Talk:Paul Tillich

message: I have no idea what is meant by "Ground of Being".  That sentence is vague, and since it's apparently one of his big contributions, can we get a better description? Mrsastrochicken (talk) 15:38, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Ground of Being

message: It seems that this section is slightly anachronistic. It is reading Tillich's definition of God as the "Ground of Being" through Marion's "God without Being." Tillich still reads "God" as an ontological designation (not just a semiotic one) [Sys. Theo. 1, 227]. Further the many different definitions listed of God ("Ground of Being", "Abyss", etc) are all pointing to one reality, they are not different attempts at a definition but different attempts at description because God is infinite and different--which is why he says that the analogia entis (analogy of being) is what gives us our only justification for speaking about God (Sys Theo 1, 266).
Also, I'm not sure that one can really say Tillich rejects the personal God. For instance, the providence of God is "God directing creativity creating through the freedom of man" (Sys Theo 1, 296). Further, the principle of participation (sys Theo 1, 300) is one that is "personal" by its very nature. Man is "saved" by reuniting with the divine, not in a pantheistic or panentheistic way, but in communion and participation (Sys Theo 3, 48 and 222). He also says that participation only works as love (Sys Theo 3, 48). Reading him as pantheistic or panentheistic turns him into an Eastern mystic, something which did not really interact with Christianity until well after Tillich died. Impleri (talk) 16:03, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  God above God section 

message: I would like to see someone who has broad theological knowledge contrast the theological ideas of Paul Tillich with the ideas of other well-known theologians (e.g. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, etc.). For example, although I have read three books by Paul Tillich it is not clear to me where or how he differs from the theology of my own religion (i.e. Roman Catholicism.) I think this because he seldom, if ever, states clearly how he differs from other positions. Perhaps if I read his "Systematic Theology" I'll understand him better? Aletheia (talk) 17:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism 

message: I'm no expert in Tillich's theology (I only have an M.Div), although I greatly appreciate the aspects of his thought that I do understand. That's why, when I read the Wiki article (as it is today, 15/06/11), I didn't have the same objections that many others have on this talk page. I'll leave all that to those who really know what they're talking about. 
My only objection is this article presents a sort of one-dimensional view of Tillich. The Paul Tillich of the Wikipedia article comes across as barely human; as an almost disembodied Super Mind. But the greatest thinkers in history (in all disciplines) are also real humans, and Hannah Tillich's memoir fills in the human side of the man. Years ago I was appalled by the sexist ranting of Rollo May, when he fumed against the book (From Time to Time). He claimed she had no right to say any of that, and that had she not been married to Tillich in the first place, she never could have published a book, because who gives a rip about some old German woman anyway? It was as if Hannah had committed some horrible act of blasphemy. 
Hannah's book is not a polemic, not an argumentum ad hominem at all. She and Paul were both products of Weimar-era Germany, and sexuality was normal, open, non-taboo (that is, until the Right Wingers took over in 1933). For everything sexual she states about her husband, she states as many or more about herself. E.g., after the first 60 pages or so it's crystal clear to the reader that she was fully bi-sexual, and had no shame or angst about it. 
So...why (at the bottom/end) of the article, can't there be a mention of her book; of Paulus the real, living, flesh & blood human? I'm not proposing a salacious cut & paste from only the sexy parts of the book. Nor, a long drawn out portrait that would end up looking like Tillich-trivia. Rather, just a mention of the book's subject matter, a cited reference to Rolo May's objections to it, and a reference to Martin Marty's Christian Century review of the book (from the 26 SEP 1973 edition).
But, if (and it's only an if ; I'm not accusing anyone) this page is dominated by hagiographers--if most of the editors are trying to project a "Saint Paul Tillich,"--then I won't even waste my time, cuz I know it will get deleted a few minutes after posting. (Similar crap has happened  before on Wikipdedia; e.g. when Hindu nationalists hijacked the Jeffry J. Kripal article about six years ago). 
But I doubt it's that bad on this page; after all From Time to Time is used as an endnote on this article. 
Any thoughts on this?  
Mahamaya1 (talk) 14:46, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Well I think the main objection is that the book depicts Tillich has having a fondness for pornography featuring females depicted in crucifixion. For you non-believers out there the crucifixion is central to Christian Theology, featuring the ritual torture and execution of the deity. There's a large psychological component to sexual "deviance" of a transgressive nature, so I figure a discussion of this belongs in the abnormal psychology section.
Microphage (talk) 04:08, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why a one-dimensional Tillich? 

