Scholarship — and the body of Christ

He was caught between the two of them, and ultimately it killed him. Hans Giebenrath was the tragic adolescent in one of Herman Hesse's bleak novels about the tensions between law and freedom. Hans was caught between the two of them—the skeptical pastor who believed little but met to coach Hans in Greek and Hebrew and the rigid pietist, Shoemaker Stair, who warned him of the pitfalls of higher learning.