Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/702

 072 J E S J E T While nominally accepted it has been understood and explained in a manner of which the ancient church never so much as dreamt. Kant used all the traditional formula;, but they do not appear to have been more to him than symbolic expressions. Similarly Sehelling spoke of the Three Persons of the creeds as three Momcn- tums, for which he substituted in later years the word Potcnzcn, and the language of Fichte and Hegel practically sublimates to nothing the doctrine of Christ s divinity. But this &quot; dispersive analysis &quot; of the later centuries has shown itself most markedly in some of the Lives of Jesus, and these prove very conclusively that many Christians have not preserved the Nieene faith, but find an insuperable stumbling block in the miracles. Even in the treatment of the life of Jesns by Hess (1768) there is a spirit of concession to modern doubt which becomes still more marked in the similar sketches of Herder (1796), who leans, wherever he can, to the natural or the symbolic view of miracles. The Lcben Jcsu of Faulus was written with the avowed object of explaining away the supernatural elements in the Gospels while yet the evangelists themselves were accepted as faithful witnesses, an attempt which at once fell to the ground under the weight of its own absurdity. Far different was the line adopted by Schleiermacher in his Lectures on the Life of Jesus (published from notes by Riitenik in 1864). Schleiermacher wished to steer between the Ebionitic and the Docetic views of Christ, but while maintain ing the divinity he systematically endeavours to reduce the miracles within the scope of natural laws, and treats even the resurrection in a rationalizing manner, as though Jesus had not really died. Hase, in his Lcbcn Jcsu (1829), leans in the same direction, supposing that Jesus possessed some unknown power and a sort of sanative mag netism. None of these writers have, however, produced so deep an impression as Strauss and Kenan. Strauss, instead of endeavouring to eliminate the supernatural, r to invest it in some sort with a natural appearance, treated the Gospel narratives as myths from which it was hardly possible to understand the historic personality of Christ. In his Lcbcn Jcsu (1835) he rejected the Fourth Gospel altogether; in his second edition, in deference to Neander, he left the question neutral. In this earlier phase he regarded Jesus as merely &quot;the idea of the identity of God and man, and the mission of humanity &quot; built up on Messianic prophecy ; but he afterwards, as in his Life, of Christ for the People (1864), attached more importance to the tendency-theory of Baur, and in his later writings ( The Old Faith and the New, 1873) treated the existence of Christianity in as disdainful a tone as though it were hardly worthy of any explanation at all. Renan (Vie de Jesus, 1863) entirely abandoned all faith in Christ s divinity, and, while speaking of Him as one &quot; whom His death had made divine,&quot; treated Him from the point of view of an amiable rabbi who, beginning as an innocent enthusiast, developed into something hardly if at all removed from conscious imposture. Meanwhile these negations had provoked a strong reaction ; and writers like Neander (1837), Ebrarcl(1842), Lange (1843), Olshausen (1853), AVeisse (1856), Riggenbach (1858), and above all Ewald (1855), maintained with abundant learning the truth of the Gospel narratives, though the works of all of them betray, in a greater or less degree, the signs, to which Neander so touchingly alludes, that they were produced &quot;in an age of crisis, of isolation, of pain, and of throes.