Synopsis
No belief held sacred by any sincere student of the teachings of the New Testament is opposed or referred to unsympathetically in this little treatise.
The immortality of the soul and the divinity of the Christ are fully recognized in it.
The books of the New Testament are taken as they stand, and no question is raised herein regarding the authenticity of any portion of them.
A careful examination is here made of certain teachings of Jesus and his immediate followers, with sole intent to arrive at a clearer understanding of those teachings and all they import.
This is said in order to remove in advance any possible misapprehension that might arise as to the nature and purpose of this work, since its title indicates that it does not follow the beaten track of theological exegesis. In the opinion of the writer, that theological track is not the same as, and indeed not even convergent with, the “path” pointed out by Jesus. Certain beliefs, therefore, for which the faintest shadow of support can not be found in the Bible, and which have not approved themselves to the enlightened conscience of humanity, are not treated as sacred in this work, but are considered to be elements that must be eliminated from Christian creeds before the Christian religion and the religion of Christ can become one and the same. It is due to the moral courage of many of the modern followers of Jesus that the Christianity of to-day is being cleansed from the undesirable accretions of the middle ages, and becoming again the pure and noble faith taught by the divinely human Jesus and the humanly divine Paul. To all those Christians who have thus had the courage to prove all doctrines, and hold fast only those which are good, wholesome, Christlike, and born of loving heart and clarified reason, this little work is respectfully dedicated by
THE AUTHOR
