Tillich (Outstanding Christian Thinkers) [Paperback]

Heywood J. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826450830 | ISBN-13: 978-0826450838 | Publication Date: December 13, 2000

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) was a remarkable theologian who was as much at home in a philosophical discussion as he was in the pulpit, and as keenly interested in art and politics as in his life-work as a professional theologian. Tillich's attacks on Nazism led to the banning of his books, his dismissal from Frankfurt University, and ultimately his departure for the United States in November 1933. His many points of contact with key thinkers in theology and philosophy (including Heidegger, Otto, Bultmann, Adorno and Barth) make him a compelling figure for those interested in the history of ideas in the Twentieth Century.J. Heywood Thomas critically reviews the philosophical background to Tillich's theology, including his debts to Schelling, Kant, and Husserl. He surveys Tillich's achievement as a philosophical theologian, examining his ontological approach to Christology and salvation, and his understanding of the church as a spiritual community. Thomas concludes with an exploration of Tillich's contribution to the changed situation of theology today.>

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About the Author

J. Heywood Thomas was head of the Department of Theology at Nottingham Univeristy until his retirement in 1992 and is Honorary Profesor at Bangor Univeristy. He studied under Tillich and later taught with him at Union Theological Seminary in New York. They were friends until Tillich's death. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (December 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826450830
• ISBN-13: 978-0826450838
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,318,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars J Heywood Thomas' "Tillich", June 18, 2001

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Dr Johann Beukes (South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tillich (Outstanding Christian Thinkers) (Paperback)

This is truly an exquisite Tillich-monography! John Heywood Thomas, who studied with Tillich and remained friends with Tillich until Tillich's death, provides us with an in-depth account of the life and work of Paul Tillich (1886-1965), the remarkable philosopher-theologian who implemented the thought of Schelling, Kant and Hegel, just to name the most prominent of his philosophical influences, directly and explicitly into the theological discourse of the twentieth century. Apart from accounting for these influences, Heywood Thomas interprets Tillich's many points of contact with some of the great intellectuals of the twentieth century, including Heidegger, Otto, Bultmann, Adorno and Barth. Though not as extensive as some of the older, established commentaries on Tillich (such as J L Adams' famous commentary, Paul Tillich's Philosophy of Culture, Science and Religion [New York: Harper and Row, 1965] or the earliest, and still the most valuable, collection of essays on Tillich's work, The Theology of Paul Tillich [Kegley, C & Bretall, R W eds., New York: MacMillan, 1952]), Heywood Thomas' book should to my opinion be regarded as the most penetrating and illuminating account to date of Tillich's extraordinary ability to exploit hardcore philosophical concepts within the realm of theology. These concepts include phenomenology into a "phenomenological theology", existentialism and critical theory into Tillich's own theological theories of "existence" and "estrangement", Neo-Marxist critique into a "theology of culture" and, famously, his "ontological approach" to Christology and salvation. Paul Tillich was indeed a remarkable and unique theologian, exactly because he was as much at home in a philosophical discussion as he was in the pulpit and seemed as keenly interested in art and politics as he was in his life-work as a professional theologian. The book consists of ten chapters, each dealing with a predominant theme in Tillich's work. Chapter 1 (Tillich's life and career) provides the reader with the kind of biographical information which could be considered as crucial for understanding Tillich's philosophical inclinations and his areas of specialization in theology. Tillich's experience of the trench warfare in World War I, for example, had a fundamental impact on his psyche and contributed substantially to him taking leave of the claims of traditional Protestant theology or, at the very least, his reinterpretation of Lutheran theology (pp. 5-10). Actually, it was the war experience that initiated his progressive activist attitude in politics and the church. Much ado has been made of Tillich's debauchery and his infamous erotic experiences with women directly after his wife, Grethi, left him in 1919 (p.9). Heywood Thomas puts this tragic phase of Tillich's life in sympathetic perspective. He certainly was an ambiguous character though: His arrogant personality and lifelong prone to vanity stands in sharp contrast with the gentleness those close to him came to know. He had always been very quick in expression of self-defence and very sensitive to criticism, easily accusing anyone who did not agree with him as personally hostile to him. On the other hand, he was an excellent lecturer and companion. On the one hand, he displayed an unconscious egocentricity which had always been typical of him. On the other hand, he showed himself to be extremely generous. Heywood Thomas contextualizes this complex character in the world of German (and later American) university life, showing that Tillich was many things, a man as complex as his work. I found this first chapter invaluable, not because of a biographical sketch one can read elsewhere, but because Heywood Thomas delicately links up the man with his surroundings and the texts that influenced him so deeply. In chapter 2 (p.28) Heywood Thomas discusses the interconnection of theology, revolution and culture in Tillich's work. It is tempting to begin characterizing Tillich's theology by describing it as a theology of culture, to be distinguished as such from the theology of his contemporary, friend and colleague Karl Barth. Heywood Thomas shows that this contra-Barthian depiction of Tillich's theology has been his fate as a theologian and that this fundamental contrast has lead to a misinterpretation of both theologies. This simple opposition of the two theologies has been an unfortunate misinterpretation of both - Barth's as much as Tillich's. Barth's protest was not against culture but against a simplistic correlation of Christianity and culture. Likewise Tillich was as concerned to spell out a theological critique of culture as he was to rediscover the vitality of theology in an engagement with culture. Heywood Thomas looks carefully at Tillich's argument and represents it with eloquence and style. Being educated in the Barthian tradition myself, at least to a very large extent, I found this chapter to be the most informative in terms of understanding the idiosyncrasies in Tillich's thought; especially with regards to the way in which he seems to re-implement philosophical concepts directly into archaic theological categories. This is compulsory reading for those who still understand Tillich and Barth as being in direct opposition to each other. The situation is much more complex and nuanced than we are led to believe by some Barthians in particular. ...