Paul Tillich: Systematic Theology
Tillich, Paul. Systematic Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Vol.1
Introduction
Theology is a function of the Christian church. It is supposed to satisfy two basic needs: the Christian message(as the eternal truth, kerygmatic theology, divine manifestation) and modern situation(as an interpretation, apologetic theology, human existence).
The formal criterion of theology: ultimate concern. (1)"The object of theology is what concerns us ultimately. Only those propositions are theological which deal with their object in so far as it can become a matter of ultimate concern for us."(p.12); (2)"Our ultimate concern is that which determines our being or not-being. Only those statements are theological which deals with their object on so far as it can become a matter of being or not-being for us."(p.14)
Theology and Christianity. "Theology is the methodical interpretation of the contents of the Christian faith."(p.15) Christian theology cares about the concrete and the ultimate (on the contrary, prophetic theology simply is concrete and metaphysical theology is universal). The foundation of Christian theology is that "Logos who has become flesh".
Both theology and philosophy ask the question of being. Philosophy deals with the structure of being itself, but theology deals with the meaning of being for us(p.22).【由此来看，神学更加切己】
Systematic theology. Source: Bible, church history, history of religion and culture. Experience is the medium of the theological source to speak to us. Norm: (1)semantic rationality; (2)logical rationality; (3)methodological rationality. Method: correlation(religious knowledge, God and world, divine-human). System:(1)Being and God; (2)Existence and Christ; (3)Life and Spirit; (4)Reason and Revelation; (5)History and the Kingdom of God. 【前三个是主体部分，上帝论、基督论、圣灵论】
Part 1 Reason and Revelation
Reason is the structure of the mind. Reason is the capacity for "reasoning". Subjective reason is the rational structure of the mind while objective reason is the rational structure of reality(p.77). The depth of reason means something which precedes reason and is manifest through it, like substance, ground, and abyss. Reason is driven to the quest for revelation because of three conflicts: autonomous and heteronomous reason(quest for theonomy)【Theonomy means God(theo) is the law(nomos)】, absolutism and relativism of reason(quest for the concrete-absolute)【static and dynamic elements】, formation and emotionalism of reason(quest for the union of form and mystery)(p.83). "Reason does not resist revelation. It asks for revelation, for revelation means the reintegration of reason."(p.94) There is a conflict between controlling knowledge(certainty and safe) and receiving knowledge(ultimately significant) in the cognitive function of reason.
Method. "Phenomenology is a way of pointing to phenomena as they 'give themselves,' without the interference of negative or positive prejudices and explanations."(p.106)
"A revelation is a special and extraordinary manifestation which removes the veil from something which is hidden in a special and extraordinary way."(p.108) A miracle: (1)an astonishing unusual and shaking event; (2) points to the mystery of being; (3) receives a sign-event in an ecstatic experience. The mediums of the revelation: natural objects, historical events experienced as miracles, and words(or language). Revelation can be received originally in the depth of a personal life. "Knowledge of revelation, although it is mediated primarily through historical events, does not imply factual assertions, and it is therefore not exposed to critical analysis by historical research. Its truth is to be judged by criteria which lie within the dimension of revelatory knowledge."(p.130)【启示的知识论上的自我定位，可用于处理对圣经的历史批判】
【基督教的核心主张】" Christianity claims to be based on the revelation in Jesus as the Christ as the final revelation. This claim establishes a Christian church, and, where this claim is absent, Christianity has ceased to exist......"(p.132)Final revelation means the criterion of all the others. Two characters about interpretations of Jesus Christ in the New Testament: "his maintenance of unity with God and his sacrifice of everything he could have
gained for himself from this unity."(p.135) The final revelation divides history into a period of preparation and a period of reception. (p.138) "The period of receiving revelation has begun with the beginning of the church."(p.144) Revelation can overcome the three conflicts in reason. The ground of being is "cause". The ground of revelation is "Abyss", "Logos" and "Spirit".(p.156)
Part 2 Being and God
The ontological question: What is being itself?
The levels of ontological concept.
(1)the basic ontological structure: self-world (it is the basis of the subject-object structure of reason)
(2)the elements which constitute the ontological structure: individualism and participation; dynamics and form; freedom and destiny.
