[165] matter of a counter-God from whom we have to flee to the God ABOVE the world. Now that's what is at stake in these discussions. If historical research^a into the biblical sources is limited in its complete scientific freedom BY FAITH^b, then we have a relapse into the pagan^c Manichaean ^dworldview and have given up that fundamental principle for which Christianity has fought a life-and-death struggle when it accepted the Old Testament and rejected Manichaeism. Now to this depth, such seemingly methodological considerations must be traced. There the real decisions are made---and of course one STILL can decide for the one against the other side, but the decision in which I believe, which is identical with the Jewish-Christian-Islamic and most of the modern humanist tradition, is FOR the principle: "being-as-being is good," historical research as historical research is good, ^eand doesn't need to be sacrificed for the sake of salvation!^f