Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Bultmann was a Christian theologian, historian and exegete whose influence on New Testament criticism and method pervades the scholarship of the last seventy years. Professor Bultmann spent his long academic career almost entirely at the University of Marburg, from whence the influence of the groundbreaking historian and theologian radiated throughout the post-war period. His student Ernst Kasemann effectively initiated the new quest for the historical Jesus. The fruitful and exacting form critical method Bultmann pioneered shed and continues to shed new light on the NT texts. To read his 1926 monograph in The Journal of Religion ,“The New Approach to the Synoptic Problem”, is like being present at the moment of contemporary Bible scholarship’s first birth pangs.
Plainly Rudolf Bultmann is in the front rank of NT historians, and is comparable in importance to Adolph von Harnack and Walter Bauer. Of course all three are now regularly contradicted, disavowed, disproved and so on: which is the natural fate of intellectual figures of gigantic importance and undeniable erudition, whose work was comprehensive in its scope and boldly original in its conception. Scholars of the stature of Harnack, Bauer and Bultmann are the veritable standard against which the efforts that followed are judged.
Having said so much in praise of Bultmann’s historical scholarship, I must confess that his importance as a theologian was unknown to me. At Marburg, he was on the theological faculty, and this might have served as a big hint. It develops that Bultmann’s significance as a theologian -- and as a witness to the Christian faith that was integral to his self-understanding -- is comparable to that of his friends Karl Barth, Reinhold Neibuhr and Paul Tillich. His Theology of the New Testament is ranked as the most influential theological work of the 20th century.
With this introduction I will quote the opening section of Bultmann’s 1941 essay entitled “New Testament and Theology: The Problem of Demythologizing the New Testament Proclamation.”
Mythical World Picture and Mythical Salvation Occurrence in the New Testament
The world picture of the New Testament is a mythical world picture. The world is a three story structure, with earth in the middle, heaven above it, and hell below it. Heaven in the dwelling place of God and of heavenly figures, the angels; the world below is hell, the place of torment. But the earth is not simply the scene of natural day-to-day occurrences, of foresight and work that reckon with order and regularity; rather it, too, is a theater for the working of supernatural powers, God and his angels, Satan and his demons. These supernatural powers intervene in natural occurrences and in the thinking, willing, and acting of human beings; wonders are nothing unusual. Human beings are not their own masters; demons can possess them, and Satan can put bad ideas into their heads. But God, too, can direct their thinking and willing, send them heavenly visions, allow them to hear his commanding or comforting word, give them the supernatural power of his Spirit. History does not run its own steady, lawful course but is moved and guided by supernatural powers. This age stands under the power of Satan, sin, and death (which are precisely “powers”). It is hastening toward its imminent end, which will take place in a cosmic catastrophe. It stands before the “woes” of the last days, the coming of the heavenly judge, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment to salvation or damnation.
The presentation of the salvation occurrence, which constitutes the real content of the New Testament proclamation, corresponds to this mythical world picture. The proclamation talks in mythological language: the last days are at hand; “when the time had fully come” God sent his Son.
The Son, a preexistent divine being, appears on earth as a man (Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:6ff; 2 Cor. 8:9; John 1:14, etc.); his death on the cross, which he suffers as a sinner (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3), makes atonement for the sins of men (Rom. 3:23-26; 4:25; 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:14, 19; John 1:29; 1 John 2:2, etc.).
His resurrection is the beginning of a cosmic catastrophe through which the death brought into the world by Adam is annihilated (1 Cor. 2:6; Rom. 5:12 ff.); the demonic powers of the world have lost their power ( 1 Cor. 2:6; Col. 2:15; Rev. 12:7 ff., etc.). The risen one has been exalted to heaven at the right hand of God (Acts 1:6ff.; 2:33; Rom. 8:34, etc.); he has been made “Lord” and “King” (Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:25). He will return on the clouds of heaven to complete the work of salvation; then will take place the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment (1 Cor. 15:23-24; 50ff., etc.); finally, sin, death and all suffering will be done away (Rev. 21:4, etc.).
And this will all happen at any moment; Paul supposes that he himself will live to see this event( 1 Thess. 4:15 ff.; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; see also Mk 9:10.
Anyone who belongs to Christ’s community is bound to the Lord by baptism and the Lord’s Supper and is certain to be raised to salvation providing he or she does not behave unworthily (Rom: 5:12ff; 1 Cor. 15:21ff., 44bff.). Believers already have “the first fruits” (Rom. 8:23) or the “guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5), that is, the Spirit, which works in them, bearing witness that they are children of God (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6) and guaranteeing their resurrection (Rom. 8:11).
The Impossibility of Repristinating the Mythical World Picture
All of this is mythological talk, and the individual motifs may be easily traced to the contemporary mythology of Jewish apocalypticism and of the Gnostic myth of redemption. In so far as it is mythological talk, it is incredible to men and women of today because for them the mythical world picture is a thing of the past. Therefore, the contemporary Christian proclamation is faced with the question whether, when it demands faith from men and women, it expects them to acknowledge this mythical world picture from the past. If this is impossible, it has to face the question whether the New Testament proclamation has a truth that is independent of the mythical world picture, in which case it would be the task of theology to demythologize the Christian proclamation.
Can the Christian proclamation today expect men and women to acknowledge the mythical world picture as true? To do so would be both pointless and impossible. It would be pointless because there is nothing specifically Christian about the mythical world picture, which is simply the world picture of a time now past which was not yet formed by scientific thinking. It would be impossible because no one can appropriate a world picture by sheer resolve, since it is already given with one’s historical situation.
