Bulletin The North American Paul Tillich Society
Volume XLI, Number 1 Winter 2015 Editor: Frederick J. Parrella, Secretary-Treasurer Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University Kenna Hall, Suite 300, Room H, Santa Clara, California 95053 Associate Editor: Jonathan Rothchild, Loyola Marymount University Assistant to the Editor: Vicky Gonzalez, Santa Clara University Telephone: 408.554.4714/ 408.554.4547 FAX: 408.554.2387 Email: [email protected] Website: www.NAPTS.org/ Webmeister: Michael Burch, San Rafael, California ______
In this issue:
❏ The Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in San Diego and the New Officers of the Society ❏ Call for Papers for the 2015 Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society ❏ Call for Papers for the American Academy of Religion Group “Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture,” November 2015 ❏ Call for Book Proposals and Articles by Walter de Gruyter ❏ Invitation Letter: “Ultimate Concern—Paul Tillich, Buddhism, Confucianism,” July 2015 at Hong Kong Baptist University ❏ Letter from Kent Schuette, Member, Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation Board of Directors ❏ Spring Meeting of the Deutsche-Paul-Tillichs-Gesellschaft ❏ New Publications on Tillich ❏ In Memoriam: William R. Crout by Charles Fox ❏ The Annual NAPTS Banquet Address by Peter Slater: “Looking Back While Looking Forward” ❏ Review of Ronald Stone, Politics and Faith: Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich at Union Seminary in New York (Mercer Tillich Series) by Marion H. Pauck ❏ “Freedom as Autonomy: Observation of Paul Tillich’ Reception of Nietzsche” by Christian Danz ❏ “Trinitarian Symbolism, Mysticism and the God above God” by Keith Chan Ka-fu
The 2014 Annual Meeting of the NAPTS Call for Papers North American Paul Tillich Society 2015 Meeting and the Election of New Officers Atlanta, Georgia
he annual meeting of the North American n commemoration of the 50th anniversary of T Paul Tillich Society was held in San Diego, I Paul Tillich’s death and in honor of his endur- California on Friday, November 22, and Saturday, ing legacy, paper proposals for the 2015 Annual November 23, 2014, in conjunction with the Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Soci- meeting of the American Academy of Religion. ety in Atlanta are welcomed on the following top- The AAR Group, “Tillich: Issues in Theology, ics: Religion, and Culture” also met on Sunday and (1) First-person accounts of how Tillich has Monday, November 24 and 25. The meeting on affected your own teaching; Monday was a joint meeting with the AAR’s (2) Tillich and Lutheran theology; Kierkegaard Society (3) Feminist appropriations and re- The annual banquet of the Society was held assessments of Tillich; on Friday night, November 22, 2014, at Seasons 52 (4) Interdisciplinary engagements with and re- Restaurant, near the San Diego Convention Cen- sponses reflecting the legacy and enduring ap- ter. The guest speaker at the banquet was Peter peal of The Courage to Be. Slater. His banquet address is published in this Bulletin. Tillich-related papers on other themes will be se- New officers were elected to serve the Society riously considered, with specific themes for ses- for 2015: sions determined by the merit of the proposals received. Proposals submitted to the AAR Tillich President Group that are not selected will also be consid- Charles Fox, SUNY/ Empire State College ered with permission of the author. Emeritus President Elect Please send proposals by April 1 electronically to: Bryan Wagoner, Davis and Elkins College Bryan Wagoner, Davis & Elkins College Vice President Email:
Related Scholarly Organization of the AAR), Open Theology—an international Open Access, which is linked with the German, French, and peer-reviewed academic journal other Tillich societies. Papers at our sessions are (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth), published in the Society’s quarterly Bulletin with- launched recently by De Gruyter Open, welcomes out prejudice to their also appearing elsewhere. contributions addressing religion in its various forms and aspects: historical, theological, socio- 2015 Program Plan logical, psychological, and other. The journal encompasses all major disciplines In honor of the 50th anniversary of Paul Til- of Theology and Religious Studies, presenting lich's death on October 13, 1965, we call for pa- doctrine, history, organization, and everyday life pers that assess Tillich's impact in a variety of ar- of various types of religious groups and the rela- eas, such as philosophical theology, religion and tions between them. We publish articles from the science, black theology, feminist theology, Asian field of Theology as well as Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology of Religion and dialogue between theology, art(s) and religion, and popular culture. Religion and Science. The Open Theology does not We are also interested in papers that present present views of any particular theological school an exploration of future possibilities for incorpo- nor of a particular religious organization. The rating Tillich's ideas. For example, in his last pub- contributions are written by researchers who rep- lic lecture in Chicago he specifically stated that his resent different religious views. The authors pre- hope for the future of Christian theology lay in its sent their research concerning the old religious encounter with world religions. What progress has traditions as well as new religious movements. been made in interreligious dialogue, and what The authors are given a variety of benefits: remains to be accomplished? —convenient, web-based manuscript submission Papers that address other aspects of the range, and tracking system; diversity, and depth of Tillich's thought, past, pre- —transparent, comprehensive and fast peer- sent, and future, are welcome. review; We also welcome suggestions for roundtable —efficient route to fast-track publication and full sessions. A roundtable session has one announced advantage of De Gruyter’s e-technology; theme and participants in the session address that —no publication charge in the first three annual theme but do not present separate formal papers. volumes; Please provide information about the theme un- —free language assistance for authors from non- der consideration, a list of participants’ names and English speaking regions; institutions of affiliation, the name of the person All accepted papers will be immediately avail- who will preside, and the name of the person(s) able on-line. asked to respond (if applicable.) More information about the journal may be found at: Call for Book Proposals http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth and Articles To submit an article for Open Theology, please use the on-line submission system http://www.editorialmanager.com/openth/ From Katarzyna Tempczyk of De Gruyter Open, Please feel free to forward this invitation to a part of De Gruyter publishing group: any interested colleagues and associates. De Gruyter Open, a part of De Gruyter publish- ing group, invites book proposals for the Open Access program on Theology and Religious Stud- Invitation Letter ies. Especially welcome are proposals for the new Ultimate Concern: series on: Hinduism, New Religious Movements Paul Tillich, Buddhism, Confucianism and Philosophy of Religion. More details to be found at: Centre for Sino-Christian Studies http://degruyteropen.com/you/book- Hong Kong Baptist University author/subjects/theology_religious_studies/As 24 November 2014 Dear Prof. Frederick J. Parrella: Call for Submissions—Open Theology Journal
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 4
Paul Tillich, 20th century Protestant theologian during the conference period. If you would be and philosopher of religion, was one of the great interested in participating in our conference as a heritages in the 20th century. As David Tracy speaker, we would be very grateful to have you fill said, “the impact of Paul Tillich’s work in con- out the attached form and return it to our CSCS temporary theology is the influence not of a office, so that we can anticipate your needs as we school but of a pervasive presence.” His theologi- continue to work on the details of our conference. cal ideas still have remarkable influence on 21st cen- Thank you in advance for considering taking tury theological landscape in different directions. part in this Paul Tillich International Conference! In Germany, the Tillich-Renaissance is motivated by the Paul Tillich German Society under which Yours sincerely and collegially, many early Tillich’s manuscripts were published. The portrayal of early Tillich, closely connected Lauren F. Pfister with German philosophical traditions, provides us For the Organizing Committee more information to understand his career and thought comprehensively. In the United States, Organizing Committee Members: Tillich is still an important dialogue partner with Prof. Lauren F. Pfister, Director, CSCS, HKBU respect to different current issues. All these fea- Prof. Kai Man Kwan, Head, Religion and Phi- tures are recorded in North American Paul Tillich losophy Department, HKBU Society Bulletins. In Chinese worlds, many scholars Dr. Kwok, Wai Luen, Assistant Professor, Relig- from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan ion and Philosophy Department, HKBU fruitfully appropriate Tillich’s ideas in their con- Dr. William NG Yau-nang, Associate Professor textual readings. Religion and Philosophy Department, HKBU 2015 will be the 50th anniversary Paul Tillich’s Dr. Keith CHAN Ka-fu, lecturer, Religion and death. It is a good time for us to organize an in- Philosophy Department, HKBU ternational conference to memorize this event. We want to locate Tillich in a globalized context Centre e-mail address: [email protected] not merely because Tillich provides rich resources Centre fax number: +852-3411-5151 in religious dialogue, but also his ideas, we believe, Centre Mailing Address: can shed light on our contextual and globalized Centre for Sino-Christian Studies situation. Tillich’s spirit would be adapted in this Hong Kong Baptist University conference across boundaries in order to enrich 34 Renfrew Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, the East-West dialogue in numerous issues. In the China following list, the first item already explicitly links the two sides of our conference theme; all others [Editor’s Note: Please email the CSCS for the proposal have this condition as their basic assumption. form.] There are three objectives of this conference: 1. To appreciate Tillich’s heritage within the Letter from KENT SCHUETTE Western and Eastern contexts; MEMBER, ROBERT LEE BLAFFER 2. To appropriate critically Tillich’s ideas under FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS global-localized contexts; November 25, 2014 3. To explore the possibility of global religious- Dr. Frederick J. Parrella cultural understanding through the dialogue of Professor of Theology Tillich’s thought and the East-West religious- Department of Religious Studies cultural matrix. Kenna Hall, Suite 300 Room H Therefore, we organize the following sections: Santa Clara University Tillich and Western Heritage Santa Clara, CA 95053 Chinese reception of Tillich Tillich and Chinese and East Asian Philosophy Dear Fred, Tillich and Buddhism It was great talking with you. I am beginning Roundtable: The Future of Tillich the process of exploring what would be the best We will provide a round-trip ticket in econ- way for the Blaffer Foundation to rededicate Til- omy class together with free accommodations lich Park on the 50th Anniversary of Paul Tillich’s
