Who was Rudolf Bultmann?Question: "Who was Rudolf Bultmann?"
Answer: Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) was one of the most influential scholars and theologians of the 20th century. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor, and he became professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg (Germany). Bultmann is best known for the concept of “demythologizing” the New Testament.
Bultmann taught that the New Testament was a product of the 1st century worldview, which readily accepted stories of divine intervention that he called “myth.” In modern times, we now know that God does not intervene in miraculous ways, so, to get at the true meaning of the text, the New Testament must be “demythologized”—that is, the miraculous elements must be stripped away to get at what is most important. For Bultmann, the importance is that, in Christ, God has done some good for humanity. In Christ God did something, but it is not so important to nail down exactly what He did or any details about the life of the “historical Jesus.”
For Bultmann, faith is a present existential experience, not something based on past events. Scripture records the experiences of people in the past. The fact the experiences happened is the most important thing, not the historical or doctrinal content of those experiences. Christians today need to have existential experiences as well. Faith was an act of the will, not an acceptance of ancient facts.
Bultmann is one more scholar in a long line of (primarily German) scholars who sought to present Christianity in a way that would make it more acceptable to the “modern” mind that rejects the idea of supernatural intervention.
Bultmann was right in teaching that faith must be a present reality and not simply a mental acceptance of a list of facts that happened two thousand years ago, but he was wrong when he taught that the historical facts do not matter. Faith is based upon a God who has revealed Himself and has acted in history. If the resurrection is merely a myth, our faith is worthless: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:17–19).
Recommended Resource: The Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Enns
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