The Courage to Be [Paperback]

Paul Tillich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2000 | Series: The Terry Lectures Series

In this classic and deeply insightful book, one of the world's most eminent philosophers describes the dilemma of modern man and points a way to the conquest of the problem of anxiety. This edition includes a new introduction by Peter J. Gomes that reflects on the impact of this book in the years since it was written.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In this classic and deeply insightful book, one of the world's most eminent philosophers describes the dilemma of modern man and points a way to the conquest of the problem of anxiety. This edition includes a new introduction by Peter J. Gomes that reflects on the impact of this book in the years since it was written.

About the Author

Paul Tillich (1886-1965), world-renowned philosopher and theologian, taught in several German universities until he was dismissed in 1933 because of his opposition to the Nazi regime. In America he was affiliated with the Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. Peter J. Gomes is Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church, Harvard University.The Terry Lectures

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 2 Sub edition (July 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300084714
• ISBN-13: 978-0300084719
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Movements > Existentialism
  • #46 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Religious

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 147 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich with good ideas November 5, 2002

By Kenneth E. Wagner Jr.

Format:Paperback

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.

73 of 82 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Courage to Despair November 20, 2001

By Gary Sprandel

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tillich makes the world look shimmeringly alive. September 9, 2000

By DJ Rix

Format:Paperback

"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