The attempt is made in the present book to trace out the double process in the growth of our religion, with a special emphasis on the creative power of those ideas which were inherent in itself. The treatment is concerned wholly with sources and influence, and an impression is left on us that the new religion was compounded of old materials and had nothing of its own to give. Contents: old and new in the gospel; Jewish inheritance; message of Jesus; nature of the church; Hellenistic influence; contribution of Paul; Alexandrian influence; conflict with heresy; rise of the Catholic church; gospel as borrowed and creative.