Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Thus, according to Bultmann, God, through Jesus'
death, offers man salvation from himself. To be
consistent with his demythologizing perspective, Bultmann
could not emphasize the objectivity of God's act in
salvation. He viewed all doctrinal statements describing
events which originate in a source outside the visible
world as mythological statements. And, in any event, all
events of past history remain merely cold data until
contemporary man recognizes and responds to their
significance.
The question now is How can this occurrence be
recognized and experienced by man as the deed
of_grace? For only then can it take effect as
a compelling and transforming power, when it
can be understood as directed at man, reaching
him, happening to him--i.e. when the challenge
to accept it as salvation-occurrence thrusts
him into genuine decision.
On the matter of the atonement, a large theological
gap separates the four theologians just discussed from
the three to follow. For the first four, the salvation
of men required Jesus' death on the cross. The remaining
three, while cherishing the cross as an expression of
God's love, do not feel it essential to man's
wholeness. 1 ° This statement from Paul Tillich
summarizes their thought.
All this is manifest through the picture of
Jesus the Crucified. God's acceptance of the
unacceptable, God's participation in man's
estrangement, and his victory over the
ambiguity of good and evil appear in a unique,
definite, and transforming way in him. It
appears in him, but it is not caused by him.
The cause is God and God alone.11
The infinity of God's Being (Love), without the added