Der Sinn des Mythos in Theologie und Hermeneutik
by Udo Schnelle
German description: In seinem neuen Buch stellt der international anerkannte Exeget Udo Schnelle das Mythos-Verstandnis von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart dar. Er sieht im Mythos nicht eine uberholte, sondern eine sachgemasse Form des Redens von Gott und dem Gottlichen. Von Gott kann man nur in Bildern, Metaphern und Symbolen, vor allem aber in der Form des Mythos als sinnstiftender Erzahlung reden. Mythen sind Grundgeschichten, die das Leben ordnen und Orientierung stiften. Der wirkmachtige Mythos bewahrt ein Mehr an Erkenntnis und Emotionalitat, das uber seine zeitbedingten Interpretationen hinausgeht. Er nimmt die Offenheit und Unabgeschlossenheit der Wirklichkeit ernst und ist offen fur Gottes Wirken in der Welt. Bultmanns Klassifizierung des Mythos als inadaquate Redeweise verfehlt dessen Wesen und Funktion; der Mythos ist als sinnbildende Erzahlung sachgemass und zugleich unverzichtbar; nicht nur in der Theologie, sondern auch in der Hermeneutik. So wie Geschichte nicht entgeschichtlicht und Poesie nicht entpoetisiert werden kann, so kann auch der fruhchristliche Mythos vom Leben, Sterben und der Auferstehung des Gottessohnes Jesus Christus nicht entmythologisiert werden. Er muss vielmehr unter der Voraussetzung eines positiven Mythos-Verstandnisses und den Bedingungen der neuzeitlichen, selbstkritischen Vernunft interpretiert werden. English summary: In his new book, the internationally renowned exegete Udo Schnelle outlines our understanding of myth from its beginnings to the present. He sees in myth an appropriate, and not outdated, form of speaking about God and the divine. One can speak of God only in images, metaphors and symbols, but above all in the form of myth as a meaning-giving narrative. Myths are fundamental stories that give order to life and provide orientation. A powerful myth preserves a surplus of knowledge and emotionality that goes beyond its temporal interpretations. It takes seriously the openness and incompleteness of reality and is open to God’s work in the world. Bultmann’s classification of myth as an inadequate way of speaking misses the essence and function of myth. Myth, as a narrative that creates meaning, is appropriate and at the same time indispensable – not only in theology, but also in hermeneutics. Just as history cannot be de-historicized and poetry de-poetized, so too the early Christian myth of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God Jesus Christ cannot be demythologized. Rather, it must be interpreted on the premise of a positive understanding of myth and the conditions of modern, self-critical reason.
- By (author) Udo Schnelle
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Connecting Polemic in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Correspondence of Leo III and ʿUmar II
Volume 6
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Creating the Woman in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 16th Melammu Workshop, Innsbruck, 2–3 June 2022
Volume 13
Cultic Kisses
Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
De/colonizing Theologies
Glocal Histories, Contemporary Challenges, Theoretical Reflections
Volume 4
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Gender and Iconography in Antiquity
Femininities, Masculinities, Ambiguities, and Beyond in the Ancient Levant, Near East, and Mediterranean
Hoghe minne es deen vor dander
Essays on the Christian Mystical Tradition in Honour of Rob Faesen SJ
Volume 122
International Comparison and Transfer in Religious Education
The Projects “RE at Schools in Europe” and “International Knowledge Transfer” in Dialogue
Isaiah in the Fourth Gospel
Use of the Citations of Isaiah in John’s Gospel in Comparison to the Synoptics and Other Places in the New Testament