Christology of Paul Tilich

8/12/2019 Christology of Paul Tilich

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Jerome FicekTrinity Theological Seminary

THE CHRISTOLOGY OF PAUL TILLICH: THE NEW BEING INJESUS AS THE CHRIST

The appearance of Volume II of Paul Tillich's Systematic Theologysubtitled Existence and the Christ (University of Chicago Press, 1957) hassupplied the theo logical world with a fr es h, highly cr ea tiv e, and pen e-tratingly original Christology. In a c c o r d a n c e with the m e t h o d ofcor rel ati on, Chris t is presented as the theo logic al answer to the ex is ten-tial quest ion of est ran gement . In hi s re ce nt book of ser mo ns , The NewBeing (Scribner*s, 1955) Tillich sets forth the answer to the questionsposed in hi s ear li er book, The Shaking of the Foundations (Scr ibner' s,1958). Usi ng these as so ur ce s we shall attempt in thi s paper to in ve st i-gate the manner in which T il li ch pr es en ts The New Being in Je su s as theChrist overco ming the predicament of estrange ment which cha rac ter ize shuman existence.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS: THE METHOD OF CORRELATIONAND THE EXISTENTIAL PREDICAMENT

1. Method of Correlati on. Til lich begins each sect ion of his sy st emwith an ana ly si s of human ex is te nc e and fol low s it with a sect ion in whichhe prov ides theo logical ans wers to the quest ions pose d, as for ex ample Reason and Rev ela tion, Being and God, E xi st en ce and the Chr ist , Life andthe Spir it, His tory and the Kingdom of God - - the major headi ngs of hi ssys tem ati c theology. The human situation cannot provide an sw er s, it canonly pos e the proble m or predicam ent to which theology supplies re lig iou san sw er s. Theology and philosophy both deal with the structure of rea lit y,philosophy dealing with the problem of being "in i tsel f" and theology withit s meaning "for us.** While the philosopher i s able to exe rci se detachedobjec tivity, the theologia n i s co mmitt ed, involved with his whole being.The form er se ek s an identity betw een the logos of real ity and the l og osworking in him; the latter looks "where that which conc erns him ult i-mat ely i s mani fest . . . not the un iver sa l lo go s but the Logos *who bec am efles h,' that is , the logos manifesting i t s e l f in a particular his toric alevent." (ST I, p23).

2. The Exis tent ial Predi cam ent. Exi ste nce means to "stand out, to

stand out of es se nt ia l being, i. e., to be est ranged from one 's es sen ce . Inhi s anal ys is of being in Volume I, Ti ll ic h sho ws that in being freed om i salwa ys in polar unity with desti ny. Man's freedom, however, i s finitefreedom which is limited by his d e s t i n y . Only God transc ends thispolarit y. According to Till ich the state of "dreaming innocence pr ec edesactual e xi st en ce . It has potentiality but not actuality; it i s not a p er fectsta te but one of undecided po ss ib il it ie s. In the moment finite free do mb ec om es c o n s c i o u s of itself, it bec ome s actual. Thi s Til lic h c al ls"aro used fre ed om ," illus trat ing it by comparing it to the devel opment ofsexual co ns ci ou sn es s in an adol esce nt. The account of the Fal l in Genes isthree is taken by him to be a myth, not the isolated act of an individual butan act of freedom inbedded in the unive rsal destiny of ex is tenc e. Reinhold

Niebuhr in his contribution to the volume The Theology of Paul Tillichedited by Charle s W. Kegley and Robe rt W. Bret all ha s r ai se d the qu es -tion of whether or not Tii lic h makes creation coincid e with the Fa ll , forthe latter exclu des the idea of a his to ri ca l stage of es se nt ia l goodness orUtopia before the Fa ll into exi ste nce ( pp 2 1 6 - 2 2 7 ) . This mak es the fallne ce ss ar y to the eme rgen ce of self - awar ene ss and self - co nsc iou sn es s,through the freedom of making decisions.

