Abstract:
The transmission of Jesus' message by the earliest Christian communities evolved
into the synoptic tradition. In this process, the proclamation of Jesus was
expanded. According to Rudolf Bultmann, the question of how the Proclaimer
(the historical Jesus) became the Proclaimed (the kerygmatic Jesus) is a decisive
issue for believers' understanding of the New Testament. This article aims to
demonstrate aspects of Bultmann's construction of the message of the historical
Jesus. It focuses on Bultmann's understanding of Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God. It also discusses Bultmann's view of the relationship between faith and
history. It concludes by comparing Bultmann's insights with those of present-day
historical Jesus researchers.