(3)the characters of being: Being is finitude. Being is limited by nonbeing. Finitude in awareness is anxiety(p.191). "Therefore, man needs the greatest courage to take upon himself his anxiety. He is the most courageous of all beings because he has to conquer the deepest anxiety."(p.194)【蒂利希的特色在于，以存在的勇气面对存在的焦虑】
(4)the categories of being and knowing: time, space, causality, substance.
The question of God is implied in human finitude. "The question of God can be asked because there is an unconditional element in the very act of asking any question. The question of God must be asked because the threat of nonbeing, which man experiences as anxiety, drives him to the question of being conquering nonbeing and of courage conquering anxiety. "(p.208)
Different types of the idea of God. Polytheism lacks a uniting and transcending ultimate which determines its character. Monotheism: monarchic monotheism, mystical monotheism, and trinitarian monotheism. Each type corresponds to its philosophical form.
The being of God is the being-itself. "......symbol and sign are different; that, while the sign bears no necessary relation to that to which it points, the symbol participates in the reality of that for which it stands. The sign can be changed arbitrarily according to the demands of expediency, but the symbol grows and dies according to the correlation between that which is symbolized and the persons who receive it as a symbol."(p.239) Personal God means "God is the ground of everything personal and that he carries within himself the ontological power of personality."(p.245) Trinitarian principles: (1)Godhead makes God God. "It is the power of being infinitely resisting nonbeing, giving the power of being to everything that is."(p.251) (2)Logos means God speaks his "word". (3)Spirit is the actualization of the other two principles.
The doctrine of creation, "out of nothing": (1)"the tragic character of existence is not rooted in the creative ground of being."------incarnation ; (2)"there is an element of nonbeing in creatureliness; this gives insight into the natural necessity of death and into the potentiality but not necessity of the tragic."------eschatology. In conclusion, "......being a creature means both to be rooted in the creative ground of the divine life and to actualize one's self through freedom."(p.256) "The doctrine of creation affirms that God is the creative ground of everything in every moment."(p.271)
God is Love. Libido "is the movement of the needy toward that which fulfills the need." Philia " is the movement of the equal toward union with the equal." Eros "is the movement of that which is lower in power and meaning to that which is higher." Agape "unites the lover and the beloved because of the image of fulfillment which God has of both. Therefore, agape is universal."(p.280) "Divine love includes the justice which acknowledges and preserves the freedom and the unique character of the beloved."(p.283)【正义的位置】 The ontological unity of love and justice is manifest in final revelation as the justification of the sinner.(p.285) "Man can believe in forgiveness only if justice is maintained and guilt is confirmed."(p.288)
Vol.2
Introduction
The systematic theologian must participate in the human predicament.
Part 3 Existence and Christ
The meaning of existence is to stand out (Latin: existere). We stand out of non-being. Existentialism gives an analysis of what it means to exist.
How the transition from essence to existence 【Fall?】 is possible: finite freedom, to surrender humanity, the frame of universal destiny. "Existence is rooted both in ethical freedom and in tragic destiny." (p.38) The transition from essence to existence results in personal guilt and universal tragedy.
The marks of man's estrangement: unbelief (the disruption of man's cognitive participation in God), hubris (the self-elevation of man into the sphere of the divine), concupiscence (the striving for sexual pleasure). Sin is an individual act actualizes the universal fact of estrangement. (p.56)
Evil is the structure of self-destruction. The basic mark of evil is self-loss, namely the loss of one's determining center.
If religion turns to self-salvation, it is the tragedy of religion, such as legalism, asceticism, and mysticism. The New Being is a transformed reality. Christ is the bearer of the New Being. 【蒂利希的特点在于，把基督教的许多要素视为一个个symbol，然后就symbol而言进行分析。】
"The search for the historical Jesus was an attempt to discover a minimum of reliable facts about the man Jesus of Nazareth, in order to provide a safe foundation for the Christian faith. This attempt was a failure. Historical research provided probabilities about Jesus of a higher or lower degree. On the basis of these probabilities, it sketched
'Lives of Jesus'. But they were more like novels than biographies; they certainly could not provide a safe foundation for the Christian faith. Christianity is not based on the acceptance of a historical novel; it is based on the witness to the messianic character of Jesus by people who were not interested at all in a biography of the Messiah." (p.105)
Some Christological symbols in the New Testament: Son of David, Son of Man, Heavenly Man, Messiah, Son of God, Kyrios, Logos. "The concrete biblical material is not guaranteed by faith in respect to empirical factuality; but it is guaranteed as an adequate expression of the transforming power of the New Being in Jesus as the Christ. Only in this sense does faith guarantee the biblical picture of Jesus. " (p.115) "The affirmation that Jesus is the Christ is an act of faith and consequently of daring courage. ......But doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith. Therefore, there is no faith without risk." (p.116) The being of Jesus as the Christ has three expressions: his words, his deeds, his suffering.
