Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillichwas a German American Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionTheologian
Date of Birth20 August 1886
CountryGermany
moving destiny two
Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received.
destiny strange given
Destiny is not a strange power which determines what shall happen to me. It is myself as given, formed by nature, history, and myself. My destiny is the basis of my freedom; my freedom participates in shaping my destiny.
destiny men decision
But freedom is the possibility of a total and centered act of the personality, an act in which all the drives and influences which constitute the destiny of man are brought into the centered unity of a decision.
destiny men accountability
Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny.
destiny cities humanity
The citizens of a city are not guilty of the crimes committed in their city; but they are guilty as participants in the destiny of [humanity] as a whole and in the destiny of their city in particular; for their acts in which freedom was united with destiny have contributed to the destiny in which they participate. They are guilty, not of committing the crimes of which their group is accused, but of contributing to the destiny in which these crimes happened.
accept accepted courage oneself spite
The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself as accepted in spite of being unacceptable
alone expresses glory solitude
Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.
alone created express glory language sides solitude wisely word
Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.
men able language
Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.
command-not justice negative
Our search for such [moral] principles can start with . . . the unconditional imperative to acknowledge every person as a person. If we ask for the contents given by this absolute, we find, first, something negative-the command not to treat a person as a thing. This seems little, but it is much. It is the core of the principle of justice.
bridges atmosphere enlightenment
The courage to be as oneself within the atmosphere of Enlightenment is the courage to affirm oneself as a bridge from a lower to a higher state of rationality. It is obvious that this kind of courage to be must become conformist the moment its revolutionary attack on that which contradicts reason has ceased, namely in the victorious bourgeoisie.
attitude existentialism existence
The existential attitude is one of involvement in contrast to a merely theoretical or detached attitude. "Existential" in this sense can be defined as participating in a situation, especially a cognitive situation, with the whole of one's existence.
fate self anxiety
The anxiety of fate is conquered by the self-affirmation of the individual as an infinitely significant microcosmic representation of the universe .
art character literature
Since the last decades of the nineteenth century, revolt against the objectified world has determined the character of art and literature.