The Bible and Wisdom II

The question that interests us here is this: Despite all the acumen and scholarship, which is not denied for a moment, has research and history alone really brought about this modern view? — Anyone who can thoroughly investigate not only the external aspects of history, but who can also delve into the spiritual foundations of human development with their thoughts, feelings, and entire worldview, will soon notice something else. It was not merely historical sense, it was not merely so-called objective research, but it was the habits of thought of modern times, the cherished views that had become increasingly widespread since the last century, when they first appeared; they did not allow the faith and ideas that had prevailed for centuries to continue to exist in the souls of the people, that Jesus of Nazareth contained not only a superior but a universal essence, an essence — let us call it for now a spiritual-divine one — that must be related not only to the whole of humanity, but to the whole development of the world in general. The belief and the idea that this essence had worked in the mortal body of Jesus of Nazareth, and that we have a unique event before us, were lost. This contradicts the habits of thought so much that they had to oppose such a belief. It was critical research that unconsciously crept in to justify what the habits of thought initially wanted. More and more, a sense arose that could not bear anything that transcended normal human personality, a sense that said: Yes, there have been great people in the development of the world: Socrates, Plato, and others. Certainly, we want to admit that Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest. But we must remain within this human level. — That something may have lived in Jesus that cannot be compared with normal human beings contradicts the materialistic mental images that have become increasingly entrenched, especially. We can see how this idea has unconsciously crept in and become associated with what so-called historical research has established.