Rudolf Bultmann

German theologian

• Born: August 20, 1884
• Birthplace: Wiefelstede, Germany
• Died: July 30, 1976
• Place of death: Marburg, West Germany (now in Germany)

Bultmann’s contributions to New Testament research and Christian theology significantly shaped the methodology and content of both endeavors in the twentieth century. His concept of demythologizing and his argument for an existential reading of the New Testament continue to influence much modern discussion about the Bible.

Early Life

Rudolf Bultmann (BUHLT-mahn) was born to a family of Lutheran clergy; his father and maternal grandfather were Lutheran pastors, while his paternal grandfather was a missionary. From 1892 to 1895 Bultmann attended the humanistic gymnasium in Oldenburg, where he initiated his study of religion and the Greek language. In 1903, he commenced his university studies, beginning at the University of Tübingen and then moving to the University of Berlin and finally to the University of Marburg. It was at Marburg in 1910 that Bultmann completed his doctoral dissertation, comparing the preaching style of the apostle Paul with the diatribe of Hellenistic moral philosophy. In 1912 Bultmann completed his research and writing on the exegetical method of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the late fourth century and early fifth century bishop and biblical scholar who played an important role in the theological controversies of the period.

In this period of university training, Bultmann was deeply influenced by the work of his mentors Johannes Weiss and Wilhelm Hermann. Weiss, a New Testament scholar, employed a “history of religions” approach to the study of early Christianity and led Bultmann to see the New Testament and the early Christian community in the context of the larger social and religious world of the ancient Mediterranean.

From the systematic theologian Hermann, Bultmann inherited an approach to Christian theology that emphasized the priority of the self as the means for knowing and understanding God. God is known as God acts on and transforms the self and makes possible authentic existence. As Hermann would say and Bultmann would later repeat, “[W]e can say nothing about what God is in himself, but only what he does for us.”

In 1916, Bultmann assumed the position of assistant professor at Breslau and remained there until 1920, when he was called to succeed Wilhelm Bousset at Giessen. Bultmann left Giessen the next year to return to Marburg as professor of New Testament studies. He remained at Marburg until the end of his academic career in 1951.

Life’s Work

Bultmann’s research and writing continued to reflect the twofold emphasis of his mentors. Indeed, one of the more lasting contributions of Bultmann was his integration of New Testament scholarship with constructive contributions to Christian theology. Bultmann’s pioneering work in New Testament scholarship was persistently welded to reflections on the importance of these advances for Christian theology and human self-understanding.

In 1921, Bultmann published his seminal work on the New Testament, Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (1921, enlarged 1931 and reprinted with a supplement 1957; The History of the Synoptic Tradition , 1963). The book identified traditional material in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and traced the history of the transmission of this material from its origins to its use by the Gospel writers. This book displayed Bultmann’s skepticism regarding the recovery of the historical Jesus and laid the foundation for his later efforts at offering a program for “demythologizing” the New Testament message. Bultmann argued that the whole framework of the central message of Jesus (the “kerygma”) was wrapped in ancient Jewish and Hellenistic Gnostic mythology. The description of Jesus’ ministry and the stories about Jesus presupposed a conception of the universe as a three-storied structure (heaven, earth, and underworld) in which creatures from the upper and lower levels were constantly intervening in the lives of those living on earth. This conception, Bultmann argued, was no longer meaningful and thus must be removed (demythologized) for the kerygma to maintain its relevance for human existence.

The brutal realities of Germany during the two world wars pushed Bultmann to find an adequate description of the human condition. The idealism and romanticism of nineteenth century German philosophy seemed entirely unfit for the first half of the twentieth century. Bultmann discovered the answer in the work of the philosopher Martin Heidegger, who became his colleague at Marburg in 1922. Heidegger described the human condition as indeterminate and stressed the critical role of decision making at each moment in history for giving shape to one’s being and for making possible authentic or genuine existence. For Bultmann, this emphasis on the critical role of decision and the polarity between unauthentic and authentic not only mirrored historical experience but also found its correlate in the description of human existence in the letters of Paul. Paul had described the conversion or turning of a life conditioned by sin and death to a life free from sin and opened to the path of obedience to God. The transition from the old (unauthentic) to the new (authentic) rested on the human response (decision) to the kerygma, that is, to the proclamation of God’s love and forgiveness and to obedience to God’s claims on one’s life.

