Biblical Interpretations
Study 6E Bultmann - Demythologisation
Demythologization is a big word but its meaning is simple. It means taking the myth out of a piece of literature. When dealing with stories we have a few different words to label them when the stories are not factual.
A definition of myth is –
a traditional story, usually concerning some superhuman being or some alleged person or event, and which attempts to explain natural phenomena; especially a traditional story about deities or demigods and about the creation of the world and its inhabitants. (From the Macquarie Dictionary)
A definition of fable is -
A short story to teach a moral, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters, a story not founded in fact, a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; a legend. (From the Macquarie Dictionary)
A definition of a legend is -
A non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical. (From the Macquarie Dictionary)
It would appear that the differences between a myth, a fable and a legend is somewhat blurred. For this study I will use only the word myth, while accepting that legend or fable could sometimes suit our purpose better. I would argue that many of the stories of the Old Testament that are called myths by many scholars, could well be classed as legends or fables, because although non-historical they are often ‘popularly accepted as historical’.
We have many mythological stories that we use to learn about life. When we talk about the struggle between good and evil, we nearly always tell a story. We listen to stories about the conflict between the police and criminals all the time on our television sets.
But we also tell stories about Peter Pan and Captain Hook, Chaos and Maxwell Smart, Snow White and the Wicked Witch, James Bond and Specta, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Superman and Lex Luther, Frodo and the Lord of the Rings and in the Wizard of Oz, stories about Dorothy, the Straw Man, The Tin Woodman and the Lion, fighting the Wicked Witch of the West. These could be classed as myths or fables.
The characters in these, and in so many other stories, personify good and evil, and even though the story told is often about two creatures, gods or people struggling against each other, we understand the meaning of the story to be the struggle between good and evil. Many of these stories, particularly those which are larger than life, in which the characters are not real, can well be considered mythical.
If we take the stories mentioned above literally, we will think they were absurd. In the Wizard of Oz, we don't worry that the Scarecrow is unreal because, in some ways, he is very real to us. We can identify with him because of the stupid things he does. He has no brain. We know that lions don’t talk yet this does not worry us, because we can identify with the lack of courage that the Lion demonstrates at times. We may be able even to identify with the Tin Woodman, who is in search of a heart, when we judge ourselves as insensitive and callous. And so on. This story probably fits better into the category of fable, but the same sort of thought process goes on when considering the meanings of myths. We can relate them to our own personal experiences.
Myths are incredibly important to us. All cultures have them. They interpret many of the fundamentally basic things about the world in which we live. They reveal meanings about our human condition and our human experience, meanings that physics, biology, genetics and the other sciences do not usually reveal.
Yet, if the settings or details of myths were taken literally, we would dismiss the stories as ridiculous. It is sometimes easy to recognise the mythological elements of a story and accept the meaning, when the story’s setting and details are obviously fantasy and unreal. However it is not so easy to separate the myth and the mythological meaning, when the settings and details are thought to be more feasible or realistic.
We can sometimes disagree on what is myth and what is reality or factual and historical.
Rudolf Bultmann was a German theologian in the earlier part of the last century. He stirred the theological world when he suggested that, the big problem for the Christian Church was, it continually tried to communicate to the world a gospel built on a view of the universe, that most people no longer believed. He stated that the view of the cosmos, the universe, the New Testament was built on, was mythological. In his essay entitled 'Kerygma and Myth', he states that the world view of the 1st. Century is so different from ours that we need to retell the Christian story in terms that are compatible with the 21st Century world view.
To quote him -
The cosmology of the New Testament is essentially mythical in character. The world is viewed as a three‑storied structure, with the earth in the centre, the heaven above, and the underworld beneath.
Images of the Greek Worldview are sometimes given to help students appreciate how different the ideas were in New Testament times, compared with today. The Greeks used several different pictures to depict how they perceived ‘the earth and the heavens’. Most, if not all cultures, have their own images and concepts of the universe.
Science now tells us that the Universe is immense beyond our imagination, and the earth, on which we live, is an infinitesimal part of the galaxy called the Milky way. This galaxy is thought to be one of billions, each comprised of billions of stars.
The Hebrew’s ideas of creation bear no resemblance to what we think today. They had no concept at all, of the universe as we understand it now. An illustration, capturing their ideas, with associated biblical passages, can be printed out. See below for the link.
One image of the Greek Worldview shows the earth at the center, and everything revolving around it, including the sun. It also gives the supposed location spirits, both angels and demons. This could be regarded as a little more sophisticated that the simple three-storied structure – heaven, earth and hell.
