Page 65 - Pure Life 30
P. 65

/


               64  International Multi. J. of PURE LIFE. 9 (30): 51-89, Spring 2022
                 (
                  Bultmann’s main idea was that              being, and therefore to
               much of the “New Testament”                   that  extent  a  mythical
               Christianity is mythical rather               figure. But he is also a
               than historical. In other words,              concrete figure of history-
               what has been narrated as the                 Jesus of Nazareth. His
               life of Jesus should indeed be                life  is  more  than  a
               seen  as  a  nonfactual  story                mythical  event,  it  is  a
               that  was  fabricated  using  the             human life which ended
               elements that mainly belonged                 in  the  tragedy  of  the

               to the pre-scientific cosmologies             crucifixion. (Ibid 2000: 34)
               of  the  ancient  Jewish  and             This quotation shows the line
               Greek world. (Bultmann, 1984)          of  Bultmann’s  main  project,
                  Hence, in his “Jesus and the        i.e., demythologization, whose
               Word”, Butlmann is seriously           aim  is  to  distinguish  the
               skeptic  as  to  whether  the          historical Jesus and the Christian
               “New  Testament”  could  be            message  from  its  ancient

               viewed  as  a  reliable  source        mythical  trappings  and  the
               for Jesus’s life story. (Ibid, 1934)   christological descriptions and
               However, this does not mean            legends.  Bultmann  argues
               that  the  main  figures  of  the      that the modern scientific view
               “New Testament”, in particular         does  not  accept  such  a  pre-
               Jesus, are merely unreal beings        scientific mythical worldview

               fabricated by narrators.               and  so,  “there  is  nothing  to
                  He insists that                     do  but  to  demythologize  it”.
                      Jesus Christ is certainly       (Ibid, 1984: 9).
                      presented as the Son of            This means that instead of
                      God, a pre-existent divine
                                                      rejecting the Christian message,
   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70