For the
Bible is a unity. If but one book be mutilated the whole organism is
disturbed.
The contest having been hitherto connected with other features of
revelation more than with the person of Christ, it was no part of the
design of the Rationalists to submit without staking a great battle upon
the incarnation of the Messiah. Let them succeed here, and they can
rebuild more firmly all they have lost, but if they fail, they will only
bring to a more speedy ruin an edifice already in decay. Strauss
undertook the work; and having written for the learned alone, no one was
more surprised than himself at the popular success of the _Life of
Jesus_.
According to him, the explanation of the mysterious accounts of Jesus of
Nazareth can be found in the theory of the myth. Strauss held that the
Holy Land was full of notions concerning his speedy appearance. The
people were waiting for him, and were ready to hail his incarnation with
rapture. Their opinions concerning him were already formed, owing to the
expectations they had inherited from their fathers.
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