Customer Reviews

The Courage to be

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This book has more good ideas in it than clam chowder has calories. It's packed into every page, every line. Tillich is concerned with how the question of finding the courage to face up to existential doubts about death, meaninglessness, and guilt are tied to the ontological questions of being versus nonbeing. How can we affirm our existence when it seems so temporary, meaningless and full of moral failure? Tillich explores with incredible freshness and insight age old strategies, from Spinoza to the Stoics (his discussion of the Stoics alone is worth the price of the book). He gives a brilliant account of how people find the courage to overcome existential anxiety through particpation in groups and through individual strategies like existentialism. Finally, he explores the theological implications in a way that may challenge anyone who has stereotyped Tillich as a mouthpiece for Christianity. The book is excellently written, never dumbed down but always graspable. He also litters the book with brilliant asides on subjects like the history of existential angst and its relations to social relations and a great exploration of existential art. Don't pass this one up.

Tillich's ultimate concern is what determines our being or non-being. The "shock of nonbeing" and the ensuing anxiety allows Tillich to categorize three types of anxiety (fate and death, emptiness, and guilt). I thought his history of anxiety, starting with the Stoics ("the only real alternative to Christianity in the Western world") was remarkable (though at times a rough read). Influenced by Heidegger and Kierkegaard("to confront his existence alone") he drives on to the inevitable search for God. For Tillich, the "Courage to Be" is partly the courage to despair, and avoid the "Neurosis is a away of avoiding non-being by avoiding being". He is also influenced by Freud and psychoanalysis (called "depth psychology" in the book), which in our day of Prozac and behavioral psychology is refreshing.

The nature of the discussions, being, nonbeing, subjectivity, objectivity make for difficult reading with double negatives (eg. "Nonbeing is no threat because finite being is, in the last analysis, nonbeing"). If one can wade through the language, there a lot of insight.

I first read this book in high school, then in seminary, in graduate psychology classes, and several times since then. Each time I read it I gain insight and growth. Tillich will challenge your intellect and force you to think. He defines courage in a way that will change you if you take it to heart. This is a book that you will need to read several times to apperciate it's depth, but it is well worth it. I often feel I obtain a higher leval of consciousness and often I feel in an altered state after reading and pondering Tillich's writting. Tillich outlines fundemental concepts for existentialist and modern theology. Starting with Tillich's books of sermon is a good work up to this book.

I checked this book out of the library becuase I like to read books on psychology, philosophy, religion and existentialism. But all-in-all, this book was too deep for me. It's a challenge to read; very thick; very esoteric; not light reading. You need a degree in philosophy or theology to get through it. I did however like Tillich's theory of existential anxiety. I'll give this book three stars for that; but much of it went over my head. Perhaps, if you are smarter than me, you might be able to grasp it better and enjoy it more than I did.

"It takes tremendous courage to resist the lure of appearances. The power of being which is manifest in such courage is so great that the gods tremble in fear of it." Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be.

Paul Tillich's ideas are a response to existentialism, German philosphy, modern physics & the success of totalitarian movements in Germany, Russia & Italy. He is a bridge between the 19th Century & the growth of new theological thought in latter part of the Twentieth.

Tillich is not all that difficult to understand in The Courage to Be. However, it's unfortunate that his three wonderful collections of sermons (The Shaking of the Foundations; The New Being; The Eternal Now) are out-of-print, as these are his best introductions.

Readers coming to Tillich will have to grapple with the common metaphors of Christian faith. For Tillich, the concepts of Heaven & even an afterlife are not terribly important, as they imply a continuation of life in time that he is not able to accept scientifically or on faith. So one meets those lovely semi-metaphors of "being itself," "non-being" & "ground of being" that, for me at least, were a more clear explanation of how I experience the world than God the "Father" or Holy Ghost.

This makes Tillich a crucial step into Feminist & Language theology, although he couldn't quite make the big leap himself.

Basically, Tillich says we're stuck in an undefinable present that moves creatively into an unknown future in which nothing is a given but the fact that we are alive right now, so what do we intend to do about it? This is "being" & being, above all else, requires courage; the courage of early Christians facing the axe or the fire. As for Tillich's "Ground of Being," one might compare it - inadequately - to a tree as a reflection of its roots - a metaphor I copped from another Paul ...artist Paul Klee. Tillich says that we cannot speak unsymbolically about being.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Paul Tillich's theology gains even greater relevance. He witnessed in Germany the acquiescence of the established churches to National Socialism & the failure of Democratic Christian Socialism. I do not believe he would have many kind words for contemporary Islam, a religious system so bound to orthodoxy as to make it incapable of relevant reform. On the other hand, Tillich would have immediately recognized those manifestations of the "Kingdom of God" which began appearing even before the Twin Towers had collapsed. Our estrangement from God in the Eternal Now (which invites demonic energy as a tall tree invites lightning) is overcome only in the present moment. Evil may be defeated with violent retaliation, but it is conquered with love.

Paul Tillich is especially liberating for artists. Stopping just short of Buddhism, Tillich makes the world look shimmeringly alive & filled with possibilities, yet so transient - a world of appearances.

