Autumn Program
Friday 8th November 2013
The last three sessions of 'Cornflakes Theology' have been devoted to the contibutions of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rudolf Bultmann to modern theology. The first session took the form of a talk by me about Bonhoeffer's character and early influences.He was a middle class intellectual with a love of music and poetry. He chose to study theology at the age of sixteen - much to the surprise of his family who were not particularly religious. Influenced by Karl Barth, he was a fairly orthodox Lutheran until he began to wrestle with the political problems in Germany at that time. The second session was devoted to the main themes of Bonhoeffer's thinking which were highlighted in 'Honest to God' This took the form of a discussion of the implications of 'religionless Christianity'; pacifism; 'man come of age' and 'The cost of discipleship'. Session three comprised a short talk by myself about Bultmann, his life and his Biblical Theology. We then did an exercise on differnt genres of literature - poetry, history, myth, legend etc. using examples from secular works. We then turned to biblical texts and focussed our thinking on 'demythologising' Old and New Testament texts. Our next meeting on the first Wednesday of December will be a Christmas Party without Santa. It will begin with an informal Eucharist and continue with entertainment and some mince pies - all home made. Best wishes Raymond Eveleigh.