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 5 passing on October 22, 2015. My communication hard to think of him as really belonging to any of has taken time, as I wanted to have this corre- them. It should be said of him as was said of spondence reviewed by the Foundation’s Board Erasmus, ‘He was not a citizen of any country; he of Directors. was a citizen of the world.’ How appropriate then We have three guesthouses in our holdings, that he should come to rest finally in a place sym- which I have blocked for the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of bolic of his own deepest aspirations. If Paul Til- October. I have also arranged to have The Rich- lich belongs anywhere, it is in a utopian setting ard Meier Atheneum available for a program on such as New Harmony.” Saturday, October 24th. If any society members would like to support We have formally adopted “The Jane Blaffer the sanctuary’s efforts in regeneration of Tillich Owen Sanctuary” as a permanent program of the Park, their gift should be made to: Foundation. It consists of all the grounds of the The Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation Foundation. Post Office Box 399 We have begun the process of regenerating New Harmony, Indiana 47631 Tillich Park (Phase I) with the planting of 60 Please note that the gift is for Tillich Park. Norwegian Spruce trees, and the installation of I would also ask that you help identify the pine needle mulch. The park was originally most appropriate individual to ask to present a planted with 350 trees. program on October 24th in New Harmony. Is We have established “The Friends of the Jane that you? Blaffer Owen Sanctuary” and are establishing cu- mulative patron membership levels from $25.00 Respectfully, to $500,000.00. We have established a tree registry Kent Schuette for Tillich Park that will be permanently housed Member, Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation Board of in the Paul Tillich Archive of the Foundation. Directors The Paul Tillich Park Patron level is $250.00. All Chairman, Building and Grounds Committee funds donated to the tree registry will be used to (765)532-8655 buy an additional 60 trees. Any residual funds will [email protected] be used for the long-term care and maintenance of the park. Spring Meeting of the DPTG We are removing original trees only when they are dead. After this regeneration, it is our Handeln im Horizont der Zeit: hope to add a few trees each year, so the canopy Ethik und Eschatologie bei Paul Tillich as a sense of enclosure, is always present. Tillich Park has moved from being a secular aul Tillich (1886-1965), einer der bedeutend- park to a sacred place and a refuge from everyday Psten Theologen und Religionsphilosophen life for many. A large number of visitors to New des 20. Jahrhunderts, hat den radikalen Wandel Harmony return year after year to walk the town’s der Welt seiner Zeit intensive wahrgenommen. landscape and experience the regeneration of Seine Beschreibung der fundamentalen Umbruche one’s soul. Tillich Park is a permanent part of a aus dem Jahr 1963 mutet an, als sei sie der great many pilgrimages, in all four seasons and all Gegenwart entnommen: Wir leben „in einer hours of the day and night. geschichtlichen Epoche..., die durch eine radikale It is a walking garden with no benches, swings, or seats, except the earth itself. When you und revolutionäre Umwandlung eines geschichtli- move to sit in its arms, the mounds visually and chen Zeitalters in ein anderes gekennzeichnet ist acoustically remove you from the real world that … Wir stehen in der Mitte einer Weltrevolution, surrounds the park. You are truly held in the arms die jeden Bereich der menschlichen Existenz er- of sacred Earth, and experience the sounds of greift und uns eine neue Deutung des Lebens und nature. der Welt aufdrängt”. As Rollo May stated, “Paul Tillich in a sense Paul Tillich hat sich in seinen ethischen was a man without a place. He lived and taught in Schriften deshalb intensiv mit der Frage many places—Berlin, Frankfurt, New York, beschäftigt, welche Gestalt eine Ethik haben mus- Cambridge (Massachusetts), Chicago—yet it is ste, die diesem radikalen Wandel der Welt
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Rechnung trägt. Eine solche Ethik musse Tilli- Memorial Tribute to chzufolge eine Ethik jenseits starrer Normen und William R. Crout Gesetzeeinerseits und rein pragmatischer Ansätze andererseits sein, eine Ethik jenseits von Absolut- Charles Fox ismus und Relativismus. Es musste eine Ethik sein, die auf den jeweiligen geschichtlichen With sadness I must report to the members Augenblick, den fur Tillich so wichtigen Kairos, and friends of the Society that our long-time col- bezogen ist. Auf der Tagung werden sich league in Tillich studies, William R. “Bill” Crout, etablierte Forscher und Nachwuchswissenschaft- died on February 11, 2015, at a hospice center in ler in dem aufgezeigten Horizont mit ver- Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in 1929 in a schiedenen Facetten der Ethik und Eschatologie small town in southern Mississippi, close to the Paul Tillichs beschäftigen. Auch wird es hin- Gulf, Bill was 85 years old at the time of his reichend Gelegenheit geben, die in den Vorträgen death. The world of Tillich scholarship has lost erörterten Aspekte des Tagungsthemas vertiefend someone who understood Tillich’s opus magnum zu diskutieren. Herzliche Einladung nach Bad intimately; I have lost a friend of some 55 years. Boll! Members of the Society may most immedi- Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll ately recall the very engaging talk that Bill gave to FAX 07164 79-5206 our Annual Banquet in 2006 on “Tillich’s Harvard Sekretariat Karin Nitsch Years” (an expanded text of which appeared in Akademieweg 11 the Summer, 2007, issue of the Bulletin). In rich 73087 Bad Boll detail, and with a host of fascinating anecdotes, Bill recounted to us the multi-dimensional interac- Prof. Dr. Gudrun Holtz tion of Tillich with the Harvard community dur- Prof. Dr. Christian Danz ing the period of 1955-62, when he taught there in the elite status of a “University Professor.” New Publications That account ranged over Tillich’s relations to the Divinity School faculty (generally smooth), to the Adam Pryor, The God Who Lives: Investigating the members of the Philosophy Department (gener- Emergence of Life and the Doctrine of God (Eugene, ally rough), to selected faculty in the sciences (un- Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2014). expectedly admiring), to undergraduates who The God Who Lives considers “life” as a conceptual packed his lectures (awestruck, but commonly problem, examining how new studies about the baffled), and not least, his relations to those of us emergence of life have critical implications for who were his graduate students during that period interpreting the religious symbol “God is living.” of time (overwhelmed by the consistent brilliance In particular, Pryor suggests how absence and de- of his insights). This recollection provides the sire, what is termed “abstential desire,” are critical most comprehensive and insightful portrayal we principles of life for scientific and philosophical have of Tillich during his Harvard years, when he thinking today. He goes on to develop a construc- had become an international celebrity intellectual, tive theological proposal drawing on ground of and a theological “rock star” if ever there were being theologies, particularly as inspired by Paul one. Tillich, in which the theological meaning of the In recent years, Bill Crout also contributed symbol “God is living” is interpreted in terms of three lengthy obituary tributes to the Bulletin. The the insights garnered from the principle of absten- first, on Krister Stendahl (Fall, 2008), a New Tes- tial desire, concluding that God can be under- tament professor, and then Dean of Harvard Di- stood as akin to the role played by absence in liv- vinity School during the tumultuous years of ing things. Life is an absent but effective whole in 1968-79, recalled with candor the rather ambiva- relation to the material parts of which it is com- lent (and manifestly envious) attitude of Stendahl prised. God as living is a similarly effective ab- toward Tillich. The second, on Jane Blaffer Owen sence in relation to the world. (Summer, 2010), detailed the path by which Ms. Owen discovered Paul Tillich and came to trans- ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ form her husband’s family home of New Har- mony, Indiana, with the creation there of the Paul
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 7
Tillich Park and the interment of Tillich’s ashes I first met Bill when I came into that same therein. The third, on Joan Ryerson Brewster doctoral program in the Study of Religion, though (Winter, 2010), provided a series of warm recol- my field was officially Philosophy of Religion. We lections of a woman who seldom missed a class or were both among the most dedicated and pas- presentation by Tillich in any setting during his sionate of Tillich’s students and theological ad- whole Harvard career. mirers. During the last two years of Tillich’s ten- As an undergraduate, Bill Crout attended ure at Harvard, his Teaching Assistant was Paul Millsaps College in Mississippi, where he majored Lee. Given the overwhelming student enrollments in both philosophy and music. Indeed, as Rishi in Tillich’s courses at that time, Lee recruited Bill Preddie records in her Boston Globe obituary, and me to join him as Grading Assistants during “while a college student he represented the state Tillich’s last year at Harvard. His courses were of Mississippi in the Associated Concert Bureau flooded not only with Harvard undergraduates (a of New York’s National Piano Finals, performing term Tillich confessed to never having heard be- at Carnegie Hall.” After his graduation from fore coming to Harvard), but also with student Millsaps, Bill came to pursue a Bachelor of Divin- “emigrés” from nearby MIT. ity degree at the Boston University School of In that context we both had occasion to work Theology. Upon completion of that program, he ever more closely with Tillich himself. Indeed, in served as a Chaplain in the Navy for four years August of 1963, just prior to the release of Vol- before coming in the Fall of 1955 as a graduate ume III, Bill visited Tillich at his summer home in student in Harvard’s newly formed doctoral pro- Easthampton, Long Island to assist him in re- gram nondescriptly titled “Higher Degrees in the viewing the galley sheets for the upcoming publi- Study of Religion.” That cross-departmental pro- cation. About a year and a month later, I also gram, created as part of the revival of the Divinity came to visit Tillich in Easthampton, and I excit- School under the new presidency of Nathan edly brought along my copy of Volume III for Pusey, linked the study of religion in the Divinity Tillich to inscribe. But when I got there, I discov- School with various faculties in the School of Arts ered that Tillich was in quite a despondent state. and Sciences. Bill’s focal field was Theology, By this point in time (1964), Harper and Row had which of course immediately brought him into secured the rights to publish a one-volume edition contact with the eminent Paul Tillich, who also of the Systematic. Using his vacation sojourn to re- had arrived at Harvard in the Fall of 1955. Tillich read Volume III in preparation for this upcoming had been personally recruited by President Pusey edition, Tillich found that time and again the text to assume one of the distinguished University did not seem to say in English what he knew he Professor chairs at Harvard, of which there were wanted to say. There were too many obscure pas- always to be only five at a time. Tillich replaced sages in which Tillich felt he had groped for the the retiring Percy Bridgman, a Nobel Laureate in proper English expression but had failed to cap- Physics. ture it in his final formulation. In that state of During the next seven years, Bill Crout was a mind, Tillich asked if Bill and I might undertake dedicated student of Tillich, attending all of his the task of critically reviewing the whole text of course lectures, even those being offered for the Volume III to offer him our suggestions about second time around, when, of course, they were how he could improve it. never the same as the first time around. This was Upon returning to Cambridge, I discussed Til- especially true (as I shall further detail momentar- lich’s request and proposal with Bill, and he and I ily) for the lectures associated with the last two decided to divide the text of Volume III in such a sections of the Systematic Theology, which were of- way that I would work on the revision of Part fered twice during this period. Volume III finally Four, “Life and the Spirit,” and he would work on appeared in print a year after Tillich’s “second the revision of Part Five, “History and the King- retirement” of 1962 (his first retirement, of dom of God.” Bill in turn enlisted the aid of Joan course, being from Union Theological Seminary). Brewster to work with him on Part Five. For the Following his Harvard retirement, Tillich had be- sake of clarifying the historical record here, it come the John Nuveen Professor of Theology at should be noted, as I pointed out to Bill right af- the University of Chicago, where he remained un- ter his memorial tribute to Brewster appeared in til his death in October 1965. the Winter 2010 issue of the Bulletin, that he had