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The sta te of ex is te nc e i s the stat e of est ran geme nt, estr ange ment fromonesel f, fro m other be in gs, and from the ground of hi s being (ST II , 44).Man as he exists is not what he es se nt ia ll y i s and ought to be. He i s not astr ang er to hi s true being, for he bel ongs to it, but he i s "a ga in st him-sel f. " His estr angeme nt i s sin, a m a t t e r not of nature but of bothpers onal freedo m and univ ersa l destiny. The thre e mar ks of est rang e-ment are unbelief, concupiscence and hubris ( sel f elevati on or pride ).Man is actualizing himself, tur ns to hi msel f a n d away from God. Hema ke s him sel f the cente r of him sel f and le av es his es se nt ia l cen ter . Thisturning toward on e 's sel f is an act of the total person It i s the "s pi ri tu alsin" from which other sins are derived.

In man 's ess ent ial nature the f o l l o w i n g are united; freedom anddest iny, dyna mics and form, individualizat ion and participa tion. Th es epo la ri ti es , rooted in the ground of being and united in es se nt ia l nature , areestranged under the for ms of exi ste nce .

For Till ich the point at w h i c h estr angem ent between es se nc e andexistence i s ov er co me i s the New Being i n Je su s as the Christ. Thediscussion of his Christology which follows wil l therefore t a k e as itscategories the conc epts which he ut il iz es to de sc ri be this ove rcom ing: 1)Jesus as the Christ, 2) The New Being, and 3) The Inauguration of the NewEon.

I. JESUS AS THE CHRIST: HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND FAITH

The Para dox of Jes us as the Chris t is that the man " J e s u s " is calledthe " Ch ri st ," i.e. , that esse ntia l GodManhood has appeared within exis-

tence and has subjected it se lf to the condi tions of ex is te nc e without beingconquered by them.

Jesus i s the re li gi ou s and theo logi cal object as the Chr istand only as the Christ. And he is the Christ as the one whosacri f ices what is merely *Jesus ' in him. The de ci si vetra it in hi s pictu re i s t h e continuous self surrend er ofJesus who is J es us to Je su s who i s the Christ. (STI,134).

Jesus i s final r evelati on bec au se he fulfills it s chief crit erio nnegatingitself without losing it se lf . (ST I, 133). Th is divine criticism of every-

thing not divine Till ich ca ll s the " Pr ot es ta nt prin cip le. " It has givenProtestantism the courage to open itself to every type of criticism evenof it s sac red docu ments . (P E, pl63ff).

According to Till ich t h e Incarnation actually happened as a photogra phi cal event. But no one has had a pure ly historiographical int ere st inth is man. The rep or ts about Je su s of Naz areth are the re ports of Je su sas the Chris t, atte sted by pe rs on s who rec eiv ed him as the Chri st. Thusif one at tempt s to di sc ov er the re al Jes us behind the pict ure of Je su s asthe Chri st, he mu st separ ate the it em s which belong to the factual sidefrom thos e which belong to the recei vin g sid e. This pr oc es s yi el ds onlyprobable r esu lt s for his tor ical r es ea rc h provides only probabilities of a

lower or higher deg re e. Thus hi stor ic al re se ar ch can neither giv e or takeaway the basis of the Christian faith.

In the arti cle "A Reinte rpret ation of the Doc tri ne of the In carn ati on"Ti ll ic h re je cts the traditional idea of God becoming man. The Bible do esnot say

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that God as s u c h bec om es man but that a divine being,either the heave nly man, or the preexi ste nt Chri st, or thedivine Lo go s, appears in the shape of a phy sic al man or ofa man in the fle sh. The statem ent i s not that God be co me sman but that a divine being with human characteristics, thespiritual or heavenly man, or a moral being who chooses

self humiliation , or the crea tive rea son or word, appearsin time and space, and is subject to the law of the flesh andof sin, namely human ex is te nc e. The paradox of the Incar-nation i s n o t God be com es man, but a divine being whore pr es en ts God and i s able to re ve al him in hi s fu llne ss ,man ife sts him sel f in a form of ex is te nc e which i s in radi-cal contrad iction t o h i s divine, spiri tual, and heavenlyform. It i s not the unity of the inf ini te and the fin ite whichconstitutes the paradox of the Incarnation, but the mani-festation of the ori ginal, heavenly man as the ex is tent ia lman, or of the universal creative r e a s o n as individualcreated rea so n, or of the spirit ual pre exi ste nt Christ as

the empiri cal and hi sto ri cal Christ. ("A RDI, " ppl36 137) .

