The Individual and Community in Twentieth- and Twenty-first-Century Pauline Scholarship
Rudolf Bultmann’s existential approach to New Testament theology found many supporters in the twentieth century. It also provoked a forceful response from his student Ernst Käsemann, who insisted that Bultmann’s individualizing interpretation, especially of Paul, was defective on exegetical, theolog...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2010
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| In: |
Currents in biblical research
Year: 2010, Volume: 9, Issue: 1, Pages: 63-97 |
| Further subjects: | B
Apostle Paul
B Individual B Bultmann B Käsemann B Community |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | Rudolf Bultmann’s existential approach to New Testament theology found many supporters in the twentieth century. It also provoked a forceful response from his student Ernst Käsemann, who insisted that Bultmann’s individualizing interpretation, especially of Paul, was defective on exegetical, theological and philosophical grounds, because it ignored Paul’s cosmic and communal theology. The debate between these two scholars has been furthered quite vigorously in subsequent Pauline scholarship. Most scholars have followed Käsemann’s lead (directly or not) in reading Paul in a comprehensively, and, often, exclusively communal fashion. However, recent voices have questioned whether the communal reaction against Bultmannian existentialism may be one-sided, and may obscure other, equally important facets of Paul’s thought. This article surveys the debate between Bultmann and Käsemann, and the trajectories it has taken since, with special attention directed towards the most pressing interpretive issues related to the place of the individual and community in Pauline thought. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5200 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Currents in biblical research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/1476993X10362859 |