Paul Johannes
Tillich was an American philosopher and theologian,
who was born in Germany, and educated at the universities of Berlin, Tübingen, Halle, and Breslau.
In 1912 he was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He taught theology
and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt until he was dismissed in 1933 because of his opposition to the Nazi regime.
In the same
year, Tillich accepted an appointment to teach at Union Theological
Seminary in New York City. In 1955 he went to the Divinity School of
Harvard University and in 1962, to the Divinity School of the
University of Chicago. He became an American citizen in 1940.
In
his many books, Tillich presented ideas concerning the religious basis
of life. He believed that Protestant theology may apply a critical
posture and scientific concepts of contemporary thought without
endangering its Christian faith.
Tillich
incorporated the insights of depth psychology and existential
philosophy into his attempts to renew the relevance of theology for
modern secular society.
Tillich
died in Chicago on Oct. 22, 1965. His ashes were interred in a park in
New Harmony-Indiana, where he made the following speech on the day of
Pentecost, June 2, 1963: "I, Paul Tillich, give my name to this
place, and dedicate the ground of this park...to a new reality,
conquering what is estranged and reuniting what belongs to each other,
in the power of the Spiritual Presence."
Read
more about the Paul Tillich Park
The
Courage to Be
Dynamics
of Faith
Biblical
Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality
