ADOLF VON HARNACK In a discussion about anti-Judaism in the scriptures in church last week, I was asked rather directly whether I believed that the scriptures were political documents or divinely inspired texts. Admittedly I was somewhat shocked by the question and I answered it badly. I tried to respond by asking why the person was making such a distinction. Why must there be an either/or? The question, however, has made me reconsider exactly what I believe the relationship between the “Gospel” and the “world” to be.

I received some points to ponder this afternoon while I was reading Harvard professor Karen King’s new book, What is Gnosticism?, which deals with the question of ancient and modern constructions of Gnosticism. It is an excellent read, and has a fascinating chapter on the great scholar of early Christianity Adolf von Harnack. Harnack retold the story of early Christianity in a powerful way that still has profound influence on historiography today, over a century later. He wrote about the place of Christianity in its historical context, and noted that it was inextricably linked with both the Judaism and Hellenism of its day. However, he saw these features are historical accidents, the historical husk that surrounded the pure kernel of true Christianity. When these two forces unduly affected Christianity, its essence was occluded and either a Judaized or Hellenized form of Christianity was taken for the real thing. Thus, all ancient heresy could be traced to one of these two influences, either being too Jewish or too Hellenized.

So what did the essence of Christianity look like for Harnack? Not surprisingly, it looked like the liberal Protestantism of his day. Harnack’s methodology is familiar to many Mormons. The LDS concept of apostasy and the Protestant version of the history of Christianity share a lot of common ground. Of course, the conclusions are different. When we tell the story, the pure essence of Christianity looks a lot like late 20th century Mormonism. But the structure of the story is the same. Do Mormon’s take their cue from historians such as Harnack who criticize the Hellenization of Christianity through Catholicism? I am not sure. I know that many LDS scholars such as Hugh Nibley have relied upon Harnack. However, this kinship in thought may not be from direct borrowing, but it may emerge from a complex world of thought about apostasy and return to origins shared by both Harnack and Mormonism, such as that described by Dan Vogel in Religious Seekers and the Advent of Mormonism.

Whatever the origins of the shared beliefs, my question is about the validity of the methodological strategy. Both Mormons and Harnack criticize Christianity for having adopted Greek philosophical thought. Yet, they are both willing to admit a certain level of historical “mixture” with the Gospel. Mormons even have historicism built into their theology of revelation, recognizing that some aspects of the Gospel are given only for specific times, like polygamy, or even the Word of Wisdom. Other passages even suggest that many more commandments are given to humanity in their weakness, within the bounds of their cultural framework (D&C 1:24). God works through “language,” the ultimate human construction to teach them. The question is whether what is being taught transcends language, or culture, or Hellenism, or whether it is so bound together that it cannot escape. Harnack (and many Mormons) believes the former. There is a kernel and a husk.

The ultimate irony of Harnack’s hierarchy of beliefs that understands the Gospel and the world around it as separable is that such a method is solidly Hellenistic! The notion of essence and appearance, of substance and accident, are ideas worked out by Greek philosophers of antiquity. The very language he uses to save the Gospel from Hellenism is a product of it!

Mormons desire to arrive at a historically transcendent form of Mormonism, no doubt, based on our belief in a Restoration, a return to pure origins, something that has been practiced and believed by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and then Joseph Smith. The problem doesn’t stop there, for the link between the early world of emergent Mormonism and routinized 21st c. Mormonism must also be made clear. The search for an essence that has been transmitted throughout time is no easy task, historically or theologically.

My question is whether the search for an essence needs to be abandoned all together. It is a powerful rhetorical tool, but it often leads us to take too much for granted, to stop seeking, and to rely on a flawed epistemology that cuts us off from revelation. We must be closer to our Heavenly Father. To believe that our revelations, both personal and institutional, are always a product of their time, spoken in “weakness” after the manner of our own language, does not diminish them, but rather makes the continual forging of a new relationship with God imperative. Just some thoughts.