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 8 there inadvertently reversed our division of labor. on, and the familiarity with Tillich’s thought and I recall his chagrin during our phone conversation his memory at Harvard waned, it seemed that Til- as he asked, “Oh my goodness, is that what I lich’s name was invoked more honorifically than wrote? Thanks for reminding me.” substantively in the lecture presentations. But cer- Over the course of the next year, from Sep- tainly the series, which was dear to Bill’s heart and tember of 1964 until August of 1965 when I de- mind, served to keep alive the memory of our es- parted for a teaching appointment at Williams teemed teacher for a later generation at Harvard College, Bill and I met regularly (just the two of who at most, but surely also at best, had read only us) to review my proposed clarifications of Part his brilliant volume, The Courage to Be. Four and his (and Joan’s) proposed clarifications Although my relation to Bill was always very of Part Five. The task quickly became quite over- much concerned with our mutual interest in and whelming, and ever more voluminous in out- commitment to the thought and legacy of Paul come, especially in the case of Bill’s meticulous Tillich, I gradually became aware of many other effort to make Tillich speak ideas deeply rooted in fascinating activities that engaged the rich array of 19th century German thought with an English Bill Crout’s interests. He became an avid collector clarity, which tended to require the translation of of Asian art, and even worked for a while on the complex German multi-words into complete Eng- side in an art dealership. In the last decade or so lish sentences. But then on the evening of Octo- of his life, Bill told me about his intimate engage- ber 22, 1965, came the phone call that Tillich had ment with the Lowell House Senior Common died a few hours earlier, and we knew that our Room at Harvard, where the testimony of others task was at an end. Thus it came as no surprise, indicates his empathic spirit had a profound influ- when we eventually approached Bob Kimball, ence on the lives of many undergraduates. Also, Tillich’s literary executor, with the results of our for some 22 years Bill led the Cambridge Writers labors and the request to incorporate them in Group, a colloquium of writers and poets that he some fashion into the one-volume edition now had founded some time in the early ‘90’s. The moving forward, Kimball rejected this as com- aforementioned Rishi Preddie, a writer herself and pletely impossible. Indeed it was impossible, for a member of the group, has described to me the translation quickly elides into interpretation, as compelling influence of Bill’s gracious but meticu- Schleiermacher long ago realized in his efforts to lously refined sense of the written word upon the translate Plato, thus spurring his development of participants of that group. modern hermeneutic theory. So, needless to say, At some point later this Spring, a special me- the products of our year-long devotion descended morial event for William R. Crout will occur at into our respective file cabinets, where they have Harvard’s Memorial Church, and his remains will lain ever since. be subsequently interred in Hattiesburg, Missis- After a brief period of teaching in the Hu- sippi. Immediate survivors include one brother, manities program of MIT at the end of the ’60’s, who lives in Huntsville, Texas. Bill veered away from a more conventional aca- Charles W. Fox demic career to assume various roles on the staff Williamstown, Massachusetts of the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. And in due course, he was appointed to a position within Tillich at Harvard: Some the University Marshall’s office, a position he re- Personal Reflections tained until his retirement just a few years ago. In th the context of that role, and in the 25 anniver- Peter Slater sary year of Tillich’s death (1990), with the sup- port of the Marshall’s office, Bill founded the Til- Editor’s Note: This speech was delivered at the annual lich Lecture Series at Harvard. In the early years, banquet of the North American Paul Tillich Society on there were commonly two lectures a year, one in Friday, 21 November 2014, at Seasons 52 Restaurant, the Fall and one in the Spring, though in later San Diego, California. years a single lecture occurred, in the Spring. Over the course of this series, Bill recruited an impres- Like hundreds of others, excited by reading sive array of scholars from a variety of creative The Courage to Be, I went to Harvard because Til- domains to deliver this lecture. As the years went lich was there. In the Fall of 1957, first year stu-
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 9 dents were not admitted to his advanced semi- Our only personal contact with Tillich, when nars. But we could take his M. Div. lecture course taking his large-enrollment basic courses, was lim- for credit. He would lecture for an hour, take a ited to that brief chance to write out a direct ques- break, and then lecture for another hour, speaking tion and hear his answer. Discussions of term- to propositions that formed the basis of his forth- paper topics, grades, and the like were handled by coming book. The formula was one carried over his teaching assistant (that year, Bob Kimball). from his years in Germany and continued at Un- In my case, I had come directly from studying ion Theological Seminary in New York. That year, Patristics at Cambridge University (UK) and, be- the lectures were on what would be Volume III of fore that, linguistic analytic philosophy at McGill his Systematics. University in Montreal. There, as in the Philoso- During the break, students wrote out ques- phy Department in Harvard Yard, the reigning tions and left them on the lectern for him to an- oracle was Wittgenstein, not Heidegger. The only swer at the beginning of the second hour. His an- member of the Harvard Philosophy Department swers almost always unpacked relevant passages in regular conversation with Tillich was John from the Systematics. The heavily accented word I Wild, who was translating Heidegger’s Sein und most remember from his discussions of Geist was Zeit into English. (John Macquarrie actually beat “dy-nahmic.” him to the publishers.) That was the year, as Bill Crout mentioned a Tillich never learnt to differentiate between few meetings back, when one of the questions linguistic analysts, invoking the later Wittgenstein, was a unique request. Sputnik was due to orbit and the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle. He over eastern Massachusetts during the second dismissed them all as positivists. The Harvard phi- hour. It would be visible from Harvard Yard. losophers read W. V. Quine on symbolic logic, Could we please go outside and see it? and were adamant that they were not positivists. Tillich read the questions aloud before an- To Anglo-American empiricists and pragma- swering them, exegeting as he went along, para- tists, Tillichian references to ontology sounded phrasing them, while obviously pondering from like language “going on holiday.” I arrived at Har- which section of the Systematics to answer us. vard having studied Kant, but never having heard The challenge, when framing a question, was to of Schelling. I had to rework my first term paper put in enough qualifiers to prevent his “eiseget- for Robert Kimball several times, before I could ing” our queries, then produce an answer not at connect my way of putting things with Tillichian all related to the question one had had in mind. theological locutions. One imperative that came It was a challenge to correlate my questions through loud and clear was: be systematic. with any of Tillich’s answers. The only example I As a University Professor, Tillich was allowed have from my old lecture notes is a question, with to offer courses in any department of the univer- many sub-clauses, asking why, in his lectures on sity. He regularly gave one in the Philosophy De- actualizing Spiritual Presence and the coming partment on German Classical Idealism. I audited Kingdom, he only unpacked the traditional Pro- it in the Fall of 1958 and still have my lecture testant conceptions of faith and love, without ever notes. developing the third theological virtue, hope. Lib- They begin with him stressing that his course eration theology was not then on his horizon. In title was “German Classical Philosophy,” not the printed version of Volume III, he does allude German Classical Idealism, counting as idealist in passing to Ernst Bloch’s “principle of hope.” those whose subjective powers of conception On the day Sputnik flew over, we could see shape their perceptions of objects, not vice versa, Tillich at the lectern visibly pondering where, moving from object to subject. His argument was from within “the System,” to find a reply, until it that not all the Germans philosophizing about was explained to him that the question was about religion were idealists in all their phases. Those taking an unscheduled break to see Sputnik, not discussed in detail were Kant, Fichte, Schelling, understanding the Holy Spirit. A look of delight and Hegel. spread across his face and he happily led us out, Looking back at my notes for his first lecture, to join the throngs in Harvard Yard gazing expec- I am struck by Tillich’s exposition of how the tantly up into the sky. And indeed, we did all wit- German Classical philosophers differed from their ness an historic moment that day. French and English contemporaries. Their idea of
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“classical” was based on recovering Plato and Ar- only one whose history Tillich did not distort with istotle, whose “classical period” was in reaction his editorial slant. This was because his own against critical, “revolutionary” predecessors. thinking was so close to theirs. I left much more Plato aimed at a rational synthesis that would re- aware of important differences among Fichte, establish the greatness of the past aristocratic Hegel, and Schelling, dizzied by how many phases ethos of a Greek city-state. and stages of Schelling’s positions he took us The German classical philosophers were simi- through. larly reacting to the philosophy of Kant and En- Those of us concentrating on systematic and lightenment criticisms of dogmatic theology. They philosophical theology, in our advanced degree aimed to synthesize religion and philosophy by programs (Ph.D. and Th.D.), first met, not in Til- analyzing the universal structures of reality behind lich’s graduate seminars, but in Paul Lehmann’s. natural processes, doing justice to subjective per- He was working through the newly published spectives. English translations of Karl Barth’s Church Dog- Because of the “postponing effects” of the matics, that year, happily for me, Volume II-2 on Reformation, according to Tillich, Renaissance predestination. By the time we got into Tillich’s humanism arrived later in Germany than else- graduate seminar, during our second year, we where. The ideas of the classical philosophers in were nearly all Barthians. However, even the most Germany did not inform the thinking of the intel- Barthian among those who took the Tillich semi- lectual elites of the whole nation, as a relatively nar (George Kehm), was not still a Barthian small number of Christian humanists did in Brit- within a decade or so of graduating. ain. His graduate seminars met weekly in the Til- The German masses were under the sway of lich’s apartment after supper, where he served us Lutheran paternalism. They lacked the “shaping beer. He assumed that the systematic weakness of power” of thought that comes from having lived English theology was due to the fact that the Eng- through a successful revolution. To Lutherans, lish drink tea. I suggested it was due to their Tillich remarked, all power is from God. Ideo- drinking sherry. Only recently, while checking logically, that belief did not prepare them to chal- Hannah’s memoirs of their years in Frankfurt, did lenge Hitler when he seized power. I discover that Tillich loved his sherry. Politically, neither Hegel nor Schelling could Hannah recalled their Harvard years as among have produced a revolution, according to Tillich. their best in America, because, as a University Their ideal of ultimate freedom was propounded Professor, he was not expected to live up to any as a reaction against ecclesiastical heteronomy. In current American stereotype of Protestant theolo- Hegel’s system, the central idea of the Prussian gians. Furthermore, he was paid more in accord state stifles the ideal of freedom. with his status as an international celebrity. By comparison, in France, the modern intel- Like Tillich, my father had been an army lectuals’ conflict was with the Roman Catholic chaplain, serving in Burma during World War II. Church, which they dismissed. In England, relig- My mother, my brother, and myself were evacu- ious concerns were mainly liturgical and a laissez- ated to Australia for the duration. We did not see faire attitude fostered tolerant Christian human- him again for five years. I learnt later that he told ism. my mother not to feel bound by their marriage Kant was called “the philosopher of human vows, during their years of separation. She re- finitude.” His question was: what makes knowing mained completely chaste. But that wartime con- with certainty possible? An object is only known text prepared me to hear of Tillich’s sexual affairs to a subject when confirmed by direct observa- without being judgmental, as many in America tion. After Kant, the goal of the German Classical were. philosophers was to synthesize philosophy and We used to wonder whether a gorgeous religion, while unpacking the finite-infinite iden- blond, whom we met occasionally, entering the tity undergirding the known world. As we all elevator to go up in the Tillich’s apartment build- know, Tillich looked to aesthetics, when seeking ing, as we exited going down, was one of his more ideas for synthesizing pure and practical reason. notorious admirers. But Hannah’s memoirs indi- From my British empiricist perspective, the cate that their Bohemian post-World War I life- German classical philosophers’ school was the style was well behind them by then.