The Incarnation i s t h e manife statio n of es se nt ia l Godmanhood ( a nexpression of the d ial ectic al interdepe ndence of fin ite nes s and infinity)under the conditions of e xi st en ce , in which it doe s not lo se i ts es se nt ia lcharacte r. Accor ding to Til lich, Paul in I Corinthians 15 :4549 presentsthree types of man: 1) The heav enly man who is spir itua l and im mo rt al

before his coming (essential man); 2) The physical man Adam, subject todeath (existential man); and 3) The Heav enly man who over com es death(the Incarnation). ( "AR DI, " 136). Til lic h re je ct s the idea that this

heav enly pe rs on i s God, rather he i s a divine being who re si gn s hi s divineform and power and tak es the form of a servant. He be li ev es that Pau lwas endeavoring to say that this man from above manifested himself afterAdam's fall, an idea wh ich did not exist in the pagan form of the myth ofthe "original man."

Participation, not historical argument, guarantees the reality of theevent upon which Chris tiani ty re st s according to Til lic h. The church was

born when one of his fol lowers, Peter, was moved to say of Jesus, "Thouart the Christ." (Mark8:29). He who ov er co me s existen tial estra ngeme ntpar tic ipate s in it and it s self destructive consequences, even d y i n g ." J e s u s Ch ri st " i s not an individual name but the proper name " J e s u s "modified by the adjective "Chr is t ," the anointed one. In an ar ti cl e en-titled "Theology and Sym bol ism " T i l l i c h , after defining a relig ioussymbol as that encounter which points beyond itself to the ground of being,says that Je su s is the bearer of what in symbol ic te rms is cal led theChr ist . It would be idolatrous to identify the symbol with that to which itpoints, the reality in which it particpates.

Faith , acco rding to Til lich, i s the immed iat e evide nce (not mediat edby conclusions) of Godmanhood within the conditions of existence. Anotherway of stat ing this i s that it i s the appearance of essent ial manhood under

the conditions of finitude. Thi s picture of Je su s as the Chr ist w h i c hcannot be veri fied with cer tain ty has power to tra nsf orm tho se who aretransf ormed by it. It i s guaranteed not by empi ri ca l factuality but by i tstran sforming power. The Synoptic Go sp el s provide the picture on whichthe ass er ti on that Je su s i s the Chri st is based, but the enti re New Te st a-ment is unanimous in its witness to Jesus as the Christ.

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II. THE NEW BEING: THE OVERCOMING OF THE CLEAVAGEBETWEEN ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE

The New Being i s ess en ti al being appearing under the condit ions ofex is tenc e, conquering the hiatus between es se nc e and ex ist ence . The NewBeing i s new in so far as i t i s the undistorted manif esta tion of es se nt ia l

being within a personal life where the polarities of being are manifest.Je su s as the Chri st i s the bearer of the New Being in the total ity of h isbeing because hi s being i s beyond the spl it of es se nt ia l and exi ste nti albeing. Neither his wor ds , d ee ds , nor sufferings make him the Chri st.Th es e are the ex pres si on of the New Being; it i s hi s being which ma ke shim the Christ. Being pr ec edes speaking, doing, suffer ing. In him ther eare no traces of unbelief (the removal of his personal center from thedivine center), nor of hubris (self elevation), nor of concupiscence (thede s ir e to draw the whole of reali ty into one's sel f).

Je su s like eve ry man is finite free dom, oth erwis e he would not beequal with mankind and could not be the "Christ. " God alone is abovefreedom and destiny; in him alone are all the polarities eternally con-quered. In Je su s they are actual. As a finite being he is subject to thecontingency of everything that is not by itse lf but i s "thrown in to " ex is t -ence . Finitude imp lie s participatio n in man' s exis tent ial predica ment andsubjec tion to er ro r, which i s evident in hi s ancient conception of the uni -verse , hi s judgments about me n, hi s e s chato logic ai v is ion and imagi nation.But Je su s was not guilty of unbelief, hubris , or con cupiscence bec ause heconstantly surrendered himse lf to God, thus avoiding s el f-e levat ion. Thepicture of the New Being in Jesus as the Christ is the picture of

a personal life which i s subjected to all the con seque nce s

of exis tent ial estr angem ent but wher ein estra ngem ent i sconquered in him se lf and a permanent unity i s kept withGod. Into thi s unity he accepts the neg ati vit ies without r e -moving the m. Thi s i s done by transcend ing them in thepower of this unity. This is the New Bei ng as it appears inthe bib lical picture of Je sus as the Chri st. (ST II, pi 35 ).

