The reader is referred to pages 9 and 10 of the Advertising Sheet, for important information respecting Postage-Exchanges-Price of Index-Complete and Incomplete Sets-Back Numbers-and Price of the "Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut." CONTENTS. ART. I. The Conflict with Skepticism and Unbelief. Sec- Rev. Prof. George P. Fisher, Yale College. II. The Atonement as a Revelation, 256 259 265 Rev. L. S. Potwin, North Greenwich, Conn. 276 . Rev. Joshua Leavitt, D. D., New York City. IV. The Atonement, . 296 324 III. Poland, Rev. C. W. Clapp, Rockville, Conn. V. What makes a Heretic? Rev. L. M. Dorman, Manchester, Conn. VI. America Vindicated by an Englishman. A Re- VII. Review of the Autobiography of Rev. Dr. Lyman Rev. Prof. Noah Porter, D. D., Yale College. VIII. Review of Weiss' Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, Rev. Prof. Noah Porter, D. D., Yale College. ARTICLE X.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS. SHEDD, (W. G. T.)--A History of HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPIICAL. HUNT, (C. H.)-Life of Edward FULLER, (R. F.)-Life of Chaplain BELLES LETTRES. CRAIK, (G. L.-A Compendious History of English Literature, and of the English Language, from the Norman Conquest, CORSON, (H.)--Chaucer's Legende of Good Women, 374 375 376 DAWSON, (H. B)-New edition of UPHAM, (N. G.)-An Address on MISCELLANEOUS. 391 $95 ALFORD, (H.)-The Queen's English, 395 398 883 398 L. Scott & Co's Republications of the British Reviews, 398 Taggard & Thompson's New Edition of Lord Bacon's Works, Rebellion Record, 399 399 384 GREELEY, (H.)" The American 399 388 Books and Pamphlets Received, 400 THE NEW ENGLANDER. No. LXXXVII. APRIL, 1864. ARTICLE I-THE CONFLICT WITH SKEPTICISM AND UNBELIEF. SECOND ARTICLE: THE MYTHICAL THEORY OF STRAUSS. Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet, von Dr. David Fried rich Strauss. 4 A. Tübingen: 1840. Streitschriften zur Vertheidigung, &c., von Dr. David Friedrich Strauss. Tübingen: 1841. THE peculiar form of unbelief which, in our time, has been brought forward to invalidate the testimony to the miracles of the Gospel, is the Mythical Theory; and the leading expounder and advocate of that theory is David Frederic Strauss. The Life of Christ, by Strauss, is an extensive and elaborate work. The author, if not a man of the profoundest learning, is, nevertheless, a trained and well read theologian. Adopting a theory which, at least in the breadth of its application, is a novel one, he yet skillfully avails himself of everything which has been urged in the way of objection to the truth of the Gospel history from the side of ancient or modern skepticism. He knows how to weave into his indictment charges drawn from the most opposite quarters. He is quite ready to borrow aid from Woolston, the Wolfenbüttel Fragmentist, and other deistical writers, whose philosophy in general he repudiates. Thus, in his work, there are brought together and braided together the difficulties in the New Testament history which all past study had brought to light, and the objections which the ingenuity of unbelievers, from Celsus to Paulus, had found it possible to suggest. It is the last and strongest word that skeptical criticism will be able to utter against the evangelical narratives. In the arrangement and presentation of his matter, the work of Strauss is distinguished by a rhetorical skill that is rarely surpassed. He knows what it will do to assert roundly, what is best conveyed by an insinuation, what is more effectively suggested in the form of an inquiry. He knows how to put in the foreground whatever seems to favor his position, and to pass lightly over considerations having a contrary tendency. The currency obtained by the work of Strauss, and its influence, are very much due, also, to the transparency of his style. In the exhibition of the most complex details, the remarkable clearness and fluency that belong to his ordinary composition, are fully preserved. It will not be denied that Strauss has presented the most plausible theory which can be presented from the unbelieving side, and has made it as captivating as the nature of the case will admit. This theory we now proceed to examine.* Although Strauss undertakes to construct a life of Christ, it is plain that the great question before his mind is the question of the truth or falsehood of the narratives in the New Testament which record miracles. Strange to say, he lays down at the beginning the critical canon that a miracle is never to be * We have placed at the head of this Article, along with Strauss's principal work, the book of Streitschriften, or polemical tracts in reply to his reviewers, which he himself collected into a volume. |