The Ethics of War and Peace in the Thought of Paul Tillich
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RELIGIOUS INTERNATIONALISM: THE ETHICS OF WAR AND PEACE IN THE THOUGHT OF PAUL TILLICH by Matthew Lon Weaver BA, Bowling Green State University, 1982 MDiv, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1986 STM, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1996 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Matthew Lon Weaver It was defended on March 13, 2006 and approved by Alexander Orbach, Associate Professor, Cooperative Program in the Study of Religion B. Guy Peters, Professor, Political Science John E. Wilson, Adjunct Professor, Cooperative Program in the Study of Religion Dissertation Director: Ronald H. Stone, Adjunct Professor, Cooperative Program in the Study of Religion ii Copyright © by Matthew Lon Weaver 2006 iii RELIGIOUS INTERNATIONALISM: THE ETHICS OF WAR AND PEACE IN THE THOUGHT OF PAUL TILLICH Matthew Lon Weaver, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2006 The purpose of this study is to assemble and assess the ethics of war and peace in the writings of Paul Tillich. It proceeds chronologically, sketching the evolution of Tillich’s thought from the period of his World War One chaplaincy in the German Imperial Army through the time of the Cold War, when he was one of the most prominent Protestant theologians in the United States. The material for this study includes two hundred seventy-five primary sources and nearly two hundred secondary sources. Tillich’s corpus ranges from lectures and occasional articles to theological treatises, from political and social theory to sermons and radio addresses, from systematic theology to philosophy of history. Chapter one analyzes Tillich’s theological roots and his chaplaincy sermons as the starting point for his thoughts on power, nation, and nationalism. Chapter two examines his post war turn to socialist thought and his participation in religious socialism, fueling his cultural analyses and culminating in his forced emigration under Hitler. Chapter three probes the transitional, American inter war period of Tillich’s work, giving special attention to his self-described boundary perspective as well as the one treatise he wrote on religion and international affairs. Chapter four is devoted to his Voice of America speeches, written and broadcasted into his former homeland during World War Two. Chapter five covers the same Second World War period, giving special attention to Tillich’s message to his English- speaking audience and emphasizing social and world reconstruction. Chapter six turns to the Cold War period and Tillich’s apparently lessening interest in political and social theory and interpretation of history, but his simultaneous commitment to paths toward personhood in an internationally bipolar world. The concluding seventh chapter assembles Tillich’s ethics of war and peace as an ethic of religious internationalism. It assesses the ethic, offering suggestions for adjustments intended to give it more universal significance. The study concludes that Tillich’s thought has provocative contributions to make to current debates regarding civilizational conflict, economics and international justice, trade and globalization, the defense of unprotected minorities, and immigration policy. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 TILLICH AS RELIGIOUS INTERNATIONALIST....................................... 1 1.2 THE STATE OF THE DISCUSSION ............................................................... 2 1.3 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ARGUMENT .................................................. 18 2.0 PRE-WAR AND WORLD WAR I—PIOUS NATIONALIST.............................. 23 2.1 INTRODUCTORY COMMENT ..................................................................... 23 2.2 SCHELLING AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS ....................................................................................................................... 25 2.3 WORLD WAR I CHAPLAINCY SERMONS................................................ 29 2.3.1 Christian Piety: Matters of Doctrine and Practice .................................. 30 2.3.2 Soldierly Qualities....................................................................................... 37 2.3.3 The Fatherland and Sacrifice .................................................................... 40 2.3.4 War, Peace and Reconciliation .................................................................. 44 2.3.5 Power and Weakness .................................................................................. 47 2.3.6 Sturm and MacLennan............................................................................... 49 2.4 POLITICAL-THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK: LUTHER AND SCHELLING ...................................................................................................................... 53 3.0 THE RELIGIOUS SOCIALIST THEOLOGIAN OF CULTURE....................... 60 3.1 INTRODUCTORY COMMENT ..................................................................... 60 3.2 RELIGIOUS SOCIALIST THEOLOGIAN OF CULTURE........................ 64 3.2.1 “On the Idea on a Theology of Culture”................................................... 64 3.2.2 Christianity and Socialism Lecture........................................................... 66 3.2.3 Additional Core Concepts .......................................................................... 68 KAIROS.............................................................................................................. 69 v THE DEMONIC ................................................................................................ 70 POWER .............................................................................................................. 72 3.3 BRIDGING THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR....................................... 76 3.3.1 Faith and Realism ....................................................................................... 76 3.3.2 The Holy and the Profane .......................................................................... 77 3.3.3 Christianity and Social Structure.............................................................. 79 3.3.4 Critical and Creative Protestantism.......................................................... 81 PROTESTANTISM AS CRITICAL AND CREATIVE DIALECTIC ........ 81 PROTESTANTISM AND THE STATE ......................................................... 85 PROTESTANTISM AND THE PROLETARIAT ......................................... 86 3.4 CULTURE IN GENERAL—POLITICS IN PARTICULAR ....................... 89 3.4.1 The Religious Situation............................................................................... 89 3.4.2 The Socialist Decision ................................................................................. 92 3.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 102 4.0 FORCED INTELLECTUAL ÉMIGRE—AMERICAN INTERWAR PERIOD .....................................................................................................................................105 4.1 INTRODUCTORY COMMENT ................................................................... 105 4.2 THE BOUNDARY POSITION ...................................................................... 106 4.3 INTERPRETER OF THE GERMAN AND EUROPEAN SITUATION... 112 4.3.1 Europe and the United States .................................................................. 112 4.3.2 Downfall of Church and Country............................................................ 113 4.3.3 The Fate and Future Relationship with the Jewish People................... 116 4.4 RELIGIOUS SOCIALIST INTERPRETER OF HISTORY...................... 118 4.4.1 History and the Kingdom of God ............................................................ 118 4.4.2 Church and State ...................................................................................... 123 4.4.3 Biblical Tradition and Marxism.............................................................. 127 4.5 RELIGION AND WORLD POLITICS......................................................... 130 4.5.1 Introduction............................................................................................... 130 4.5.2 The Concept of World .............................................................................. 132 WORLD-“HAVING”...................................................................................... 132 vi THE TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD-CONCEPT AND THE IDEA OF PROGRESS...................................................................................................... 133 THE THEORETICAL WORLD-CONCEPT AND THE PROBLEM OF IDEOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 134 THE MORAL WORLD-CONCEPT AND THE PROBLEM OF JUSTICE ........................................................................................................................... 136 THE POLITICAL WORLD-CONCEPT AND THE PROBLEM OF POWER ............................................................................................................ 137 4.5.3 Religion and the Concept of World......................................................... 140 RELIGION AND WORLD-“HAVING”....................................................... 140 RELIGION AND NON-POLITICAL CONCEPTS