Th is picture of Chris t has two outstanding char ac te ri st ic s: his mai n-tenance of unity with God and the sac ri fi ce of everything he could havegained for him sel f from th is unity. (ST I, pl 35 ). The fi rs t i s the identityof es se nt ia l manhood and Godmanhood and the second i s the cr it er io n forfinal revelation - - the power of negating itself without losing itself. (ST I,

pl33).

Those who participate in Christ participate in the New Being; they are"new cr eat ur es ." (II Cor. 5:17). In a ser mon entitled "The New Bein g"(NB, pp 15-24) Til li ch des cr ib es the New Being under three head ingsreco ncil iat ion, reunion, and resurr ec tion . To be reunited to God i s to bereunited to the ground of being, to oneself . This i s the courage to takeupon onesel f hi s anxiety in deep self accept ance. "The New Creatio n i shealing crea tion because it cr ea te s reunion with oneself ." (NB, p23). Byre su rr ec ti on Til lic h means the power of the New Being to crea te life outof death he re and now. "Where there i s New Being there is creat ion into

eternity of every moment of time." (NB, p23).The Chr isto logic al dogma s (Nicea, Chalcedon), wh ich used ph iloso phi-

ca l conc epts then prevailing (i .e ., log os , et c.) tried to avoid any diminutionof the human nature which would depri ve Chris t of hi s total part icipationin the condi tions of exi st ence and al so any diminution of hi s divine naturewhich would deprive him of his total victory over existential estrange-ment. The sta tic "two na ture " theory mu st be repla ced by the dynamic

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theory of the New Being which does j u s t i c e to both sides w i t h o u tundercutting either.

. THE INAUGURATION OF THE NEW EON

Chri st is the one who br ings in the new order, the new eon. In hi m thethe e schat ologi cal expectation is fulfilled in principl e. He i s the "c en te rof hi st or y, " the pers onage who suppli es meaning to the othe rwis e me an -ingless his tor ical pr oc es s. Although his per sona l life is the cr it er io n by

which both past and future are judged, it is not an isolated life for the NewBeing i s not restr ic ted to his being but has "e ru pt ed " or "sp ill ed o v e r "upon a community which recognizes in " J e s u s " the "Christ."

The new eon conquers the old situation under the law where man'sessential being stood against hi s e xi st en ce , commanding and judging it.Because his essential being is taken into his existence and actualized init , the law ceases to be law for him. Ch ri st has be com e the " en d of thelaw. " His appearance is " re ali ze d esc hat olo gy. " (Dodd). There i s a ten-sion between the fir st and second c omi ngs of Chr ist which i s inse parab lefrom the Christi an exp eri enc e. Thi s i s the tension between the "al re ad y"and the "not yet."

The uni ver sal meaning of Je su s as the Chr ist i s expr es se d i n twosymbo ls which show him a s the beare r of the New Being in a sp ec ia lrelat ion to ex ist ence . The fi rs t rel ati on of Chr ist to ex is te nc e i s his sub-

jection to it (the Cross). The second relation of Christ to existence i s h isconquest of it (the Res urr ect ion ). Th es e are interdependent sym bo ls; theycannot be separa ted without losing their meaning . In both case s something

happened within existence. While stories of the Cross deal with the fullyhistorical, sto rie s of the Resu rre ctio n "s pr ea d a vei l of deep mys te ryover the ev en t. " (ST II, pl 53 ). The Cr oss i s a symb ol based upon a fact ."It i s the myth of the bearer of the new eon who suf fers the death of aconvict and slave under the powe rs of that old eon which he i s to co n-qu er ." (ST II, pp 153154). The sam e i s true of the re sur re ct io n. TheCrucifixionResurrectio n event i s the breaking through into human c on-sciousness and ex is te nc e of the New Being in Chr ist. Til lich re je ct s the"em pty tom b" repo rt as a rationalizati on and the spirit ualizing explana-tion (Paul's sta tement that he me t Christ on the road to Da ma sc us ) a s anattempt to prov e gener al imm ort ali ty of the soul after death. He re ga rd sas basi c the mean ing set forth in the ea rl ie st account of the re su rr ec ti on(I Cor. 15) which e mph asi ze s the re li gi ous signi ficance of the Re su rr ec ti onfor the di sc ip le s in contras t to their previ ous state of negativi ty and d e s -pair. To them the Re sur re cti on was the "r es ti tu ti on " of Je su s as theChrist, which i s rooted in the per sona l unity betwe en J esu s and God andthe impac t of thi s unity on the min ds of the ap os tl es .

