In the last decade, too many American theologians have been preocยญ cupied with charting and interpreting in a superficial manner the moveยญ ments of the newest stars in the Continental theological firmament. This preoccupation contributed much, unfortunately, to that faddism that was so characteristic of American theology in the Sixties, the period immeยญ diately following the passing of a generation of theological giants like Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, Gogarten, and the Niebuhrs. There has seldom been a period in which so many promissory notes were issued so careยญ lessly onto the intellectual market, notes that were not, and perhaps could not, have been redeemed. Given this temper of the times, it is difficult to account for the almost total neglect of the work of Professor Fritz Burl of Basel, whose "theoloยญ gy of existence" is one of the most interesting and impressive contempoยญ rary attempts to interpret the myths and symbols of the Christian faith in terms of an existentialist philosophy. Even if one were to apply that most superficial, though for many apparently decisive, criterion of "radicality," one might have expected his work to attract some sustained attention beยญ cause Buri has consistently posed a radical solution to most of the hotly debated issues of the times: the problem of demythologization, the meanยญ ing of theological language, the problems raised by historical criticism, and the meaning of the historical Jesus for faith, to mention a few
CONTENT
I. The Problem of Objectivity in the Genesis of Buriโ{128}{153}s Theology -- A. Consistent Eschatology and Philosophy of Religion: Buriโ{128}{153}s Early Position -- B. Objectivity and Self-Understanding: The Transition to Buriโ{128}{153}s Mature Position -- I The Problem of Objectivity in the Foundations of a Theological Hermeneutic -- II. The Theological Problem of Objectivity and Non-Objectivity -- III. The Non-Objectivity of Faith and Revelation -- IV. Symbol, Myth, and the Dialectic of Objectivity and Nonobjectivity -- II The Problem of Objectivity in the Implementation of the Hermeneutical Principles -- V. Historicity and the Systematic Principle in the Interpretation of Doctrines -- VI. Existentialist Interpretation and Objective Description -- VII. Radical Theology and the Problem of Objectivity
