The Dialectic of the Holy: Paul Tillich's Idea of Judaism within the History of Religion

by Erlan, Diego

Overview

This is the first published book-length treatment on Paul Tillich and Judaism, which is a neglected aspect of Tillich's thought. It has three compelling features. First, pivotal biographical details show the importance of Judaism for Tillich, and that he ardently opposed anti-Semitism before WWII and after the Holocaust. Second, Tillich's theological method is examined in key primary sources to show how he maintains continuity between Judaism and Christianity. The primary source analysis includes his 1910 and 1912 dissertations on Schelling, the 1933 The Socialist Decision, the 1952 Berlin lectures on "the Jewish Question," and his final public lecture on the importance of the history of religion for systematic theology. Particular attention is paid to his dialectical and theological history of religion. Third, Tillich's positive theology of Judaism contrasts sharply with the many complex, negative ways in which Judaism is portrayed in Western thought. This contributes significantly to our understanding the evolving history of Christian anti-Judaism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110439977
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	09/12/2016
Series:	Tillich Research Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert E. Meditz, Wethersfield, CT, U.S.A.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Note on the Text ix

Acknowledgments xi

Preface xiii

Chapter 1 The Importance of Judaism for Tillich, the Context and Method 1

1.1 Key Biographical Details 1

1.1.2 Select Prior Treatments of Tillich and Judaism 6

1.2 Aryan Christianity 9

1.2.1 The Influence of the History of Religions School 12

1.3 The Use and Abuse of Judaism within the Western Tradition 17

1.3.1 German Idealism's "New Science of Hating Judaism" 21

1.3.2 Hegel's Incarnational Dialectic 22

1.4 Tillich's Method: The Dialectical History of Religion 26

1.4.1 The Dialectical Structure of Tillich's Systematic Theology 30

1.4.2 Two Types of Dialectic 33

Chapter 2 Schelling's Cosmic Dialectic, the Jewish Critique of Idolatry, and Descent into Legalism 35

2.1 The Importance of Schelling for Tillich 35

2.2 The Doctrine of the Potencies 40

2.3 The Emergence of the Religious Consciousness 43

2.4 The 1910 Dissertation: Judaism and Islam ("Mohammedanism") 45

2.4.1 The Logos as the Agent of Revelation 46

2.4.2 Revelation, the Mythological Process and Idolatry 47

2.4.3 The Jewish Prophetic Transformation of Pagan Substance 50

The Basis of Revelation: Pagan Substance and Revelational Form 50

The Prophetic Transformation of the Particular into the Universal 51

2.4.4 The "Mantle of the Supernatural:" Jewish Legalism 52

2.4.5 Islam: The "World-Historical After Effect of Judaism" 54

2.5.1 The 1912 Dissertation: The Failures of Paganism and Judaism 56

2.5.2 Additional Support for the Continuity Between Judaism and Christianity 60

Chapter 3 Jewish Prophetism as the Ontological Basis for Justice 62

3.1 World War I and Tillich's Adoption of Socialism 63

3.1.1 Other Tillich Essays on Related Topics 66

3.2 The Spirit of Capitalism 68

3.2.1 Tillich's The Religious Situation 68

3.2.2 Belief-ful Realism 70

3.2.3 Judaism as Ally to Capitalism 71

3.3 The Socialist Decision: Context, Method and Critical Principles 74

Banned, Burned and Bombed? A Contested History 74

Plan of the argument 76

Dialectical Structure 77

Key Terms 78

Framework for Political Analysis 80

Justice is the True Power of Being 85

3.3.1 The Contradictions of Polytheism, or "Might Makes Right" 87

3.3.2 The Exile and the Elevation of Time over Space 88

3.3.3 Prophetic Transformation of the Powers of Origin 90

3.3.4 Jewish Prophetism and the "Jewish Problem" of Nationalism 91

3.4 The Socialist Decision: Expectation and the Socialist Principle 93

3.5 The Socialist Decision: Transformation of the World Order 96

3.5.1 The Transformation of Nationalism 97

3.5.2 The Transformation of "Autarky" and the Elevation of Time 98

Chapter 4 The Dialectic of the Holy and the Permanent Theological Importance of Judaism 101

4.1 Existential Participation 104

4.2 Ambiguity, Guilt and Multi-Disciplinary Method 105

4.3 First Lecture: Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism 108

4.3.1 Christianity, Paganism and Anti-Judaism 110

4.3.2 The Churches under Hitler: The Struggle for Life and Death 112

4.4 Second Lecture: The Mirror of Jewish Prophetism 114

4.4.1 The First Structural Analogy: Space, Territorial Insecurity and Anxiety 115

4.4.2 The Second Structural Analogy: The Psychic Split, Despair, Mutual Attraction and Repulsion 116

German History, False Vocation-Consciousness, and the Split between Power and Being 117

The Inner Split and Despair 119

4.4.3 Typological Thinking, Objectification, Dehumanization and the "Mirror" 121

4.5 Third Lecture: The Dialectic of the Holy and Judaism as a Perpetual "Thorn in the Flesh" 124

4.5.1 "The Holy" as the Foundation of Reality 125

4.5.2 The Continuity of Priestly and Prophetic through the Covenant 126

4.5.3 Sacramental Space: Polytheism, Imperialism and Sacral Injustice 128

4.5.4 Prophetic Time: Abraham and the Pattern of Exodus, Exile and Diaspora 128

4.5.5 Amos: The Exile and the Preservation of the Covenant 131

4.5.6 The Cross and the Prophetic Spirit in Christianity 133

4.6 Fourth Lecture and Conclusion: Theological Answers and the Search for Reconciliation 135

Chapter 5 A Rational Dialectic in the Systematic Theology 140

5.1.1 ST Volume I: Typological Method 140

5.1.2 The Rational Quest for Balance 144

5.1.3 Volume I: Judaism and Trinitarian Monotheism 145

5.1.4 The Prophetic Struggle 148

5.1.5 Volume I: The Paradoxes of Prophetism and of the Cross 151

5.2 ST Volume II: The Life and Death Struggle to Save the Old Testament 154

5.3 Volume III: The Purification of the Religious Consciousness 157

Chapter 6 An Inclusive Dialectic 160

Introduction 160

6.1 The Bampton Lectures 162

6.1.1 First Bampton Lecture: The Emergence of an Exclusive Self-Consciousness 163

A The Universal Importance of Justice 165

6.1.2 The Third Bampton Lecture: "The Holy" within an Inclusive Dialectic 166

A Dynamic Typology and Inner Drive 166

B Creative Tension and the Holy 167

C An Inclusive Dialectic 169

6.2 The Significance of the History of Religion 170

6.2.1 Dynamic Typology and the Religion of the Concrete Spirit 172

Chapter 7 The Importance of Historical Consciousness 175

7.1 The Challenge of Real Jews 177

7.2 The Impasse of Supersessionism 180

7.3 The Dualistic Metaphysics of Theological Anti-Judaism 183

The Emergence of Anti-Jewish Essentialism 183

Transcending Historic, Metaphysical Dualisms 186

Judgment and Promise 186

7.4 The Conflict Between Historical Spirits: Amos versus Anaximander 187

7.4.1 Ideology and the Roots of Anti-Semitism 188

7.4.2 Anaximander and Striving for Self-Destruction 190

7.4.3 Amos and Creative Destruction 191

Select Bibliography 193

Paul Tillich Primary Sources 193

Books 193

Articles 194

Secondary Sources 195

Subject index 203