Vico and Bultmann on myth: The problem with demythologizing

Abstract

Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), an early Enlightenment critic of Cartesianism, on one hand, demystifies the origin and nature of myths, while Bultmann (1884–1976), a late modernist theologian, on the other, engages in a full‐blown program of demythologizing. Vico subjects myth to analysis and scrutiny, but finds lasting value in the big stories whereas Bultmann, informed by a developmental view of history and a positivistic epistemology, finds little of value in the Christian Myth, apart from an existential encounter with God. Vico sees a clear connection among the imagination, metaphor, myth and critical method, but Bultmann, uses formgeschichte (form criticism) to expurgate the NT of myth.