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When Tillich moved to Harvard, he also got the Yard, not diluting the newly revitalized Pro- to choose his junior colleague in Theology. He testant image of the Divinity School. Tillich was was John Dillenberger, who ended his days at most upset by the Dawson appointment, not Berkeley. He and my father were among the many wanting a Catholic sitting in judgment on Dillen- World War II veterans who took Tillich’s courses berger, when he came up for tenure. Ironically, in Systematics at Union. There they all lived in the the current Catholic chair-holder is Frank on-campus suites for married couples and often Fiorenza, who is the only one now at Harvard met informally after class. directing theses on Tillich. My father fancied himself as a journalist and Krister Stendahl was a Scandinavian Lutheran was writing a novel about his war experiences. who believed that studying the history of religions For his Tillich term paper, he submitted a short should be an intrinsic part of Divinity programs. story about an Anglican bishop, who was too His position won the day. After the Center for the busy with committee meetings to have time for Study of World Religions was built, my father the pastoral problems of individual visitors. Til- persuaded Tillich to serve on some of its doctoral lich’s TA at Union (Dillenberger or Cornelius advisory committees. I waited on table at a private Loew?) was unsure how to evaluate it as a paper, luncheon that my father hosted for Tillich and so passed it on to Tillich. He approved its literary Eliade, when they discussed the idea of giving a contrast between kairos and chronos, and gave it an joint seminar, the year Tillich was leaving to go to “A.” Chicago. My mother and Hannah Tillich were on James Luther Adams, one of Tillich’s earliest friendly terms from those New York days, be- American boosters and editor/compiler of The cause they both wrote poetry and had to live with Protestant Era, was by then another colleague at larger-than-life clergy husbands who, as former Harvard. He was a Unitarian proponent of the army chaplains, did not fit the conventional image history of religions and an avid religious tourist. of American Protestant theologians. When in Japan, he would go and sit cross-legged My father was my first theology professor at Zen temples and eat whatever holy food was during my one year as a Divinity student at put before him. He and my father finally per- McGill. I partly went to Cambridge (UK) to get suaded Tillich to go to a gathering in Tokyo. Til- away from him, so I was horrified, when he lich insisted on staying at a safe western-style ho- showed up on the Harvard faculty, during my tel and spent most of the time as the star presence third year, as its first ever “Professor of World at round-table discussions of Christianity and Religions.” His doctoral thesis for Columbia was a Buddhism. Hannah was the one who went out comparative study of Christian ideas of heaven and learnt how the locals lived. and Burmese Buddhist teaching about Nir- Tillich was not interested in my father’s exper- vana/Nibbana. tise on Theravada Buddhism, but he did solicit As Grace Cali’s memoir of his Harvard years suggestions regarding the Tillichs’ upcoming trip attests, Tillich always put his students ahead of to Israel, where he hoped to reconnect with Mar- most other commitments. That meant, if a com- tin Buber. I have a copy of Hannah’s memento of mittee meeting was called when his class was their visit signed by “Paulus.” scheduled, he usually skipped the meeting. He was The usual format for Tillich’s graduate semi- furious with Dean Horton for pushing through nars was to have each student present for debate the motion to appoint Christopher Dawson, as his prospective thesis topic. (I don’t remember the first ever Roman Catholic on the faculty of any “hers.”) The most memorable session for me the Harvard Divinity School. He made sure that was when Eberhard Amelung, an exchange he was at the meeting that voted on my father’s scholar from Germany, presented the view that appointment. Bonhoeffer and Tillich were ahead of others, in Unknown to me (one of their graduate stu- opposing Hitler, because of their Prussian self- dents and later one of their Teaching Fellows in confidence, due in no small measure to their fam- Theology), Tillich and all my professors in the ily backgrounds. By contrast, Catholic priest- Theology Department (Lehmann, Dick Niebuhr) theologians were often the first generation from voted against my father’s appointment. They ar- their lower class families to have attended univer- gued that it and the Catholic chair should be in
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 12 sity. They were very, very reluctant to jeopardize closely. Overall, his Yes’s were stronger than his their prized professorships. No’s, both on academic questions and in relations During the last semester, before he left for with his colleagues. Chicago, we asked Tillich to go over with us themes on which he had published during his ear- Review of Ronald Stone’s Book: liest years. His most memorable comment for me Politics and Faith1 was when he off-handedly remarked that “the method of correlation” was a locution urged on MARION H. PAUCK him by one of his TAs at Union, Bill Coleman, on the grounds that North Americans were generally Ron Stone has packed an enormous amount not familiar or comfortable with his preferred la- of material into this volume about Reinhold Nie- bel of “dialectics.” buhr and Paul Tillich. I commend him for his in- The member of those graduate seminars who dustry and research. As it happens, he has written went on to most acclaim in later years was actually an encyclopedia. Details from published books, an auditor, Robert Bellah, who was brought up a lectures, and personal conversations have been Calvinist. In his last, massive book, he acknowl- gathered from a variety of mostly contemporary edges “three great teachers who taught me face- sources. Unfortunately, his wish to interview me to-face…Talcott Parsons, Wilfred Smith, and Paul was not fulfilled. Stone alternates between quot- Tillich…Tillich (he writes) taught me to see ‘the ing the many facts and observations he has gath- dimension of depth’ in every cultural expression ered, simultaneously debating with others, some- and that Christianity is not ‘belief in the unbeliev- times asserting his own point of view. Each chap- able’ at a time when I thought it was”(xxvi-xxvii). ter begins with biographical material about each As Hannah Tillich and others have attested, thinker, followed by a description of the work Paulus was always approachable and interested in being done at the time, in the midst of the politi- his students’ concerns. The one student or auditor cal situation, the wars, the major events of the he suffered rather than encouraged was Peter time. Although Stone has gathered an enormous John, whose ambition it was to record for poster- amount of information and presents fact after ity every word from the master’s lips, including fact, he fails to deliver “the inner man.” Perhaps such earth-shaking questions as: shall we break that is asking too much. For only Tillich wrote for coffee? about his inner life, often in veiled terminology, Tillich did not have to preach as regularly at and Niebuhr when he did write concentrated on Harvard as he did at Union. But I remember his outer events. Thus, a special part of these very sermons in the Divinity chapel as models of what different but greatly influential thinkers is missing. my Presbyterian homiletics professor at McGill And that something goes beyond motivation. I considered good preaching to be—responsible to hope this is not seen as too severe an indictment. the biblical contexts of his texts and relating them Stone, after all, has not sought to do the work of a to the existential concerns of the congregation biographer but rather, as I see it, he has collected present. as much fact and contemporary observation as In the end, I switched to a concentration in possible. This works well for the most part. And I philosophy of religion, writing a thesis on admire Stone greatly for his industry. Augustine on evil, rather than compete with At times, however, Stone rejects the very classmates, who were much better versed than I point made by reliable witnesses, e.g., in his inter- was in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions, view with Elisabeth Niebuhr Sifton, he quotes her which were assumed by Tillich and Lehmann as as saying that RN and PT were friends but not professors on a Protestant faculty. intimate friends. He then writes that Ms. Sifton What I most valued about Tillich, then and meant to say they were close friends. Knowing Ms. now, was his largeness of mind and championing Sifton intimately, I dare to suggest that she said of apologetics, when Barthians considered this a what she meant to say, and nothing more or less. dirty word. The way to get him to consider an Yet, again and again, Stone points out that Tillich idea that he initially rejected out of hand was to and Niebuhr were close friends. In fact, Tillich tell that he was not being dialectical enough. He thought of Niebuhr as his savior from certain im- would then say, “Yah, Yah” and listen more prisonment and death by the Nazis. He was al-
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 13 ways a little bit in awe of Niebuhr who was a true tor/comedian, who has been accused of dalliances American at home in this country; moreover, he with women and the rape of at least one. Is this was a most faithful human being, faithful to his bit of news as important as the fact that many family, to his friends, to his students. There was a Americans are without food and shelter in a time certain amount of awe in Tillich’s attitude towards of great prosperity? Or that ISIS is beheading its Niebuhr. He was also in awe of Henry Sloane captives? Please do not misunderstand me. I cer- Coffin, who was president of Union Theological tainly do not approve of rape nor do I applaud Seminary until 1945. He therefore attended chapel extra-marital affairs. But are we all so perfect that every morning although he was used to life in a we dare to be excessively judgmental about sins of secular university. And consequently, he rarely the flesh? I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “Let attended a Sunday morning service unless he him- him who is without sin cast the first stone.” self was preaching. Tillich’s inner struggle with his life style is re- In fact, Reinhold Niebuhr knew very little flected in a sermon titled “You Are Accepted.” I about Tillich’s personal life until a dramatic event recall hearing it when he first delivered it at Union occurred during Tillich’s last year at Harvard Uni- in James Chapel. On the top of the manuscript versity when an irate husband called to tell him itself, he wrote the words, “For Myself! 20 August that the great Paul Tillich had written love letters 1946.” It was his 60th birthday. He writes, “…It to his wife. This gentleman banged on Tillich’s strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for office door and threatened him unless he left his perfection of life does not appear, when the old wife alone. And then he visited Niebuhr and ex- compulsions reign within us as they have for dec- pressed his outrage. Niebuhr was taken by stun- ades, when despair destroys all joys and darkness, ning surprise and immediately telephoned Wil- and it is as though a voice were saying, ‘You are helm Pauck, who, while the two were taking a accepted, accepted by that which is greater than long walk on Riverside Drive, enlightened Nie- you...’” buhr. It was Pauck who was Tillich’s close friend When Stone says that Tillich’s reputation and who kept his secrets. (As, of course, was never recovered from the confessions of Hannah Adolf Löwe.) There is no doubt that Niebuhr’s and the discussion that followed them, I take is- views of Tillich the private person were dramati- sue with him. Hannah herself told Wilhelm and cally changed by this event. Nevertheless, to my me a few years after her book was published that knowledge, he never confronted Tillich directly. she regretted writing it and regretted even more Despite Pauck’s own misgivings about Tillich’s publishing it. The fact is, however, that so many life style, he also remained his loyal friend. It is years later, Tillich’s books are still bestsellers, and true, however, that had Tillich’s goings-on been he is still considered as one of the most creative made public, let us say, long before The Courage to minds of the last century. Moreover, our biogra- Be was published, he might very well have been phy of Tillich is being published again by Wipf sacked. Tillich lived in constant anxiety but could and Stock. I teach a course at Stanford in my little not change. Lutheran church, and it is crowded with eager Who among us is perfect? In the chapter adult students when we read and study Tillich. about Hannah’s book and the general reaction to Professor Parrella teaches courses on Tillich as do it, Stone quotes the feminists at great length. And many in the society. Even my physicians at the he himself makes what I consider a weak defense Palo Alto Medical Clinic eagerly read Tillich not of Tillich. Had he re-read the chapter, titled “Be- only because of my connection to him but be- tween Two Worlds,” of our biography of Tillich cause they are in need of words that inspire them he would have found Tillich’s own argument for and keep them from being preoccupied with his lifestyle. Tillich knew himself better than most death. Tillich’s words about his inner struggle anyone else, certainly better than his detractors. have the ring of truth. Please do not think that I The fact is that the United States of America was am unsympathetic to the feminist cause, although then, and continues to be, torn between pornog- my own professional experience has been unusu- raphy and Puritanism. This was true when I was ally free from male opposition. My teachers at very young, and it is true now. Regard the front Union were all men, and they were all supportive. page of The New York Times, which carries a pho- I was the first woman to be religious book editor tograph of an old, defeated looking black ac- at the Oxford University Press. I spent nearly ten
