Above all, this book is fair to Bultmann.

This slim book was written at the apex of Bultmann's influence and when his writings were the subject of either intense and even hostile critique, or admiring (sometimes uncritical) appropriation. It was written by a navy aircraft pilot and chaplain, who at the time of writing was Professor and Chair of Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. In around 100 pages Ashcraft expounds the core emphases of Bultmann's thought, with sympathy, appreciation and occasional criticism. It's hard to envisage such a book emerging from the more conservative ranks of American Baptists these days.

 

Of course, Bultmann's thought has since been subjected to thorough critique and re-evaluation. There are major fault lines in both methodology and the resulting conclusions. For example, the new perspectives on Paul offer challenges to Bultmann's radical Lutheranism, his existential reading of John's Gospel faces serious questions, and the individualism of his existential approach to core doctrines such as sin, justification, salvation and eschatology does not fit well with the more contemporary interests in the political and communal impact of the New testament texts.

Also in the past decade, Hammann's definitive biography has been published, giving us far more contextual insight into the man himself, and the times he lived through and out of which his primary writings emerged.

 

But it's never wise to ignore giants, or turn your back on mountains, and by any standards Rudolf Bultmann is a massive presence looming over the past 100 years of New Testament Interpretation. As a guide to his thought, and the high stakes of mid-20th Century biblical scholarship, Ashcraft is both a lucid interpreter and an appreciative critic. Above all, he is fair to Bultmann.