I left the GDR and settled in the West German Federal Republic in 1975 to study history in Mainz and

Hamburg from 1975 to 1979, where I was once again confronted with the Jesus story in my minor subject, Greek and Roman classical history.

Contrary to Bultmann’s statements, the first century AD was not a mythological age; it was a post-mythological, enlightened era during which science and philosophy flourished and poets used traditional mythological images to examine sensitive issues of their day in cryptic form.

Were Jesus’ miracles and resurrection historical events after all? And if so, how were they to be understood?