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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: namely, that as to the person of Jesus, there is
no CERTAINTY at all that he ever existed; and as to the teaching
credited to him, it is certain that that comes down from a
period long anterior to 'Christianity' and is part of what
may justly be called a very ancient World-religion. So, as
in the case of 'Civilization,' we are compelled to see that
it is useless to apply the word to some ideal state of affairs
or doctrine (an ideal by no means the same in all people's
minds, or in all localities and times), but that the only
reasonable thing to do is to apply it in each case to a
HISTORICAL PERIOD. In the case of Christianity the historical
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
