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The Person and Work of Jesus Christ
THE MYTH OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT Allow me a digression. I wish to apply these same prin- ciples of analysis and comparison to a modern personality, fol- lowing strictly the methods of Professor Jensen. Suppose Lord Macaulay’s famous New Zealander, whom he pic- tures as standing upon a broken arch of London Bridge, in the midst of a vast solitude, to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s should come over to America and dig in' the sand-hills cov- ering the Congressional Library in Washington. He finds a great pile of literature which originated in the first few years of the twentieth century. In the very learned book which our New Zealand scholar publishes he refers to the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century the head of the great American nation was supposed to be a strong and influential man by the name of Theodore Roosevelt. His name has gone down in history, but our scholar proves that Theodore Roosevelt was no historical person at all. He never Jived; he is merely the personification of tendencies and myth- ological traits then dominant in the American nation. For instance, this legendary hero is commonly, pictured with a big stick. Now, this is plainly a mythological trait, borrowed from the Greeks and Romans, and represents really the thunderbolt of Jupiter. He is pictured as wearing a broad brimmed hat and large eye-glasses. This mythological feat- ure is borrowed from old Norse mythology, and represents Woden endeavoring to pierce through the heavy clouds of fog covering his head. A great many pictures show the le- gendary hero smiling and displaying his teeth. This is a very interesting feature, showing the strong African influences in American civilization. Many contradictory legends are told about this man. He was a great hunter; he was a rough rider; but he was also a scholar and author of a number of learned books. He lived in the mountains, on the prairie, and in a large city. He was a leader in war, but also a peace- maker. I t is said that he was appealed to by antagonizing
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