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The Symbolic Theology of Paul Tillich
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
Extract
It is almost a truism to assert that religious language is symbolic,' declares Paul Tillich in an article entitled ‘Existential Analysis and Religious Symbols’.1 His whole theology is from first to last dominated by the ideas both of existential analysis and religious symbol. Tillich rejects out of hand the notion of God as literally a personal and spiritual Being who literally enters into personal and spiritual relationships with human beings. He seeks, therefore, to transform the content of historical Christian dogmatics into an array of symbols and contends that the whole theological enterprise is to seek and set forth the meaning of these symbols. ‘Theology as such’, states Tillich, ‘has neither the task nor the power to confirm or to negate religious symbols. Its task is to interpret them according to theological principles and methods.’2
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References
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