Systematic Theology, vol. 2: Existence and the Christ

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Classic
Review: Anyone who wants to do any type of serious theological work must be well-versed in Tillich and his theology. His masterpiece is a wonderful place to pick up this experience. Read it and you'll find yourself coming back to it again and again.

Rating:
Summary: The 20th c. classic in Protestant liberal theology
Review: Paul Tillich's ~Systematic Theology~ is one of the most important theological works of the 20th century, and the theological system par excellence of liberal Protestant Christianity. In his day, Tillich was held in high esteem not only among theologians, but by experts in many different fields for his incredible breadth of knowledge, his insight into culture, and his humanity.

'Liberal Protestantism' sought to reconcile the gospel and the Christian faith with contemporary cultural ideas, rather then set the two up against each other. Religion is, for Tillich, the best of culture. (An alternative view, for example, is that of Karl Barth, who saw the gospel as fundamentally a critique of culture - as the Word speaking from outside ~to~ the world, not within the world). So, for Tillich, there should be signs of God everywhere, not just in Christianity, and religion and culture and closely connected.

God, for Tillich, is not therefore the anthropomorphized God of the Old Testament, who has a personality and creates and destroys and judges in an almost arbitrary fashion. Instead, Tillich sees God as 'the ground of being'. God is the very fundament on which rests everything that is. God is the Abyss.

The problem with man, for Tillich, is his 'finitude'. Man's life is finite, his body makes him finite, his capacities are finite, yet he craves to transcend these, to be unlimited, to be God. This is impossible; rather one should accept one's finitude courageously. This is what Jesus did singularly and perfectly - he never sinned, because he always accepted the finite nature of his being; he faced death courageously. Tillich's christology is therefore a 'spirit christology' (Jesus was led by the spirit) rather than a 'logos christology' (Jesus was God incarnate, the Word made flesh).

The last important thing is that Tillich makes use of his famous 'theory of correlation'. This is how the 3 volumes of his ~Systematic Theology~ are set up. According to this theory, things in culture are correlated with the theology; theology provides the 'answers' to the 'questions' posed by culture. So his five sections (divided among the 3 volumes) are called: 'Reason and Revelation', 'Being and God', 'Existence and the Christ', 'Life and the Spirit', 'History and the Kingdom of God'.

Tillich's writing is for the most part easy enough to read for the layperson - just don't get bothered by particular tricky bits. I would recommend it to anyone interested in theology; it has influenced a generation of theologians.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Volume II
Review: There isn't much more that I can say besides WOW! Paul Tillich uses a modern existential analysis of the human condition, and then a radical reinterpretation of the Christian tradition to understand and conquer the bleak condition of existential estrangement.

In this volume, Tillich examines the conditions of existence and the feature of Christianity which makes it distinctive among religions: the Christ. Explaining that all religions are meant to diagnose the human condition and to provide ways to reunite man with his essential being. He shows how sin, guilt, and pride are marks of the estrangement of man from his essential self and how religion has consistently and traditionally explained this facet of his existence.

However, he then begins his reinterpretation of the Christ event as the "bearer of New Being," where Christ is the model for all to reunite themselves with their essence - to exist without being overcome by estrangement.

In the book, Tillich uses an easy-to-read and uncomplicated prose to explain his ideas. No where near as complex as other thinkers, but easily as intelligent and dense, Tillich's Systematic Theology is the best attempt at a systematic reinterpretation of the Christian message I've ever read, and is a must-read for anyone interested in a discernible and acceptable rendtion of the Christian story in the world today.