By Schubert Ogden
The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden
It seems clear enough from at least some of his statements (e.g., GV 2: 143) that what Bultmann means in disavowing speaking as an apologist for the Christian faith is not what I mean by attempting to carry out the apologetic task of Christian theology.
What he means is trying to recommend or support the decision of Christian faith on grounds that are logically irrelevant to accepting or rejecting its claim. Thus he is rejecting what he means by his pejorative use of "apologist" and its cognates when he says in one of his sermons, "We do not look back to the birth of Christ as to the birth of a great man, to whom the world or some people is indebted for the disclosure of new powers of life and new goods of life, new knowledge or new ideals," etc.
In this, of course, he is largely following Kierkegaard's way of arguing against a false apologetics.
December 2001
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