The threefold manifestation of the New Being in the biblical picture of Jesus as the Christ: (1) The unity of center of his being with God; (2) The unity against all the attacks coming from estranged existence; (3) The divine love.
The Christological problem started with the quest for the New Being. In other words, Christ as the New Being is a response to people's existential predicament.
What is the universal significance of Christology as a unique event of Jesus? (p.151) Christology is a function of soteriology. Two symbols: the "Cross of the Christ" (the subjection to existence) and the "Resurrection of the Christ" (the conquest of existence). The original meaning of salvation is healing. "healing means reuniting that which is estranged, giving a center to what is split, overcoming the split between God and man, man and his world, man and himself." (p.166) Jesus Christ is the ultimate criterion of every healing and saving process.
Jesus as Redeemer introduces the doctrine of atonement. The principles of atonement: (1) The atoning processes are created by God and God alone. (2) there are no conflicts in God between his reconciling love and his retributive justice. (3) the divine removal of guilt and punishment is not an act of overlooking the reality and depth of existential estrangement. (4) God's atoning activity must be understood as his participation in existential estrangement and its self-destructive consequences. (5) in the Cross of the Christ, the divine participation in existential estrangement becomes manifest. (6) through participation in the New Being, which is the being of Jesus as the Christ, men also participate in the manifestation of the atoning act of God.
The Threefold characters of salvation. Regeneration (participation in the New Being), Justification (acceptance of the New Being), and Sanctification (transformation by New Being).
Vol.3
Part 4 Life and the Spirit
Spirit means pneuma. It is the breath that keeps life alive. It is the power of life.
Life is the actualization of potential being. The basic functions of life are self-integration, self-creation, and self-transcending.
Two basic functions of culture are the theoria (word) and praxis (technical act).
Life has ambiguity in many dimensions, but "Spiritual Presence", "Kingdom of God", and "Eternal Life", those three symbols point to unambiguous life.
The media of the Spiritual Presence is sacraments. The content of the manifestation of the Divine Spirit in the human spirit is faith and love. For example, love is the whole being's movement toward another being to overcome existential separation. (p.136) The most important examples of Spiritual Presence among religions are mysticism and exclusive monotheism. (p.143) The divine Spirit was present in Jesus as the Christ without distortion. (p.144) 【此类宗教比较，最后以基督教为终极标准，从而护教】 The Spiritual Community is created by the Spiritual Presence. It is unambiguous and it is New Being, though it is fragmentary since it appears under the conditions of finitude. (p.150) The marks of the Spiritual Community are faith, love, unity, and universality. "The Spiritual Community is the inner telo of the churches and that as such it is the source of everything which makes them churches." (p.165) The functions of church are constitution, expansion, and construction. (p.182) The functions of the human spirit are morality, culture, and religion. (p.275)
Father, Son, and Spirit, they were originally proposed to express the self-manifestation of God to man. Later, they became an impenetrable mystery. Then they became the riddle as the suppression of the searching mind. (p.291) Tillich thinks we should reopen the quest for trinitarian symbols.
Part 5 History and the Kingdom of God
The characters of human history are particular purpose, the freedom of man, the production of the new, and the significant uniqueness of a historical event. (pp.303-304) The decisive realms in the historical process are technology, science, education, and the increasing conquest of spatial divisions and separations within and beyond mankind. (p.339) The symbol "Kingdom of Life" is the answer to the meaning of history. (p.356) There are two types of time: kairos (qualitative, the fulfillment of time) 【历史性时刻】 and chronos (quantitative, measured time or clock time) 【编纂学的时间】.
Eschatology is the description of what will happen in the last of all days. However, we should consider its theological meaning, such as to elaborate the eschatological symbolism. The end of history means the elevation of the temporal into eternal, the "Ultimate Judgement", the final conquest of the ambiguities of life, and the Eternal Blessedness. As for the individual, there are immortality and resurrection at the End of history.