'''Rudolph Bultmann''' (allemand de tradition Marburg avant de devenir lui-même professeur d'études néo-testamentaires à Marburg. C'est dans cette université qu'il marqua d'une profonde influence nombre d'étudiants en théologie et en philosophie, parmi lesquels Gerhard Krüger.

Il a développé  la « démythologisation » du Nouveau Testament en se fondant sur l'étude des genres littéraires (Formgeschichte) des récits composant les évangiles , soutenant que ces derniers ne sont pas contemporains à Jésus Christ. 

La ''démythologisation bultmanienne'', avec plus d’acuité que le désenchantement du monde formulé par Max Weber, et, actuellement, par Marcel Gauchet, rend compte de la situation du fait religieux au sein même de la post-modernité. Elle soumet aux méthodes de l’histoire la plus rigoureuse l’ensemble du corpus scriptural néo-testamentaire et ne fait commencer la théologie chrétienne qu’après cette critique. Une telle approche, indépendamment de tout présupposé confessionnel et même de toute lecture des textes croyante ou agnostique, réintègre le corpus chrétien à l’intérieur d’un savoir susceptible, tout comme un autre, d’une étude de nature scientifique.
=== Biographie ===
1895-1903   Humanités au Alte Gymnasium de Oldenburg. Il fut membre du club étudiant Camera Oscura
Après l'Abitur, il étudie la théologie à Tubingen. Il soutient sa thèse de Doctorat sur Paul en 1910 à Marburg. Deux ans plus tard, il y devient PrivatDozent, puis enseigne à Breslau à partir de 1921. Il revient enseigner à Marburg où il atteint l'éméritat en 1951.

=== Bibliographie ===
*''L'Histoire de la tradition synoptique'' (1921)
*''Neues Testament und Mythologie'' (1941)
*''Jésus, mythologie et démythologisation'' (1968)

==Liens connexes==
 [[Martin Heidegger |  [[Gerhard Krüger | Marburg |

'''Rudolf Karl Bultmann''' (German theologian of Lutheran background, who was for three decades professor of New Testament studies at the University of Marburg. He defined an almost complete split between history and faith, writing that only the bare fact of Christ crucified was necessary for Christian faith.<ref name ="Oxford">Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article ''Bultmann, Rudolf''</ref>

Bultmann was born in Oldenburg, the son of a Lutheran minister. He got an Tübingen. After three terms, Bultmann went to the University of Berlin for two terms, and finally at Marburg for two more terms. He received his degree in 1910 from Marburg with a dissertation on the Epistles of St Paul. After submitting a Habilitation two years later, he became a lecturer on the New Testament at Marburg. After brief lectureships at Breslau and Giessen, he returned to Marburg in 1921 as a full professor. He stayed there until his retirement in 1951.

His ''History of the Synoptic Tradition'' (1921) is still highly regarded as an essential tool for gospel research, even by scholars who reject his analyses of the conventional rhetorical tropes or narrative units of which the Gospels are assembled, and the historically-oriented principles called "form criticism," of which Bultmann has been the most influential exponent:

:"The aim of form-criticism is to determine the original form of a piece of narrative, a dominical saying or a parable. In the process we learn to distinguish secondary additions and forms, and these in turn lead to important results for the history of the tradition." 

In 1941, he applied form criticism to the ''research into the historical Jesus. The same year his lecture ''New Testament and Mythology: The Problem of Demythologizing the New Testament Message''  called   on interpreters to replace traditional theology with the philosophy of Bultmann's colleague, Martin Heidegger, an endeavor to make accessible to a literate modern audience the reality of Jesus' teachings. Bultmann remained convinced the narratives of the life of Jesus were offering theology in story form. Lessons were taught in the familiar language of myth. They were not to be excluded, but given explanation so they could be understood for today. Bultmann thought faith should become a present day reality. To Bultmann, the people of the world appeared to be always in disappointment and turmoil. Faith must be a determined vital act of will, not a culling and extolling of "ancient proofs."

He carried form-criticism so far as to call the historical value of the gospels into serious question.<ref name ="Oxford"/> Some scholars criticized Bultmann and other critics for excessive skepticism regarding the historical reliability of the gospel narratives. The full impact of Bultmann was not felt until the English publication of ''Kerygma and Mythos'' (1948).

Bultmann was a student of Hermann Gunkel, Johannes Weiss, and Wilhelm Heitmüller.<ref name ="Oxford"/> Ernst Käsemann, Günther Bornkamm, Hannah Arendt and Helmut Koester were among his students. 

He was member of the Confessing Church and critical towards National Socialism. He spoke out against the mistreatment of Jews, against nationalistic excesses and against the dismissal of non-Aryan Christian ministers.<ref>
{{Cite book
| publisher = Routledge
| isbn = 0415154022
| pages = 155-156
| last = Kelley
| first = Shawn
| title = Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship
| date = 2002
}}
</ref>