Rudolf Bultmann
A Biography
by Konrad Hammann
Trans. Philip E. Devenish
Rudolf Bultmann was the giant of twentieth-century New Testament scholarship. His pioneering studies in biblical criticism shaped research on the composition of the gospels, and his call for “demythologizing” biblical language sparked debate among Christian theologians worldwide. This definitive biography—now in English for the first time—traces his career in Germany through the tumult of two world wars. Through richly drawn connections between events in his life and his theology, Hammann illuminates Bultmann’s contributions to biblical historical criticism and the changing role of religion in public life in Europe.
Konrad Hammann is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology and its Didactic in the Evangelical-Theological Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany. Born in 1955, he studied theology in Marburg, Tübingen, Munich and Göttingen. He held an academic assistantship in Munich from 1980 – 81 and a vicariate in Verden/Aller from 1981 – 83. He also served as a pastor in Schwalmstadt-Trutzhain from 1984 – 91, receiving his PhD in 1988. From 1991 – 2003, he served as pastor in Göttingen, completing his postdoctoral qualification at the University of Göttingen in 1998.
“Every section of this book is riveting … We are indebted to Konrad Hammann for this truly impressive biography, one that should be read by every-one preparing for and engaging in theological and pastoral work.”
—Word & World
“Deftly translated … An exhaustive masterpiece of biographical scholarship, Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography is a strongly recommended contribution to academic library collections.”
—Midwest Book Review, October 2013
“Rudolf Bultmann … is widely regarded as one of the three or four Protestant theologians of the twentieth century whose impact on Christian witness and theology promises to be lasting. The value of Konrad Hammann’s fine biography is the extent to which it illumines the life and work of this extraordinary human being.”
—Schubert M. Ogden, University Distinguished Professor of Theology Emeritus at Southern Methodist University
“A prime example of a successful history of ideas.”
—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“First published in German in 2009, Konrad Hammann’s biography of Rudolf Bultmann is now available to English readers thanks to the translation of Philip Devenish. … Throughout Hammann’s account, one theme frequently surfaces: Bultmann’s fostering of theological community. … As Hammann notes, over seventy of his students would become professors of theology (p. 242)—a testimony to the lasting influence of one of twentieth-century Protestantism’s most significant theologians.”
—Anglican Theological Review 95:4
