The Idea of the Miraculous

Abstract

Enough has been said in Chapter 1 to justify the assessment of Karl Jaspers regarding the far-reaching implications of Bultmann’s challenge — that ‘Bultmann’s views on the demythologization of religion … have assumed the proportions of an event touching the very essence of religion.’¹ In the light of what has been said the reason for this is not far to seek and turns on two senses of the term demythologizing as used by Bultmann. Thus, in the first place, there is the entirely legitimate sense which constitutes the cornerstone of the liberal theological movement and which relates to the continued reappraisal of the biblical narratives through the method of critical scholarship. But, further, and more importantly, there is the sense which involves the outright rejection of any form of supernaturalism. The ultimacy of Bultmann’s challenge rests exclusively on his emphasis on this latter sense of the term. To this extent, it may well be accepted that there is nothing really surprising in the fact that paradoxical results flow from Bultmann’s ‘revolution’. They flow analytically from the assumption on which the whole position is based.