Rudolf Karl Bultmann Quotes

Rudolf Karl Bultmann was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early 20th century biblical studies and a prominent voice in liberal Christianity.

Bultmann is known for his belief that the historical analysis of the New Testament is both futile and unnecessary, given that the earliest Christian literature showed little interest in specific locations. Bultmann argued that all that matters is the "thatness", not the "whatness" of Jesus, i.e. only that Jesus existed, preached and died by crucifixion matters, not what happened throughout his life.

Bultmann relied on demythologization, an approach interpreting the mythological elements in the New Testament existentially. Bultmann contended that only faith in the kerygma, or proclamation, of the New Testament was necessary for Christian faith, not any particular facts regarding the historical Jesus.

✵ 20. August 1884 – 30. July 1976
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Rudolf Karl Bultmann: 10   quotes 0   likes

Famous Rudolf Karl Bultmann Quotes

“Myth does not want to be interpreted in cosmological terms but in anthropological terms—or, better, in existentialist terms.”

Source: New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941), p. 9

“Can there be a demythologizing interpretation that discloses the truth of the kerygma as kerygma for those who do not think mythologically?”

Kann es eine entmythologisierende Interpretation geben, die die Wahrheit des Kerygmas als Kerygmas für den nicht mythologisch denkenden Menschen aufdeckt?
Source: New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941), p. 14

“Freedom from the world is, in principle, not asceticism, but rather a distance from the world for which all participation in things worldly takes place in the attitude of “as if not.””

1 Cor. 7:29-31 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A29-31&version=KJV
Source: New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941), p. 18

Rudolf Karl Bultmann Quotes about the world

“We cannot use electric lights and radios and, in the event of illness, avail ourselves of modern medical and clinical means and at the same time believe in the spirit and wonder world of the New Testament.”

Man kann nicht elektrisches Licht und Radioapparat benutzen, in Krankheitsfällen moderne medizinische und klinische Mittel in Anspruch nehmen und gleichzeitig an die Geister-und Wunderwelt des Neuen Testaments glauben.
Source: New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings (1941), p. 4

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