De-Mythologizing Man

"Man as such, the whole man, is called in question by God.  Man stands under that question mark, whether he knows it or not. His moral transgressions are not his fundamental sin...Man's fundamental sin is his will to justify himself as man, for thereby he makes himself God.  When man becomes aware of this, the whole world is taken off its hinges; for man then puts himself under the judgment of God.  The whole world - which was man's world - is annihilated; nothing in it any longer has meaning and value, for everything had received this from man.  But to know this judgment is also to know it as grace, since it is really liberation.  Man becomes free from himself.  And for man to become free from himself is redemption.  Man then knows that the question is also the answer; for it is only God who can so question him.  And he knows that the answer is primary.  A question so radical cannot originate from man, from the world.  But if the question is asked by God,

then it originates from the claim of God on man.  Man is called." 

 - Rudolf Bultmann.