Evaluating Rudolf Bultmann’s Eschatology in Christian Theology

After the outbreak of the two world wars and the creation of the Nazi state in Germany in the twentieth century, Christians could no longer hope for the fulfillment of Christian hope here on earth. By demythologizing the doctrine of eschatology, Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) offers an existentialist reading of this doctrine that reconciles Christian faith and reason and provides an answer to this theological dilemma. In this study, the issue of Rudolf Bultmann’s eschatology in Christian theology is evaluated in light of three of his works, namely New Testament theology (1951), History and eschatology: The presence of eternity (1957), and Jesus Christ and mythology (1958). The basis of Bultmann’s eschatology lies in demythologization and existential theology. As Bultmann presents his theory, he emphasizes that demythologization does not mean a rational explanation of the Bible’s teachings but rather the release of God’s message from New Testament myths. Based on the historical critique movement, he saw the Christian eschatology as influenced by Gnostic, Stoic, Persian, and Jewish stories of salvation. Bultmann believed that ‘the eschaton’ was a mythical concept. In the same way that God’s transcendence has been expressed through the myth of ‘high spaces’, it has also been expressed through the myth of ‘end times’. Therefore, He is so sublime that we cannot attain Him until the end of time. According to Bultmann, the demythologization of the doctrine of eschatology began with Paul’s view, and more specifically with John’s, with two components. ‘Spirituality’, which holds that we can be under the grace of God in the present while experiencing eternity at the same time; ‘dialectic of present and future’, that is, the present is intertwined with the future. As God’s kingdom is realized in the present, , the domination of His purposes on earth will be realized in the future. The first step Bultmann took in demythologizing the doctrine of eschatology allowed him to present his reading of it in the next step, drawing on the philosophy of existentialism. Bultmann believes that history has enormous significance for eschatology. He contrasts two views of history: the first is historicism, ‘historisch’, in which future events are reduced to predictable, determined events. The second is Bultmann’s pseudo-history, ‘geschichtlich’, which signifies the narrator’s own worldview on history. Such view of history leads Bultmann to the critical point that “life decisions do not have a historical determination, although they have historical consequences”. A person’s existence is contingent on his present decision, and acceptance of this fact requires embracing the paradox of the Christian faith. On the one hand, a Christian believer has passed through his past (old soul) with his faith. On the other hand, the believer in Christ is still surrounded by the past because he has not yet been saved and is waiting. Man is unhappy with his present circumstances, and the gap between possibility (the future) and the present causes him implicit sorrow and anxiety. If he loses sight of his distance from the world, he will seek self-centered (and, of course, impossible) security instead of truth. Bultmann believes that the only way to overcome insurmountable anxiety is to realize authentic existence, and this can only be achieved through Divine mercy. Eschaton is the realization of this authentic existence. Authentic existence in its faith finds a transhistorical perspective and transcends the material insecurity of the world. In Bultmann’s eschatology, faith precedes the eschaton, and eschaton creates the Christian faith. This interconnection is the dialectical relationship between faith and eschaton. After World War II, Bultmann played an irrefutable role in the transformation of Christian eschatology, and his eschatology could serve as a frame for the reconstruction of Christian faith and eschatology within modern categories. Nevertheless, in three respects, his eschatology is reductionist. First, it is human-centered and establishes an ontological distinction between ‘nature’ and ‘man’. In practice, this degradation would undermine human responsibility towards nature. Second, this eschatology is individualistic and ignores those who suffer collectively, especially the oppressed classes. God, faith, and eschaton are ‘personalized’, according to Bultmann, and there is no such thing as a ‘universal God’ or ‘universal salvation’, Third, his personal eschatology is an existentialist hope that ignores the limitations of the human body and, in particular, the classical issue of Christian eschatology, namely, the hope of life after death.