"The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt." Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be

Bob Rixon

Also recommended" Henri Bergson, An Introduction to Metaphysics

Tillich is one of the most creative and influential theologians and philosophers of the twentieth century. He is particuluarly influential here in America. When this book was first issue it was recognized as one of the great books of popular philosophy/theology yet written. In it, Tillich takes the reader through the different ways a person can be (essentially different ways of living). The reader will find this book not only useful in terms of their own self evaluation and helping others, but they will find it a book that, when properly understood, changes peoples lives. A word to the wise: Many people have complained that this book is a little difficult to read at first. This is because Tillich uses terminology which he has invented. He is not always good about telling the reader know what he means. However, after you read more and more of the book you get a good grasp of what he means. Stick with it. You wont be sorry.

Professor Tillich has written a marvelous book that provokes insight, incites thought, and instigates courage.

"The courage to be" makes a great and stimulating reading for the

intellect, and will teach the reader about the history of the concept and the process of courage.

The courage to be is the greatest achievement that any human can ever reach. As we tackle our daily lives, and wrestle with our socialization and acculturation processes and familial demands, we lose our courage and ourselves in the process; Then we go on for the rest of our lives looking for that piece of the puzzle which we might never find. Losing your courage is losing your heart and becoming dead while you're alive. Reading this book might get you back in touch with your pulsating heart and might awaken your courage that was once decimated by the clamorous world of socialization and survival. Finding the courage to be who we were meant to be at birth is the essence of our spirituality!

It seemed at the beginning that it would be too abstract. Too involved in a history of philosophy in its discussion of the Stoics. That Tillich was asserting too much, as if "ex cathedra". But even in the early chapters, I sensed something special and by the time I reached Chapter 4 ("Courage and Participation: The Courage to Be as a Part"), I began to feel the my current situation was being directly and wisely addressed. That feeling only grew stronger from that point on.

There's so much value in this book that I feel somehow unworthy of reviewing it. It doesn't seem that any amount of time I spent preparing a review could do justice to "The Courage to Be". I had heard so much of Tillich but this is the first time I have read him. I have missed a lot and I am grateful I finally turned to him. I had been concerned about religious myths and whether Christianity retained any value for me. Gnostic Christian myths seems fascinating and they made me wonder if Christianity might offer more to me than I had suspected. That concern with myths and Christianity led me to read several books by the progressive Christian Bishop John Shelby Spong (e.g. Jesus for the Non-Religious)). Spong mentioned in at least one of his books that he had been a student of Tillich's. Tillich had challenged Spong with the concept of nontheism, a position that Spong has moved to. That has been my own understanding since my teens but I had turned to nontheistic Eastern religions and to unorthodox, nondogmatic Western religions. Only recently had I been open to reconsidering liberal Christianity. To some extent I had already done that with such postmodern thinkers as Thomas Altizer (The Gospel of Christian Atheism and Living the Death of God: A Theological Memoir) and recently Spong. Following up with Tillich and this book has been literally a godsend.

In much of "The Courage to Be", Tillich applies his knowledge of Western Existentialism. This meant all the more to me as in my teens I had devoured such existentialists as Sartre, Camus and to a lesser extent even Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. But it was difficult to apply it to my situation. Altizer had helped by tracing developments from Christianity into postmodern movements including atheism but he was difficult to follow.

Here now is Tillich who ties together Western Existentialist topics such as anxiety and meaninglessness and a postmodern concern to rediscover the relevance of the Christian tradition. Is one's self in danger today of being a thing, or as he writes "a matter of calculation and management"? As Tillich points out, the Existentialist Revolt strongly opposed such objectification. But by transcending the theistic way of understanding the sacred ,by turning to "the God above God", Tillich shares a hope ( at least in finding courage) that speak to those Existentialism addressed but recovers something from Christian roots. It is a project that seems to take better advantage of Western history and Christianity's role in it as it was than Spong's dependence on speculations to salvage an acceptable image of Jesus.

This is not a book for a single reading. I've started already on my second reading and I am also reading more of Tillich, already The socialist decision and am planning to read soon A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT Edited By Carl E. Braaten. I somehow overlooked Tillich all these years and I am eager to make up for lost time. The timing is good because, as Spong has described, I seem to be "a believer in exile", raised a Christian and, although having questioned much about it, still influenced by my Protestant upbringing and by the many writings such as those of the Existentialists, that proceeded directly from or in reaction to Christianity.

Finding "A Courage to Be" and Tillich may be a way for me to accept my background without rejecting what I have learned and felt since.

One of the greatest contemporary accounts of existentialism from the theological perspective. Tillich writes with extreme precision and emphasizes the need for faith in an age when meaninglessness animates the quest for self-understanding. Existentialism has been dominated by secular sentiment, and Tillich brings it back into its theological context by offering an ontological account of faith which is disguised as "courage." Important points include: the God beyond god, and the three categories of the fear-anxiety correlation in respect to both their historical and philosophical manifestations. I believe this book originally went through seven editions within a two year period, an unprecedented accomplishment for an author.

Though not an easy read, The Courage to Be is definitely worth the struggle. I'll admit that I originally read this book as required for a class, but I have to say that it was one of the best experiences of my academic career. I am an avid reader, but was glad to have my professor's guidance and class discussions to help me see and understand things I might not have otherwise. I don't think Tillich has to be lumped into any kind of category in order to be worth reading-- his ideas transcend any one category. After reading this book, I knew what I had always felt about God and religion but never had the words for. The Courage to Be made me the Tillich fan I am today, and though it can be frustrating at times, I wouldn't trade my copy for anything!