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
anxiety doubt castles
Existential anxiety of doubt drives the person toward the creation of certitude of systems of meaning, which are supported by tradition and authority. Neurotic anxiety builds a narrow castle of certitude which can be defended with the utmost certainty.
doubt embrace
Faith embraces itself and the doubt about itself.
doubt serious ifs
There is faith in every serious doubt, namely, the faith in the truth as such, even if the only truth we can express is our lack of truth.
courage anxiety doubt
The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.
thinking faithful doubt
Sometimes I think it is my mission to bring faith to the faithless, and doubt to the faithful.
faith doubt would-be
Out of the element of participation follows the certainty of faith; out of the element of separation follows the doubt in faith. And each is essential for the nature of faith. Sometimes certainty conquers doubt, but it cannot eliminate doubt. The conquered of today may become the conqueror of tomorrow. Sometimes doubt conquers faith, but it still contains faith. Otherwise it would be indifference.
doubt tools meaninglessness
Doubt is the necessary tool of knowledge.
faith opposites doubt
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.
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.
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.