true religion which springs up in the soul of the individual, and historical tradition.  If there is such a thing as religion, it must exist equally for all men, for those who accidentally received a report of a certain historical event, as well as for those who remained in ignorance of the fact.  All heretical demonstrations were rooted in a vague realisation of this contrast.  But Eckhart accomplished the unparalleled deed of once more building a bridge between the soul and the deity; of relegating to the background all the ineradicable historical misrepresentations or, if there was no alternative, of unhesitatingly proclaiming them as erroneous, or interpreting them symbolically.  “St. Paul’s words,” he says, for instance, “are nothing but the words of Paul; it is not true that he spoke them in a state of grace.”  He did not regard the Scriptures as the bourne of truth, but as subsequent proof of the directly experienced truth of the divine event.  With this conception Christianity had reached its highest stage.  Henceforth the origin of all truths and values was no longer sought in doctrine and authority, but in the soul of man; God was neither to be found in the heavens nor in history, but in the soul; the soul must become divine and creative; it had found its task:  the recreation of the world.  It was true, St. Augustine had said:  “Non Christianised, Christi sumus,” but this saying had never been understood, and very probably St. Augustine had not meant it in its literal sense.  At last the fundamental consciousness of Christianity had triumphed:  the principle of the “Son-of-Godship” inspired the soul of the mystics; in future religion must emanate from the soul and find its goal in God; written documents and—­in the case of the profoundest thinkers—­examples were no longer needed.  The heretical sects had been content to reject post-evangelical tradition, in order to lay greater stress on the words of Christ.  They were genuine reformers, but they were as much constrained by the historical facts as the Roman Catholic Church, and their standpoint has to this day remained the standpoint of the Protestant professions of faith.

The fact of this new conception attaching no importance to the historical Jesus of Nazareth (had he never lived it would have made no difference) made of it a new religion.  By putting aside this external and accidental moment, it placed the metaphysical and purely spiritual core of Christianity, the fundamental conviction of the divinity of the soul, and the will to eternal life, within the centre of religious consciousness, and by so doing put itself beyond the reach of historical criticism and scepticism, Eckhart, more than any other teacher, was profoundly convinced of the freedom and eternal value of the soul.  “I, as the Son, am the same as my Heavenly Father.”  He taught that Christ is born in the soul, that the divine spark is continuously re-kindled in the soul:  “It is the quality of eternity that life and youth are