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 14 productive and interesting years working there est. He also gave the impression of seeing right until I was offered the chance to work on the Til- through human frailties and dishonesties. I lich biography. To be sure, I had difficulties with worked for him for two years as managing editor my immediate superior who was a man, but I of Christianity and Crisis, and I saw him nearly managed to escape him. Immediately after I left every day. I recall treating him as though he had Oxford University Press, I was offered an execu- not been struck down and weakened. And I was tive position in another prestigious book publish- told he was grateful to me for just that sensitivity ing firm. Moreover, the vice president of the New towards him. Although I had met his wife, Ursula, York Times interviewed me and put me on the in my years at Barnard College, I was a philoso- short list to be the first religion editor/columnist phy major and I failed to take any of her courses. for the Times. My marriage to Wilhelm Pauck pre- But we knew and liked one another. When she vented me from accepting that grand offer for I heard that I wanted to take a Master’s degree at was told I would belong to the New York Times Union but that my father had threatened to dis- “body and soul.” And my body and soul already own me, she was instrumental in helping me face belonged to Pauck. up to him. She arranged a meeting between Rein- Stone, unfortunately, fails to quote those who hold Niebuhr and me. I have written about this understood Tillich’s views on love and marriage. meeting before and how impressed I was that Rather he quotes those who express typical such a great and busy man had saved time for me, American puritanical views. Personally, I do not serving tea in the bargain. He gave me “the cour- applaud Tillich’s modus vivendi, but as a biographer age to be” myself and to say “No” to my father. I try to understand him and, as a native American When I recall that he said, he understood what of German-born parents, I probably have a better German fathers were like, and I understood why chance. At least I do not condemn him wholesale. he gave me such good advice. Tillich’s mistake doubtless was that he exported a When Wilhelm and I were married, Reinhold lifestyle that was acceptable in post-World War Niebuhr was best man, and Paul Tillich the offici- One Europe but not in the United States. There is ating minister. We had wanted Niebuhr to offici- a sense, finally, which made it impossible for him ate, but he was too shaky on his feet. So he said, psychologically speaking to return to what he felt “Bill, I have never been best man. I would like to was a prison. Those of us who cared about him do that very much indeed.” On our wedding day, do not applaud this behavior, but although we do therefore, in the little room outside the chapel not imitate his lifestyle, we do not condemn him. where we were married, Niebuhr and Tillich, Both in my biographical work and in various while they waited for the wedding march to begin, lectures delivered throughout the years, I have discussed the life eternal. Later Wilhelm told me emphasized my knowledge of Paul Tillich. I have that Niebuhr said, “I doubt the life eternal. I just written much less about my other teacher and don’t believe in it!” And Tillich responded, “I am close friend, Reinhold Niebuhr. I have asked my- uncertain and a little afraid.” This conversation self why this is the case. The answer is that I was continued at the wedding luncheon that followed afraid of sounding as though I worshipped him. the wedding. A few days later, Niebuhr said to And he would not have liked that. He knew very Wilhelm in a wonderful letter thanking him for well in what high esteem I held him. Once when I having invited him to be best man, “Marion is a criticized Roger Shinn for being too critical in a good woman. You will be happy together.” No book review of one of Niebuhr’s last books, Nie- ifs, ands, and buts, no psychological problems, buhr teased me and said, “Marion, you are preju- just “you will be happy.” A few months after our diced.” And we, Ursula, Wilhelm, and I, all burst wedding, Tillich came to New York, and tele- out laughing. Yes, I was and am prejudiced. But phoned. Wilhelm answered. Tillich asked in Ger- the fact is that Niebuhr’s character seemed to be man, “How are you two?” Wilhelm said, “Won- without the kind of inner conflict that Tillich derful. We are very happy.” Then Tillich asked, bore. It is true that he suffered from another kind “And Marion? How is she?” And Wilhelm said, of conflict that had to do with the strokes that “She is happy, too.” Whereupon Tillich replied, stopped him in his tracks. But this conflict was “Oh but that is so rare! That is wonderful.” not the same as Tillich’s, in either content or sub- Although I have told these stories in earlier stance. Niebuhr was absolutely straight and hon- lectures, I find that they illustrate so perfectly the
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 15 personality and character of both men. And they sion in San Diego, not to mention a walk by the do so more than any long lecture or book with ocean for both are bound to be lively. Warm footnotes could possibly achieve. greetings to you all! I wish to thank you for inviting me to take part in this discussion. My criticisms should not 1 Politics and Faith: Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich remove anyone’s pleasure in reading Stone’s at Union Seminary in New York Macon, Georgia: Mercer book. I am only sorry that I shall miss the discus- University Press, 2013. (Mercer Tillich Series)
Freedom as Autonomy Philosophy of Religion in its Relation to the Gospel of Observations on Paul Tillich’s John4 and the doctoral lecture from Breslau in Reception of Fichte 1910,5 Freedom as a Philosophical Principle in Fichte— make clear that Tillich’s entry into German Ideal- Christian Danz ism is mediated by Fichte’s philosophy as inter- preted by Fritz Medicus. This picture is further On the 26th of September 1954, in Stuttgart, at confirmed by the examination paper from 1908, the congress of the “Allgemeine Gesellschaft für “What is the Significance of the Opposition of Monistic and Dualistic World-View for the Chris- Philosophie in Deutschland,” on the occasion 6 commemorating the one hundred anniversary of tian Religion?” , as well as Tillich’s correspon- Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling’s death, Paul dence with Friedrich Büchsel and the scarcely known article from 1912, “Knowledge and Opin- Tillich gave the ceremonial address “Schelling and th 7 the Beginnings of Existential Protest.”1 Right at ion” on the occasion of Fichte’s 150 birthday. the beginning of his talk, Tillich makes clear “The necessity of moving beyond Kant,” accord- Schelling’s significance for his own thought: “He ing to the programmatic opening of the monism was my teacher although the beginning of my text, manifests itself as “a necessity of moving in studies and the year of his death are 50 years the direction of Fichte” (EW IX, 28). With this apart. In developing my own thought I have never program, the young theologian, like others of his forgotten my dependence on Schelling. […] My time—such as Emmanuel Hirsch, Friedrich work on the problems of systematic theology Gogarten, and Emil Lask—builds upon the Ideal- would be unthinkable without him” (MW I, 392). ism-renaissance around 1900, one of the most Schelling’s philosophy does indeed play a founda- important representatives of which was Tillich’s teacher and promoter in Halle, adjunct professor tional role in the formulation of Tillich’s theology. 8 Tillich dedicated two dissertations to it.2 If, then, of philosophy, Fritz Medicus. Tillich’s occupa- the following is to pursue the theologian Fichte’s tion with Fichte’s philosophy during his studies, reception, Schelling’s influence ought nevertheless according to the thesis to be expounded here, is in not be contested. Having said this, Tillich’s way to no way to be seen merely as a stopover on his way Schelling goes through Fichte, who is decisive for to Schelling. Rather, the engagement with the Tillich during his four-semester stay at the theo- Wissenschaftslehrer established fundamental convic- logical faculty of the University of Halle, between tions for the young theologian on the basis of 1905 and 1907. Concerning his time in Halle, Til- which he takes account of Schelling’s philosophy, lich remarks almost 40 years later, in a letter to and which remain fundamental for his further Thomas Mann, that it was “the greatest period of work. For example, the form-substance schema my life” (GW XIII, 26). The lecture from 1954 (constitutive for the later theology of culture), also makes mention of this. The analyses of his stems from the Fichte interpretation of his “esteemed teacher and guide to Fichte and teacher, Medicus. Moving on, there is the notion Schelling, Fritz Medicus” (MW I, 395) are what of autonomy. Tillich solves the problems con- initiated him into German Idealism. The engage- nected with the conceptual development of ment with Fichte’s philosophy as well as the sig- autonomy by recourse to the philosophy of nificance of his philosophy for the genesis of Til- Schelling. In this way, the concept of freedom is lich’s theological thinking has hitherto been left expanded, so that freedom, in the sense of auton- unexamined.3 omy, from then on corresponds to the Fichtean Yet, posthumous texts published in recent concept. For the time being, the form-substance years—a seminar paper from 1906 entitled Fichte’s schema will have to be left aside. I turn now to
