supplemental material

I’ve included the full version of the chapter below, as well as a link to My Search for Absolutes. I’ve also included a longer essay by Tillich called “Two Types of Philosophy of Religion” that offers a more in-depth reflection on his understanding of God. This essay is an absolutely brilliant piece of philosophical theology. For people more familiar with philosophy and the work of Tillich, I’d recommend you read this essay in place of todays reflection as it is a real tour de force that succinctly expresses Tillich’s view on God.

In addition to all this, I’ve enclosed a link to a four-week course I taught on the book My Search for Absolutes. The course is available to everyone signed up to the Blaze level of my Patreon.

The Ground of Being

Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965) was an philosopher and theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century.

Among the general public, he is best known for his works The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957), which introduced issues of theology and modern culture to a general readership. Theologically, he is best known for his major three-volume work Systematic Theology (1951–63) in which he developed his "method of correlation", an approach of exploring the symbols of Christian revelation as answers to the problems of human existence raised by contemporary existential philosophical analysis.

His last book, published posthumously, was from a series of lectures and is called My Search for Absolutes. In this short work he skillfully articulated a way of thinking about morality, ethics and religion that embraced the subjective and objective sides of life. Drawing Absolutism and Relativism together in a relationship that remained sensitive to both.

Todays reflection is an abridged section from the last chapter of the book. The book also includes illustrations from the artist Saul Steinberg. This little known book is a good place to start for people new to the work of Tillich. For those of you who have a little more time on your hands, and who are already familiar with the work of Tillich, I have an alternative reading that you can find in the ‘Supplemental Material’ section.