Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976)
Author of Jesus Christ and Mythology
About the Author
Rudolf Bultmann, a highly acclaimed New Testament scholar, was born in the former German state of Oldenburg. His theological training, which began at the University of Tubingen in 1903, was subsequently carried out at the universities of Marburg and Berlin. Adolf von Harnack, Wilhelm Herrmann, and show more Johannes Weiss rank high among professors who most influenced Bultmann. In the course of his distinguished teaching career, brief appointments at the Universities of Marburg (1912-16), Breslau (1916-20), and Giessen (1920-21) were followed by a lengthy tenure at Marburg (1921-51) that put him in close association with the existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger. Already enamored of Herrmann's insight that theology must engage experience as well as concepts, Bultmann was drawn to Heidegger's understanding of existence with its distinctive emphasis on two modes of being-authenticity and inauthenticity. That perception of the human struggle significantly informed Bultmann's understanding of the New Testament message as a clarion summons to authentic existence. While Bultmann did not slight Paul in his biblical scholarship, most of his publications centered on the Gospels. During his residency in Breslau, Bultmann completed his first major work (1921), whose English translation appeared in 1963 under the title The History of the Synoptic Tradition. The analysis quickly established Bultmann as a leading biblical scholar. It endorsed Martin Dibelius's idea that, if New Testament scholars were to further their understanding of the Gospel traditions, they would do well to adopt the form-critical methodology that Hermann Gunkel had successfully applied to Old Testament traditions. Focusing on diverse literary forms as the starting point of his investigation into the nature of the earliest Christian communities, Bultmann seriously questioned the assumptions of liberal theology that the historical Jesus was, in fact, knowable in the Gospel narrative. He regarded as untenable Harnach's view that the Gospel traditions contained the necessary data for constructing a trustworthy biographical portrait of Jesus. Thus, Bultmann insisted that the early church's apologetic, catechetical, and liturgical activities primarily dictated the shaping of the written Gospels..Although Bultmann's assertions evoked much opposition, they continue to influence how New Testament specialists perceive the Gospel. In his provocative essay New Testament and Mythology published in 1941, Bultmann sets forth his program for demythologizing the New Testament. He argues that the biblical message is mediated through a mythological framework that is alien to the worldview of modern humanity. He explains that the framers of New Testament myth were not attempting to describe the world objectively; rather, they were seeking to understand themselves within it. Thus, the demythologizing task that is incumbent on twentieth-century biblical interpreters is not to eliminate the myth but to perceive it existentially. The insight induces Bultmann to issue a creative restatement of the New Testament faith in existentialist categories drawn from Heidegger. If that procedure has not endeared him to readers who are less enthusiastic about Heidegger than he, few have faulted Bultmann's claim that the Christian gospel stands independent of the worldview in which it was originally shaped. The form criticism and demythologizing that are so central in Bultmann's hermeneutical agenda are readily discernible in his Theology of the New Testament. Bultmann died in 1976. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Rudolf Bultmann
The Johannine Epistles: A Commentary on the Johannine Epistles (Hermeneia--a Critical and Historical Commentary on the… (1973) 210 copies, 1 review
Myth and Christianity; an inquiry into the possibility of religion without myth (1958) 113 copies, 3 reviews
Bible Key Words Volume V (5) - Hope By Bultmann/Rengstorf and Life and Death By Bultmann (1951) 7 copies
Neues Testament und Mythologie: Das Problem der Entmythologisierung der neutestamentlichen Verkündigung (Beiträge zur… (1985) 7 copies
Life and Death - Bible Key Words from Gerhard Kittel's Theologisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Teastament (1965) 6 copies
Hope 4 copies
Geloof zonder mythe 3 copies
Mytologi og bibelforståelse 3 copies
Exegetische Probleme des Zweiten Korintherbriefes : zu 2. Kor. 5, 1-5; 5, 11-6, 10; 10-13; 12, 21 2 copies
Glauben und verstehen 2 copies
Das Evangelium de Johannes 1 copy
Ύπαρξη και πίστη 1 copy
Connaître 1 copy
Artigos Selcionados. 1 copy
Le lettere di Giovanni 1 copy
Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition. 6. Aufl. (Forschungen zur Religion u. Literatur d. Alten u. Neuen Testaments… (1964) 1 copy
Title Not GIven 1 copy
What is Christianity 1 copy
Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament. Abt. 14. Die drei Johannesbriefe (1967) 1 copy
Evangelium des Johannes, Ergnzungsheft [Kritisch-Exegetischer Kommentar ber das Neue Testament] 1 copy
Primitive Christianity 1 copy
Associated Works
The Company of Preachers: Wisdom on Preaching, Augustine to the Present (2002) — Contributor — 185 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Bultmann, Rudolf
- Legal name
- Bultmann, Rudolf Karl
- Birthdate
- 1884-08-20
- Date of death
- 1976-07-30
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Germany
- Birthplace
- Wiefelstede, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (now Germany)
- Place of death
- Marburg, West Germany
- Education
- University of Tübingen
University of Berlin
University of Marburg
Altes Gymnasium, Oldenburg - Occupations
- new testament scholar
lecturer
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Statistics
- Works
- 93
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 4,635
- Popularity
- #5,440
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 17
- ISBNs
- 132
- Languages
- 12
- Favorited
- 2