PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY CHAPTER I THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY HOWEVER much we may regret that we have so little certain knowledge regarding the first beginnings of Christianity, the fact itself can hardly be disputed. Not until the appearance of the Apostle Paul, in whose letters authentic information lies before us, is the historical darkness in some measure lightened. But of the manner in which the Church arose, Paul gives us only a few scanty indications (1 Cor. xv. 3 ff.) from which it is not possible to draw a clear picture of the course of events. This lacuna the Gospels, written at a later period, and the Acts of the Apostles, do not completely fill. It is true these various witnesses are in general agreement that the Christian community arose in consequence of the wonderful experiences of the first disciples of Jesus, through which they came to be convinced that their crucified Master had risen again and was alive. But so soon as we inquire concerning the how and where of these experiences, we encounter the gravest difficulties. The oldest Gospel, from which we might fairly expect the earliest clear historical tradition, is mutilated at the decisive passage, and the genuine conclusion, now lost, has been replaced by an abstract from the later Gospels (Mark xvi. 9 ff.); while the reports of the other Gospels are so contradictory that it is not possible to gain from them a clear mental picture. It is impossible completely to realise the representation of a body of the risen Jesus which is at one time wholly material, and, like an ordinary earthly body, can be handled and can take food, but at another time seems to be of supernatural character, since it passes through closed doors, suddenly appears and disappears, and is taken up into heaven. Again, the Evangelists contradict one another as regards the place of the appearances. In Mark, the disciples are directed to go to Galilee in order to see the risen Jesus there; similarly in Matthew, who, further, gives an account of the appearance on a mountain in Galilee, but places it after another appearance to the women as they were returning from the grave; Luke, on the other hand, tells only of appearances on the road to Emmaus in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem itself, and completely excludes the Galilæan appearances by indicating that the disciples were charged to remain in Jerusalem; John, again, recounts, like Luke, the appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem, but at the same time reports, like Matthew, the previous appearance to Mary at the grave, and a last appearance to the disciples in Galilee, at the Lake of Gennesareth. Finally, Paul knows nothing of that which the Evangelists place in the forefront of their account-how the women found the grave empty, and witnessed an appearance of an angel, or of Christ; instead he mentions a series of appearances which do not agree with the report of any of the Evangelists (1 Cor. xv. 5 ff.). Thus we are confronted with a multitude of problems, from which the only thing that clearly appears, is, how very little certain knowledge even the earliest Christian tradition preserved in regard to these events. In these circumstances we are thrown back upon conjectures of more or less probability. Fixed points of attachment for these are commonly found in Mark as regards the place, and in Paul and the Acts as regards the character, of the events in question. In Mark xiv. 27 f. Jesus says to the disciples on the way to the Mount of Olives: "Ye shall all be offended (i.e. stumble and fall), for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered (Zech. xiii. 7). But after that I am risen I will go before you into Galilee." To this promise there is a further reference in the charge given by the angel to the women (Mark xvi. 7): "Go tell his disciples and Peter (in particular) that Jesus goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him as he said unto you before." There can be no doubt that we have in these words a vaticinium post eventum from which, therefore, conclusions may be drawn as to the actual course of events in the time immediately following the death of Jesus. In fact, we draw the twofold conclusion: (1) that under the shattering blow of the death of Jesus the disciples lost all selfcommand, wavered in their faith, scattered and fled to their Galilæan homes; (2) that they, and most of all Peter, believed that they saw the crucified Jesus alive again in Galilee, and that in consequence the |