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For most of these German liberals, the historical-critical method was more than an end in itself.  In spite of what some detractors might have been saying, they understood themselves to be working in the service of faith.  The rigorous application of critical reason was essentially a way of serving truth and being honest before God.  For Harnack in particular, the historical-critical method was ultimately a tool that could be used to recover the simple core teaching of Jesus, which had long since been plastered over by layers of oral tradition and Greek philosophy.  Harnack spoke of the Christian religion in terms of the "kernel" and the "husk," a metaphor for the lost teaching of Jesus (the "kernel) which had been buried not only by church tradition and syncretistic thought (the "husk"), but even by the Gospel writers themselves to a degree.  Harnack eventually concluded that the "kernel," or timeless essence of Christianity was to be found in the fact that the human heart more than anything else longs for the presence of the eternal within time, and that the Gospel proves its own truth by satisfying this longing for all that come to Jesus the Christ.

For Harnack, the historical-critical method was more than an end in itself.  In spite of what their detractors might have thought, most of the German liberals understood themselves to be working in the service of faith.  The rigorous application of critical reason was essentially a way of serving truth and being honest before God.  For Harnack in particular, the historical-critical method was ultimately a tool that could be used to recover the simple core teaching of Jesus.  Harnack spoke of the Christian religion in terms of "the kernel and the husk," a metaphor for the lost essence of Christianity in which the "kernel" had come to be buried beneath the "husk" of church tradition and the Greek philosophy that became the language of doctrine.  In his most poular and influential book, "What is Christianity" Harnack revealed that the essence of Christianity was to be found in the fact that the human heart more than anything else longs for the presence of the eternal within time, and that the Gospel validates its own truth by satisfying this longing for all that come to Jesus the Christ.

[[Category: Biography]]

[[Category: Biography]]

[[Category: Religion]]

[[Category: Religion]]