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Bultmann argues:

The Easter Thc Eastcr faith of thc the first disci pies disciples in not a fact on thc the 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 God has also established the 'ministry of reconciliation' and/or thc the '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

The

All of these claims are a 'scandal'18-19). It is this word that is 'added' to the cross and makes it understandable as thc the salvation occurrence by dcmanding demanding faith, putting to each of us the question whether we arc willing to understand oursclves ourselves 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 preaches Christ, the word of the Johannine Jcsus Jesus holds good: 'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hcars hears my word and bclicves believes him who sent me, has cternal eternal life; he does not come into judgmcntjudgment, but has passed from death to life.... The hour is corning und and now is whcn when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Cod God 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 comes by the preaching of Christ' (Rom 10:17). (£KKAlloLU.)

Just as the word and the apostle who preaches it belong to the eschatological occurrence, so also does 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, 'Church' is an eschatological concept, and whcn when it is called thc the 'body of Christ,' this is to express its 'cosmic' meaning: it is not a historical phcnomenon phenomenon in the sense of world history but in the sense that it is in history that it is realized.... 

Just as he in whom God presently acts, through whom God has reconciled the world, is a real historical human being, so the word of Cod is not the mysterious word of some oracle but sober proclamation of the person and destiny of Jesus of Nazareth in their significance as history of salvation. As such it can be undcrstood understood as a phenomenon of intellectual history and, with respect to its content of ideas, it is a possible world view; and yct yet this proclamation makes thc the 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 phenomenon whose history can be undcrstood understood 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' (σκανδαλον(uKCtvouAov) that is not to be overcome in philosophical dialogue but only in obcdient obedient faith. Thcy They arc all phenomena that are subject to historical, sociologiculsociological, and and psychological examination, and yet for faith they are all eschatological phenomena_(NlN'l'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 between

It The other form my analysis takes analyzes the correlation between a religion's is clear from this passage, I behevebelieve, 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 reconciJiationreconciliation"), 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." tlte religious object and  

My analysis, on the other hand, takes two forms. One of them analyzes what could be called 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 religious object_ and the tile religious subject; and, second, there is the correlation involved in the religious object itself between its tnlllscelldelltal transcendental aspect and its historical aspect.

The other form my analysis takes analyzes the correlation between a religion's explicit primal source ofautllorityof authority and its primary authority. Allowing, as I do, that a religion's primary authority-which 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 content (or, in Paul's terms, a "ministry" mediating a word as well as weB as  borne, and of the witness the church bears-as bears—as well as, of course, by impJicationimplication, the secondary authorities that the primary authority in turn authorizes.

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