Myth in the New Testament

the long version

The aim of this small book is to introduce English-speaking readers to a controversy which has already proved fruitful in German theology. The controversy is still very much a live one, and I have attempted to present it as such. That is to say, I have attempted to define the various standpoints rather than to decide between them. The Entmythologisierung controversy arose in Germany during the Second World War. The word Entmythologisierung is best translated "demythologising" and, as it suggests, the thesis of Bultmann is that something has to be done with what he calls the mythology of the New Testament. As long as this is taken at its face value as literally true, Christianity remains meaningless to modern man. - p. 7-9.