When and where was Rudolf Bultmann born?
Rudolf Karl Bultmann was born on the 20th of August 1884 in Wiefelstede, Oldenburg. His father Arthur Kennedy Bultmann served as a Lutheran minister.
Questions about Rudolf Bultmann
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who were the notable students of Rudolf Bultmann?
His doctoral students included Hans Jonas, Ernst Käsemann, Günther Bornkamm, Helmut Koester, and Ernst Fuchs. He also taught Hannah Arendt who would become a major political theorist.
What is the significance of Rudolf Bultmann's History of the Synoptic Tradition published in 1921?
The book remains highly influential as a tool for biblical research today. It defined form criticism as the process to determine the original form of narrative units or dominical sayings.
How did Rudolf Bultmann respond to Nazism during World War II?
Bultmann became critical of Nazism from the beginning of its rise to power and joined the Confessing Church movement that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi Reich Church. He particularly rejected the Aryan paragraph which disenfranchised racially Jewish people from civic organizations and clergy positions.
What was the main argument of Rudolf Bultmann's lecture New Testament and Mythology delivered in 1941?
He argued for replacing supernatural biblical interpretations with temporal and existential categorizations. Bultmann believed it was impossible to repristinate a past world picture by sheer resolve especially now that all thinking is formed by science.
When and where did Rudolf Bultmann die?
Rudolf Bultmann died on the 30th of July 1976 in Marburg after living quietly there following his retirement. His students developed two major movements within what became known as the Bultmann school.