Jesus Christ and Mythology - by: Rudolf Bultmann

In this book, Bultmann tries to "demythologize" the story of Christ, and of His miracles. It's good to read; because it can stimulate critical thinking to be faced with such an opposing view. But it's also really hard to choke down.

Here's an early quote from his argument: "The whole conception of the world which is presupposed in the preaching of Jesus in the New Testament generally is mythological; i.e. the conception of the world as being structured in three stories, heaven, earth, hell; the conception of the intervention of supernatural powers in the course of events; and the conception of miracles, especially the conception of the intervention of supernatural powers in the inner life of the soul, the conception that men can be tempted and corrupted by the devil and possessed by evil spirits. This conception of the world we call mythological because it is different from the conception of the world which has been formed and developed by science." (p.15)

We see straight away that he's not interested in anything spiritual and personally applicable from the Bible. Out of everything he lists, he says "ESPECIALLY the conception of the intervention of supernatural powers in the inner life of the soul" Yikes.

He claims that while some Jewish mystics believed in an apocolyptic future Kingdom of God on earth; that Jesus never believed in such a thing. He credits the modern thought that Jesus was escatalogical to a scholar named Weiss; who wrote "The Preaching of Jesus about the Kiongdom of God" in 1892.

He then goes on to state how silly it would be to believe that God would become a human and forgive sins by dying on a cross. "Particularly the conception of the pre-existent Son of God who descended in human guise into the world to redeem mankind is part of the Gnostic doctrine of redemption, and nobody hesitates to call this doctrine mythological." (p.17) It is a doctrine that 1 Cor. 1 describes that most will see as "foolishness" or "a stumbling block".

However, look at his reasons against the teachings of the Bible - "It is different from the conception of the world which has been formed and developed by science", and "nobody hesitates to call this doctrine mythological" It's a pretty poor argument.

He then describes how to use the Bible, if one wants to read it and still be modern: "For modern man the mythological conception of the world, the conceptions of eschatology, of redeemer and redemption, are over and done with. Is it possible to expect that we shall make a sacrifice of understanding, sacrificium intellectus, in order to accept what we cannot sincerely consider true - merely because such conceptions are suggested by the Bible? Or ought we to pass over those saying of the New Testament which contain such mythological conceptions and to select other sayings which are not such stumbling-blocks to modern man?" (p.17)  In other words, just read the parts of the Bible that don't offend your modern sensibilities, and skip the rest.

He then has some fun reinterpreting certain "crude" (his words) truths and transforming them into something really believable. For example, when Jesus said that he would come as a theif in the night, maybe that just means that we should just be open to what God's future may be for each of us. This section really made me feel like I was listening to a teenage girl at a beauty pageant. Who cares about hollow self-created platitudes if miracles and afterlife and redemption are not real?

Then I had enough for one day. So, I'm putting it down. But, I may finish it later in the week.