The groundwork of the Gospels

"No movement of thought can be understood without some knowledge of the community in which it originated. This applies to the advance of thought, represented by the Gospels, just as much as to any other of the great movements which have permanently affected the the mind of the world. But, since the Gospels have had so great an educative value, and were shaped in a community which had had a unique education, it is particularly necessary to give some consideration to the process by which the mind of that community had been taught and trained"--Introduction.