J. Gresham Machen Bibliography

The Rival Philosophies of Jesus and of Paul. Being an Explanation of the Failures of Organized Christianity and a Vindication of the Teachings of Jesus, which are shown to contain a Religion for All Men and for All Time. By IGNATIUS SINGER, Author of “Some Unrecognized Laws of Nature,” “Problems of ‘Life,’ " etc. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Ruskin House, 40 Museum Street, W.C. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. 1919. Mr. Singer is totally ignorant of the subjects which he undertakes to treat, but at the same time convinced of the total ignorance of all his predecessors. The result is a somewhat curious, but not very in- structive book. The author is convinced that “the philosophy of Jesus” is all that it should be, and that “the philosophy of Paul” and of the Church is all that is evil, but his lordly disregard of all the data for the solution of the historical problems, and his utter neglect of what other minds have contributed even in support of his own thesis, prevent his revolutionary book from being very interesting. Why does such a writer continue to reverence Jesus of Nazareth? In that question lies perhaps the sole interest of the book. In his exposition of “the philosophy of Jesus,” Mr. Singer soon abandons his abortive attempts at literary and historical criticism, and proceeds to develop his own “philosophy” entirely unchecked by history of any kind. Yet the name of Jesus, at any rate, if not His real Person, is still revered. Princeton. J. GRESHAM MACHEN.