Interview of Paul Tillich Part 1

Part 1: (after intro/preface) Tillich's boundary-lines;
Church/Culture conflicts; ultimate concern; meaning-of-life; "quasi-religions"; the relevance/irrelevance of the Christian message.

The first 1min 45sec is preface/introduction by the interviewer.

This is from a tape recording. I do not know who the interviewer is.

Does anyone have a film with audio showing Tillich speaking? Audio auf Deutsch (in his own language) would be interesting.


Part 2: Tillich's existential approach; the glory of solitude vs the pain of loneliness; existential expression in poets, novelists, dramatists, and in Shakespeare's Hamlet especially; transforming power as the strongest evidence for the validity/truth of a religion; the power of images to transform; historical evidence cannot provide religious certainty (but also, faith does not depend on historical evidence); the uniqueness and transforming power of the image of Jesus as the Christ; fruitful dialogue among religions


Part 3: church systems (practical theology); conflicts, ambiguities, and demonic risks/trends in the churches as vehicles of the divine presence.
faith = the state of being grasped by the power of an ultimate concern

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[bbravo2]

thank you for posting this! pretty please post any more paul tillich stuff you have. there's nothing else on here.

[gerstners]

I'm glad you appreciate the recorded interview. It's all I have of Tillich's recorded voice and I don't have any films of him, so I won't be posting any more Tillich.

My hope is that the three parts I posted will be brought to the attention of others who can provide more extensive offerings, and that they will share what they can on YouTube (recordings or video) once they see that there is some interest in hearing Tillich in his own voice.

[pemajamyang]

Thanks for posting this. Paul Tillich was/is one of my heros of mind. A rare bird in America.

[JFMJJ]

Tillich was a brilliant mind. I wish more Christians were like him. Thanks for uploading.

[pnutbutrncrackers]

Interesting to listen to. However, no offense meant to Tillich 'fans' (nor posthumous disrespect to Tillich himself), but I don't find what he says here particularly profound, really. Just b/c it is spoken slowly w/a German accent doesn't make it more intellectual. I mean, I've heard these same basic thoughts from countless others. Probably his uniqueness is found elsewhere, & here he is just responding to the (overly earnest!) interviewer's questions. (?)

[polymath7]

If more Christians became like him, there would be, ipso facto, fewer Christians. Though to be sure, that would indeed be a good thing.

[gerstners]

You can do a search in Amazon books using the following words: from time to time hannah tillich. Currently two customer reviews there. Probably available through inter-library loan.

[polymath7]

*chuckle*

I don't have enough biographical knowledge of Tillich to confidently deny that this is true, (it strikes me as a fundamentalist's fiction) but I can think of much deeper reasons Tillich has no business calling himself a Christian.

[ejgiv]

Tillich and his wife Hannah were in the habit of visiting the red light districts wherever they went. When moving to New York in the 30s they lamented that there were no whorehouses like in Amsterdam. And this perverted man calls himself a Christian?

[wycliffe35]

excellent posting, thank you.

[Sundrumify]

Security at its extreme is what Paul Tillich called a state of "Unfaith." As such it emphasizes control, comfort and stratification of the status quo. The opposite is therefore "Faith" which is the central character of this whole continuum. Faith implies personal risk, and therefore includes some independence. But ultimately the opposite of Security and its extension in Self Worth is to given worth to others through the exploration of Truth, Wisdom and their essential consequence:

Justice.

[peaceiscontagious]

this is 1st rate bullsh!t

[SysBash]

Paul Tillich...its so sad, that his influence in germany was not so great after the war. here karl barth could be much more ...oh my god. the first time i her paul tillich. man. he has a terrible german akzent ^^