# Rudolf Karl Bultmann and Karl Jaspers , has anyone on the read any of their writings?



## dudley (Mar 14, 2010)

Has anyone read some of the works of Rudolf Karl Bultmann (August 20, 1884 – July 30, 1976)? He was a German theologian of Lutheran background, who was for three decades a professor of New Testament studies at the University of Marburg. He defined an almost complete split between history and faith, called demythology, writing that only the bare fact of Christ crucified was necessary for Christian faith.

The first time I was introduced to Bultman was while taking course in college in Pauline Epistles. The course was being taught by a Dominican priest. It was the Dominican priests who many may know were the ones who led the inquisition on Luther. The Dominican priest professor was very much interested and inspired in my estimation on Rudolf Bultman. We had to do a research paper to complete the course on a topic of our choice which had to be approved by the professor. I asked approval to investigate Rudolf Bultman and his writings on demythologizing the Gospels. My research project was approved and I collaborated my research with a Lutheran minister of the Missouri Synod as my personal guide to understanding Bultman. While this was many years ago I now think it was the beginning of my faith journey and conversion to Protestantism. PS I did receive a grade of 'A" on the research paper and for the course.

A philosopher I also have read is Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) who took his degree in medicine but soon became interested in psychiatry. He is the author of a standard work of psychopathology, as well as special studies on Strindberg, Van Gogh and Nietsche. After World War I he became Professor of Philosophy at Heidelberg, where he achieved fame as a brilliant teacher and an early exponent of existentialism. He was among the first to acquaint German readers with the works of Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard was also a modern philosopher along with others who I was introduced to while taking a course in the Philosophy of Man during the same semester I was studying the Pauline Epistles.

They, Bultman and Jaspers were considered two of the most brilliant German thinkers of the twentieth century. Jaspers, the philosopher, and Bultmann, the theologian, were both influenced by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and the rise of the existentialist movement. Late in their careers they interacted on the subject of Bultmann's attempt to demythologize the Gospels.

They collaborated on a book "Myth & Christianity: An Inquiry Into the Possibility of Religion Without Myth" by Karl Jaspers, Rudolf Bultmann 

I am interested in any feedback form my PB brothers. As I said while this was many years ago I now think it was the beginning of my faith journey and conversion to Protestantism. I am beginning to do some new reading on the same authors and would appreciate any feedback, my faith journey is always expanding and moving forward. 

I think I view my faith in that way because of my inspiration by a Roman catholic French Jesuit philosopher and theologian, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955) who theorized a philosophical and theological position that we all, Christians, are evolving into a mystical union with the cosmic Christ of the universe.Teilhard's primary book, The Phenomenon of Man, set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He abandoned traditional interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of a less strict interpretation. This displeased certain officials in the Roman Curia and in his own order who thought that it undermined the doctrine of original sin developed by Saint Augustine. Teilhard's position was opposed by his Church superiors, and his work was denied publication during his lifetime by the Roman Holy Office. He however left his writings to his secretary and she published them after his death. 

PS I was introduced to the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in a college course I took entitled 'Old Testament Scriptures" and ironically was taught by a Jesuit priest professor who I believe was himself a bit of a rebel. I will confess at this time I have also always been a bit of a rebel, were not the Reformers of the Protestant Reformation rebels? I think that too has to do with why today I am a Reformed Protestant, rebels I think are always questioning and always reforming!

My primary question again is anyone familiar with the writings of Bultman and Jaspers? If you are would appreciate your thoughts on their philosophy and theology. If anyone has read any of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's writings, I would enjoy feedback there also.


----------



## VictorBravo (Mar 14, 2010)

Yes, I've read all of those guys. It was when I was a young man heavy into seeking spirituality without Christ. It brings back intensely bad memories of my struggles to work myself into a form of holiness under my own power. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin especially led me to many dead ends and wasted months of my life.

When I hear of those writers, one verse comes to mind: "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (Mat 15:14)


----------