…
It is entirely possible that in a past mythical world picture truths may be rediscovered that were lost during a period of enlightenment; and theology has every reason to ask whether this may be possible in the case of the world picture of the New Testament. But it is impossible to repristinate a past world picture by sheer resolve, especially a mythical world picture, now that all our thinking is irrevocably formed by science. A blind acceptance of New Testament mythology would be simply arbitrariness; to make such a demand of faith would be to reduce faith to a work, and Wilhelm Hermann made clear, one would have thought, once and for all.
Plainly Rudolf Bultmann is in the front rank of NT historians, and is comparable in importance to Adolph von Harnack and Walter Bauer. Of course all three are now regularly contradicted, disavowed, disproved and so on: which is the natural fate of intellectual figures of gigantic importance and undeniable erudition, whose work was comprehensive in its scope and boldly original in its conception. Scholars of the stature of Harnack, Bauer and Bultmann are the veritable standard against which the efforts that followed are judged.
Having said so much in praise of Bultmann’s historical scholarship, I must confess that his importance as a theologian was unknown to me. At Marburg, he was on the theological faculty, and this might have served as a big hint. It develops that Bultmann’s significance as a theologian -- and as a witness to the Christian faith that was integral to his self-understanding -- is comparable to that of his friends Karl Barth, Reinhold Neibuhr and Paul Tillich. His Theology of the New Testament is ranked as the most influential theological work of the 20th century.
With this introduction I will quote the opening section of Bultmann’s 1941 essay entitled “New Testament and Theology: The Problem of Demythologizing the New Testament Proclamation.”
Mythical World Picture and Mythical Salvation Occurrence in the New Testament
The world picture of the New Testament is a mythical world picture. The world is a three story structure, with earth in the middle, heaven above it, and hell below it. Heaven in the dwelling place of God and of heavenly figures, the angels; the world below is hell, the place of torment. But the earth is not simply the scene of natural day-to-day occurrences, of foresight and work that reckon with order and regularity; rather it, too, is a theater for the working of supernatural powers, God and his angels, Satan and his demons. These supernatural powers intervene in natural occurrences and in the thinking, willing, and acting of human beings; wonders are nothing unusual. Human beings are not their own masters; demons can possess them, and Satan can put bad ideas into their heads. But God, too, can direct their thinking and willing, send them heavenly visions, allow them to hear his commanding or comforting word, give them the supernatural power of his Spirit. History does not run its own steady, lawful course but is moved and guided by supernatural powers. This age stands under the power of Satan, sin, and death (which are precisely “powers”). It is hastening toward its imminent end, which will take place in a cosmic catastrophe. It stands before the “woes” of the last days, the coming of the heavenly judge, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment to salvation or damnation.
The presentation of the salvation occurrence, which constitutes the real content of the New Testament proclamation, corresponds to this mythical world picture. The proclamation talks in mythological language: the last days are at hand; “when the time had fully come” God sent his Son.
The Son, a preexistent divine being, appears on earth as a man (Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:6ff; 2 Cor. 8:9; John 1:14, etc.); his death on the cross, which he suffers as a sinner (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3), makes atonement for the sins of men (Rom. 3:23-26; 4:25; 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:14, 19; John 1:29; 1 John 2:2, etc.).
His resurrection is the beginning of a cosmic catastrophe through which the death brought into the world by Adam is annihilated (1 Cor. 2:6; Rom. 5:12 ff.); the demonic powers of the world have lost their power ( 1 Cor. 2:6; Col. 2:15; Rev. 12:7 ff., etc.). The risen one has been exalted to heaven at the right hand of God (Acts 1:6ff.; 2:33; Rom. 8:34, etc.); he has been made “Lord” and “King” (Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:25). He will return on the clouds of heaven to complete the work of salvation; then will take place the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment (1 Cor. 15:23-24; 50ff., etc.); finally, sin, death and all suffering will be done away (Rev. 21:4, etc.).
And this will all happen at any moment; Paul supposes that he himself will live to see this event( 1 Thess. 4:15 ff.; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; see also Mk 9:10.
Anyone who belongs to Christ’s community is bound to the Lord by baptism and the Lord’s Supper and is certain to be raised to salvation providing he or she does not behave unworthily (Rom: 5:12ff; 1 Cor. 15:21ff., 44bff.). Believers already have “the first fruits” (Rom. 8:23) or the “guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5), that is, the Spirit, which works in them, bearing witness that they are children of God (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6) and guaranteeing their resurrection (Rom. 8:11).
The Impossibility of Repristinating the Mythical World Picture
All of this is mythological talk, and the individual motifs may be easily traced to the contemporary mythology of Jewish apocalypticism and of the Gnostic myth of redemption. In so far as it is mythological talk, it is incredible to men and women of today because for them the mythical world picture is a thing of the past. Therefore, the contemporary Christian proclamation is faced with the question whether, when it demands faith from men and women, it expects them to acknowledge this mythical world picture from the past. If this is impossible, it has to face the question whether the New Testament proclamation has a truth that is independent of the mythical world picture, in which case it would be the task of theology to demythologize the Christian proclamation.
Can the Christian proclamation today expect men and women to acknowledge the mythical world picture as true? To do so would be both pointless and impossible. It would be pointless because there is nothing specifically Christian about the mythical world picture, which is simply the world picture of a time now past which was not yet formed by scientific thinking. It would be impossible because no one can appropriate a world picture by sheer resolve, since it is already given with one’s historical situation.
…
It is entirely possible that in a past mythical world picture truths may be rediscovered that were lost during a period of enlightenment; and theology has every reason to ask whether this may be possible in the case of the world picture of the New Testament. But it is impossible to repristinate a past world picture by sheer resolve, especially a mythical world picture, now that all our thinking is irrevocably formed by science. A blind acceptance of New Testament mythology would be simply arbitrariness; to make such a demand of faith would be to reduce faith to a work, and Wilhelm Hermann made clear, one would have thought, once and for all.
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