have already affected Judaism, particularly in the Diaspora, in the preChristian period. Next, their general character is described by taking as representative the Eleusinia, the cults of Cybele-Attis and of IsisSerapis, and the Hermetic literature. Mithraism is ignored because assumed to have exerted no influence in Paul's world. The omission of the cults of Ishtar-Tammuz, Atargatis-Hadad, and AphroditeAdonis, which are associated closely with Syria and Cilicia, may not be serious, but one naturally thinks of this territory first in connection with much of Paul's life both before and after his conversion to Christianity. Yet the description of the Mysteries on the basis of the illustrations chosen shows how generally the Mystery conception of religion pervaded the life of that age. A fuller use of the available data would only have increased the intensity of this conviction. On turning to a consideration of Paul in relation to this world, we are told that he was practically uninfluenced by these religious surroundings. A detailed comparison of his terminology with that of the Mysteries results, our author thinks, in showing that it is "wholly superfluous" to seek from this source the explanation of Pauline usage. A similar study of Paul's ideas yields a like result, for only in the imagery and not in the essence is kinship to the Mysteries to be admitted. Likewise baptism and the Lord's Supper have a purely ethical and symbolical significance for Paul and are never sacramental, in the sense in which that term is used of the Mystery-religions. Both of these authors have given us scholarly and valuable discussions of this very interesting subject. They employ quite similar methods and arrive at essentially the same conclusions. The method in each case is that of refutation rather than constructive investigation. Not that they fail to be constructive, but the whole trend of their discussion seems to be determined by a selection of opinions from other writers whom they wish to refute. This gives a reader the impression that it would have been quite unnecessary to treat this subject if its claims to attention had not been unduly pressed by writers like Reitzenstein. But the fundamental problem of the full extent and influence of the Mystery-religions in the first century and a genetic study of the early Christians' real vital contact with this situation do not seem to appeal to either of these authors as questions which need to be taken very seriously. In this they appear to have defined their task too narrowly, and so to have lessened the value of their work. SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO A NEW EDITION OF MEYER'S ACTS Fifteen years of research have necessitated the publication of the It ninth edition of the Meyer commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. is Wendt's fourth attempt to solve the problems connected with Acts. The volume is not characterized by pronounced changes of opinion. Entire sections remain as they were. Occasionally a sentence is altered, omitted, or replaced. The preface acknowledges that Norden's Agnostos Theos has compelled the author to abandon the defense of the historicity of Paul's address at Athens. There is a more incisive division of material which should render the commentary more usable. The section concerned with sources has been much enlarged. But in general the conclusions previously advocated are rigidly adhered to. This result might have been anticipated. After such definite positions were taken in the eighth edition a reconstruction of view was scarcely to be expected. The author of Acts, a gentile Christian of the post-apostolic generation, employed a principal source traceable to a companion of Paul. This source is not to be regarded as merely a diary of the apostle's friend, or as a biography of Paul. It also contained much information regarding events in the early history of the Christian church. The aim of the compiler was to provide a devotional history of the beginnings of the church. Wendt refuses to construct the source in toto but is quite positive that the ninth chapter was not found in it. As far as Paul is concerned, it began with the narrative of the so-called first missionary journey. It contained only a brief description of Paul's conversion now found in chap. 26. The other two descriptions of this central crisis in the life of the apostle are of only secondary value. And the source responsible for the later chapters of Acts is the continuation of the source underlying 15:35-41, 13, 14; 11:19 f.; 6:1-8:2; 5:12-15; 4:32-35; 2:43. The criticisms passed upon this theory by reviewers of the previous edition and the investigations of Harnack and others need no repetition. Since Acts depends upon Josephus, its date of publication is fixed between 95-100 A.D. But Schürer's verdict on the question of this dependence was that "either Luke never read Josephus or immediately proceeded to forget all about having done so." The explanation proposed for the peculiar conclusion of Acts is that the source employed Die Apostelgeschichte. Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament begründet von Heinr Wilh. Meyer. 9 Auflage. Von Hans Hinrich Wendt. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1913. iv+370 pages. M. 8. terminated at this point. Thus the compiler of Acts is accused of so slavishly copying his source as to fail to chronicle the rather essential fact that Paul died and yet, mirabile dictu, dares to add the ninth chapter. Surely the prominence given in recent years to the question of the conclusion of Acts deserved more thoroughgoing attention. Only a footnote contains information regarding the well-sustained argument for the "Western" reading of 13:8. A sentence or two showing the possible connection between "Western" renderings of 13:8; 24:27 and Josephus, Ant., XX, vii, would have added to the value of the commentary. Six pages are devoted to a discussion of the apostolic decree. The decision is in favor of the four-clause text. This text is regarded as authentic. The Jerusalem gathering actually adopted a food regulation. The mistake of the compiler was in universalizing its significance by appending such a verse as 16:4. The decree was intended for a very limited area. But the solution of the difficulty by the elimination route is too easy. One feels that the argument against the "Eastern" text has not been appreciated, that the argument in favor of the "Western" text has not been refuted. Lake's points seem to have escaped the eye of Wendt. Although our commentator's conclusions occasionally appear untenable, the student is impressed with the careful sifting of the material and the air of genuineness which characterize his work. ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY С. Н. МОЕHLMANN STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF DOCTRINE The timely dissertation of Dr. Stokes1 traces the development of the "vision of a new and better moral order" from Augustine through Aquinas to Leibnitz, and in a closing chapter sets forth the relation of earlier conceptions to that of Kant. As none of these writers before Kant employs the phrase "kingdom of ends," Dr. Stokes operates with no scholastic definition, but indicates that the term usually refers to a "community whose purpose is the completest possible moral development of its members." As regards the City of God, she considers unfair the current interpretation which makes Augustine teach "that the state necessarily has its origin in fraud and violence, and that it is and must remain the creature of sin" (p. 27). The discussion of Augustine, though suggestive, neglects important recent literature, such as Mausbach, Die Ethik Augustins. The typically Protestant chapter on "Aquinas and the Universal Church" criticizes the chief theorist of the Middle Ages for his "absolute exclusion of reconstructive influences from the mystic body or universal church by the static conception of the infallible authority of dogma and custom," but lauds as a "saving factor" in the system of Thomas the tremendous emphasis on reason, which tended to prepare bolder spirits for the position that whatever contradicts reason must necessarily be false. Thus Thomas is blamed for not being himself a modernist, praised because he unwittingly led others to become rationalists. The treatment of Leibnitz is far better. The Conception of a Kingdom of Ends in Augustine, Aquinas, and Leibnitz. By Ella Harrison Stokes. University of Chicago Press, 1912. iv+129 pages. $0.75 net. In view of the extent of reading necessary in treating this ample theme, one may well overlook occasional vagueness of detail. It is impossible, however, not to regret that the author, carefully as she has noted references to the original sources, rarely tells where she is drawing on the secondary literature listed in her bibliography; many interesting generalizations dangle in the air. Courtesy to previous investigators, as well as the desire to render first aid to earnest but belated pilgrims on the Alpine passes of philosophy, should lead to the labeling of every bypath. As it is, we wander often on uncharted heights, guided merely by the ipse dixit of an accomplished doctoranda. With canny antiquarianism Dr. Lehaut has chosen, in these antimodernistic days, to investigate a fifth-century controversy about the duration of future punishment. Three parties there were that denied the eternity of the pains of hell: the Origenists, the tender hearted, and the unbelievers. The disciples of Origen interpreted the biblical term αἰώνιος so as to leave room for restorationism. The tender hearted maintained that some or all classes of sinners would ultimately find release from hell. The unbelievers offered two pagan objections: that a body cannot live in fire, and that justice demands that there be some proportion between the duration of the penalty and that of the fault. The Origenists and the tender hearted, Augustine discomfited by the scriptural proof (Isa. 66:24; Matt. 25:46), pointing out also that we have no firm foundation for the belief in everlasting life if we reject the biblical teaching concerning everlasting punishment. He who accepts the promises is bound to believe the threats: "Nemo dicat in corde suo: verum est quod promittit; falsum est quod minatur" (p. 13). The physical objection that bodies cannot burn forever Augustine met by an I L'Éternité des peines de l'enfer dans Saint Augustin (Études de théologie historique publiées sous la direction des professeurs de théologie à l'Institut Catholique de Paris, 4). Par Achille Lehaut. Paris: G. Beauchesne, 1912. 205 pages. Fr. 5. appeal to the omnipotence of God, who determines the course of nature; and the pagan argument that the duration of penalty should be proportioned to the duration of the sin, Augustine refuted by an appeal to human justice, which punishes sudden crime with life-imprisonment. In setting forth what the great Bishop of Hippo himself believed, Dr. Lehaut examines first the practical application, in preaching and teaching, of the dogma of eternal punishment; then he sets forth Augustine's formal statements of that doctrine. In this portion of his book Dr. Lehaut sins against Gallic lucidity by quoting Latin by the page. He subordinates or passes over entirely various vital problems in Augustine's theology, such as the ethical quality of predestination to eternal death; he emphasizes rather the idea that punishment is the natural fruit of sin; and in connection with the massa damnata, hazards a few pages on the "solidarity which exists among the damned." In his footnotes the author has revealed his method; they bristle with references to Migne's Patrologia, but refer only once (p. 47) to other collections or authors more recent than Iamblichus. By burrowing into the subterranean passages of Augustinianism he has doubtless smoothed the way for later investigators. Incidentally, by remaining in these depths of orthodoxy he escapes all serious contamination from the pestilential miasma of Dogmengeschichte. UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WILLIAM WALKER ROCKWELL THE PROBLEM OF AUTHORITY To his earlier apologetic works on the Christian religion President E. Y. Mullins has now added a vindication of the claims that "authority in religion," and particularly in Christianity, is consistent with freedom and is in fact organic to the fullest freedom. The controversy over authority is an inheritance from the early struggles between Protestants and Catholics, when the former smote Catholicism with the very weapon it had fashioned in its own interest-authority-by finding authority in the Bible and not in the church. Despite an occasional resurgence of the struggle, public interest in the operation has gradually subsided, partly because the calmness which results from prolonged experience and reflection has enabled us to see that the truth of the matter was in part expressed and in part concealed by both sides, and partly because the *Freedom and Authority in Religion. By Edgar Young Mullins. Philadelphia: Griffith & Rowland, 1913. 404 pages. $1.50. |