Paul [Paulus] Tillich. Tillich is regarded as Barth’s foil: many regard Tillich as the most important 20th century theologian; at least, Barth’s equal. The two of them, together, represent the epitome of 20th century theology.
Tillich was a classic liberal theologian. His beliefs, at times at the forefront of that stream, would not be considered biblically orthodox in any true sense. Indeed, he considered biblical orthodoxy to be intellectually pharisaical and constricting, and admitted he was an existentialist. Towards the end of his life when asked if he still prayed, he stated he no longer did, but that he did meditate. On his deathbed he wanted nothing to do with the Bible (as his wife Hannah notes, that made her glad, as she felt that Paulus belonged to the world, not to any one particular religious book).
He came to view “God” as the ground of all being, an impersonal “god” or “force” behind the human concept of “God”. His systematic theology starts with man rather than any form of god (as man conceptualizes God). As I noted in my first book, many who look to Tillich identify that impersonal god/force as love. The psychologist Rollo May, in his biography of Tillich speaks of how closely Tillich was tied to eros love.
What was his personal life like? His wife, Hannah, wrote a scathing biography of him. In it she chronicled her own life with Paulus. Sexually, they had an open marriage, both engaged in ongoing activity outside of their marriage, Paulus in particular. When confronted with direct evidence, only occasionally would he admit to what he had been doing (she thought he deliberately chose to hide things from himself). After his death, Hannah found numerous sadomasochist photographs of women in his desk (typically women on crosses), and he was also into pornographic books.
As for Hannah, she sometimes sought solace in group sex, remarking how it was a most freeing experience. She described herself as a witch (her precise meaning is not clear) and that she was recognized as having the “mark” of one who had occultic awareness. May states that if they had been living 30 years later, no one would have cared about their lifestyle, that they were ahead of their time.
We see another example of lives lived in such a way that denying/rejecting Scripture is a helpful expedient for justifying one’s choices. The question is: Why does unrepentant sin matter? We’ll turn to that topic in the next post.
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