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 16 the formulation of the concept of freedom that out that the 19 year-old theologian mainly refers the young theologian in Halle developed in the to—what he, following Medicus, calls—the third course of his engagement with Fichte’s philoso- phase of the development of the history of phy. This will happen in two steps. To be consid- Fichte’s philosophy. By this is meant the Instruction ered first is the appropriation of Fichte in the for the Blessed Life from 1806. Furthermore, the ci- seminar paper from 1906, and the Monism-text tations that the theologian procures from the from two years later. Then the presentation of the works of the philosopher likely do not go back to Fichtean concept of freedom in the Breslau doc- his own extensive reading of Fichte, but rather to toral lecture from 1910 will be reconstructed. Medicus’s book from 1905, J. G. Fichte. Thirteen lectures Held at the University of Halle.13 But now, we 1. The Fichte of Halle, or Theology in the turn to Tillich’s early image of Fichte. Spirit of the Wissenschaftslehre According to the young theologian, Fichte’s philosophy of religion had indeed overcome The young Tillich’s image of Fichte under- Kant’s “subjectivism and skepticism” (EW IX, 7), went a change during his studies.9 This is most and namely, in the last phase of his works, the clearly visible in the seminar paper from 1906, the Johannine, had propounded a concept that ac- first document from his engagement with Fichte, counts equally for the subjective and objective as well as in the examination paper. During his sides of religion. However, his interpretation of first semester in Halle in 1905 and 1906, the Johannine Christianity excludes all voluntative young theologian visited a seminar of the adjunct moments. Thus, his philosophy of religion is in- professor of philosophy, Fritz Medicus, on the tellectualist and does justice neither to the synthe- theme of “Philosophical Exercises (Fichte).”10 It sis arrived at in Christianity, nor (as Tillich shows is this seminar to which the paper, “Fichte’s Phi- by going through the three above named aspects) losophy of Religion in its relation to the Gospel to the Gospel of John. of John,” hearkens back. The paper sets itself the The young theologian’s image of Fichte, as task of “working out the main ideas” of Fichte’s expressed in the seminar paper from 1906, is quite philosophy of religion, “and comparing them with critical. In the comparison of the philosopher those of the Gospel of John” (EW IX, 9). For with the fourth evangelist, he thoroughly deter- this, Tillich assumes a concept of religion accord- mines Fichte’s intellectualism. Above all, this is ing to which religious consciousness is the “most reflected in Fichte’s concept of sin. In Fichte, evil central…all determining expression of the spirit” is “something totally other than the negative. It is (EW IX, 4). The functions of thought and will are the positive, indeed the powerful positive, which constitutive for the life of the spirit.11 For the the- rules the world” and no mere “not-I.” The semi- ology student, these pre-conditions result in two nar paper from 1906 represents an intermission. fundamental types of religion or notions of God: In the following years, Tillich seems himself to a voluntaristic type and an intellectualist type. have engaged with Fichte’s texts more thoroughly, While Judaism produced a voluntaristic notion of at least with the Foundation of the Entire Science of God, an intellectualist formulation was more sig- Knowledge from 1794. The excerpts of Tillich’s nificant for the ancient Greeks. Tillich ultimately posthumous writings that are preserved in Har- understands Christianity as a synthesis of volunta- vard bear witness to this.14 The fruit of these sub- rism and intellectualism.12 sequent readings of Fichte are apparent in the ex- Against the background of this constellation, amination paper from 1908. Its concern is a reha- Tillich compares Fichte’s philosophy of religion bilitation of idealism for theology, and, it carries with the Gospel of John on the basis of three distinct traces of his teacher, the interpretation of “aspects”: the metaphysical basis (i.e., the notion Fichte, by Fritz Medicus.15 The young theologian of God and its relation to the world); the “histori- is concerned with a monism of the spirit that cal significance of Christ and Christendom;” and takes dualism up into itself as a necessary moment its “moral-religious consequences” (EW IX, 9). At of passage.16 In this program, the motifs emerge this point, a detailed engagement with Tillich’s that will occupy him in all his further works. deliberations must be left aside. Although I will However, here they are still accomplished thor- limit myself to a systematic aspect of his Fichte oughly on the basis of Fichte’s philosophy.17 Yet interpretation, it should nevertheless be pointed we must also leave a detailed reconstruction of
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 17 the monism text aside, and limit ourselves to how the attainment of a theological licentiate degree, in Tillich carries the two above-mentioned critiques order to obtain the secular stipend offered by the of Fichte forward—intellectualism on the one city of Berlin. It is no longer possible to deter- hand, and the notion of sin on the other hand. mine who proposed the theme of the dissertation While the theology student interpreted from the hitherto passed-on sources and docu- Fichte’s philosophy as intellectualism in his semi- ments. Against the background of the course of nar paper, the examination paper completely re- his studies, and his early Fichte reception, an en- jects this image. Now, Fichte’s philosophy ap- gagement with Schelling did not immediately sug- pears as a synthesis of intellectualism and volunta- gest itself, even if it was undoubtedly within the rism on the basis of practical reason, the freedom sphere of the contemporary renaissance of ideal- of self-determination. The accusation of intellec- ism. Although the examination paper from the tualism is now turned on Hegel.18 As a result, the 1908 documents suggests a strong affinity with concept of sin appears in a new light. “Sin is the German idealism, Schelling in particular does not limitation of the spirit, which is to be overcome. play a fundamental role in it. This changed, how- Or, put more sharply: the lack of overcoming the ever, in the years around 1909, as the above cited “not-I,” the lag of intellectual personhood behind statement from the letter to Fritz Medicus docu- its telos” (EW IX, 68). Though Tillich had criti- ments. “On every page” in Schelling, writes Til- cized Fichte’s understanding of sin as negation in lich in the letter, “I discover a new cornerstone of the seminar paper from 1906, he now takes it up. Schmuhl’s thought, up to the very last psychologu- Sin is an act of self-positing in which the “I” takes mena: I am utterly surprised, that we should redis- up the “not-I” into its self-understanding. Thus, cover one another here” (EW VI, 76). The en- neither self-recognition, nor a representation of gagement with Schelling leads to a new placement God in the overcoming of the “not-I” are of Fichte. It has to do with a question that already achieved.19 In sin, the human misses autonomy. surfaces in the seminar paper from 1906, and Tillich’s image of Fichte had changed during which does not find a fitting solution in the mo- the short time between the seminar paper from nism text. I refer to the concept of freedom and Halle and the examination paper from Berlin. the correlative understanding of sin as negation. Fichte’s conception of reason in terms of free- Tillich’s reading of Schelling leads to a deepening dom, in Medicus’s interpretation, advanced to be- of his concept of freedom. The dissertation paper come the basis of the theological system. turned it at Breslau, The Religio-historical Construction in Schelling’s Positive Philosophy, and the series of 2. Formal and Material Freedom, or Fichte’s theses from 1911 indicate the new understanding Completion of Critical Philosophy as its Re- of the concept of freedom. I would like to discuss striction this new understanding by reference to the Breslau post-doctoral lecture, “Freedom as a Phi- “In the case that authorities such as Schlatter losophical Principle in Fichte,” from August 22, and Schmuhl carry weight with you, then I inform 1910. you that I have arrived at the philosophical pre- In this lecture from August 1910, Tillich in- supposition of both: the second Schelling” (EW terprets Fichte’s philosophy as the completion of VI, 76). This comment is taken from a letter of Kantian critical philosophy. The theologian, fol- Tillich’s from 1909 to his student friend and later lowing Fritz Medicus, perceives the pre-condition brother-in-law Alfred Fritz, in which he tells of for this claim in the notion of autonomy, which his reading of Schelling’s works. It is revealing makes up the foundation of the system.22 And yet, that the philosophy of the later Schelling is re- the completion of critical philosophy means si- ferred to as the philosophical presupposition of multaneously “a narrowing of scope” (EW X, 55). the theology of his Tübingen and Halle teachers, The lecture works out this thesis in two lines of Adolf Schlatter and Wilhelm Lütgert.20 Tillich had argument: first, with reference to Fichte’s “consis- engaged with the thought of the Leonberg phi- tent implementation of Kantian anti-empiricism,” losopher within the framework of his dissertation and, second, with reference to “Kantian anti- project since 1909.21 As is well known, he handed dogmatism” (EW X, 56). In both sequences of in the dissertation in Breslau as philosophical dis- thought, which cannot be considered here, it is sertation, although it was originally planned for the notion of autonomy that bears the whole
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 18 weight of explanation. The I is not an object, but i.e., through the ability of the rational will to enter an act, inasmuch as it grasps itself in its uncondi- into contradiction with itself” (MW I, 395).26 tional validity through its self-positing. Of impor- tance for our line of inquiry is a distinction which 1 P. Tillich, Schelling und die Anfänge des existentialis- Tillich introduces in this context as an aside.23 “In tischen Protestes, in: id., Main Works/Hauptwerke, Vol. 1: the Critique of Practical Reason, the postulate of Philosophische Schriften, Berlin/New York 1989, MW I, freedom is posed as the faculty of the arbitrary 391-402. The works of Tillich are cited from the following incorporation of maxims. This—in contrast to the editions: Ergänzungs- und Nachlassbände zu den Gesam- principle of rational autonomy, formally charac- melten Werken von Paul Tillich, ed. I. Henel et al., at pre- sent 18 Vols., Stuttgart, dann Berlin 1971ff. = EW; Ge- terized—concept of freedom disappears in Fichte. sammelte Werke, ed. R. Albrecht, 14 Vols., Stuttgart 1959ff. It has no place in the implemented system of rea- = GW; Main Works/Hauptwerke, ed. C. H. Ratschow, 6 son” (EW X, 58). The basis of the completed sys- Vols., Berlin/New York 1987ff. = MW. tem of reason is a material concept of freedom, 2 P. Tillich, Die religionsgeschichtliche Konstruktion in namely, freedom in the sense of moral autonomy. Schellings positiver Philosophie, ihre Voraussetzungen und Against the background of this concept of free- Prinzipien, in: id., Frühe Werke, Berlin/New York 1997, dom, sin can only be conceived of as negation. EW IX, 156-272; id., Mystik und Schuldbewußtsein in Herein lies the reductionism of Fichte’s concep- Schellings philosophischer Entwicklung, in: id., Frühe tion. In order to understand sin as positive, the Hauptwerke, Stuttgart 21959, GW I, 13-108. material concept of freedom must be supple- 3 Cf. G. Neugebauer, Freiheit als philosophisches Prin- mented by a formal concept of freedom.24 Free- zip – Die Fichte-Interpretation des frühen Tillich, in: Wis- dom is only fittingly conceived of when it is un- sen, Freiheit, Geschichte. Die Philosophie Fichtes im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Beiträge des sechsten internationalen derstood as the power of self-contradiction, and Kongresses der Johann-Gottlieb-Fichte-Gesellschaft in not merely as submission of the will to the moral Halle (Saale) vom 3. – 7. Oktober 2006. Vol. II (= Fichte- law. To have introduced that concept of freedom Studien, Vol. 36), ed. J. Stolzenberg/O.-P. Rudolph, Am- in continuation of Kantian critical philosophy is sterdam/New York 2012, 181-198; C. Danz, Theologischer 25 the accomplishment of the “second Schelling.” Neuidealismus. Zur Rezeption der Geschichtsphilosophie The young Tillich’s Schelling reception leads Fichtes bei Friedrich Gogarten, Paul Tillich und Emanuel him, as we have seen, to the solution of a problem Hirsch, in: Wissen, Freiheit, Geschichte. Die Philosophie with which he had wrestled in his early studies of Fichtes im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Beiträge des sechsten Fichte. It is the question as to how sin, as the dif- internationalen Kongresses der Johann-Gottlieb-Fichte- ference and contradiction of the absolute, is to be Gesellschaft in Halle (Saale) vom 3. – 7. Oktober 2006. Vol. construed against the background of a monism of II (= Fichte-Studien, Vol. 36), ed. J. Stolzenberg/O.-P. the spirit. The young theologian finds the solution Rudolph, Amsterdam/New York 2012, 199-215. 