David W. Congdon - The Mission of Demythologizing: Rudolf Bultmann’s Dialectical Theology

THE MISSION OF DEMYTHOLOGIZING

Rudolf Bultmanns Dialectical Theology

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Cover image: Oliver D. Crisp, Blue Bultmann, oil on board, 2014, used with permission of the artist.

Cover design: Joe Reinke

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The present study is an expanded version of my dissertation. The oral defense occurred in January 2014 at Princeton Theological Seminary. I must begin by acknowledging my gratitude to my advisor, Bruce L. McCormack, who, over lunch in April 2008, proposed that I write on Rudolf Bultmann. I could not have asked for a more supportive Doktorvater. I also wish to thank the other two members of my dissertation committee, James F. Kay and Darrell L. Guder, for their guidance during my research and their assistance in the revision of the manuscript.

I am indebted to Kate Skrebutenas, the reference librarian at Princeton Seminary, for assisting me in my research. I am additionally appreciative of the Special Collections staff at the Princeton Seminary library, especially those who oversee the Center for Barth Studies, superbly curated at the time I was in Princeton by Clifford Anderson.

In the summer of 2012 I left Princeton for another community in Downers Grove, Illinois, where I joined the editorial team at InterVarsity Press. The bulk of this dissertation was written after I joined IVP, and that is a credit to the support I have received from my coworkers.

I am grateful to the Bultmann heirs for permission to publish an English translation of Der christliche Sinn von Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung: Skizze des am 11. Juni 1925 vor der 50. Versammlung evangelischer Religionslehrer an den hheren Lehranstalten der Rheinprovinz gehaltenen Vortrages.

Several people deserve special thanks. Christophe Chalamet was an external reader of my dissertation and provided immensely helpful feedback; he also kindly sent me an early article by Bultmann. John Flett gave me valuable comments on two chapters and introduced me to the field of intercultural theology. Nathaniel Maddox assisted my research after I left Princeton and served as my liaison with the PhD Studies Office at Princeton Seminary. Alexander Massmann assisted me in translating several German passages. James Gordon generously allowed me to use his carrel at Wheaton College and requested many books that were essential to my research. Oliver Crisp kindly agreed to paint a portrait of Bultmann for the cover, for which I am most obliged; it is a striking image. My editor at Fortress Press, Michael Gibson, showed keen interest in this project from the start, and I am thankful to him and the whole Fortress team for their help in bringing the work to publication.

I am deeply thankful for two friends in particular: Travis McMaken and Chris TerryNelson. There is hardly a page that has not been worked out in conversation with them. I owe them both profound debts of gratitude for their honesty, humor, and wise counsel.

This book is dedicated to my parents, Jon and Harriet Congdon, and especially to my wife, Amy, whose forbearance, generosity, and succor have been the buttress of my life and work.

1. Rudolf Bultmann, Der christliche Sinn von Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung: Skizze des am 11. Juni 1925 vor der 50. Versammlung evangelischer Religionslehrer an den hheren Lehranstalten der Rheinprovinz gehaltenen Vortrages, Zeitschrift fr den evangelischen Religionsunterricht an hheren Lehranstalten 36 (1925): 17072.
   
2. Published originally in Rudolf Bultmann and Friedrich Feigel, Die neueste Wendung der evang. Theologie (K. Barth, Gogarten usw.) und der evang. Religionsunterricht an hheren Schulen, Monatsbltter fr den Evangelischen Religionsunterricht 18 (1925): 18082. Reprinted in Rudolf Bultmann, Leitstze R. Bultmanns, in Rudolf Bultmann and Friedrich Gogarten, Briefwechsel 19211967, ed. Hermann Gtz Gckeritz (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002), 27980.
   
3. Rudolf Bultmann, ber den Begriff Mythos [ca. 19421952], in BultmannAlthaus Briefwechsel 19291966, ed. Matthias Dreher and Gotthard Jasper (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 8996.
   
4. David W. Congdon, Kerygma and Community: A Response to R. W. L. Moberlys Revisiting of Bultmann, Journal of Theological Interpretation 8 (2014): 121.
   

Rudolf Bultmann,

. 4 vols. Tbingen: Mohr, 19331965.

Karl Barth,

. 4 vols. Zollikon-Zrich: Evangelischer Verlag, 19321970.

Karl Barth,

. Edited by Hermann Schmidt. Gesamtausgabe 2. Zrich: TVZ, 1985.

Karl Barth,

Edited by Cornelis van der Kooi and Katja Tolstaja. Gesamtausgabe 2. Zrich: Theologischer Verlag, 2010.

Martin Luther,

. Weimar: H. Bhlau, 1883 .

Rudolf Bultmann fared better than most German scholars when it came to English translation, but translations of his writings were still often inconsistent or misleading or simply wrong. For this reason, all translations in this work are my own. I have followed three basic principles: (a) accuracy according to material content, (b) consistency in expression, and (c) gender inclusivity. The first principle simply means that I have made my decisions based on an overall understanding of Bultmanns theological project. The second principle means that I have attempted consistently to translate the same root words with the same English counterparts. For instance, I have translated