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Rudolf Bultmann on Christianity

1884–1976 Germany

← All quotes by Rudolf Bultmann

4 quotes

By no means are we at the mercy of those who doubt or deny that Jesus ever lived.

Of course the doubt as to whether Jesus really existed is unfounded and not worth refutation. No sane person can doubt that Jesus stands as founder behind the historical movement whose first distinct stage is represented by the oldest Palestinian community.

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.

New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941)

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.

New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Rudolf Bultmann (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.