who was Paul Tillich.
Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher [1]. “[He] was one of the four most influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century[His works] introduced the 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.” From the same source, existentialism is defined as a philosophical concept which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to its being created for them by deities or authorities or defined for them by philosophical or theological doctrines. It emerged as a movement in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, although it h
Paul Tillich, (August 20, 1886-October 22, 1965) was a famous [perhaps the most famous theologian of the 20th century] German-American theologian who represents the radical end of mid-20th century movement called Neo-Orthodoxy. Karl Barth (1886-1968) would represent the “conservative” end of this same movement. Paul Tillich was born in East Prussia. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor. Young Paul was raised with traditional German Orthodox-Pietistic Lutheran beliefs. It is said that Tillich’s mother encouraged him to read widely and to be open to new (often unorthodox) ideas. While he was still a young man his family moved to Berlin. Tillich went on to study at the universities of Berlin, Tbingen, and Halle. He receiving his Ph.D. at Breslau. During this period Tillich developed a life-long interest in philosophy –particularly that of the early 19th century idealist Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854). Paul Tillich was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1912. During WWI Tillich served Germa
