TILLICH

Question 1

what is his theory

Answer 1

Symbols point to a reality beyond themselves
They ‘participate’ in the power to which they point
They open up levels of reality which would otherwise be closed to us
At the same time they open up levels of the soul which correspond to those realities
Symbols cannot be produced intentionally; they grow out of the human unconscious.
Symbols are produced and die within a cultural context
Tillch draws an analogy with the far reaching effects

Question 2

strength 1

Answer 2

Symbolic language can relate religious ideas to ordinary or everyday experiences, such as love

Question 3

strength 2

Answer 3

Allows us to make only one literal statement about what we mean when we speak of God, that God is being ‘itself’.

Question 4

strength 3

Answer 4

It reflects what is known through religious experience, through which we can gain insight into issues that are central to our lives, such as guilt.

Question 5

weakness 1

Answer 5

Hick rejects Tillich’s view that a symbol ‘participates’ in the reality to which it points and complains that Tillich does not clarify what this means.

Question 6

weakness 2

Answer 6

Hick also disputes Tillich’s view that symbols arise from the unconscious mind: many of the important things we want to say about God arise from the conscious part of the brains

Question 7

weakness 3

Answer 7

Many Christians do not share Tillich’s view of God as ‘Being- itself’. For Tillich, God as a separate being does not exist.