4 P. Tillich, Fichtes Religionsphilosophie in ihrem in the later Schelling’s philosophy and his thesis Verhältnis zum Johannesevangelium, EW IX, 4-19. of freedom as the power of self-contradiction. 5 P. Tillich, Die Freiheit als philosophisches Prinzip bei This leads to a new classification of Fichte and a Fichte, in: id., Religion, Kultur, Gesellschaft. Unveröffentli- rehabilitation of Kant’s philosophy. Fichte’s sig- chte Texte aus der deutschen Zeit (1908-1933). 1. part, Ber- nificance for theology consists in the formulation lin/New York 1999, EW X, 55-62. of freedom as autonomy. It is wholly in this sense 6 There are two versions of the examination paper. P. that Tillich interprets the relation of Fichte and Tillich, Welche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz von monis- Schelling in the previously mentioned ceremonial tischer und dualistischer Weltanschauung für die christliche address from 1954. “While Fichte derived a mo- Religion?, EW IX, 28-93. 94-153. nism of the moral self-realization of the absolute 7 Cf. the correspondence between P. Tillich and F. from the principle of the self-positing of the I as Büchsel, in: P. Tillich, EW VI, 14-27. 62-74. P. Tillich, Wis- I, Schelling, in his earlier writings, saw the inner sen und Meinen. Zu Fichtes 150. Geburtstag am 12. Mai 1912, in: Neue Preußische Zeitung, Nr. 232 (1912), 2. conflict of any philosophy of the absolute. He saw 8 Cf. F. Medicus, art.: Neufichteanismus, in: RGG2, that freedom, when equated with the absolute, Vol. IV, Tübingen 1930, 498f. On the hitherto unexamined voids itself and leads to a Spinozist or mystical relationship between Medicus and Tillich cf. F.W. Graf/A. annihilation of the individual self. He saw—and Christophersen, Neukantianismus, Fichte- und Schellin- this brings him close to Kant, to a surprisingly grenaissance. Paul Tillich und sein philosophischer Lehrer existential element in Kant—that actual freedom Fritz Medicus, in: ZNThG 11 (2004), 52-78. is only possible through arbitrary choice (Willkür),
Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society, vol. 41, no. 1, Winter 2015 19
9 On this cf. also G. Neugebauer, Freiheit als philoso- On Lütgert cf. P. Müller, Alle Gotteserkenntnis entsteht aus phisches Prinzip, 184. Vernunft und Offenbarung. Wilhelm Lütgerts Beitrag zur 10 Cf. G. Hummel/D. Lax, Zur Textgeschichte: Fichtes theologischen Erkenntnistheorie, Münster 2011. Religionsphilosophie in ihrem Verhältnis zum Johanne- 21 On Tillich’s theological dissertation project, which sevangelium, in: P. Tillich, Frühe Hauptwerke, EW IX, 1. initially flowed over into the philosophical dissertation, cf. 11 Cf. P. Tillich, Fichtes Religionsphilosophie, EW IX, G. Neugebauer, Tillichs frühe Christologie, 155-158. 4: „Als ein Zwiefaches stellt sich das menschliche Geistesle- Neugebauer kommt das Verdienst zu, die Akten des Pro- ben dar, als Denken und Wollen.“ (“The life of the human motionsverfahrens zugänglich gemacht zu haben. Cf. loc. spirit presents itself as being twofold, as thought and will.”) cit., 392-400. 12 Cf. Fichtes Religionsphilosophie, EW IX, 5: „Gott 22 Cf. P. Tillich, Die Freiheit als philosophisches Prin- offenbart sich in Christo als ein Gott der Gnade und Wahr- zip, EW X, 55: „Daß diesem Vorgang in der Tat eine innere heit.“ (“God reveals himself in Christ as a God of grace and Folgerichtigkeit zukommt, soll uns eine Betrachtung des truth.”) Princips der Fichteschen Philosophie, des Freiheitsbegriffs 13 F. Medicus, J.G. Fichte. Dreizehn Vorlesungen ge- bei Fichte lehren. In ihr kommen die Motive des Kriticis- halten an der Universität Halle, Berlin 1905. On this cf. G. mus zur vollen Auswirkung.“ (“An observation of the prin- Neugebauer, Freiheit als philosophisches Prinzip, 185. ciple of fichtean philosophy, the concept of freedom in 14 Cf. Tillich-Nachlass (Posthumous Works) Andover- Fichte, teaches us that this process, does indeed have an Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, inner congruity. In it, the motifs of critical philosophy take Cambridge, Mass. full effect.”) On this cf. also F. Medicus, J.G. Fichte, 57. 15 The extent of the exchange of thought with his 23 Cf. on this C. Danz, Theologischer Neuidealismus, teacher, Medicus, is underlined by the comments which 200-204. Medicus inserted in a copy of the text. Cf. P. Tillich, Welche 24 On this cf. P. Tillich, Die religionsgeschichtliche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz von monistischer und dualis- Konstruktion in Schellings positiver Philosophie, EW IX, tischer Weltanschauung für die christliche Religion?, EW 174-176. IX, 94-153. On this cf. also G. Neugebauer, Tillichs frühe 25 Cf. P. Tillich, Die Freiheit als philosophisches Prin- Christologie. Eine Untersuchung zu Offenbarung und zip, EW X, 62: „Um diese beiden Brennpunkte des doppel- Geschichte bei Tillich vor dem Hintergrund seiner Schellin- ten Freiheitsbegriffs läßt sich die idealistische Philosophie grezeption, Berlin/New York 2007, 146-155. wie in eine Ellipse grup[p]ieren. In dem einen Brennpunkt 16 Cf. P. Tillich, Welche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz steht Fichte und das Princip seines Systems, die Freiheit als von monistischer und dualistischer Weltanschauung für die Selbstsetzung der Vernunft. Auf der anderen [Seite] christliche Religion?, EW IX, 54: „Das ist die idealistische Schelling und das Prinzip seiner Religionsphilosophie, die Deutung der Wirklichkeit. Sie führt durch einen Dualismus Freiheit als Macht, sich selbst zu widersprechen.“ (“Idealis- hindurch und endigt im Monismus des Geistes.“ (This is the tic philosophy can be grouped around these two focal idealistic interpretation of reality. It moves through a dual- points of the doubled concept of freedom. In the one focal ism and ends in the monism of the spirit.”) point, stands Fichte and the principle of his system, free- 17 Cf. P. Tillich, Welche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz dom as the self-positing of reason. On the other [side], von monistischer und dualistischer Weltanschauung für die Schlling and the principle of his philosophy of religion, christliche Religion?, EW IX, 61: „Fichte, den wir der gan- freedom as the power of self-contradiction.”). zen folgenden Debatte zugrunde legen“. (Fichte, who we 26 I express my thanks to Jason Valdez (Vienna) for take as the basis of the entire debate which follows.) translating this paper. 18 Cf. P. Tillich, Welche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz von monistischer und dualistischer Weltanschauung für die christliche Religion?, EW IX, 72: „Der Idealismus hat in Fichte und Schelling noch beide Momente [sc. die intellek- Editor’s Note: tuelle und die voluntative Seite des Geisteslebens] in sich, während Hegel schon wieder zum Intellektualismus über- The editor would like to apologize for the late schlägt.“ (In Fichte and Schelling, idealism still has both arrival of this Winter Bulletin. Thank you! moments [sc. the intellectual and the voluntative side of the FJP life of the spirit] in itself, while Hegel already falls back into intellectualism.”). 19 Cf. on this P. Tillich, Welche Bedeutung hat der Gegensatz von monistischer und dualistischer Weltan- schauung für die christliche Religion?, EW IX, 61. 20 On Schlatter cf. W. Neuer. Das Verständnis von Geschichte bei Adolf Schlatter, in: ThBeitr 35 (2004), 39-54.
Trinitarian Symbolism, Mysticism and cause the centered self of the individual has been 11 the God above God dissolved.” Moreover, it is dangerous for mysti- cism, for Tillich, to neglect the existential and his- Keith Chan Ka-fu torical condition of beings without the eschato- 12 logical criticism. Mystical heritage of Paul Tillich It is clear that Tillich rejects the so-called ab- solute or abstract mysticism and holds a dialecti- Although Paul Tillich never claims himself as cal perspective towards mysticism; however, if a mystical theologian,1 mysticism or mystical ex- Carl Braaten has rightly said that “all the labels perience is definitely a suitable phrase to describe that have been applied to Tillich’s theology, none his personal religious experience and the intellec- of them come close to fitting unless they bring out the mystical ontology which undergirds his whole tual heritage of his religious-theological under- 13 standing. Tillich’s appreciation for nature mysti- way of thinking,” then, how did Tillich avoid the cism was inspired by German literature, e.g., danger of abstract mysticism when he established Goethe, Hölderlin, Nietzsche, Novalis, and his whole theology in the fashion of mysticism? Rilke.2 Also, German natural landscape and Or, what kinds of mysticism did Tillich prefer in oceans provide resources for Tillich to adopt the order to fit into his own theology of participa- aesthetic attitudes instead of scientific- tion? technological approaches towards the nature.3 The immediate awareness of the Uncondi- Besides, for his intellectual legacy, it is not diffi- tioned constitutes the essential element of Til- cult for us to discover the substantial philosophi- lich’s religious experience. In his reflection on his cal-theological mystical heritage behind him. The philosophical background, Tillich asserts that the Lutheran finitum capax infiniti,4 Schelling’s philoso- union of infinite and finite was the grounding phy of nature,5 Martin Kähler’s justification principle of his doctrine of religious experience, 6 and that is the reason why he appreciated with the through faith by grace, and Nicolaus Cusanus’s 14 coincidentia oppositorum are all powerful weapons for Eastern mysticism. Firstly, Tillich articulates the Tillich to abandon the dualist and hierarchical term “mysticism” as a divine immediate presence conception between God, human beings, and na- or manifestation category in which all religions ture and they also push him to adapt the principle are sharing this focus. That means seeking mysti- of immediacy towards the ultimate and Uncondi- cal union between infinite and finite is universally tioned. German Romanticism enriches Tillich’s valid in every religions. The dichotomy between 7 subject and object is transcended under a tran- adaption of the unity of nature and history. “Par- 15 ticipation,” as an ontological category, provides scendent union. As a religious category, mysti- Tillich to develop a mystical approach in the un- cism embodies the element of religious a prior in 8 which the ultimate identity is presupposed in epis- derstanding of God. 16 temological and ontological senses. Secondly, it Dialectical Perspective towards Mysticism is well known that Tillich distinguishes three types of religion: sacramental, prophetic, and Tillich, however, did not embrace mysticism mystical. The dangerous of the former is mixing the finite with the infinite and identifies the me- without reservation. In his discussion on medieval 17 mysticism, Tillich warns us that “do not make the dium of revelation as the revelation itself. In mistake of identifying this (concrete) type of mysti- order to avoid the dangerous of demonic ten- cism with the absolute or abstract mysticism in dency, mystical and prophetic criticism are com- which the individual disappears in the abyss of plement with each other, they “criticized the the divine.”9 Actually, this kind of warning oc- demonically distorted sacramental-priestly sub- curred in his early thesis on Schelling, when Til- stance by devaluing every medium of revelation lich tried to find out the synthesis between the and by trying to unite the soul directly with the ground of being, to make it enter the mystery of principle of identity and the guilt-consciousness 18 separation between God and human being: “the existence without the help of a finite medium.” principle of mysticism triumphs, but not in the form However, in seeking the immediate awareness of mysticism, not as immediate identity, but rather as of the Unconditioned, the way of mysticism is to personal communion that overcomes contradic- liberate human beings from concrete existential tion: it is ‘the religion of the Spirit and of free- situation and makes the situation irrelevant to the dom.’”10 Also, in his Systematic Theology, Tillich re- actual human situation. Tillich has reservations minds us that the problem of mysticism suggests about the “ultimate negation” in mysticism and that “neither is there solitude or communion, be- self-dissolution in the mystical union. For under- 21 standing of the ontological polarity of individua- The God above God tion and participation, either epistemological process or ontic