Illusion of demythologization. In Krytyka, No. 11 (37), 2000, pp. 23-26.

This article is a translation of the 1999 Polish edition of Leszek Kolakowski work My Correct Views On Everything (2005). This article examines the prospects for a revival of religiosity against the backdrop of the debate between Karl Jaspers and Rudolf Bultmann regarding Bultmann’s project of „demythologization“ of Christianity. The author provides a historico-philosophical context for the decline of religiousness, emphasising the role of science and its ability to bring benefits to everyday life.

The article emphasises that Bultmann does not achieve his aim, as his proposed purification of Christianity from myths leaves only personal experience within it, outside the community of believers. For his part, Jaspers, in discussing the impossibility of reducing myth to metaphysical categories, fails to take into account the fact that myths are unacceptable by the standards of contemporary rationality.

Finally, the author notes that attempts by intellectuals to become actively involved in the religious revival are having the opposite effect.