It is probably my development of the theory of the human liminal situation in Religiö se. My father continued the musical tradition of the evangelical pastor's household and created musical works himself.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE
The conflict between theory and practice became more difficult for me when politics first strongly impressed me at the outbreak of the revolution. Like most intellectuals in pre-war Germany, my attitude to politics had been essentially indifferent.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN HETERONOMY AND AUTONOMY
I think that the development of the German Confessional Church in the last two years has proved that it is necessary. The question of heteronomy and autonomy has become the question of the ultimate criterion of human existence.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY
My philosophical stance was developed in the critical analysis of Neo-Kantianism, the Philosophy of Values and Phenomenology. The historical dependence of the philosophy of life on Schelling made it easy for me to approach it.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHURCH AND SOCIETY
With increasing criticism of the teachings and institutions of the Church, there arose a growing practical alienation. Decisive in this was my experience of the society of both the intelligentsia and the proletariat outside the Church.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN RELIGION AND CULTURE
There is no doubt that this corresponds to the actual religious situation of the present; for political and social. On the contrary, it seemed to me that the dynamic character of religion becomes veiled if certain institutions and personalities are inherently religious.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN LUTHERANISM AND SOCIALISM
Standing on the borders of Lutheranism and socialism requires, first of all, a critical discussion of the problem of utopianism. The Lutheran doctrine of man, even in the naturalistic form of the philosophy of life, makes any kind of Utopia impossible.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN IDEALISM AND MARXISM
Kierkegaard was the first to break the closed system of idealistic essence philosophy. Analogously, Kierkegaard saw the function of the philosophy of essence as concealing the contradictions in the individual's existence.
ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN HOME AND ALIEN LAND
The answer to these questions cannot be the substance and the given material, because the substance is a prerequisite for the questioner. The experience of the four years in the world war "was decisive for my attitude.
RETROSPECT: BOUNDARY AND LIMITATION
Consequently, the denial of the unity of mankind involves the denial of the Christian doctrine, namely, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. I feel grateful that in the life of this new continent, in which I am allowed to live with the hospitality of this country, an ideal is suggested similar to the picture of the unity of mankind in contrast to the self-destruction of Europe. .
The Interpretation of History by Paul Tillich Part Two: Philosophical Categories of the
Interpretation of History
The Demonic
Holy demons are present in the cult of the war gods, who consume strength to give strength - the original model of the demon of war. This similarity can reach a point where the impression of the absoluteness of the satanic arises.
The depth of the demonic
We say of this depth that it is the basis of the being of things, whereby "being" is taken absolute, transcendent as expressing the secret into which thought cannot enter. Their unity in the depth of essential nature is the divine, their separation in existence, the relatively independent outbreak of.
The existence of the demonic
This dialectical opposition between the vital and the mental can be seen in every conscious action. Here too, the psychology of the subconscious helps us get closer to things, insofar as it has sociological applications.
Demonry and sin
- THE DEMONIC AND HISTORY
Nor can the natural and social existence of sin be understood without the concept of the demonic. What is meant by the doctrine of original sin cannot really be understood without the concept of the demonic. Thus it is shown that a doctrine of sin without the demonic understanding must be robbed of its content.
Myth and history
They will be interpreted as an expression of a certain creative situation, a factor in the conflict between the divine and the demonic. The certainty that this conflict is settled in eternity does not free us from the duty to work toward a concrete solution in finite time, in which the eternal decision appears. No individual consciousness of salvation can remove responsibility for history and its concrete decisions.
The battle against the demonic in the history of religion
They have not lost their power because the victorious gods themselves are filled with the demonic. If the temptation is rejected, it is an upheaval of the demonic realm, namely the existing world. The third way of overcoming the demonic is taken on the basis of sacramental faith itself.
Profanization and overcoming the demonic
- DEMONRIES OF THE PRESENT
- Kairos and Logos
- KAIROS AND LOGOS AS A PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE A. The absolute subject and history
Of course it is not immediately visible there, because the symptom of the profane is. An important example of the profane conquest of the demonic is the development of Greek sculpture. Least of all is there an awareness of the demonic in the social sphere.
History and decision
Our decision, and that means our concrete, individual existence, our freedom and our destiny, is anti-divine insofar as it is unequivocal, but insofar as it is not unequivocally against God, it is not Satanic. Being concrete and human, it is subject to divine judgment, yet it is not completely destroyed. History exists where there is a decision, namely a decision that is on the one hand concrete and on the other hand rooted in the depth of the Unconditional.