Christ gave his disciples '*authority over unclean spirits, to cast themout, and to heal eve ry d is ea se and eve ry infirmity." (Matt. 10:1). Tillichsees in this a profound insight into human nature healing comes through

wholeness, through being grasped by a power 1hat i s gr ea te r. Only a newreality can make people whole, people who hate themselves, are afraid of

life, are burdened with guilt fee lin gs, are fleeing from t h e threat s ofexistence into the painful and deceptive safety of mental and bodily ill-ness. In Chr ist this new real ity has come upon usour whole exi st en ce i saccepted and reunited. Be ca us e thi s power ha s appeared on earth, thekingdom of God has co me . Salvation i s heal ing from es trang eme nt. M ir a-cles ar e si gn s pointing to the pr es en ce of the divine power in nature andhis tory, but are in no way negations of natural l aws . (NB, se rm on "OnHealing" pp 3445).

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Tiili ch's inter pretation of the Atonement s t r e s s es the fact that there isno over looking of the real ity and depth of ex is te nt ia l est rangement . (ST II,174). God's atoning activity mus t involve p articipation in es tra nge mentand its sel fdestructiv e cons equen ces. The Cr os s is "the effective mani-festation of God's taking the c on se qu ence s of human guilt upon himself."(ST II, 176). Through part icipation in the New Being, which i s the being

of Jesus as the Christ, men participate in the manifestation of the atoningact of God. Regener ation be co me s participation; justifica tion be co mesacceptance, and sanct ification be co me s transforma tion. (ST II,163).

CONCLUSIONS AND EVALUATIONS

1. D e s p i t e protes tations to the contrary it is difficult to se e thatTi ll ic h avoids equating the Fal l with Crea tion . Fol lowing Anaximanderand Schelling he sees the pa ss ag e from an unindividuated and undif feren-tiated state (abyss) to an individuated and differentiated one as consti tutingthe fall from es se nc e to ex ist enc e. This oc cu rs at creat ion. Thus selfawareness and self consciousness, acts of finite freedom, invo lve thecreation in estrangement from his essence. Til li ch attempts t o avoidequating creat ion with the fall by mean s of the conc ept of ** dreaminginnocence," a sup erh istori cal , pre temp oral state of potentiality but it i sdifficult for th is rev iew er to se e that he achi eve s his pu rpos e. His e m-phas is throughout is on t h e fateful ness of sin rather than upon humanresp onsi bili ty for it. In actualizing his potential freedo m, that i s , inmaking c ho ic es and dec isi on s, man fa ll s.

2. Tii lic h' s Chr istology is an achievement Christology. Jes us was aman who so surren dered him sel f to the divine, the Log os , that he achieved

a c omplete unity with it. It wa s only then that he bec ame the " Chr is t . "The personality of Jesus is that of a man because for Tillich there is noSecond Pe rson of the Godhead to co me down from Heaven. In the Godheadhe sees t h r e e hypostases which he describes as "manif estati ons" or" f a c e s . " Disa vowing the li ber al emphas is on the human Jesus, he aversthat Je su s in becoming the " C hr i s t " bec am e divine. His emp has is in noton what He is_ but rather on what he didbrought the New Being intoexistenceand on what he became"Jesu s who is the Ch ris t. " Til lichoperates within the framewor k of a pr oc es s or org ani smi c meta phy sic

which i s dynamic in character rather than the static substance structureof Aristotle. While he should be commend ed for co rr ec ti on of the human-izing tendency of li bera li sm, he fa ll s short of the onto log ical Chris t as se t

f o r t h in the cre ed of Chalcedon in which the p r eexistent Logos, thesecond pe rson of the ontolo gical trinity, i s united with per sonal humannature. In the f i n a l analys is Tiil ich 's Christology is an achievementChristologymore sopisticated than most, conceived within the frame-work of an arc hit ectonic str uctu re of cl ass ic orthodoxy, and infused withHeid eggerian insights into the nature of fractured human existenc ebu tan ach iev ement Christology ne ve rt he le ss . He us e s the Infra Lutheranpos iti on that the finite is capab le of the infinite to substant iate hi s viewthat the human nature of Chris t i s so impreg nated with the divine that itcan co me to have the very nature of the divine. It i s po ss ib le for him tohold this view because he defi nes God, not as the being, nor as jt beingamong other beings, but as the ground of being.

