Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Reason alone would never brina one to an eschatological
event. Bultmann recognized this "paradox" of
preaching, yet he did not consider this "a weakness of
faith . . .[,but] its true strength.""' It leaves God
at the level of transcendence, where he rightfully
belongs. Thus, at the conclusion of his essay, "New
Testament and Mythology," in which he described both the
need of demythologizing the New Testament and the message
of 'salvation' that emerged from the process, Bultmann
wrote,
All these assertions are an offense
(skandalon), which will not be removed by
philosophical discussion, but only by faith and
obedience. All these are phenomena subject to
historical, sociological, and psychological
observation, yet for faith they are all of them
eschatological phenomena. It is precisely its
immunity from proof which secures the Christian
proclamation against the charge of being
mythological. The transcendence of God is not
as in myth reduced to immanence. Instead, we
have the paradox of a transcendent God present
and active in history: 'The Word became
flesh'.'
If God remains exclusively transcendent, how do men
come to know him? How can anyone know he exists? There
is no proof. Man must have faith. Yet, "the fact that
God cannot be seen or apprehended apart from faith does
not mean that He does not exist apart from faith.".1'2
In order to live authentically, man must believe that he
does, in fact, encounter God in the preached Word.7.5
Bultmann admitted that speech pertaining to God, and
particularly to God in action, retains "a mythological
residue," reminding us that talk of God is