Opinion of Paul Tillich

[Free Speech Enjoyer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich

Very positive.  I am especially fond of his "God as the ground of all being" theory which, while I have not read much about beyond Tillich quotes, critiques, and summaries of his argument/philosophy, reasons well with me.  I've noticed that atheists and fundamentalist Christians contend that he was more of a pantheist than a Christian; something I would dispute because I do not feel that his personal views of God necessarily contradict essential Christian beliefs.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Tillich definitely was pantheistic in his views, but not in a manner that is intrinsically incompatible with Christianity, tho it is incompatible with some conceptions of Christianity.

[© tweed]

I have all three volumes of his Systematic Theology out of the public library for the second time.  definitely a tough read, but a lot of good stuff.  plus he reportedly was quite a sinner-of-the-flesh.

[Tokugawa Sexgod Ieyasu]

I have a more mixed opinion of Tillich than one might expect somebody with my generally orthodox, more-than-usually (for my denominational, geographical, and social placement) conventionally-theistic views to have. I do think he deviates from the traditional understanding of Christian Godhead in some important ways that can't really be overlooked or excused, and he seems to have been a frankly awful man on a personal level (not John Howard Yoder-level disgusting, but pretty bad). At the same time he was doing his best to come to terms with some of the most powerful destructive forces in human history in a forward-thinking and life-affirming way and I think that the obvious effort and sincerity that he put into his work is commendable for what it is. He was also a great preacher and a lot of the ideas that come forth in his pastoral as opposed to his systematic theology, such as God as the 'Eternal Present' (which I like a lot better than 'Ground of Being' and other Death-of-God definitions, comparisons, and buzzwords) ring truer than one might expect.

[© tweed]

and he seems to have been a frankly awful man on a personal level (not John Howard Yoder-level disgusting, but pretty bad)

is this based on anything other than his wife's reports of his extramarital trysts?

[Tokugawa Sexgod Ieyasu]

and he seems to have been a frankly awful man on a personal level (not John Howard Yoder-level disgusting, but pretty bad)

is this based on anything other than his wife's reports of his extramarital trysts?

Most of what I know about his personal life may or may not derive from his wife's reports of his extramarital trysts, so I can't really say without doing more research on him (and I'm not particularly interested in researching Paul Tillich's personal life at this time). If I do end up doing more research and it turns out that this sort of thing is or seems unsubstantiated I'll happily (and I mean happily, because he's somebody I really want to like) retract this assessment.