experience is both expressed in Tillich thinks that when human beings face the dialectical process of “union-separation- radical despair and meaningless, traditional theism reunion.” This means, for Tillich, a pure and ab- is dysfunctional and all forms of this type of the- solute sense of mystical union is impossible and ism would be transcended by absolute faith.22 The undesirable. This comment was fully enclosed in object of absolute faith is “God above God” in his comment on Bernard of Clairvaux that which, Tillich asserts, no concrete and special Concrete mysticism, which is mysticism of content would be articulated in this idea23 because love and participating in the Savior-God, and all concrete ideas and images of the God of the- abstract mysticism, or transcending mysticism, ism would be suspended under human radical which goes beyond everything finite to the ul- doubt. In facing this extreme and radically painful timate ground of everything that is.19 situation, Tillich points out two alternatives: mys- The ultimate goal of Christian mysticism is ticism and divine-human personal relation that neither neglecting the finite and concrete situa- are grounded by the ontological polarity of indi- tion, nor seeking to dissolve oneself into the di- vidualization and participation.24 Mysticism em- vine mystery. Rather, it should be a kind of con- braces mystical courage to overcome non-being crete love-dynamic relationship between God and through the negation of meaning and being. human being. Mystical knowing should be re- Through the disclosure of the emptiness of being, garded as a participation epistemology in which radical doubt and meaningless would be ne- knowing self and known God are communicated gated.25 Furthermore, divine-human personal rela- under the eros-agape relationship. The “I-Thou” tionship establishes the courage of “in spite of” to relationship is preserved in the mystical union, as overcome the radical doubt.26 Martin Buber emphasized.20 Love as the dynamic However, Tillich asserts that the courage and driving power is essential in understanding of needed in radical doubt points beyond mysticism Tillich’s mystical ontology of participation. Union and a personal God because a personal relation- is regarded as the final goal of love in which sepa- ship would be broken in radical doubt and the ration and distance are assumed.21 Being is being function of mysticism is also preliminary. Tillich in communion in Tillich’s articulation of Chris- describes that the only solution for human being tian mysticism in which individual centeredness in radical doubt is to insist on the God above should be maintained although it enters into the God through absolute faith. However, what is abyss of the divine. meant by “God above God”? First, Tillich holds However, the above personal relational char- that the God above God is beyond the God of acter of mysticism does not ideally fit into Til- theism and the God of mysticism and without lich’s ontological theology in which God is re- concrete and definite content. Because the God garded as non-personal ontology of being-itself. above God is the object of all mystical longing, How can Tillich maintain the harmonious correla- mysticism also must be transcended in order to tion between divine-human personal mystical ex- reach him.27 And the God above the God of the- perience and God as the ground and abyss of be- ism is a hidden present in personalism, personal- ing? It is not the intention of this paper to solve ism should be transcended because the subject- the tension between God as being and personal. object scheme would be transcended in the God This paper is intended to raise critical questions. above God. Finally, for Tillich, the reason why First, if, according to Tillich, when a human being the God above God can provide courage to be is faces a situation of radical doubt, both concrete that the God above God is the power of being and abstract approaches of mysticism cannot itself. Therefore, it seems that the God above overcome the situation of doubt, then, in what God is regarded a being-itself embodies the uni- sense can Tillich still maintain his mystical onto- versal-ontological structure. If there is no con- logical theology? Second, in what sense can the crete content in the God above God, is it a kind idea “God above God” as the solution of radical of mysticism? If this is a kind of mystical union doubt overcome the difficulty of mysticism? with the being-itself, would it be a kind of ab- Third, even though Tillich prefers to say that stract mysticism Tillich rejects? there is no special content of “God above God,” this paper would suggest that his Trinitarian sym- Trinitarian Symbolism and the God above bolism of God would be a perfect symbol to un- God derstand the content.
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Tillich never identifies the God above God as a triune God; however, this paper argues that his 1 Tillich, Perspectives on 19th & 20th Century Protestant understanding of Trinitarian symbol is the perfect Theology. Ed. with an introduction by Carl E. Braaten metaphor to grasp the meaning of the God above (NY: Harper & Row, 1967), p. 21. God. First, as Tillich mentions, traditional theism 2 Tillich, My Search for Absolutes (NY: Simon & is being dysfunctional under the threat of radical Schuster, 1967), p. 26. doubt not because of its error but its one- 3 Tillich, My Search for Absolutes (NY: Simon & sidedness.28 That means we do not need to aban- Schuster, 1967), p. 24. don this concept but to transcend it. Also, the 4 Ibid., p. 18. God of mysticism and the God above God is not 5 Tillich, On the Boundary: An Autobiographical Sketch contradictory. Therefore, the idea of God above (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966), p. 17. God implies that God should embrace the imper- 6 For the influence from Martin Kähler, see Wil- sonal character of mystical union and personalism helm Pauck, From Luther to Tillich (San Francisco: of divine-human encounter into itself. Second, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984), pp. 170-180. though Tillich is not much interested in the doc- 7 Tillich, “Autobiographical Reflections,” The The- trine of trinity, it does not imply that God as tri- ology of Paul Tillich, eds. Charles W. Kegley & Robert unity plays no role in his entire theology. Rather, W. Bretall (New York: MacMillan Co., 1956), 5. Tillich’s whole theological construction is entirely 8 See, “Interrogation of Paul Tillich,” conducted Trinitarian.29 Trinitarian dialectical processes by William L. Reese, Philosophical Interrogations, ed. Syd- within the life of God as being-itself express the ney & Beatrice Rome (New York: Holt, Rinehart & dynamic power of overcoming non-being within Winster, 1964), 357. the being of God. Trinitarian symbolism is the 9 Tillich, History of Christian Thought, ed. Carl E. perfect symbol in answering the human existential Braaten (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), 136. question30 and in expressing the divine self- 10 Tillich, Mysticism and Guilt-Consciousness in manifestation.31 Schelling’s Philosophical Development. Tr. Victor Nuovo The most important aspect of the correlation (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1974), p. 125. of Trinitarian symbolism and the God above God Emphasis is mine. is this: according to Tillich, the two basic and 11 Tillich, Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Chicago: Uni- fundamental aspects of human ultimate concern versity of Chicago Press, 1957), 72. are seeking for concreteness and absoluteness. 12 See James R. Horne, “Tillich’s Rejection of Ab- These two dialectical needs correspond to the solute Mysticism,” Journal of Religion, Vol. 58, No.2 polytheistic and monotheistic modes of theism, (April 1978), 130-139; Donald F. Dreisbach, “Tillich’s which are perfectly combined into Trinitarian Ambiguous Attitude towards Mysticism,” Mystische structure of being-itself.32 This means that even Erbe in Tillichs philosophischer Theologie. Eds. Gert Hum- though human Trinitarian structure of ultimate mel & Doris Lax (Muenster: LIT Verlag, 2000), pp. concern does not prove the validity of Christian 402-414. triune God, the inner tension within this religious 13 Carl Braaten, “Paul Tillich and the Classical experience will perfectly correspond to the ten- Christian Tradition,” History of Christian Thought. Ed. sion within the Godhead.33 Mysticism is seeking Carl Braaten (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1967), p. xxv. for a kind of universal and ultimate character of ulti- Emphasis is mine. mate concern; personalist religion is seeking for a 14 Tillich, “Philosophical Background of My The- kind of concrete and particular character of ultimate ology,” Paul Tillich. Main Works/Hauptwerke Volume 1, concern. As Tillich emphasizes, one of the func- ed. Gunter Wenz (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1999), tions of Trinitarian symbol is to answer “ultimate 414. and concrete question within the living God.”34 It 15 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume Three (Chi- seems that these two dimensions of the ultimate cago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 257-258. and concrete in human ultimate concern corre- 16 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One (Chi- spond to the mystical union of the ultimate and cago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 9. the concrete personal relationship of divine- 17 Tillich, Dynamic of Faith (San Francisco: Harper human. In Tillich’s understanding, God as being- & Row, Publishers, 1957), 60. itself is not a dead identity, but his dynamic life as 18 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One (Chi- creatively living expresses itself through the Trini- cago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 140. tarian principle inherited in the Godhead. 19 Tillich, History of Christian Thought. Ed. Carl Braaten (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), 174.
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20 Tillich, “An Evaluation of Martin Buber: Pro- 29 See, Pan-chiu LAI, Towards a trinitarian theology of testant and Jewish Thought,” Theology of Culture. Ed. religions : A study of Paul Tillich's thought (Kampen, The Robert C. Kimball (New York: Oxford University Netherlands : Kok Pharos, 1994) Press, 1959), 194. 30 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume Three (Chi- 21 Tillich, Love, Power and Justice (New York: Ox- cago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 285. ford University Press, 1954), 25. 31 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One (Chi- 22 Tillich, Courage to Be (New Haven & London: cago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 157. Yale University Press, 1952), 185. 32 Ibid., 221. 23 Tillich, “God above God,” Paul Tillich. Main 33 Jean Richard, “The Trinity as Object and as the Works/Hauptwerke Volume 6, ed. Gert Hummel (Ber- Structure of Religious Experience,” Trinity and/or Qua- lin: Walter de Gruyter, 1992), 418. ternity-Tillich’s Reopening of the Trinitarian Problem. Eds. 24 Tillich, Courage to Be, 156. Gert Hummel & Doris Lax (Münster: LIT Verlag, 25 Ibid., 158-159 2004), 19-23. 26 Ibid., 161. 34 Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One (Chi- 27 Ibid., 186. cago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 228. 28 Ibid., 184.
Anyone who has presented a paper at the meeting of the NAPTS or the AAR Group on Tillich last Novem- ber in San Diego: Please send your paper to the editor electronically for publication in sub- sequent issues of Volume 41 of this Bulletin. Thank you. [email protected]
The Officers of The Paul Tillich Society
President
Charles Fox, SUNY/ Empire State College/ Mentor of Philosophy and Religious Studies Emeritus
President Elect Bryan Wagoner, Davis and Elkins College
Vice President Daniel Peterson, Seattle University
Secretary Treasurer Frederick J. Parrella, Santa Clara University
Past President Duane Olsen, McKendree University
Board of Directors
Term Expiring 2015 Tom Bandy, www.ThrivingChurch.com Adam Pryor, Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas Devan Stahl, Saint Louis University
Term Expiring 2016 Christopher Rodkey, Penn State University, York Zachary Royal, Garrett Theological Seminary M. Lon Weaver, Marshall College Preparatory, Duluth
Term Expiring 2017 Rachel Sophia Baard, Villanova University Verna Ehret, Mercyhurst University Lawrence Whitney, Boston University