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Jesus Christ, Mythology, and Quakers

7/9/2021

3 Comments

 
This last week I read a classic work of Christian theology, Rudolf Bultmann’s Jesus Christ and Mythology. Bultmann was born in 1884 and died in 1976. For thirty years he was a professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Marburg in Germany.

Bultmann notes that the New Testament is full of first century mythology. God’s abode, Heaven, is literally somewhere up in the sky among the stars. Mental illness is explained as demonic possession, and miracles happen when the laws of nature are suspended by magicians and healers.

A common myth among the Jews of this time was the expectation of a messiah who would establish God’s Kingdom on Earth. Of that end time Jesus himself is supposed to have said,

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth,
nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and
 tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive
of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will
be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory. (NIV, Luke 21)
 
Using Bultmann’s method of de-mythologizing the Gospels, we can eliminate the signs in the Heavens, the seething of the sea, and the appearance of a superhuman figure among the clouds. What’s left is the law of the Kingdom, the law of love. In the Kingdom people are lovingly kind and truthful. People are unfailingly good. Even non-theists can accept this version of the Kingdom of God, which now becomes a symbol that a wide range of Friends can affirm. The Christian tradition can be maintained in a meeting even if there are many non-Christians in that meeting.

May we always hope for unity as we individually search for Truth!  

~ Richard Russell
3 Comments
John Breasted
7/16/2021 05:20:16 am

I found this post interesting, informative, and concise, like the several others I have read here recently by Richard Russell.

Reply
Donald Lathrop
7/18/2021 09:15:21 pm

Hi Richard,

Well done. You haven't by any chance spent any time with the Ecumenical Institute? Back in 1967 we spent a month at their home base in inner-city Chicago. Why I ask, is that they were partial to Tillich, Bultman, Bonhoeffer and Neightbor, if I recall.

That month was highly intense, with lots of work in the community, plus study. Everything but sleep.

Peace,
Don

Reply
Bob Elmendorf
7/21/2021 02:54:43 am

I have to look to see whether I have this book. I inherited or was some theological libraries and unwisely turned down another one.
In any event I thank Richard for writing this and for so many other thoughtful pieces.
I am not sure I agree with a demythologization. I enjoy the tension at the intersection of various religions which existed at the time of Christ. We all know Christianity borrowed so much from the classical world. I got a great book on this somewhere.

Reply



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