By Schubert Ogden
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Bultmann also says in the same context that "the texts that most nearly lend themselves to such questioning are the texts of philosophy and religion and literature. But in principle all texts (like history in general) can be subjected to it" (83). Elsewhere, he takes for granted that "the appropriate question with respect to \[_sc_. interpretation of\] the Bible \-\- at least within the church \-\- is the question about human existence, which is a question I am driven to ask by the existential question about my own existence. This is a question that finally motivates questioning and interpreting historical documents generally; for, in the last analysis, the point of studying history is to become conscious from it of the possibilities for understanding human existence. Of course," Bultmann adds, "there is yet another reason why this is the question with which I especially turn to the Bible. It lies in the fact (which for any merely profane interest is accidental) that the proclamation of the church refers me to scripture as the place where I will hear something decisive about my existence" (106). |
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6. Of course, any (present or prospective) adherent of a specific religion, and also any theologian of a specific religion, has a further reason for questioning and interpreting the normative witness of her or his religion by asking, above all, the existentialist question – -- namely, because the whole point of the normative witness of a religion is to say something (formally or substantially) decisive about the existence of its (present or prospective) adherents as well as all other human beings.
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As for the difference between the two questions, the existential question is exactly that – -- existential, whereas the existentialist question is intellectual. This means, among other things, I submit, that pursuing it is in effect playing a certain role, or performing a certain office. Pursuing the existential question, on the other hand, is something one does, not in any role or office, but solely and simply as a person, because one is a human being.
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