Demythologization as a
hermeneutic
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication.
...
approach to religious texts seeks to separate or recover
cosmological
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
,
sociological
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...
and historic claims from philosophical, ethical and theological teachings. Mostly applied to
biblical texts, demythologization often overlaps with
philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
,
biblical criticism
Modern Biblical criticism (as opposed to pre-Modern criticism) is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical c ...
and
form criticism. The term ''demythologization'' (in German: ''
Entmythologisierung'') was introduced by
Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Karl Bultmann (; ; 20 August 1884 – 30 July 1976) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early 20th-century biblical studies. A prominent c ...
(1884–1976) in
existential
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...
context,
[Rudolf Bultmann, ''New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings'' (1984), p.4] but the concept has earlier precedents.
Spinoza's hermeneutic approach to scripture

In his 1677 ''
Theologico-Political Treatise'',
Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
argues that any event in scripture which is inconsistent with
natural law
Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...
s must be interpreted either as unreliable testimony or as a metaphorical or
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...
representation of a moral teaching. Because the masses are "wholly ignorant of the workings of nature", they are prone to interpret any natural event they cannot explain as a miracle, and this "ridiculous way of expressing ignorance" often finds its way into scripture. Scripture aims not at narrating things in terms of their natural causes, but rather at exciting the "popular imagination" to "impress the minds of the masses with devotion."
Therefore it speaks inaccurately of God and of events, seeing that its object is not to convince the reason, but to attract and lay hold of the imagination. If the Bible were to describe the destruction of an empire in the style of political historians, the masses would remain unstirred.
To correctly interpret scripture we must understand the opinions and judgments of the ancients and learn common "Jewish phrases and metaphors." Otherwise we will be prone to "confound actual events with symbolical and imaginary ones."
Many things are narrated in Scripture as real, and were believed to be real, which were in fact only symbolical and imaginary.
Kant's ''Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone''
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
's 1793 ''
Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone'' argues that the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
teaches a hermeneutic strategy in which "not scriptural scholarship but the pure religion of reason must be the law's interpreter."
esus
Esus is a Celtic god known from iconographic, epigraphic, and literary sources.
The 1st-century CE Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Esus, Taranis, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare mention of Cel ...
claims that not the observance of outer civil or statutory churchly duties but the pure moral disposition of the heart alone can make man well-pleasing to God (Mt 5:20–48); that injury done one's neighbor can be repaired only through satisfaction rendered to the neighbor himself, not through acts of divine worship (Mt 5:24). Thus, he says, does he intend to do full justice to the Jewish law (Mt 5:17); whence it is obvious that not scriptural scholarship but the pure religion of reason must be the law's interpreter, for taken according to the letter, it allowed the very opposite of all this.
Kant understood the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; ) were a Jews, Jewish social movement and school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. Following the Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70), destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became ...
to have interpreted the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
as a statutory religion, and he claims that the New Testament intends to replace statutory religion with a "moral religion," which combines all duties into a single universal rule, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Whatever, over and above good life-conduct, man fancies that he can do to become well-pleasing to God is mere religious delusion.
Such delusions, Kant argues, must be abandoned to fulfill the New Testament's demand for a rational religion.
Hans Jonas's analysis of Gnosticism
Hans Jonas (1903-1993) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
-
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
philosopher, whose studies were supervised by
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...
and
Rudolph Bultmann (see below). Graduating in 1929, the topic of his
doctoral dissertation
A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
was the concept of (
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
)
Gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge ( γνῶσις, ''gnōsis'', f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where ...
, based at large on the demythologization of
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
myths.
[Sariel, Aviram.]
Jonasian Gnosticism
" Harvard Theological Review 116.1 (2023)[Diem, Hermann. ''Dogmatics,'' Oliver and Boyd, London 1959, pp.25-29.] He published a revised version of his dissertation in two volumes. The first volume, titled ''Gnosis und spätantiker Geist I: Die mythologische Gnosis'' (''Gnosis and the spirit of late antiquity I: The Mythological Gnosis''), was published in 1934, and focused on a relatively direct application of Jonas's
phenomenological analysis of Gnostic qua
phenomena
A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...
. Due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the
theoretical
A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
part was published in late 1954, as ''Gnosis und spätantiker Geist II: Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philosophie'' (''From Mythology to Mystic Philosophy''). Thus, Jonas's contributions to demythologization were available for a select few scholars as of 1929 (including Bultmann and
Scholem, Jonas's personal friend), but were published later than their seminal works during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Bultmann's ''New Testament and Mythology''
The German theologian
Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Karl Bultmann (; ; 20 August 1884 – 30 July 1976) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early 20th-century biblical studies. A prominent c ...
argues in his 1941 ''
New Testament and Mythology'' that it is no longer plausible to demand that Christians accept the "mythical world picture" of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
.
We cannot use electric lights and radios and, in the event of illness, avail ourselves of modern medical and clinical means and at the same time believe in the spirit and wonder world of the New Testament.
To interpret New Testament mythology in cosmological terms, as a description of the universe, is not plausible. This interpretation must be superseded by an
anthropological
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, wh ...
interpretation that "discloses the truth of the
kerygma as kerygma for those who do not think mythologically."
[p. 14]Can the Christian proclamation today expect men and women to acknowledge the mythical world picture as true? To do so would be both pointless and impossible. It would be pointless because there is nothing specifically Christian about the mythical world picture, which is simply the world picture of a time now past which was not yet formed by scientific thinking. It would be impossible because no one can appropriate a world picture by sheer resolve, since it is already given with one's historical situation.
See also
*
Biblical criticism
Modern Biblical criticism (as opposed to pre-Modern criticism) is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical c ...
*
Christian atheism
*
Death of God theology
*
Euhemerism
In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histo ...
References
External links
*
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