Achtung,
I can understand your dilemma regarding some of the ahadith sounding too far-out to digest. As for the idea to re-examine the ahadith to verify their authenticity, this would amount to redundancy since it has already been done in the past. There are two things that I would like to point out. Bukhari and Mulsim were excellent Muhadditheen (hadith compilers) in their own right. They were both pious and knowledgeable. And this is not to say that others weren't, however they were quite extraordinary in some respects. They employed every possible method available in their time to verify the authenticity of ahadith. For instance, Imam Bukhari possessed marvelous retention, so much so that during the hadith lesson he used to sit without a pen and would simply memorize the whole lecture. Once when his classmates tested him, he narrated the entire hadith lesson from start to finish. When they tested him by telling him some ahadith with the wrong chain of narrators, he pointed out all of their mistakes and narrated the hadiths in their perfect form. He himself is quoted as saying that he compiled Bukhari out of more or less 6 hundred thousand ahadith at his disposal. And each time that he would sit to copy a hadith, he took ghusl, and prayed 2 rakaat of nafl salaat and made du'a to Allah to help him with this task. All the scholars of ahadith agree that after the Quran, the most authentic source of information that the muslims have are these two hadith collections. And like you said if they have stood the test of time for so long, imagine how daring it would be for any scholar to even attempt to criticize their authenticity much less question it.
As for the question of ahadith not being used so frequently during the times of the caliphate is not entirely true. Even during the times of prophet (salalaho alaihe wasalam) there was a panel of sahaba who used to answer the questions of general bedouins who came to learn certain masa'il.
Hazrat Aisha (radhi Allah anha) is reported to have narrated many ahadith to the general muslims after the death of prophet (sallalaho alaihe wasalam). Even other numerous sahaba, such as Ibn-e-Masoo'd, Ubay bin Ka'ab were famous for giving hadith lessons to the people after the death of prophet (sallalahi alaihe wasalam). When prophet (sallalaho alaihe wasalam) deputed Ma'az bin Jabal as the governer of Yemen, and asked him how he would dispense justice among the people, he replied by the Book of Allah and the sunnat of prophet (sallalaho alaihe wasalam). Upon being asked that if he did not find anything there, he replied then I would do ijtihaad (deriving the truth under the light of Quran and Sunnah when there are no explicit instructions in either on how to deal with the matter on hand).
Personally, I don't see any hadith as degrading (nauzibillah). As I have mentioned earlier that if something has already been established as a genuine tradition from prophet (salalaho alaihe wasalam) then we should, if possible, try to follow it. If it sounds unreasonable to us, although you may disagree with me here, but we must question our own self in lacking enough wisdom to understand the true meaning of the hadith rather than saying that such a thing cannot be associated with prophet (salalaho alaihe wasalam). On a last note, there is a verse in the Quran in Chapter Nahal, I believe, that mentions the extraordinary healing power of honey. It more or less says that honey has cure for everything in it. Therefore, there is a tradition, and I believe its authentic, that a man came to prophet (salalaho alaihe wasalam) and told him that his brother was suffering from diarhhea. Prophet (sallalaho alaihe wasalam) told him to give honey to his brother. He did so but it only increased his ailment. He came back and once again prophet told him to do the same. Again his ailment grew as a result. And the third time, prophet told him the same and also, more or less that Allah's word is true and your brother's stomach is lying. He went back and quite amazingly the third time it cured him. If you ask a medical doctor that if he would do the same thing as the prophet did, what would be his reply? And the Quran clearly states that honey has cure in it. Therefore, my brother we need to have faith in what Allah and the prophet have said and not question the wisdom of their orders. And Allah knows best.
[This message has been edited by iqadeer (edited September 19, 1999).]