To quote Ted Peters, Paul Tillich is ‘one of the most influential theologians of the Twentieth Century’.1 Tillich is indeed a giant among twentieth-century theologians, even producing two books (The Courage to Be and The Dynamics of Faith) which appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, a feat never equalled before or since by any other theologian. He was in fact such a household name, that when he died in 1965 at the age of 79, his death was reported across North America on national news bulletins.
His beginnings in the USA were much more humble however. He first came to the USA in 1933 at the request of Reinhold Niebuhr, after he was dismissed from his position at the University of Frankfurt for giving a series of public lectures with themes that brought him into conflict with the newly elected Nazi party. At the age of 47 and knowing only a very little English, he had to begin his career again. To this end, he began lecturing as a Guest Professor in the Philosophy of Religion at Union Seminary in New York. In his first few years of teaching in America, many of his students found his brand of philosophical theology difficult to understand because although he had grown up in a tradition where philosophy and theology were inseparable (he wrote his own doctoral thesis on Schelling), philosophy and theology were not fused together quite so closely in the USA. Initially, it appeared that he may be too philosophical for theology departments, and too theological to be taken seriously by philosophers. Over the next few years, as he settled into his new life in America, his lectures grew in popularity to the extent that within four years he had gained tenure at Union Seminary.
He is best known by the general public for his shorter single topic books which in addition to the above included Love, Power and Justice, Theology of Culture and Morality and Beyond. He also enjoyed literary success with his collections of sermons, The Shaking of the Foundations, The New Being and The Eternal Now, and his collections of lectures, such as A History of Christian Thought and The Spiritual Situation in Our Technical Society. Although a popular author with the general public, it was not until the release of his three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–1963) that his work received extensive academic attention. Written between 1951 and 1963, it has gone on to be influential across the globe to this day. It provided a new approach to systematic theology, combining theology with philosophy, deep psychology, sociology and even anthropology to arrive at an existential theological system unlike anything which had previously been seen. The lack of traditional terminology combined with his distinctive style or ‘method’ of theology sharply divided his contemporaries. His supporters waxed lyrical about this new and innovative work, glossing over inconsistencies and inadequacies which existed across its three volumes. His detractors on the other hand argued that his work was not theological enough, with its philosophical foundations and use of secular terms which they believed to be not entirely appropriate to theology. He was also accused of diluting the Christian message and even trying to secularise Christianity with his emphasis on existentialism, his belief that the Bible is only one source among several for theology and his description of key Christian concepts as mythical or symbolic rather than literal.2
In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, his work has attracted the attention of many Eco-theologians, most notably Jeremy D. Yunt.3 The Eco-theology movement has been inspired in particular by Tillich’s concept of the Multidimensional Unity of Life which will also be considered in Chap. 7. There has not been a specific study of his Systematic Theology focusing on Animal Theology however. Although Eco-theology and Animal Theology have a degree of overlap in their areas of interest and concern, they ‘differ considerably in their perspectives’.4
Animal Theology is a relatively young field of endeavour, and there is much that can be gleaned from examining Tillich’s Systematic Theology from the point of view of nonhuman animals and creation. This book will question not only if or how Tillich’s system can benefit nonhuman animals, but also how taking proper account of nonhuman animals can benefit his system.
The book is divided into three sections. Part I of the book is separated into two chapters and gives an overall exposition of Tillich’s Systematic Theology. Chapter 2 provides a methodological introduction to the three volumes. It discusses his thoughts on what purpose a theological system should have and describes how and why he arrived at the methodology he employs throughout his system. It also sketches out the ‘shape’ of the system and explains why he believes that such a structure is of vital importance to the enterprise of existential theology.
Chapter 3 is split into five initial parts, each giving an exposition of the corresponding part of the system. The first part focuses on the nature of finite reason and how it can become distorted under the conditions of existence. It also considers Tillich’s understanding of revelation, discussing what constitutes a revelatory experience and the different types of revelation that one can ‘participate’ in. Part II examines the concept of ‘non-Being’ and introduces the idea of ‘Ultimate Concern’ as the means of fighting the threat of non-being. Part III concentrates on the estrangement experienced by finite beings under the conditions of existence and puts forward the symbol of ‘New Being’ as the answer to questions which arise out of our estrangement. Part IV provides an exposition of ‘Life and the Spirit’ which is primarily concerned with the interlinking nature of all of creation and existence under the dimension of the Spirit. Finally, Part V examines the meaning and aim of history and the relationship between history and salvation.
Part II of this book comprises Chaps. 4, 5, 6, 7 and provides a critical examination of a number of important Tillichian concepts, assessing how adequate these are in relation to nonhuman animals in particular and creation in general. In each of the proceeding chapters, it will be argued that Tillich’s concepts are found wanting in relation to the nonhuman creation. It will be contended that many of Tillich’s ideas highlighted in Part II simply do not extend their scope wide enough to recognise the issue of the relationship between the Creator and anything other than the human species. Arguably worse however are the occasions where he does recognise the dysfunctional way in which humans treat nonhuman animals and creation and where he chooses to remain silent with respect to the ethical implications of this—in relation both to creation and to the Creator. In the case of each chapter in this section, Tillich’s ideas will be critiqued from an internal perspective—that is, based on their consistency within his system. They will also be critiqued in relation to the specific concept’s overall scope and its ability to contribute (or otherwise) towards his system reaching the goals he identifies for any theological system in the introduction of Systematic Theology: Volume One, crucial amongst these, providing a theonomous account of all aspects of reality.
Chapter 4 deals with the notion of technical (or controlling reason) and whether Tillich gives an adequate account of its implications under the influence of existential distortion, especially in relation to nonhuman animals and creation. It will be argued that this concept provides a great deal of opportunity for the way humans behave towards nonhuman animals to be examined, and its ethical implications be considered; however, Tillich fails to do this. The problem here being not so much that he does not recognise or take account of the way humans utilise the rest of creation, stripping it of its subjectivity, but rather that his only concern is how this utilisation will have negative effects on humanity. Schweitzer’s influence on Tillich’s thought is also examined in this chapter, especially with respect to Tillich’s claim that his work, and in particular the final volume of his Systematic Theology, is moving ‘in a somewhat similar direction’ to that of Schweitzer’s notion of ‘Reverence for Life’. It will however be broadly rejected that Systematic Theology shares common ground with the thought of Schweitzer, at least in relation to the way humans should behave in regard to the rest of creation. In order to offer a different perspective on his understanding of the treatment of nonhuman animals under the predominance of technical reason, Kant’s indirect duty ethic is compared with Tillich’s commentary on the dangers of un-checked technical reason for humans. From this examination, it will be argued that his treatment of the consequences of technical reason shares more with Kant’s thought than it does with Schweitzer’s, in its attitude towards the morality of the human utilisation of nonhuman animals and creation.
Chapter 5 examines Tillich’s portrayal of the relationship between the Creator and creation in Systematic Theology. It outlines his ...