14
CHRISTIANITY IN TALMUD
information as to the personal character and life-
history of the Rabbis. Anecdotes and historical
reminiscences
abound in the Haggadah, which is the
chief reason why to non-Jewish readers the Haggadah
is so much more interesting than the dry and difficult
Halachah. It is hard for any one but a Jew to
realise the direct personal concern, and therefore
intense interest, of Halachic discussions ; while in
the Haggadah, the human interest never fails, nor the
charm-at least for those who have sufficient sym-
pathy and insight to enter into a form of thought
widely different from their own.
Having thus briefly indicated what is meant by
Halachah and Haggadah, and before going on to
describe their mutual relation in the Rabbinical
literature, I pause for a moment to draw a com-
parison, or rather a contrast, between the develop-
ment of Rabbinical and Christian
thought. The
contrast is certainly a sharp one, yet there is a con-
siderable likeness. Both have a Tradition of the
Elders, and rest a part of their teaching upon authority
presumed to be divine. This has been already shown
in regard to Rabbinism. In regard to Christianity
the same fact appears in connexion with dogmatic
theology. What is of faith is taught on the
authority of creeds or decrees of councils, or the
writings of the Church Fathers, or of Scripture as
expounded by competent and accredited interpreters.
The Roman Catholic Church definitely places Tra-
dition among the sources of the teaching which
she gives ; and if Protestantism repudiates Tradition
to take her stand upon the Bible only, she never-
theless admits the authority of ancient expositions
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