This formulation of theological anthropology figured prominently in many of Bultmann’s writings. Bultmann had consistently emphasized that the knowledge and description of God must begin with God’s action on humans; thus any work on theology must begin with and constantly return to anthropology. In Jesus (1926; Jesus and the Word , 1934) Bultmann described the kerygma as the call to humans to a decision to accept the demand for radical obedience to God. This idea was further clarified in his commentary on the Gospel of John, Das Evangelium des Johannes (1941; The Gospel of John , 1971), and his principal work of biblical theology, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (3 vols., 1948-1953; Theology of the New Testament , 2 vols., 1951-1955).

Unlike a number of his colleagues, Bultmann remained in Germany during the Nazi regime. From the outset of the Nazi takeover, Bultmann sided with the Confessing Church, which opposed Nazi church policy. At the same time he never participated actively in resisting or overthrowing the Nazis. In his own words, he “never directly and actively participated in political affairs.” At the end of the war, Bultmann’s reputation as a scholar attracted a number of gifted students who later held important positions in European and American universities. He also traveled to the United States in 1951 and Great Britain in 1955 for extensive lecture tours. Aside from these travels abroad, Bultmann’s later life was spent almost entirely in Marburg, where he died in 1976.

Significance

Bultmann was a gifted scholar and teacher whose influence on New Testament scholarship and Christian theology has been exceptional. This has been the consequence not only of the insightful and provocative character of his writings but also of the ongoing work of his students.

Bultmann’s scheme for demythologizing the New Testament has been attacked as draining the text of its revelational power and denying any importance to the historical person Jesus. It is certainly the case that to follow Bultmann is to shift the emphasis of Christian theology from the person of Jesus to the message of Jesus and the early Church and to insist that the message be presented in a manner that is relevant and meaningful for the present. For many, this seemed not only a proper but also a necessary shift. At a time when it appeared that the entire biblical and theological endeavor would collapse under the weight of historical-literary critical scholarship and the tragic events of the early twentieth century, Bultmann forged a path that was constructive and profoundly meaningful.

Bultmann’s ability to wed New Testament scholarship and theological analysis seems to be a lost art. The tendency to academic specialization has left the academy and the Church with few if any who can make original contributions that bridge the two fields. Bultmann may be not only one of the greatest of the New Testament theologians but also perhaps one of the very last.

Bibliography

Bartsch, H. W., ed. Kerygma and Myth. Translated by R. H. Fuller. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Row, 1961-1962. A series containing essays that respond to Bultmann’s concept of demythologizing and three essays by Bultmann in which he answers significant questions raised by his critics. The second volume in the series includes the critical essay by Karl Barth entitled“Rudolf Bultmann An Attempt to Understand Him.”

Kegley, Charles W., ed. The Theology of Rudolf Bultmann. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. A fascinating and insightful collection of essays in which Bultmann engages in dialogue with his major American and European critics.

Kim, Dong-Kun. Jesus: From Bultmann to the Third World. New York: P. Lang, 2003. Analyzes the Christology of Bultmann, liberation theologists, and others, maintaining there is a connection between socioeconomic liberation and salvation.

Neill, Stephen, and Tom Wright. The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861-1986. 1964. 2d ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1988. This updated edition of a classic survey of New Testament criticism places Bultmann’s work in its historical context. An excellent introduction.

Perrin, Norman. The Promise of Bultmann. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott, 1969. An overview of Bultmann’s work by a renowned New Testament scholar. Perrin’s own work both championed and criticized Bultmann, and this critical engagement makes this brief work unusually penetrating.

Smart, James D. The Divided Mind of Modern Theology: Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann, 1908-1933. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1967. A description of the education and early careers of these two major figures. Smart analyzes the various factors that led to the breakdown in the alliance that initially existed between these influential scholars.