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Historical Jesus: New Testament
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Rudolf Bultmann, for example, argued that the historical Jesus was irrelevant for Christian faith and life. Bultmann tried to communicate the Christian message to twentieth-century persons, so he “demythologized” the language of the New Testament by interpreting it as a concern for “authentic” existence. Bultmann was indebted to the existentialist philosophy of Martin Heidegger, but whereas Heidegger saw authentic existence as a resolute decision to live life more authentically in light of the inescapable reality of death, Bultmann envisioned authentic existence as a response of faith to an encounter with the Word of God. This faith... is not in the historical Jesus; it is an individual’s positive response to the church’s kerygma (proclamation) of Jesus as the Christ.
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The real, historical Jesus turns out to have been a sort of itinerant, social critic, the Jewish equivalent of a Greek cynic philosopher. He never claimed to be the Son of God or to forgive sins or to inaugurate a new covenant between God and man. His crucifixion was an accident of history; his corpse was probably thrown into a shallow dirt grave where it rotted away or was eaten by wild dogs.
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This perspective is a historical one. No surprise there. Gingrich has a vast knowledge of history. Part of that history is the disdain many conservatives had -- or still have -- for FDR's New Deal, with its many public-works programs designed less to accomplish public tasks than to put money in people's pockets. But Gingrich believes a similar plan in Iraq would be a critical adjunct to purely military efforts.
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