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It seems ever clearer to me that probably the most valuable thing about Bultmann's philosophy of religion, or philosophical theology, is his distinction between existential and existentialist understanding – -- together with his closely parallel analysis of the two levels of so-called objectifying thinking and speaking. By reason of this distinction, Bultmann could make clear, as Herrmann hardly could, that, while faith is not a world view, it nevertheless implies a world view. To this extent, Bultmann could come closer than anyone before him to achieving a successful synthesis of the legitimate intentions of Troeltsch with those of Herrmann. (In fact, a close reading of Bultmann confirms that there is little, if anything, in Troeltsch's historical-critical understanding of religions and his program of comparing and evaluating them philosophically that Bultmann doesn't accept as entirely valid and important.)

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