Knowledge and decision
But even here the Logos is not in Kairos, nor in the realm of decision. But even in the three sciences that I would call Gestalt sciences (biology, psychology, sociology) there is one. In this third element of knowledge is rooted its decisive character, its true historical quality, its position in destiny and Kairos.
Method and attitude in knowledge
- KAIROS AND LOGOS AS A PROBLEM OF BEING A. Reality and fate
Thus, for example, when interpreting documents from the past, it is not allowed to bypass a methodically correct understanding. Isn't the dethronement of the absolute subject also the dethronement of the knowing subject. This is not the original meaning of the word ideology, but its use for the purposes of agitation.
Idea and fate
For Böhme, the world of ideas is the revelation of the divine abyss, which takes place in it, but the unfolding. An intuitive view of ideas is not a view of the resting idea in a—perhaps outstanding but always accidental—example. The participation of the things in the idea corresponds just as seriously to the participation of the idea in the things.
Dialectics and fate
- KAIROS AND THE ABSOLUTE POSITION
For the Greeks, the idea is without fate, but the fate of existence is tragic; it is subject to the demonic law of the demiurge. Our knowledge itself is not just an expression; it is at the same time a realization of the fate of the idea. At this point the subjectivity of the knower and the ambiguity of the known are excluded.
The Interpretation of History by Paul Tillich
Part Three: Political Categories of the Interpretation of History
The Problem of Power
Attempt at a Philosophical Interpretation
- Might and power
- The structure of society
- Power, law, and interest
- Power and spirit
- Power and force
- Power and humanity
- The renunciation of power
- Conclusions
And still it is not possible to assert a spiritual power independent of the social powers. Consequently, the meeting of the sovereign powers takes place without the balance of a universal position of power created by them. This norm is identical to the respective symbols of transcendence beyond the sphere of the power structure.
The Interpretation of History by Paul Tillich Part Three: Political Categories of the
The Two Roots of Political Thinking
HUMAN EXISTENCE AND POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Observation and decision
As long as the bond of origin is unbroken, no decision can be made because no choice exists. But if it is broken, the decision in favor of the origin can only mean the destruction of all free decision. We will see that Socialism must be interpreted as the direct expression of the proletarian situation.
Principle and reality
The principle is the real power that produces the historical phenomenon and enables it to be realized in a new form, but in continuity with the past. The principle of political romanticism is the inner strength of groups that support political romanticism expressed in concepts. The principle of socialism is not a socialist idea, but a proletarian situation interpreted in dynamic concepts based on a socialist decision.
The Interpretation of History by Paul Tillich Part Four: Theological Categories of the
Church and Culture
But while the question is framed in this way, a critique of the question itself arises before any further discussion. One argues that to simply juxtapose the sacred and the secular, the Church and society, is to remove one of the opposing factors, the sacred, and bring the sacred down to the level of the profane. In this struggle for the absoluteness of God, there is often more than dialectical, prophetic force and penetration.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF PROFANE AND HOLY
- CULTURAL HISTORY AND THE PRESENT SITUATION
We can therefore speak of the unconditional at the same time as the basis of meaning and the abyss of meaning (Sinngrund und -abgrund). In the other, the individual meaning is only a medium, a symbol, a vessel of the absolute meaning. However, the profane, the true and the just are also an essential requirement for the absolute.
The Interpretation of History and the Idea of Christ
The Interpretation of History by Paul Tillich Part Four: Theological Categories of Part Four: Theological Categories of. Christology means to describe the concrete point at which something absolute appears in history and gives it meaning and purpose; and this is indeed the central problem in the philosophy of history. Therefore, we will proceed, first unfolding the question of an interpretation of history and later pointing out the Christological answer.
BEING AND HAPPENING
- THE CENTER OF HISTORY
- THE BEARER OF HISTORY
- THE MEANING OF HISTORY
- UNIVERSAL AND CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY
The center of history is the place where the meaning-giving principle of history is seen. Christian thoughts Christ is the center of history, where history's beginning and end, meaning and purpose are constituted. It is the reality of a history center which grasps us, of its place, its meaning and its form.
Eschatalogy and History
A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RELIGION
- THEOLOGICAL ONTOLOGY
- THEOLOGICAL ESCHATOLOGY
- FULFILLMENT AND DECISION
- HISTORY AND SALVATION
The final seriousness of being and history is recognized by transcending the conditions of time in the religious act. The kingdom of God is the fulfillment intended in history and implied in the ultimate. This brings us to the second step in our question about the content of the ultimate.