&quot; The most important recent contribution to the literature of this subject is the Jcsu von Nazara of Kcim (1867). He writes in a reverent spirit and a powerful stylo, with abundant learning and patient research. He takes his stand on the sinlessness of Jesus, and presents Him as human indeed but still divine in the exaltation of His humanity. Keim attributes the Fourth Gospel to a late and post-apostolic author, and when he gives it as his conclusion that &quot;in the life of Jesus, where Ihe most genuine and unadulterated humanity dwelt, was revealed at the same time not only a religious genius, but the miracle of God and His presence upon earth,&quot; and that &quot;the person itself and nothing else is the miracle,&quot; he shows by how vast a space modern opinion has receded from the views of the Catholic church. The English works on the Life of Christ have been very numerous of late years, and have been marked with few exceptions by their fidelity to Christian faith. Literature. The bibliography of the life of Christ is immense, and the mono graphs on isolated Questions which bear upon it may be counted by hundreds. The reader will find a fairly adequate account of the results of a comprehensive critical survey of the whole field in Hase s Geschichte Jesu, 1875. So far as the patr.&quot; Ar ba author of the IJeliand, Otfried of Weissenburg, and others, may be dismissed with a mere reference. Of greater importance as early examples of a large class of works, designed for religious edification rather than for historical portraiture, are the Vita Christi of Bonaventura (first printed in 1480, and often since, the latest English translation bearing so recent a date as 18SO), and the Vita Jesu Christi of Ludolphus Saxo (written about tiie middle of the 14th century, and first printed at Strasburg in 1470). After the Reformation the harmony of the Gospels continued to absorb much of the attention of scholars, ;&amp;gt;nd many able works in this field, from that of Osiander (1537) to that of Bengel (1730), appeared, all of them, however, unnaturally restricted by the limitations of a conventional ortho doxy, and marked by a characteristic absence of the critical spirit. The only work belonging to this early period which can be said still to possess permanent value is the Life of Christ by Jeremy Taylor, 1C53. Such works as the Messiah of Klopstock, 1748, belong to literary rather than to theological history. The beginnings of a new historical method can be traced in the writings of the English deists, such as Woolston and Chubb, a method which somewhat later was taken up by Reimarus and Lessing, and gave rise on the other side to the apologetic works of Lardner, Palcy, and others in England, and in Germany to those of Herder (Vom Erlbser des Menschen, oder unsere drei ersten Evangelien, and Von Gottes Sohn der Welt Heiland nach Johannes) and of Iless (Geschichte der drei letzten Lebensj ihre Jesu, 1768; 7th ed., 1823, with the title Lebensgeschichte Jefti). In chronological order, the names of Schleiermacher and Hasc come next. The lectures of the former, first delivered in Berlin in 1819, and frequently repeated in subsequent years, had almost expended their great influence before their pub lication by Riitenik (Vorlesungcn uber das Leben Jesu, 18G4) ; those of the latter, begun at Tubingen in 1823-4, first saw the light as a Leben Jesu in 1829 (5th ec!.. 1865, and in a still more expanded form entitled Geschichte Jesu in 1875). Their publication was prec. ded and occasioned by that of the Leben Jesu a!s Grundlage einer reinen Geschichte des Urcliristenthums of Paulus in 1828. A new phase of negative criticism was introduced by the publication in 1835 of the Leben Jesu of Strauss, further developments of which are to be found in his Leben Jesu fiir das deulsche Volk bearbeitet (1865; Eng. transl., 18C5), and in the writings of his fol lowers, among whom may be mentioned C. H. Weissc (Das Leben Jesu kritisch n. philosophisch bearbeitet, 1838), Salvator (Jesus Christ et sz doctrine, 1838), and Gfrorcr (Geschichte des Urchristenthums, 1838). Among the very numerous works controverting these in the interests of Christian apologetics, the most important are those of Tholuck (Die Glaubicurdigkeit der Erangelischen Geschichte, 1837), Neander (Das Leben Jesu Christi, 1837; 7lh cd., 1873 ; Eng. transl., 1848),Ebrard (Wissenschaftliche Kritik der Evangetischen Geschich e, 1842), Wicseler (Chrono- logische Synapse der vier Evangelien, 1843), Langc (Leben Jesu. 1844-47 ; Eng. transl., 18G4, 1871), from the Protestant, standpoint ; and those of Kuhn (Leben Jesu, vol. i.. 1838), Sepp (Leben Christi, 1843), and Bucher(/&amp;gt;a Leben Jesu Christi, 1809), from the Catholic. The writings of the Tubingen school (Bruno Bauer, Kritik der Evangel ischen Geschichte des Johannes, 1840 ; Krit. d. Ev. Gesch. der Synoptiker, 1841 ; Krit. d. Ev. Gefch. dtr Simopt. u. d. Johannes, 1842 ; Krit. der Eeangelien u. Gesch. ihr. L rsprungs, 1850 ; F. C. Baur, Krit. Unterswhungen ii. d. Kanon. Evangelien. 1847; Das Christenthttmv.d. Christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte, 1853) on the other hand occasioned Ewald s Geschichte Cliristus u. seiner Zeit (1855), and Ihe similar works of Lichtenstein (Lebensgescliichte Jesu Christi in chronol. Uebersicht, 180(1), Riggenbach ( Vorlesungen li. d. Leben d. H. Jesu, 1858), Baumgarten (Die Geschichte Jesu, 1809), Ellicott (Historical Lectures on the Lifetof our Lord Jesus Christ. 1860). Rcnan s Vie de Jesns appeared in 18G3, Schenkel s f haracterbild Jesu in 1864 (compare the Christusbild uer Apostel v. der nachapostolifchen Zeit of the same author, 1878), Kcim s Der Gcschichtliche Christus in 1865, his Jcsu von Nazara in 1867-72, Ilausra h s &quot;Die Zeit Jesu&quot; in the NTliche Zeitgeschichte in 1870, VVittichcn s Leben Jesu in 1376. and Volk- mar s Jesus Nazarenus n. d. Schriftzeugen d. Iten Jhd/s., p. i., in 1881. With these maybe contrasted, amongst many others which might be named, the follow ing well-known works: Pressense&quot;, Je sus Christ, son temps, sa vie. son ceuvre, 1865 ; Wcizsacker, Untertuchungen ii. d. Evangelische Geschichte, 18fi4 ; Gess, Christi Person u. Werk, 1870-79 ; Dnpanloup, Hist, de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ, 1870; Andrews. Life of our Lord upon Earth, 1863 ; F. W. Karrar, Life uf Christ, 1874, 23d ed., 1881 ; Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, 1877. Ecce Homo, a survey of the life and u-ork of Christ, an anonymous work, which attracted much attention in its time, is also worthy of mention here. From Catholic sources we have the second volume of Bougaud s Le Christianisme et les temps pres&amp;lt; nts, entitled Jesus Christ, 1871 ; also Grimm s Leben Jesu nach den vier Evangelien, of which as yet only two volumes have appeared, 1876-78. On Christology the standard work is Dorner s Darstellung der Lehre ran der Person Christi, J 845-56; Eng. trans., 1862. (F. W. F.) JESUS, THE Sox OF SIRACII (Siracludos), the author of the book of Ecelesiasticus, was a native of Jerusalem, of whose personal life, apart from this one fact, vouched for by himself (Ecclus. 1. 27), nothing is known, excfipt that it was devoted to the study of the sacred literature. Accord ing to indications contained in chaps, xxxiv. 11, 12, xxxix. 4, 5, Ii. 1 sy., he seems to have travelled abroad, associated with princes, and once at least been placed in danger of his life by intrigues against him at a royal court. Hi. -5 collection of moril sayings (cro&amp;lt;/&amp;gt;ia lya-ov vlov 2tpa^, LXX. ; Kcclesia-tticiis, S3. Liber, Vulg.), originally written in Hebrew, and bearing according to Jerome the title of &quot; Proverbs,&quot; was translated into Greek by his grandson, who cams to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of Ptolemy Euergetes (see ths Prologue). By this Ptolemy Euergetes we can only understand the second of that name, who began to reign as king of Libya and Gyrene in 170 B.C. Reckon ing two generations back from 132 B.C., we reach the high priesthood of Simon IT. (219-199 B.C.), to whom, and not to Simon I., the eulogy spoken in Ecclus. 1. is most probably to be assigned. The book was thus originally composed about 180 B.C. JET, a mineral substance belonging to the carbonaceous group, and generally regarded as a compact variety of lignite, or wood-coal, impregnated with bitumen. The word jet (German Gaf/at) is corrupted from yagates, the name applied to it, or to a similar substance, by Greek and Roman writers, and derived, according to Pliny (//. N., xxxvi. 34), from the river Gagas in Lycia, where the mineral was originally found. Its occurrence in Britain is