Published: 2023-05-291

The Unconditional, ultimate concern, Being-itself. Multidimensional idea of God in the thought of Paul Tillich

Abstract

The article analyzes the concept of God in the thought of one of the most important Protestant theologians of the 20th century, namely Paul Tillich. His idea of God turns out to be multidimensional. The most important concept relating to the transcendent reality is the Unconditional. Identifying the Absolute as the Unconditional protects us from idolatry, that is making any conditioned, finite element of reality divine. The next two important concepts are ultimate concern and being-itself. The former indicates the existential dimension of the concept of God, while the latter relates to metaphysical thought. Tillich’s idea of God is thus composed of apophatic, existential and metaphysical elements. Tillich reminds us to keep an apophatic reserve in thinking and speaking about the reality of God, to avoid idolatry, not to detach theology from human existence, but also not to be afraid of metaphysical thinking

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Walczak, M. (2023). The Unconditional, ultimate concern, Being-itself. Multidimensional idea of God in the thought of Paul Tillich. Theological Yearbook, 64(4), 815. https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2022.29

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