Page "religion" Paragraph 15

The statement is often made that when Bultmann argues in this way, he `` overestimates the intellectual stumbling-block which myth is supposed to put in the way of accepting the Christian faith ''.

But this statement is completely unconvincing.

If Bultmann's own definition of myth is strictly adhered to ( and it is interesting that this is almost never done by those who make such pronouncements ), the evidence is overwhelming that he does not at all exaggerate the extent to which the mythological concepts of traditional theology have become incredible and irrelevant.

Nor is it necessary to look for such evidence in the great urban centers of our culture that are admittedly almost entirely secularized and so profoundly estranged from the conventional forms in which the gospel has been communicated.

On the contrary, even in the heart of `` the Bible belt '' itself, as can be attested by any one who is called to work there, the industrial and technological revolutions have long been under way, together with the corresponding changes in man's picture of himself and his world.