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________________ 232 TAE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. up like the Old Testament, and the figure of Jesus is rapidly dissolving." We are, however, not bound to accept every word of what Prof. Haeckel thinks on the subject. But when the vast majority of the cultured writers of every civilized country share his belief, when we find it to be held in common with him by some of the leading Christian clergy themselves, when men like Dr. Loofs hold frankly the natural human parentage of Jesus, and when the advanced theologians of the Christian creed angrily resent the imputation of a belief in the miracle of Virginbirth, there can be no doubt that the story of the immaculate conception of Jesus is either a mystic teaching of great value, given out in the garb of history, or a late and worthless interpolation, as Haeckel calls it, made by a man who thought that it would cast an additional halo of sanctity on the central figure of his creed. Such legends are to be found in almost all other religions of the world; and Hinduism simply abounds in them. Their true interpretation is to be sought for in the region of spiritual science, but not in the physical world. The idea of Virgin-birth will be explained in a subsequent chapter; for the present we shall content ourselves with showing that the orthodox view is not likely to commend itself to thoughtful men. The most important witness--and one of the two on whose narrative the whole controversy has risen-on the point is Luke, the supposed author of the third evangel, who writes (Luke, III. 23): “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." The italics are ours; but it is impossible for language Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org
SR No.006702
Book TitleKey of Knowledge
Original Sutra AuthorN/A
AuthorChampat Rai Jain
PublisherZZZ Unknown
Publication Year1919
Total Pages1204
LanguageEnglish
ClassificationBook_English
File Size25 MB
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