ment theology provides some account of the Jewish
presuppositions and environment of Jesus, then an
outline of His teaching on the basis of what are
considered to be the authentic materials extant in
the synoptic sources or traditions, thirdly an appre-
ciation of the apostolic theology which has blended
with the preaching of Jesus in the records, and finally,
a special section on the Fourth gospel which dis-
criminates the characteristic theology of that
writing from the synoptic tradition, on the one
hand, and Paulinism upon the other, with an attempt,
depending for its positive results upon the author's
critical position, to distinguish what (if any) are
the authentic sayings and thoughts of Jesus which
may be embedded in the Johannine interpretation.
It is a method of procedure which has its own
advantages, but I have no intention of handling the
materials on such lines. This is not a handbook
to the gospels, nor a study of the teaching of Jesus,
nor an outline of Christian dogma. The following
pages contain no more than a group of studies, and
they are grouped in order to be as far as possible
genetic and compact. Whether this attempt to
reset the salient data is pronounced successful or
not, I am convinced that it is more suitable to the
plan of the present series than the conventional
arrangement of the text-books. The index at the
end of the volume and the outline of contents pre-
fixed to each chapter, will enable the reader to find
any topic or passage without loss of time.

JAMES MOFFATT.

OXFORD, JUIY 1, 1912.

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