Symbols Flashcards
How did Tillich attempt to show that religious language can be meaningful?
He focused on the manner in which symbols may affect humans.
His first point is that symbols are not just signs, but point to something beyond themselves.
Not only that, but they participate in what they point to.
Symbols example
For example, a road sign just points to a fact about the road. Whereas, a symbolic emblem ‘participates’ in the character of the school.
Tilich’s four key features of symbols:
a) They point to something beyond themselves.
b) They participate in the thing that they point to.
c) They open up levels of reality which are otherwise inaccessible.
d) They open up dimensions of the soul which correspond to these aspects of reality.
Tilich’s example of the Judith Beheading painting
Symbols open up certain levels of reality, and we can see this in our experience of art. But, we cannot access this meaning unless we are familiar with the work itself. So, we need to open up the meaning of religious symbols to understand what they refer to.
Art also opens up dimensions of the soul, for example a painting could speak to us of determination and courage. There is a personal participation here, which Tillich sees as an essential feature of symbolic language.
Tillich quote
‘Symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate because it transcends the capacity of any finite reality to express it directly.’- Dynamics of Faith.
