LITERATURE.

The literature on the Life and Character of Christ has of late received very large additions in Germany, France, Holland, England, and the United States. We confine ourselves to a list of such books and tracts as treat more immediately of the moral character and sinlessness 20of Christ, and rise from the contemplation of his perfect humanity to his divinity.

Dr. Carl Ullmann (formerly Professor of Church History in Heidelberg, died Jan. 1865):—Die Sündlosigkeit Jesu. Eine apologetische Betrachtung (i.e., The Sinlessness of Jesus: An Evidence of Christianity). First published as an article in the German Theological Quarterly Review, Studien und Kritiken, for 1828, No. 1; then as a separate book, 6th edition, Heidelberg, 1853; 7th edition, partly rewritten, 1863. (The references to this book in the following tract are partly to the 6th, partly to the 7th, edition.) English translation from the 6th edition by Lundin Brown. Edinburgh: 1858.

Dr. James Waddell Alexander (of New York, died 1859):—The Character of Jesus: An Argument for the Divine Origin of Christianity. Published in the Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity delivered at the University of Virginia. New York: 1852. pp. 193-211.

John Young:—The Christ of History: An Argument grounded in the Facts of his Life on Earth. London: Republished in New York, 1858.

Dr. Horace Bushnell (of Hartford):—The Character of Jesus forbidding His Classification with Men. New York: 1861. (Originally the tenth chapter of his very able and interesting work, Nature and the Supernatural, as together constituting the one System of God. New York: 1858. pp. 276-299.)

Peter Bayne (M. A., of Scotland):—The Testimony of Christ to Christianity. Republished in Boston, 1862.

Dr. Isaac Dorner (Professor of Theology at Berlin):—On the Sinless Perfection of Jesus (Ueber Jesu 21sündlose Vollkommenheit), in the Annals of German Theology. Gotha, vol. vii. 1862, pp. 49-106; and in pamphlet form. Also translated into French for the Revue Chrétienne, and into English by Prof. Dr. Henry B. Smith for the American Presbyterian Review. New York: 1863.

Dr. J. J. van Oosterzee (Professor of Theology at Utrecht):—Das Bild Christi nach der Schrift. Hamburg: 1864. (The Image of Christ according to the Scriptures.) Translated from the Dutch by F. Meyeringh. It is the third part of a larger work of the author, published at Rotterdam, 1855-1861, in three parts,—part first treating of the Christology of the Old Testament, part second of the Christology of the New Testament, part third stating the results, and forming a complete work by itself. It describes the Son of God before his incarnation, the Son of God in the flesh, and the Son of God in glory.

Two French works, which seem to follow the same train of thought, I know only by name: E. Dandiran: Essai sur la divinité du charactère moral de Jésus-Christ. Genève: 1850. And Edm. de Pressensé:—Le Rédempteur. Paris: 1854. (Recently translated into English.) I also direct attention to M. Guizot:—Méditations sur l’essence de la religion chrétienne. Première série. Paris and Leipzig: 1864. The 8th Meditation, pp. 251-329, treats of Christ according to the Gospels.

For older works on the sinless character of Christ, see Ullmann’s book above quoted, pp. 231-240 of the seventh edition.

To this list may be added the works on the Life of 22Christ by Hase, Neander, Lange (whose full and comprehensive Life of the Lord Jesus Christ has just been translated and published in Scotland in six vols., Edinburgh, 1864), Ebrard, Sepp (R. C.), Kuhn (R. C.), Lichtenstein, Ewald, Riggenbach, Baumgarten, Ellicott, Andrews; and the very numerous apologetic replies to the infidel Leben Jesu of D. F. Strauss, and the Vie de Jésus of E. Renan, both of which have indirectly done great service to truth by inviting new and more thorough investigation of the gospel history in all its parts. Reference will be made to them in the course of our discussion, especially at the close.