"[65]
The ascension is claimed as a myth founded upon the Old Testament
precedents of the translation of Enoch and the ascension of Elijah, and
the pagan apotheosis of Hercules and Romulus.
The last part of Strauss' work is a dissertation on the dogmatic import
of the life of Jesus. Here this merciless critic tries to prove that,
though the belief of the church concerning Christ be thus uprooted by
the theory of myths, nothing truly valuable is destroyed. He declares it
his purpose "to re-establish dogmatically that which has been destroyed
critically." He holds that all his criticism is purely independent of
Christian faith; for, "The supernatural birth of Christ, his miracles,
his resurrection and ascension, remain eternal truths, whatever doubts
may be cast on their reality as historical facts." Thus, reliance is
placed upon a difference between the import of criticism and christian
faith--which subterfuge proved a broken reed when the masses read this
mythical interpretation of the life of the Founder of Christianity.
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