As Markus Barth saw it, Bultmann was Protestant accommodation gone to seed: “Bultmann’s conception rests on the thesis that visible miracles (signs) are only a concession to man’s weakness, and that the appearances of the risen Christ are, likewise, a concession to the weakness of the Apostles.  But . . . even in the Old Testament the visible appearance of God [is] not something temporary – a means to an end or a mere concession – but rather . . . the fulfillment of Israel’s ultimate and supreme hope.”