inthians are
favorites. They are made to dispel the darkness, and settle the
question.

In them Paul exposes the fact that there were two parties in the early
church, the Pauline and the Petrine. They struggled for supremacy, and
the conflict was a long one. Peter was a thorough Jew,--and his side
predominated even after the death of the principal combatants. Judaism
was the cradle of Christianity; and the latter was only an earnest,
restless, and reformatory branch of the former. But it was not an
offshoot as yet, for Christianity was essentially Jewish all through its
first historic period. The canonical writings of the New Testament,
which constitute the chief literature of the first two centuries, are
the literary monument of Christianity while it was yet undeveloped, and
undetached from Judaism. These writings are the _mediating theology_ of
those distant days. The Petrine party was very strong, until the middle
of the second century, when it was obliged to yield to, or rather
harmonize with, the Pauline.

Many causes contributed to bring the two factions together. There was an
absence of growth quite incompatible with their respective strength.
Alone, they were almost unable to brave the storm of persecution.
Finally, for the sake of security and propagation, they laid down their
weapons, and united under one banner. From this union came the
subsequent growth of Christianity. The canonical works so much revered
by the church had been written in the interest of one or the other of
the parties. Since the enmity has been destroyed, their literary
productions must be considered in the light of history. The church is,
therefore, much mistaken in attaching importance to the Scriptures, for
they were written for a time-serving end, and are quite unworthy of the
worth which we attach to them.

A numerous circle of disciples clustered around Baur, and they enjoyed
his leadership until his recent death. But the writings of both the
master and his school were answered by the best theologians of Germany.
Some of the greenest laurels worn by Thiersch, Dorner, Lechler, Lange,
Schaff, Bleek, Hase, and Bunsen, were won in the contest with the
Tuebingen school; and their united labors constitute a compendium of
arguments which will not cease for centuries to be of inestimable value
in the controversies of the church concerning Christ and the divine
origin of Christianity.

The labors of the Tuebingen school and of Strauss are