Bultmann notoriously claimed that no one who switches on an electric light or uses the cutting edge technology of the “wireless” can believe in a world of demons and angels. That’s not much of an argument, but insofar as it is one, it seems to be: Electric lights show that humans can control the world; if angels and demons exist, human beings are impotent pawns of invisible powers; the electric light therefore disproves the mythological world of the NT.
But what if ancient peoples really were powerless before invisible powers? What if ancient peoples really couldn’t control the universe? What if, prior to Jesus, everyone really was under guardians and managers, elementary principles and angelic rulers? What if God kept us safely under tutors while we were children, waiting for the time when he would give us our inheritance? What if the Father sent the Son to make us sons, to restore us to Adamic dominion?
In short: What if God, not Bultmann, is the One who “demythologized” the world?
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