message: I have been a big fan of Tillich since high school, and I also just completed Tillich's "A History of Christian Thought". I came to this article because I was curious about how it was written, and I was immediately struck by the "influenced by" section on the right hand column. Tillich's thought was so rich and comprehensive that we really could include any philosopher or thinker in that list (like Descartes and Fichte are currently), but he himself admits to being most influenced by Augustine and Origen of ancient Christianity, Martin Luther of the Reformation, and Schelling and Martin Kahler in the more modern period. I am slightly correcting this list to recognize the thinkers who Tillich holds close to his heart in "A History of Christian Thought".  Fichte and Descartes cannot be considered amongst the several most important philosophical and theological influences in his thought. And while he does mention in his works his respect for many, many thinkers, only the ones he attaches himself to should be mentioned.
Uriah is Boss (talk) 02:22, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Influenced By 

message: I understand that King wrote his doctoral dissertation on Tillich's work. If true, I believe that point is worth mention here. --Christofurio (talk) 13:35, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, I concur. Research17 (talk) 16:50, 19 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Martin Luther King Jr. 

message: In the top right corner, there is a table saying spouse/s which is followed by Hannah. In fact, Paul divorced from his first wife and then married Hannah, so the table requires the necessary modification.Vorbee (talk) 21:28, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Second spouse

message: This article says that Tillich taught undergraduates after becoming Professor at Harvard because Harvard did not have a Department of Religious Studies for them. Wording it in this way makes it sound contradictory, and if what this article really means is that Tillich was the first Professor of Religious Studies at Harvard, this could be pointed out. Vorbee (talk) 15:57, 12 October 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: This sounds like a contradiction

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I am sure I have read that Tillich's reliance on idealism implies pantheism. If this is so, he could be put in the category "pantheism". Vorbee (talk) 19:16, 8 January 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Not a pantheist, but, with a slight change of spelling, a panentheist. Pantheists believe that God and the universe are identical; God is not separate from the universe. Panentheists believe that God is separate from the universe, but is in all things. God suffuses all things.   Bookman1968 (talk) 17:31, 9 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Was Tillich a pantheist?

message: The box in the top-right-corner of this article mentions "Notable ideas" of Tillich. I wonder whether this list should include the method of correlation. Vorbee (talk) 19:24, 8 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Method of correlation

message: This article has a paragraph in which "Systematic Theology" is in italics, then "The Courage to Be" is in italics, and then says the latter is his masterpiece. I have always thought that it was "Systematic Theology" that was seen as his masterpiece. Vorbee (talk) 19:36, 8 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Systematic theology and the Courage to Be

message: This article mentions "The Protestant Era". Was this book about the Reformation? If so, this could go in the article. Vorbee (talk) 09:15, 24 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: The Protestant Era

message: I am sure that I once read in a dictionary of Christianity that the strongest criticism of Tillich are his reliance on idealism that implies pantheism and belief in a personal God, and his failure to grasp the sola Scriptura principle of the Protestant tradition in which he stood.Vorbee (talk) 09:32, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Criticisms of Tillich

message: Paul Tillich was in the service of the Allies against his own country during world war two as a propagandist. I think this is notable: https://archive.org/details/WarTimeRadioAddressesAgainstNaziGermanyPaulTillich/page/n20 --105.0.7.221 (talk) 00:46, 2 February 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Allied Propagandist 

message: The opening characterization of Tillich as a “German-American Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian” misrepresents him. He was, in his defining years, first a theologian and then, in a secondary way, a philosopher. His list of published works demonstrates that "theologian" should go first.
Also, while he had a Lutheran upbringing and ordination, none of his books expound Lutheran confessional theology except as an item in A History of Christian Thought. He rather vigorously did claim the mantle of Protestant.
I propose revising the description thus: “…was a German-American Protestant theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher."
His Lutheran background is well-explained in the biography section. Bookman1968 (talk) 12:34, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  I propose revising the opening description of Tillich