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Bultmann argues: Thc Eastcr

The Easter faith of thc the first disci pies in not a fact on thc ground of which wc bclieve we believe insofar as it could relieve us of the risk of such faith but itsclf bclongs itself belongs to the cschatological occurrcnCe eschatological occurrence that is thc the object of faith.In other words, thc the word of proclamation that arises in the event of Easter itsel f itself belongs to the eschatological salvation occurrenccoccurrence. With the judging and liberating death of Christ, Cod has also established the 'ministry of reconciliation' and/or thc 'word of reconciliation' (2 Cor 5:1819).Just as the word and the apostle who preaches it belong to thc eschatological occurrcnce, so also does the church in which the word continucs to bc proclaimed and within which bclievers gather as those who are 'holy; that is, as those who have made the transition to eschatological existence. 'Church'

Just as he in whom Cod presently acts, through whom Cod has nxoncilcd the world, is a real historical human bCing, so the word of Cod is not the mysterious word of some oracle but sobcr proclamation of thc person and destiny ofJesus of Nazareth in their significance as history of salvation. As such

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All of these claims are a 'scandal' It is this word that is 'added' to the cross and makes it understandable as thc salvation occurrence by dcmanding faith, putting to each of us the question whether we arc willing to understand oursclves as crucified with Christ and as thereby also risen with him. In the sounding forth of the word, cross and resurrection become present and the eschatological now takes place. The eschatological promise of Isa. 49:8 is fulfilled: 'Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation' (2 Cor 6:2).... And of the sermon that preachcs Christ, the word of the Johannine Jcsus holds good: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hcars my word and bclicves him who sent me, has cternal life; he does not come into judgmcnt, but has passed from death to life.... The hour is corning und now is whcn the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Cod and those who hear will Jive' an 5:24-25). In the preached word, and only in it, is the risen one to be encountered. Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comcs by the preaching of Christ' (Rom 10:17). (£KKAlloLU.)

Just as the word and the apostle who preaches it belong to thc eschatological occurrcnce, so also does the church in which the word continucs to bc proclaimed and within which bclievers gather as those who are 'holy; that is, as those who have made the transition to eschatological existence, 'Church' is an eschatological concept, and whcn it is called thc 'body of Christ,' this is to express its 'cosmic' meaning: it is not a historical phcnomenon in the sense of world history but in the sense that it is in history that it is realized.... 

Just as he in whom Cod presently acts, through whom Cod has nxoncilcd the world, is a real historical human bCing, so the word of Cod is not the mysterious word of some oracle but sobcr proclamation of thc person and destiny ofJesus of Nazareth in their significance as history of salvation. As such it can be undcrstood as a phenomenon of intellectual history and, with respect to its content of ideas, it is a possible world view; and yct this proclamation makes thc claim to be the eschatological word of Cod.God.

The preacherspreach(~rs, the apostles, are human beings who can be understood historically in their humanity. The church is a historical sociological phcnomenon whose history can be undcrstood historically as a part of the history of culture. And yet they are all eschatological phenomena, eschatological occurrence.

All of these claims are a 'scandal'  (uKCtvouAov) that is not to be overcome in philosophical dialogue but only in obcdient faith. Thcy arc all phenomena that are subject to historical, sociologiculsociological, and _psychological examination, and yet for faith they are all eschatological phenomena_(Nl'M:_ 40 ff.). It My analysis, on the other hand, takes two forms. One of them analyzes what could be ca1led the "constitutive factors" of a religion, including the Christian religion, given my insight that "the constitution of a religion has a threefold structure determined by two correlations. First, there is the correlation betweenThe other form my analysis takes analyzes the correlation between a religion'sis clear from this passage, I beheve, that Bultmann's analysis of "the eschatological occurrence," like the closely convergent analyses, in their different ways, of Marxsen and Knox, exactly parallels my analysis of the constitution of any religion, and therefore also of Christianity. Bultmann's analysis depends on identifying all the things that, as he puts it, "belong to" the occurrence. In addition to "the saving act of God," without which the occurrence neither would nor could be, properly, "eschatological," there are "the person and destiny of Jesus of Nazareth," "the Easter faith of the first disciples," "the word of proclamation that arises in the event of Easter," "the preachers, the apostles," who preach the word (these last two being summarily referred to by Paul as the "word of reconciliation" and the "ministry of reconciJiation"), and "the church in which the word continues to be proclaimed, and within which believers gather as those who are 'holy,' that is, as those who have made the transition to eschatological existence." 

My analysis, on the other hand, takes two forms. One of them analyzes what could be ca1led the "constitutive factors" of a religion, including the Christian religion, given my insight that "the constitution of a religion has a threefold structure determined by two correlations. First, there is the correlation between the tlte religious object and tile religious subject; and, second, there is the correlation involved in the religious object itself between its tnlllscelldelltal aspect and its historical aspect.

The other form my analysis takes analyzes the correlation between a religion's explicit primal source ofautllority and its primary authority. Allowing, as I do, that a religion's primary authority-which is to say, its earliest, original and originating, and therefore constitutive witness--has the same two aspects that any witness has, i.e., is an act as wen as an explication of a contellt _(or, in Paul's terms, a "ministry" mediating a word as weB well as _borne, and of the witness the church bears-as well as, of course, by impJication, the secondary authorities that the primary authority in turn authorizes.

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