With these Hebrew ideas about the universe as a background for the Christian message, Bultmann assets we have a communication issue.
Bultmann continues -
Heaven is the abode of God and of celestial beings ‑ the angels. The underworld is hell, the place of torment.
Even the earth is more than the scene of the natural, everyday events, of the trivial round and the common task. It is the scene of supernatural activity of God and his angels on the one hand and of Satan and his demons on the other. These supernatural forces intervene in the course of nature and in all that men think and will and do. Miracles are by no means rare. Man is not in control of his own life. Evil spirits may take possession of him.
Satan may inspire his thought. Alternatively, God may inspire his thought and guide his purposes. He may grant him heavenly visions. He may allow him the supernatural power of his Spirit. History does not follow a smooth, unbroken course; it is set in motion and controlled by these supernatural powers. This age is held in bondage by Satan, sin and death, and hastens towards its end. That end will come very soon and will take the form of a cosmic catastrophe. It will be inaugurated by the ‘woes’ of the last time. Then the Judge will come from heaven, the dead will rise, the last judgement will take place, and men will enter into eternal salvation or damnation.
This then is the mythical view of the world which the New Testament presupposes when it presents the event of redemption which is the subject of its preaching.
It proclaims in the language of mythology that the last time has now come. ‘In the fullness of time’ God sent forth his Son, a pre‑existent divine being, who appears on the earth as a man. He dies a death of a sinner on the cross and makes atonement for the sins of men. His resurrection marks the beginning of the cosmic catastrophe.
Death, the consequences of Adam’s sin, is abolished, and the demonic forces are deprived of their power. The risen Christ is exalted to the right hand of God in heaven and made ‘Lord’ and ‘King’. He will come again on the clouds of heaven to complete the work of redemption, and the resurrection and judgement of men will follow. Sin, suffering and death will finally be abolished. All this will happen very soon; indeed St. Paul thinks that he himself will live to see it.
These are the sorts ideas and concepts that are built on a literal interpretation of New Testament passages, particularly the Book of Revelation.
It is in this context of Bultmann’s thinking that, when Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian astronaut, was circling the earth, he said that he couldn’t see any heaven or God up there. How absurd we said. He is taking things too literally. However, people of the New Testament would have been shocked. They would have thought that Gagarin had looked in the wrong direction, or that he couldn’t see far enough.
Bultmann continues ‑
What meaning, for instance, can we attach to such phrases in the Apostles’ Creed as ‘descended into hell’ or ‘ascended into heaven’? We no longer believe in a three storied universe, which the creeds took for granted.
Sickness and the cure of disease are likewise attributable to natural causation; they are not the result of demons activity or of evil spells.
It is impossible to use an electric light or the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles. We may think we can manage it in our own lives, but to expect others to do so is to make the Christian faith unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world.
Conscious as he is of his own moral responsibility, man cannot conceive how baptism in water can convey a mysterious something, which is henceforth the agent of his decisions and actions.
Again, the Biblical doctrine that death is the punishment of sin is equally abhorrent..., since we regard death as a simple and necessary process of nature. Human beings are subject to death even before they have committed sin. And to attribute mortality to the fall of Adam is sheer nonsense, for guilt implies personal responsibility, and the idea of original sin as an inherited infection is sub-ethical, irrational and absurd.’
Continuing more with Bultmann -
The same objection applies to the doctrine of the atonement. How can the guilt of one man be expiated by the death of another?
If the truth of the New Testament proclamation is to be preserved, the only way is to demythologize it.
If you print out the diagrammatical presentation of the Hebrew universe, you can appreciate what the writers thought when they wrote the parts of Genesis, that deal with creation. These are the world views of which Bultmann speaks. All are quite different, and bear no resemblance whatsoever to what 21st. Century people think. If we are going to communicate with modern people, Bultmann would suggest, I am sure, that we will have to adapt the Christian story to make it one that makes sense to people today.
Quotations and questions for discussion
In the Bible, what do we class as myth and what do we think is factually correct?
We do not have to agree with all, or even any, of the above statements by Bultmann, but we can't ignore them.
If we agree that modern people do not really believe in the supernatural, how do we proclaim the Good News? What is the essence of the Christian faith for today?
We let science dictate too much in our thinking about everything.
So, the Hebrews and the Greeks had a different view of creation than us. Does that make any real difference?
Print picture of the Hebrew Universe
Print Booklet (Download and print double-side, flip on short edge) The text above has the text of the bookblets edited somewhat and because there are many pictures in the booklets, all reference to them has been omitted.