#1 FPC, Lowville, NY Fall 2012 Theological Study Group

Study Notes for the Paper on Paul Tillich (1886-1965) Beginning with 4. Outline of Major Works: Christian Theology Tillichs theology is Christian & church-oriented its task is to proclaim the truth of the Christian message & interpret it to the world the role of theologians is to answer theological questions & Tillichs theology is one that interprets & proclaims the Christian message in the midst of the human situation for him theology begins w/ the human condition [Note: where theology begins is very important to the kind of theology it is] according to Tillich we view the sources of theological thinking (Bible, history, culture) thru the lens of our own experiences then on the basis of our experience we seek to develop theological standards, which are necessarily based on Christ & our new being in him Tillich uses the method of correlation in this task by which he brings the human condition into dialogue with the new being in Christ to discover answers to our deepest questions the integrity of both the questions & the answers must be maintained Reason, Revelation & Symbol reason plays an important role in Tillichs theology there are 2 kinds of reason: (1) ontological reason that arises from the very nature of being; and (2) technical reason, which is a lesser, more limited form of reason ontological reason is subjectively able to grasp what is objectively real theologically this process is related to logos [a Greek philosophical term usually translated as word] human reason, however, is limited & necessarily seeks a revelation to overcome its limitations Revelation has to do w/ our ultimate concerns a revelation is both the thing revealed & the experience of comprehending the thing revealed the revelation of Christ as our ultimate concern thus is both as the person of Christ himself & our experience of Christ the basis or ground of this revelation is God who thus is the ground of being we can know God only thru symbols esp. the Word of God, which is Jesus these symbols have the power to express the thing revealed by them & are thus true to the thing revealed they participate in the power of what they reveal, which for Christians is the power of God as such symbols are bridges between the finite (us) & the infinite (God) Being & God theology is about God and we know God thru an analysis of being & what it means to be [this is a key point - the sources of our knowledge of God determine the nature of our theology] the nature of our human condition, which involves nonbeing forces us to ask questions about the nature of being & our finitude forces to ask about the infinite and our awareness of being & the infinite enables us to ask about God thus we have some sense of God before we ask questions about God, and the anxiety of our human condition (the threat of nonbeing) forces us to ask about God God is our ultimate concern the issue we face is that we must seek concrete, human answers regarding our ultimate concern, which turns God into god, an ultimate that really isnt ultimate hence there is an inner, unavoidable conflict concerning the idea of God [theology is conflicted in its search for God!] For Tillich God is being itself, not one being, & relates to us as the ground of our being all being has its being in God & participates in God, the ground of being thus, we can know God thru analogia entis [analogy of being - the idea that the being (entis) of

#1 the created universe offers an analogy by which we can to a degree understand God for example, the power of a storm can give us an analogy for the power of God] this analogy of being allows us to know God but only if we see God as being itself and thus our ultimate concern Existence & the Christ theology for Tillich begins w/ the human condition, human existence that is a condition of alienation from our essential nature that is marked by conflict, anxiety & destruction this condition is the starting point for Tillichs salvation theology and his understanding of Christ Tillich draws on an analysis of the human situation (existentialism) & believes that only religion provides answers to human alienation existential analysis parallels the biblical myth of the Fall so that existentialism & Christianity are natural allies the myth of Genesis 1-3, Tillich sees the existential situation humanity faces in which we use our freedom to contradict the very essence of our human nature before the Fall humanity was in a natural state of dreaming innocence, which humanity rejected it sought to discover its own sense of self instead (self-actualization) Jesus overcame the alienation of the Fall & thus he is a symbol of the New Being Jesus paradoxically lived in the condition of alienation but conquered that condition thus bringing to an end the conflict between our unity with & our alienation from God in that sense Jesus was the Word/Logos/God become human Tillich rejects the idea that God objectively became a man because to do so God would cease to be God rather, the Incarnation means that God made his love real in Christ Tillich rejects traditional views of the Incarnation as being based on self-contradictory pagan ideas but he insists that Jesus was an actual historical figure, essential humanity that actually existed Tillich recognizes two aspects of the historical Jesus, namely the actual person of Jesus & the person later reconstructed by the church Tillich also distinguishes between the actual Jesus & scholarly reconstructions of him, which are always hypothetical he argues that we thus cant know Jesus through historical study we can know him only thru faith Christ is known to us existentially in 2 ways: as subjected to existence & as the one who conquered existence these 2 ways are symbolized by the cross & resurrection in them Christ brought healing & reconciliation, that is salvation Christ saved us by reclaiming us from the old humanity & brought us into New Being we are thus regenerated (reconciled to God), justified (made acceptable to God), & sanctified (transformed into New Being) Life in the Spirit: History & Kingdom for Tillich, The Spirit of God answers and resolves the ambiguities of life. in the Spirit, we experience the power & meaning of life, which for Tillich became the central issue in his last years the solution to the lifes uncertainty is found in the Spirit, which is the solution for lifes problems the Spirit is the divine power of healing & reconciliation it is the manifestation of the New Being, which is the work of God in human history Christ himself was the work of God as Spirit the Spirit gives us grounding & healing, which we experience thru various human institutions & structures in its work, the Spirit works with & in the normal structures of human life & society it manifests itself as ecstasy & the human drive for self-transcendence Tillich defines ecstasy as a religious drive to base our lives in the Spirit ecstasy is an expression of ultimate concern The Kingdom of God is a symbol that includes both a sense of spiritual presence & eternal life the Kingdom is both something that exists w/in history & transcends history in history, God is at work as can be seen in the history of ancient Israel, and

#1 Tillich believes that the Kingdom can only come in its fullest through the work of God the Kingdom is the conquering of human uncertainty & is the direction humanity is headed toward at the end of history all that is (all being) will be taken up into Divine Life there will come a moment when Gods divine time will break into human time that will be the fulfillment of human history & the time of New Being Questions 1. What were the significant events & experiences of Tillichs life prior to 1918 and how might they have influenced his theology? In particular, what influence would expect World War I to have had on him, especially given his close experience with it? 2. Not worrying for the time being about all of the names of theologians & theological movements, what is your impression of his life & experience during the years after World War I up to 1933? What kinds of issues did Tillich seem interested in? What events shaped is life? 3. How would expect immigration to the U.S. to have influenced his thinking? From this paper, would you consider Tillich an American theologian? Would he be able to communicate with American audiences effectively? 4. What do you think is meant by the term answer-to-situation type of theological work? What does it suggest about Tillichs theology? What is an apologetic theology? What does the statement that his theology is an existential theology suggest? 5. Why is the beginning point of theology so important? Why are the sources we use to understand God also very important? In Tillichs case, what are the consequences of his beginning with human experience & questions? What are the consequences of his claim that we can know God by analogies with natural forces & things ( a storm, a sunset)? What are the consequences for his theology of his claim that our condition is one of alienation? 6. What does the term ultimate concerns communicate to you? What are your own ultimate concerns? 7. What does it mean to be? What is being as a category? 8. Does Tillich reject the incarnation of God in one man, Christ? What does it mean to say that we can only know Christ through faith? 9. From the summary of Tillichs thinking in this weeks reading, what impressions do you have of his approach?