878. Bultmann argues that, in showing...

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Bultmann argues that, in showing what Christian existence means, theology also has to show that "Glauben nur im Existieren wirklich ist und nicht als ein Für-Wahr-Halten von Lehren" (GV 3: 193).

But this seems to be the very point that Wittgenstein also wants to make about faith when he says that in giving us a historical report and saying, "Now believe!" Christianity is not asking us to believe with the faith proper to a historical report, but rather asking us to believe "through thick and thin" -- "und das kannst Du nur als Resultat eines Lebens" (VB: 67). In other words, a faith that is actual only in existing and not in holding doctrines to be true is one and the same with a faith that one can have only as the result of a life -- or, as one might perhaps better translate, only as the result of [a] living -- and therefore is not simply believing a historical report.

21 February 1996