Preliminary Material /Roger A. Johnson -- The Enigma of Demythologizing /Roger A. Johnson -- The Philosophical Origins of Demythologizing: Marburg Neo-Kantianism /Roger A. Johnson -- The Religionsgeschichtliche Formulation of Myth /Roger A. Johnson -- The Enlightenment Formulation of Myth /Roger A. Johnson -- The Existentialist Formulation of Myth /Roger A. Johnson -- Demythologizing as a Synthetic Construct /Roger A. Johnson -- Bibliography /Roger A. Johnson -- Name Index /Roger A. Johnson -- Subject Index /Roger A. Johnson.

In light of Martin Heidegger's contextualized influence upon them, John Macquarrie, Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, and Karl Rahner engage in theologies that, in their respective tasks and scopes, venture into existential theology, following Heideggerian pathmarks toward the primordiality of being on the way to unconcealment, or "aletheia." By way of each pathmark, each existential theologian assumes a specific theological stance that utilizes a decidedly existential lens. While the former certainly grounds them fundamentally in a kind of theology, the latter, by way of Heideggerian influences, allows them to venture beyond any traditional theological framework with the use of philosophical suppositions and propositions. In an effort at explaining the relationship between humanity's "being" and God's "Being," each existential theologian examines what it means to be human, not strictly in terms of theology, but as it is tied inextricably to an understanding of the philosophy of existence: the concept of what being is.

Gary Dorrien follows the threads of theology through the twentieth century, examining how Christians have reconciled their myth-filled religious beliefs within a world secularized by Enlightenment criticism and science. To understand how religion keeps its place in Christians' lives, Dorrien writes, we must explore how modern theologians have answered the question of myth in today's Christianity. Dorrien's narrative walks readers through modern theology - stopping with each of the major thinkers along the way to see how they dealt with the issue of modern Christian mythology. Ultimately he offers his own "new neo-orthodoxy", a theology of Word and Spirit that is pluralistic and affirms the mythical character of the gospel while holding fast to the Gospels' myth-negating condemnation of idolatry and their focus on history.

Acknowledging that hermeneutics has become an increasingly important major focus in theological study, Donald McKim's A Guide to Contemporary Hermeneutics presents a series of essays by various writers, assessing current hermeneutical approaches and methods of biblical hermeneutics from their own personal experience.

The author reminds us that our Christian stories are at the heart of the faith. Without these stories, formulated doctrines and theological systems would be bereft of meaning and substance. With the breadth of bright Vision, he explains what story theology is all about; and he tells us why it is gripping the minds and hearts of so many.