The gospels are alike evidences for our faith and documents of a crisis in human history. They claim not only the interest of believers but also the most serious attention of the historical inquirer. No wonder, then, that the methods employed to throw light upon them show an ever increasing refinement, and that in the course of time every canon of criticism which can be utilized in the interpretation of ancient texts has come to be applied to the gospels. In dealing with the problem of the gospels we have to do something more than explain them bit by bit; we have also to answer the question how they came to exist at all.