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some of the scholars certainly hoped that, in making literal funda–
mentalism untenable, they would destroy the historical evidence
for Christianity and prove Jesus to be a myth. What in fact has been
proved? All investigation into the history of the Jews and all com–
parative studies of Jewish history and religion with those of their
contemporaries have confirmed the peculiar a-typical character of
the former. All research into the gospel narratives has demonstrated
that one cannot deny that the resurrection occurred on historical
grounds, but only on the dogmatic assumption that it could not have
occurred, and that the historian who makes this assumption is faced
with the problem of explaining exactly why and how the apostles
were deceived into a conviction that it did occur and, moreover, re–
garded it, not merely as the apotheosis of a hero which only con–
cerned him and his glory, but as an event which should and did
transform their lives.
In the, at present, purely hypothetic case of a modern state
and a majority of its population becoming devoutly and orthodoxly
Christian, what are the chances of scientific research being restricted
or persecuted? One cannot say definitely that there would be none–
stupid, suspicious, frightened churchmen always exist, and so do
arrogant scientists who draw unscientific conclusions from scientific
facts, but on the whole, in respect to science, I think the Church has
probably learned her lesson. Even if she has not, I think one can
confidently assert that a naturalistic religion like Marxism which
holds certain scientific propositions dogmatically or certain presup–
positions valid for one science as absolute for .all is really threatened
by advances in scientific knowledge in a way that Christianity is
not, however Christians may be tempted to imagine sometimes that
it is, and that the chances of persecution by the former are, at
least, greater.
In actual fact, I foresee much more trouble between the
Church and the Arts. The editors of PR find it suspicious that at
present it seems to be literary folk who form the majority of those
intellectuals who have been converted to some kind of supernatural
religion. I think the Church would agree with them and so would
I.
It
is easier for an artist to see the inadequacies of naturalism because
in his professional work he is occupied with the personal and the
existential which are his subject matter. On the other hand, he is
