{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 52/1904-01-04/p013","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Let us ask ourselves, if we take one or the other of these concepts of Christ, are we still somehow standing on the ground of the Gospels? I cannot explain today why I cannot share the view of many learned theologians that the fourth Gospel is less authoritative and less authentic than the first three. Anyone who clearly and distinctly examines and investigates the course of events sees no reason why the Gospel of John, which is precisely the one that uplifts us so much, should be set aside, so to speak, in the pursuit of pure factuality. It is believed that the first three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—represent more the man, the pure, simple man from Nazareth, while the Gospel of John claims to recognize the Word made flesh in Jesus. Here, the unconscious desire that lives in the soul became the father of the idea. But if the Gospel of John has less claim to authenticity, it is impossible to maintain Christianity. Then it is impossible to say anything else about the Christian teaching of the personality of Jesus other than that he was the simple man from Nazareth. But no one, neither I nor others who keep the old confessional writings in mind, can say anything other than that those who originally spoke of Jesus Christ were really speaking of God incarnate, of the higher spirit of God, which was realized in this personality of Jesus of Nazareth.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"IV. Theosophy and Christianity","site_heading":null,"date":"1904-01-04","location":null,"word_count":241,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/52/1904-01-04/p013","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2025","book_title":"Spiritual Teachings Concerning the Soul","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA052/English/SOL2025/19040104p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/52/1904-01-04/p013"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/52/1904-01-04/p013","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 52/1904-01-04/p013","passage_number":13,"text":"Fragen wir uns, stehen wir denn, wenn wir den einen oder den anderen dieser Christus-Begriffe nehmen, noch irgendwie auf dem Boden der Evangelien? Ich kann heute nicht ausführen, warum ich nicht der Anschauung sein kann, welcher viele der gelehrten Theologen sind, warum das vierte Evangelium weniger autoritativ und weniger authentisch sein soll als die drei ersten. Derjenige, welcher klar und deutlich den Hergang prüft und untersucht, sieht keinen Grund, warum das Evangelium von Johannes, welches gerade dasjenige ist, das uns so sehr erhebt, sozusagen abgesetzt worden ist im Streben nach reiner Tatsächlichkeit. Man glaubt, daß die drei ersten Evangelien: Matthäus, Markus, Lukas, mehr den Menschen, den reinen, schlichten Mann aus Nazareth darstellen, während das Johannes-Evangelium allerdings den Anspruch macht, das Fleisch gewordene Wort in Jesus zu erkennen. Hier wurde der unbewußte Wunsch, der in den Seelen lebt, zum Vater des Gedankens. Wenn aber das Johannes-Evangelium weniger Anspruch hat auf Authentizität, so ist es unmöglich, das Christentum zu halten. Dann ist es unmöglich, von der christlichen Lehre der Persönlichkeit Jesu etwas anderes zu sagen als, er sei der schlichte Mann aus Nazareth. Aber niemand, weder ich noch andere, die sich die alten Bekenntnisschriften vor Augen halten, kann etwas anderes sagen, als daß diejenigen, welche ursprünglich von Jesus Christus sprachen, wirklich von dem Fleisch gewordenen Gott, von dem höheren Gottesgeist sprachen, der in dieser Persönlichkeit des Jesus von Nazareth sich verwirklich hat.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":230,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/52/1904-01-04/p013"}],"english":["GA 52/1904-01-04/p013"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":230,"en_words":241,"ratio":1.05,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.02,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":7261,"original_word_count":7118,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2025","book_title":"Spiritual Teachings Concerning the Soul","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA052/English/SOL2025/19040104p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 52/1904-01-04/p013"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. 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