3. Til lic h v iew s Chris t as a symbol which pa rtici pate s in the rea lit yto which it points but i s not that rea li ty . His conce rn at thi s point ischaracteristically P rote stant, that i s , to avoid absolutizing the finite. Iti s not clear now, on this basis, there was unity between Jesus and theFath er, "c om pl et e transpa rency to the ground of bein g," and "fulfil lmentof every p a r t i a l and broken appearance of es sen ti al being ." Till ich

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de sc ri be s the re su lt ("what") of this ove rcomi ng but does not supply therea son or caus e ("how" and "why" ). Desp ite his prote stat ions that theNew Being is an ontological reality, his Jesus is different in "degree" butnot in "ki nd" from other men. Since he begi ns with a human person it isdifficult to see how he can avoid making the dif ference one of "k in d. " Hi sem phas is is always on the eme rg ing nove lty, the nexus of ev en ts , the"creative process" as over against "created goods" in the manner ofWhitehead and Wieman whom he resembles in many striking ways.

4. Ti il ic h' s view that God did not beco me man i n t h e Incarnationbecause thi s is a contradict ion s te ms from hi s view that God is not a per -son, an object bes ide other object s, a being bes ide other be ings , but theground of being, God does not appear within the context of ex peri ence ; heis not the object of theology . Rather the objec t of theology is his ma nif es -tation to us ; the ex pr es si on of this mani fes tation being the sym bol Christwho points to the ground of being. To as cr ibe "d iv in e" nature to Chri stwould put him beyond ex is te nc e; to ascr ibe "human" nature to him is toput him below es se nc e. The ref ore his Je sus is a third per son , a ter tium

quid, n e i t h e r God nor man. This trea tment of symbol is profoundlyilluminating when applied to finite objects which point to the Inf inite, butwhen employed in connection with Je su s lea ds to a truncated, emacia tedMediator.

5. Although he is careful to avoid e x t r a c t i n g his theology fromreligious experience alone (which he accuses Schleiermacher of doing),Til lich tends to do so by making hi s norms e mpir ical the norm of s y s -tem ati c theo logy being the New Being , the object of theology being themanife stati on of God through re lig iou s sym bo ls , the cri ter ion for finalrevel ati on being a pers on who is totally transpa rent to the ground of beingand one who s a c r i f i c e s everything he could have gained for himselfthrough this unity. Not without just ification has he been clas si fi ed as an"e cs ta ti c natur al is t. " It is the phenomenon of New Being in which Ti ll ichis chiefly interested, which p h e n o m e n o n overc omes in principle thecleavag e between es se nc e and exi ste nce. Je su s as the Chr ist is importantonly as the sym bol which points to the rea lit y of this achievement. TheCr os s and the Res urr ec tio n are sym bol s pointing t o the rea lity of e s -s t r a n g e m e n t and reconci liation a nd have their counterparts in ourexperi enc e. The ontological and co sm ic dime nsio n of these event s are ofsec ondary importance at bes t. Thus Til lic h can be understood as standingin line descending from Abelard, Schl eie rma che r, R itsc hl, Wieman, etc .Rej ect ing the idea of substi tutionary atonement, Ti ll ic h understands it as

reunion or res titution. In the Cr os s Chri st surrenders himsel f to God andGod surrenders Himse lf to man. This is not sati sfac tion, but the o ve r -coming of es trangem ent by the reuniting of t h e finite and the Infinitethrough mutual se l f - surr ender . Killen sug ges ts that Tillic h com es c los eto advocating a "subst itutiona ry repentan ce ." (QTPT, pl 60 ). The e fficacyof hi s death li es in the exa mple which he gave of se lf -s ur re nd er to God,and it is this " transparency to the di vi ne " t h a t we are to follow andimitate.

