indifferent to the claims of a religion which he fails to understand.
These pages are written with the object of explaining what, in the
writer's judgment, the faith and practice of the Christian Church
really is.




PART I

THE THEORY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION


CHAPTER I

THE MAN CHRIST JESUS


It is best to begin with a study of the teaching and character of
Christ. Scholars for about a hundred years have been studying the
Gospels historically, "like any other books." It is now reasonably
certain that the first three Gospels--those which we know as the
Gospels according to S. Matthew, S. Mark, and S. Luke--though not, of
course, infallible or accurate in their every detail, reflect
nevertheless in a general way a trustworthy portrait of Jesus as He
actually lived. The sayings ascribed to Christ in their pages bear the
marks of originality. The outline of the events which they describe
may be taken as being in rough correspondence with the facts. The
Gospels as a whole represent pretty faithfully the impression made by
the life and character of Jesus upon the minds and memories of those