that his conception of Christianity's content was not sufficiently comprehensive. He did maintain in a more realistic way than Hegel had done that human ideas and historical events are closely interwoven. Hence early Christianity, on its doctrinal side, was more vitally developmental, but its ultimate essence was still defined in terms of the Hegelian doctrine of the Absolute, and, therefore, necessarily remained undevelopmental in the last analysis.

The political and social background of early Christianity is also largely a Hellenistic product. Even within Palestine the conditions under which Jesus and his followers lived were quite directly the result of contact with the outside world. It was this force which had caused the Maccabean rebellion, and the subsequent political and social problems of Jewish life were solved under the influence of constant pressure from without.

Similarly the ideas and rites employed to objectivize, evaluate, and convey to others the content of experiential religion may for the most part have existed already in the contemporary world, but these things took on a new significance in the Christians' own thinking when made to function anew in their solution of vital religious problems. In this sense "old" and "new" may be equally valuable and equally germane to early Christianity.

The history of early Christianity has often been written- and well written- from the standpoint of the inner history of the community, without special reference to the influence of other surroundings upon the lives of believers. The inner life of the new society is unquestionably a very important phase in the history of the new religion. The energy which this sense of community life developed, the growing consciousness of a distinctive mission, the formulation of a common doctrine, the establishment of ecclesiastical organization and ritualistic observances, and the production of a body of religious literature are all valuable items in the story of Christianity's origin. But if the lives of Christians were temporally conditioned and if their contact with environment was really a vital one, as we have come to believe, the story of their career is not complete until the various genetic forces which acted upon their lives have been taken into account. In this way only shall we truly understand the real inner life of the community itself. In the genesis of early Christianity the contribution received from Jesus, and the forces which were generated within the inner circle of the first believers, formed significant items, but all these things were blended into one effective whole under the pressure of forces supplied by the immediate world in which Christians lived.

Early Christianity as represented in the New Testament is no mere local product, but a widespread religious movement embracing individuals from different places and from among different peoples. The lines along which these surroundings influenced the evolution of early Christianity must now be given more detailed consideration.