Nature of Belief: Revelation: Alternate views

Question 1

Barth’s view

Answer 1

• Responding to Adolf Von Harnack who argued for NT
• ‘Nein’ to NT as we are fallible and it is too anthropocentric
• rejects combining faith with reason as this leads to a different view of God to that of the Bible
• God can only be revealed through Jesus Christ as he is the “living Word” of God
• The Bible merely points us towards the word of God but it is not identical to it

Question 2

Bultmann’s view

Answer 2

• we need to “demythologise” the Bible by abstracting the kerygmatic core/essential meaning from theological expression
• the precise expression of scripture should not be allowed to distract from its existential meaning

Question 3

Tillich’s view

Answer 3

• The Bible is symbolic language pointing you in a direction towards God
• Scripture is a repository of symbols which contain the ‘answers’ to life’s existential questions