Customer Reviews

Eternal Now (scm classics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Enegetic and simple, The Eternal Now is a very accessible introduction to the multi-faceted theology of Paul Tillich. Throughout this collection of sermons, Tillich emphasizes the connection between the temporal and eternal (a strength of his writing in general). And, this emphasis is achieved with a light hand, Tillich repeatedly walks the reader calmly towards the realization of how much can still be accomplished by the individual, what courage he or she can still gain -- how much, all of us, are still rooted "in divine ground." Tillich speaks from a Christian perspective, but his wisdom is non-denominational. His is a theology even for the stoutest critic, because as Tillich alludes to in the following passage from The Eternal Now, cynic and priest can ask similar questions from a similar conidition: "There are many ways in which solitude can be sought and experienced. And each way can be called 'religious,' . . . as one philosopher said . . . 'religion is what a man does with his solitariness.'" Emphasizing that such things as eternal questions and Love do not belong to a specific religion or era, Tillich's work speaks to, and beyond, our time and culture. He demands such a flexibility of perspective from us as humans. This is the legacy and promise Tillich offers, and The Eternal Now is a very capable introduction to it.

Tillich recognizes the human condition and the frailties of human existence. In the first 6 sermons on "the human predicament", he discusses such paradoxical human conditions as loneliness and solitude, forgetting and being forgotten, and "The good that I will, I do not". "The divine reality" section contains sermons on the harder aspects of Christianity, that no one can say with certainty that they are participating in the new reality, the Holy Spirit, and that the flight from God begins the moment we feel His presence. Tillich recognizes the reality of doubt, for if we could possess Him like any other familiar work, God would not be God (and perhaps if we do not have doubts, we are limiting Him too much!). Throughout the book, Tillich recognizes the message of "divine foolishness" (his phrase), and the role of the Holy in wisdom and meaning. These are thought provoking sermons, particularly for those of an existentialist bent.

Part of a three volume collection of chapel addresses ("The New Being" and "The Shaking of the Foundations" are the companion volumes), this book is an unorganized introduction to Tillich's thought. Each sermon is self-contained; however, the collection has been organized into three sections.

The first, The Human Predicament, spoke strongly to me, perhaps because I identify so strongly with the sixties. Tillich's themes, loneliness, being forgotten, evil, being, ministry and eternity, are shared with a depth and insight rarely captured in sermon form. For example, he writes, "they never find the courage to make a total judgment against themselves, and therefore, they can never find the courage to believe in a total acceptance of themselves." In this section, Tillich reveals that he is thoroughly Christian, and thoroughly human.

I found the second section, The Divine Reality, less meaningful. Perhaps his themes were too familiar to me, but his comments on spiritual presence, the divine name, God's pursuit of man, salvation and eternity did not grab me with the same intensity as section one.

The last section is The Challenge to Man, in which Tillich deals with nonconformity, strength, maturity, wisdom and thanksgiving, is a return to what he does best - apply Christianity to the human condition. It is filled with practical, sermon-level applications of his ontological theology. "Be what you are - that is the only thing one can ask of any being."

I was quite impressed by Tillich the preacher. His grasp of both grace and humanity is exceptional.

This is another excellent volume of live sermons from Tillich. Easier than Systematic Theology, this book is recommended for seminarians and theologians wishing to prepare to read Systematic Theology. Very important in its own right for Tillich;s distinctive style of blending ontology, theology, and even the psychology of the unconscious. Very enlightening on the subject of Spirit, Christ, and pantheism. Unconditionally recommended.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. He published three volumes of his sermons (many given at chapel at Union Theological Seminary), of which this is the third, preceded by The Shaking of The Foundations and The New Being.

He indicates in the Preface, "I would have chosen 'The Spiritual Presence' as the general title, but the many unfavorable connotations with which the word 'Spiritual' is burdened excluded this possibility."

Here are some representative quotations:

"(I)f history should end tomorrow, through mankind's self-annihilation, the appearance of this planet and of man upon it will NOT have been in vain. For a being shall have appeared at least once ... toward whose creation all the forces of life on earth worked together, and in whom the image of of the divine Ground of all life was present."
"(E)ternal life is not continuation of life after death. Eternal life is beyond past, present, and future... it is the divine life in which we are rooted and in which we are destined to participate in freedom---for God alone has eternity."
"And if we call Jesus, the Christ, our saviour, then we mean that in him we see the power which heals us by accepting us and which liberates us by showing us in his being a new being---a being in which there is reconciliation with ourselves, with our world, and with the divine Ground of our world and ourselves."

The psychologist Rollo May wrote a sympathetic biography of him (Paulus), and Tillich's wife Hannah wrote a less-friendly account (From Time to Time). His major work is his three-volume Systematic Theology, vol. 1, Systematic Theology, vol. 2: Existence and the Christ, and Systematic Theology, vol. 3: Life and the Spirit: History and the Kingdom of God.

The Eternal Now is the title of this book and a message among fifteen other messages given by Paul Tillich. A scripture is quoted before each message; rarely does he refer back to scripture and never quotes scripture again. The word of the scripture reference is used; Context of surrounding scripture is not. Dr. Tillich has a recognizable philosophy of the Universe, man and God: What is described in this book, I do not think it is Biblical. What Paul Tillich articulates uses words in the Bible to have a different context then which is of the Bible. Not all sermons need to be expository or need to go through verse by verse; I think the study of scripture verse by verse is helpful, but not the only way. To be a Biblical sermon, the writer and deliverer of the message needs to know what is stated immediately before and after the used scripture; a general knowledge of the book of the Bible is needed and should not contradict what is taught in the sermon. To be a Biblical sermon, the message need be consistent with the content and context of the scripture quoted. This renowned theologian does not take this into account and finds it rather an inconvenience.

Paul Tillich was professor of divinity at the University of Chicago and wrote a three-volume Systematic Theology. If it is like these messages, I find it hard to imagine it as either Biblical or systematic. Certainly an interesting philosophy of man, the universe and God: The illumination would not be scriptural