A History of Christian Thought (Touchstone Books)

by Paul Tillich

If you produce a systematic theology, as I have done, you try to go beyond it in order not to be imprisoned in it.

The element of doubt is an element in faith itself.

Kairos is not the quantitative time of the clock, but the qualitative time of the occasion, the right time.

It was not so much classical Greek thinking but Hellenistic thought which influenced early Christianity.

There are always tw o possibilities in religion if an intolerable burden is placed on thought and action; the first is the way of compromise, which i s the way of the majority. This means that the burden is reduce d to the point that it can be endured. The

second is the way of despair, which was the way of people like Paul, Augustine, and Luther.

Truth concerning existence, wherever it appears, is Christian truth.

this means that by definition there cannot be any truth which cannot in principle be taken into Christianity. Otherwise the application of the term "Logos" to Jesus as the Christ would not have been possible. This does not mean that this Logos knew all the truth; that would be nonsense and would destroy his humanity. But it does mean that the fundamental truth which has appeared in him is essentially universal, and therefore can *«\ke in every other truth.

The appearance of the Logos in Christ makes it possible for even the most uneducated human being to receive the full existential truth. In contrast, the philosophers may lose it in discussing it. In other words, the Apologists are saying that Christianity is far superior to all philosophy. Since philosophy presupposes education, only a few human beings have access to its truth. Others are excluded from truth in its philosophical form. However, they are not excluded from the truth that is manifest through the Logos in a living person. The message of Jesus as the Christ is universal in embracing all mankind, all classes, groups, and social stratifications of mankind.