SIR,—It would clarify this discussion if Sir Philip Colfox would
say what he means by " the pure religion actually taught by Christ Himself," which he contrasts with " the many creeds and dogmas." Both the Gospels as they may be read by all and the most recent work of New Testament scholarship indicate that Christ's teaching about religion was definitely dogmatic and involved positive doctrines about God and about Himself as the Messiah or Son of Man. This is the united testimony of the synoptic Gospels and of the fourth Gospel. St. Mark's Gospel and the primitive source of the " sayings " recorded in St. Matthew and St. Luke point the same way. Look, for instance, at Mt. xi, 25-27, with the corresponding text in Lk. x, or at the parable of the Wicked Husband- men in Mk. xii. If the Gospels are at all trustworthy, it is impossible to think of the Person of Jesus as not belonging to the pure religion which He taught. But such phrases as the one Sir Philip uses too often seem to suggest a humanitarian ethic and no theology. And the one thing quite certain is that that was not the religion which Christ taught.
Previous page
