Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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"analogical." Yet, "God's love and care, etc., are
not images or symbols; these conceptions mean real
experiences of God as acting here and now.".s
We thus return to a central focus of Bultmannian
thought, the 'here and now'. "It is not legitimate to
speak about God in general statements, in universal
truths which are valid without references to the concrete
existential position of the speaker."
7 We can speak
"only of what He is doing to us and with us."'-5e
As it is "not legitimate to speak about God in
general statements," neither is it valid to speak of past
encounter with God. (Bultmann recognized the
difficulties inherent in that statement, noting that all
talk of existential encounter with God necessarily
recounts past encounter. He finished one lecture,
saying, "Even this lecture is a speaking about God and as
such, if God is, it is sin."') Faith must always be
new. "The decision of faith is never final; it needs
constant renewal in every fresh situation."5°
Preaching must not center on past historical fact,
nor on man's hope of improving himself. "It [preaching]
is, by nature, personal address which accosts each
individual, throwing the person himself into question by
rendering his self-understanding problematic, and
demanding a decision of him."'" Preaching always
issues a call to faith.
Bultmann focussed almost exclusively on the purpose
of preaching (to speak the Word of God in order to bring