Tillich, Paul

(1886-1965) German-US theologian; wrote 1. Dynamics of Faith, 2. Theology of Culture, 3. The Courage to Be, 4. The New Being, and 5. Systematic Theology (3 vols). He used existential philosophy to create new theology not like liberalism or neo-orthodoxy ; God is not a being nor a Supreme Being; but as the ground or power of all being is basically panentheistic. Being is that in which all existence is grounded, but from which human existence is estranged. "Man is estranged from the ground of his being, from other beings, and from himself." Whereas Sartre sees an existential estrangement of human consciousness from all there is (i.e., being-in-itself) and a realization that in-itself consciousness is nothingness, Tillich sees an existential estrangement from the ground of being (i.e., the ground of all there is, including, e.g., human relations). He calls for a courage to be in the face of the various threats of non-being arising from estrangement. The goal is a new being, which occurs in a relationship of openness and acceptance to being. The new being is found in a love which manifests the power of being as a power of reconciling the estranged. Existential estrangement, e.g., arises from ultimate concern about that which is not ultimate. What ought to arouse ultimate concern is the unconditional ground of being itself. Hence concern, e.g., for a theistic God who is a personal being, but nonetheless a being alongside other beings, is not concern for being itself. The concern perpetuates estrangement because only being itself transcends all that exists as its ground, and only the concern for it that is manifested as love can bring about the new being.