Rhetoric Society Quarterly Sep 2000

Vico and Bultmann on myth: The problem with demythologizing

A. J. Grant Robert Morris University Illinois

Abstract

Abstract Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), an early Enlightenment critic of Cartesianism, on one hand, demystifies the origin and nature of myths, while Bultmann (1884–1976), a late modernist theologian, on the other, engages in a full‐blown program of demythologizing. Vico subjects myth to analysis and scrutiny, but finds lasting value in the big stories whereas Bultmann, informed by a developmental view of history and a positivistic epistemology, finds little of value in the Christian Myth, apart from an existential encounter with God. Vico sees a clear connection among the imagination, metaphor, myth and critical method, but Bultmann, uses formgeschichte (form criticism) to expurgate the NT of myth.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2000-09-01
DOI
10.1080/02773940009391188
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