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Funk, for his part, however, typically proceeds as though to share his constructive understanding of Christian existence requires one to share his historical position on Christian origins and his theological position on the role of Jesus in normative Christian faith. This is clear from the way he typically reasons, conversely, as though the Rudolf Bultmann who did not share his positions on these questions could only have been engaged in the "rearguard action" of trying to salvage an incredible kerygma/creed. (At this point, Funk's argument reminds me of nothing so much as the way Bill Farmer sometimes used to argue for his solution to the synoptic problem, by trying to show that to acccept accept a progressive understanding of Christianity with respect to urgent issues of racism and social justice requires one to accept his solution to this problem -- and, conversely, that anyone not accepting his solution could only be an apologist, witting or unwitting, for a regressive form of Christian faith and witness!)

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