Product Description

It is difficult to overestimate the singularity of Rudolf Bultmann. Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament changed the course of New Testament interpretation and has continued to influence the field until today. As ambitious in scope as it is consistent in method, Bultmann's volume asks and provides answers to the big questions. Bultmann also found a way to wed a sober-minded commitment to historical reconstruction to his deep desire for the New Testament to speak to contemporary humans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #622328 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 648 pages

Review
Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament is a major event in the history of biblical scholarship....It is the culmination of his lifelong work as an interpreter of the New Testament. The work qualifies as a classic in the history of New Testament studies. --Nils Dahl, Yale University

Bultmann's Theology remains a classic, deserving to be read for its stunning clarity and especially its brilliant exposition of Paul's theology. One need not agree with all of Bultmann's conclusions to profit from this legendary master's knowledge of the New Testament and its context. --Donald A. Hagner, George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament

The most significant work of its genre in the twentieth century, Theology of the New Testament is essential for understanding the history and future of biblical theology. The reprint, brilliantly introduced by Robert Morgan, makes available again this stimulating and challenging work. --William Baird, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament is a major event in the history of biblical scholarship....It is the culmination of his lifelong work as an interpreter of the New Testament…. The work qualifies as a classic in the history of New Testament studies. --Nils Dahl, Yale University

Bultmann's Theology remains a classic, deserving to be read for its stunning clarity and especially its brilliant exposition of Paul's theology. One need not agree with all of Bultmann's conclusions to profit from this legendary master's knowledge of the New Testament and its context. --Donald A. Hagner, George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament,

About the Author
Rudolf Bultmann studied at Tübingen, Berlin and Marburg. In 1912, he began his teaching career at Marburg and remained there, except for five years, until his retirement in 1951.

Customer Reviews

/
excellent read as is most of his works and requires time for reflection of what he writes...

Reliable for what it is meant to be
"Few areas of academic endeavor are so in need of public debunking as biblical studies. The physicist Richard Feynman coined the term "Cargo Cult science" to refer to literary speculation that tries to steal the authority of the physical sciences by using some of their vocabulary and format. Much the same relationship holds between such enterprises as the Jesus Seminar and the methods of serious historians." (John J. Reilly) I couldnÕt agree more, but having said this, the question is still legitimate to ask, who this guy might have been, who affected the course of history in so many ways, mostly unintended no doubt, but still as a catalyst and operative agent who set events in motion? Two answers seem possible: the ÒguyÓ was the fellow who invented the tale, and if we take it from there we look perhaps at a person known as St. John (- but I know I am at odds here with the majority of scholars, including Bultmann, who maintain that John was too late for that.) Or there was really a Jesus slouching about in bast sandals. If so, one has to admit it was one of the best kept secrets in the decades after his death. I shall leave it by that and recommend (I, of all people) a book of consummate New Testament scholarship: BultmannÕs classical ÔTheology of the New Testament.Ò BultmannÕs magisterial tome is the academic sum of a lifetime, continually revised and expanded with every new edition. What he was trying to do, was give an exposition of the teachings in the New Testament, according to their chronological order and function in the canon. It would be easy to criticize this as a rather arbitrary arrangement because of the way the ÒcanonÓ originally had been assembled and separated from contemporaneous material that sometimes even had briefly enjoyed a place in the canon itself, before some or other Church council omitted it or condemned it to the limbo of ÒhereticÓ writings. (Such as ÒThe Shepherd of Hermas,Ó or the ÒLetter of Barnabas.Ó) However Bultmann was not oblivious of the problem and quoted extensively from such sources. The premise of his book is of course that the canon took its shape the way it did for a reason and Bultmann has set out to explore and interpret this reason. But in order to do so, he also tries to establish a credible context. And this context means a gradual evolution through different stages of the Òkerygma,Ó the ÒproclamationÓ of Christ. So from a hypothetical inner circle we move on to the earliest community in Jerusalem, then to Paul, to the Hellenistic Churches in the Diasporah, then to John, and the other apostolic letters as far as they influenced ecclesiastic organization and set legal precedents for the early Church(es). Fundamentalists will be in for a disappointment: their favorite read, the Apocalypse, is mentioned only in passing. And historians will be disappointed too. Bultmann gives us a very thorough interpretation of the unfolding teaching in the New Testament, but the attentive reader has to elicit the historical context himself. If that is so Ð what could all this possibly tell us about the historical Jesus? Well, try seeing it in the reverse: if all those developments of the ÒkerygmaÓ had indeed been developments away from an initial message, or at least expanded on it, then we see here a sort of pointing arrow, or conduit, that funnels us back to a not completely invisible point of departure. Bultmann even gleaned a whole set of sayings from the synoptic texts that seem to warrant a special status, because they fit badly into later developments. But the reader attempting to discover the ÒtrueÓ Jesus in this collection better braces himself for yet an other disappointment. Because not only will he find nothing particular divine in these snippets, it will hit him as a wave of hysterical outbursts by a mouth frothing fanatic, which in itself sounds about right, but hardly gives the impression Bultmann may have intended. Thumbs up for honesty. Bultmann is one of those academic events, who like Mommsen for Roman history, or W.E.H. Lecky for religious history, not only laid once and for all the foundation, but almost left nothing more to be done for later generations. The reason, that their names have become less familiar with the wider public has something to do with the fact that subsequent generations of academics try to make a living on thoroughly plowed ground. But only in rare instances, in fact none I am aware of, do they manage to come up with something radically new. Of course there is still plenty of detail to discover, but it really belongs into an appendix to the work of the aforementioned giants. Perhaps I am just getting old, and lose my capacity for being surprised, but for now I must say, I have seen it all. For example the debate over JesusÕ historicity goes back to 1912 and even farther, when a certain Arthur Drews proposed that Christianity as a religion would actually be much better off with a mythical Christ than a disappointingly mundane fellow in the flesh. Bultmann used to evade such debates, but actually never wrote on anything else but the ÒproclaimedÓ Christ, though in a much better informed fashion and thoroughly familiar with every snippet of primary source available, which has earned him his reputation across the creeds. (In fact in his younger, more outspoken days, he was quite capable to deny any knowledge of JesusÕs historicity.) Taken for what the book is meant to be, it is still the most comprehensive gathering of facts on the subject, and recommended for reference.

Theology of the New Testament by Rudolf Bultmann
It is a good book and as always, I enjoy buying with Amazon because with them I am sure and there is security for my purchases.