6. Ti il ic h' s underlying understanding of t h e rela tion of es sen ce toexi ste nce which i s rooted in He ide gge r's exist enzphilosophie sounds astran ge and unfamiliar note to Ame ri ca n ears"! He us es cl as si c ex pre s-

si ons which have undergone much elaborat ion and definition in str ikinglynew, fres h, vivid ways . Es senc e is the nature of a thing, the quality inwhich it par tic ipa tes , that from which a thing has fall en. Exi st enc e is i tsfalling away from its true nature. Fo r this rea so n it is wrong to speak ofthe "existence" of God, for God has not fallen away from His true nature.Is thi s the meaning of " ex i s tence" a s we have co me to know it? Is it inthe int eres t of perspicui ty an d intell igibility to comp lica te an alrea dy

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comple x task? In spite of th is , howev er , Ti il ich' s sy st em is undoubtedlythe mo st profound, cons tructiv e, apologetic theologi cal statement yet pro -duced in Ame ric a. Its ontological framework includes the dis cip lines ofculture mo re creat ive ly and fruitfully than any other. Its appreciation ofthe limits of reason in probing the ultimate mystery of human existence issignifi cant. Its stubborn disavowal of the category of the superhis tor icaland intransigent ins ist enc e upon a f u l l y his tor ica l Je su s, Incarnation,Cr os s are cor rect ive of the pre sen t tend enc ies in neo - orthodoxy. Itsfailure to delineate Christ in a fully ontological se ns e as the second pe r-son of the Godhead, pr e- ex is te nt , fully God and fully man , i s , of cou rs e,inadmiss ib le and unfortunate. It might be said that hi s sys te m i s long onmeta phy sica l exa ctn es s and existe ntia l re lat edness , but short on Bibl icalconcreteness and theological precision.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Books and Articles by Til lich

Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate R e a l i t y . University ofChicago P re s s . Chicago, 1955. 85pp.

"Communicating the Gospel." Union Seminary Quarterly Review. VII:4,June, 1952. pp3 ll.

The Courage to Be. Yale University Press . New Haven, 1952. 197pp."Estrangement and R e c o n c i l i a t i o n in Modern Thought." Review of

Religion. IX, pp519."Existential Analysis and Religious Symbols." Contemporary Pr ob le ms

in Religion. Basi lius , Harold A. (ed.). W a y n e University Press.Detroit, 1956. pp3355.

"Exi stential Phi losophy." Journa l of the History of Ideas. V:l , Ja nuary,1944. pp44

70.

The Interpretat ion of History. Cha rles Scribner 's Sons. New York, 1936.284pp.

Love, Power and Just ice. Oxford Univ. Press . New York, 1954. 127pp."Natural and Revealed Reli gion ." Contemporary Religious T h o u g h t .

Kepler, Thomas S. (ed). Abingdon Cokesbury P ress . New York, 1941.pp6468.

The New Being. Charles Sc ri bner 's Sons. New York, 1955. 179pp."The New fieing." Religion in Life. XIX:4, Autumn, 1950. pp511517.The Prot es tant Er a. Translated by James Luther Adams. University of

Chicago Pr ess . Chicago, 1948. 316pp.a

A Reinterpretation of the Doctr ine of the Incarnation." Church QuarterlyReview. CXLVII:294, JanuaryMarch, 1949. ppl33148."The Religious Symbol." Journa l of Libera l Religion. I I : 1, Summer ,

1940. ppl333.Systemat ic Theology. Vol. I. Universi ty of Chicago Pres s . Chicago, 1941.

300pp.Systematic Theology. Vol. II. Existence and the Chri st . University of

Chicago Press . Chicago, 1957. 187pp."Theology and Symb oli sm." Religious Symbolism. Johnson, F . Er ne st

(ed.). Harpers. New York, 1955. ppl07116."The Two Types of Philosophy and Re li gi on." Union Seminary Quarterly

Review. 1:4, May, 1946. pp3~17.

2. Books and Articles about Till ich

Fer re , Neis F. S. "T hr ee Critical i s s u e s in Tiilich's PhilosophicalTheology. " Scottish Jou rnal of Theology. X : 3, September, 19 5 7 .pp225238.

Killen, R. Allan. The Ontological Theology of Pau l Tillich. J. K. Kok.Kampen, 1956. 284pp. ppl42167; 257265. also review of Tiilich'sSystematic Theology, Vol. II in Christianity Today. 1:21, July 22, 1957.pp34

35.

Mollegen, A. T. "Christology and Biblical Criti cism in Ti ll ich ." TheTheology of Paul Tillich. Kegley, Char les W. and Bre tal l, Robert .(ed.). Macmillan. New York, 1952. 370pp. pp230245.

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Documents

Christology of Paul Tilich