Seattle

UCOR 2100 07: Theology of the Death of God

Tillich Terms

1. Martin Heidegger (p. 230): Considered by some to be the most important philosopher of the twentieth century; he and Tillich were briefly colleagues at the University of Marburg (Germany) in the 1920s. The concept of “theonomous philosophy” is something I can explain in class if we have time; it’s not important for our purposes, however.

2. Confessing Church (p. 230): A group of Protestant Christians in Germany who broke away from the German state church which was co-opted by Hitler and the Nazis. (Hitler had little regard for Christianity for primarily the same reason Nietzsche despised it—he thought it was a religion for the weak and feeble. That said, it’s important to remember that Nietzsche was not anti-Semitic and ended his friendship with the composer Richard Wagner because of Wagner’s anti-Semitism.)

3. Apologist (p. 230): You may be familiar with Plato’s Apology of Socrates. An “apology” in this sense means “defense.” Apologetic theology concerns itself with defending itself against the critics of the Christian faith; less militant versions (like Tillich’s) are concerned with making the Christian faith intelligible to people who are not Christian (i.e., explaining it in ways that make sense to non-Christians).

4. Manifest and Latent Church (p. 230): This distinction marks Tillich’s attempt to address the question of truth outside of the Christian faith. I can explain the distinction in class if anyone is interested.

5. Method of Correlation (p. 231): This is a way of doing theology that attempts to make the Christian faith relevant to the situation of modern people. You will hopefully see what Tillich is up against: theism (see definition #8) is obsolete for many modern people, according to Tillich. The question is whether the Christian faith still has relevance and can reach people who are modern in mentality but who find themselves alienated from...