A succession of able scholars--Semler, Eichhorn, Paulus,
Schleiermacher Bretschneider, and De Wette--were required to examine,
with German patience and accuracy, the details of the subject, and
to propound various untenable hypotheses, before such a work could be
performed as that of Strauss. The "Life of Jesus," published by Strauss
when only twenty-six years of age, is one of the monumental works of the
nineteenth century, worthy to rank, as a historical effort, along with
such books as Niebuhr's "History of Rome," Wolf's "Prolegomena," or
Bentley's "Dissertations on Phalaris." It instantly superseded and
rendered antiquated everything which had preceded it; nor has any work
on early Christianity been written in Germany for the past thirty years
which has not been dominated by the recollection of that marvellous
book. Nevertheless, the labours of another generation of scholars have
carried our knowledge of the New Testament literature far beyond the
point which it had reached when Strauss first wrote. At that time the
dates of but few of the New Testament writings had been fixed with any
approach to certainty; the age and character of the fourth gospel, the
genuineness of the Pauline epistles, even the mutual relations of the
three synoptics, were still undetermined; and, as a natural result of
this uncertainty, the progress of dogma during the first century was ill
understood. At the present day it is impossible to read the early work
of Strauss without being impressed with the necessity of obtaining
positive data as to the origin and dogmatic character of the New
Testament writings, before attempting to reach any conclusions as to the
probable career of Jesus. These positive data we owe to the genius
and diligence of the Tubingen School, and, above all, to its founder,
Ferdinand Christian Baur. Beginning with the epistles of Paul, of which
he distinguished four as genuine, Baur gradually worked his way through
the entire New Testament collection, detecting--with that inspired
insight which only unflinching diligence can impart to original
genius--the age at which each book was written, and the circumstances
which called it forth. To give any account of Baur's detailed
conclusions, or of the method by which he reached them, would require
a volume. They are very scantily presented in Mr. Mackay's work on the
"Tubingen School and its Antecedents," to which we may refer the reader
desirous of further information. We can