The point of departure of this thesis is derived from a modern tendency to create a dichotomy between selfless love and human flourishing. Modern attempts to liberate the human being from heteronomous oppression and the moral norms promoting this have sometimes led to the conclusion that selfless love is harmful to human flourishing. Such a conclusion has gained momentum also through modernist re-conceptualisations of the self as an autonomous but empty consciousness which must guard itself against determination by the other. In effect, significant thinkers have replaced the notion of selfless love with a call for self-assertion over against the other, as key to the individual person’s well-being. This has been matched by Christian dismissals of the individual’s pursuit of human flourishing. In the face of modern insights into the ‘desirous’ nature of the human being, modern Christian theology has equally struggled to sustain the tension between the traditional Christian notion of selfless or self-giving love and human beings’ desire to affirm themselves and to find personal fulfilment in this world. Strands of Christian theology have, for instance, affirmed a self-surrendering love at the cost of dismissing the individual’s worldly desires entirely. In this thesis, I outline this situation in modern thought and its problematic consequences. With a view to discerning whether selfless love and human flourishing can be re-connected, I then undertake close studies of the theologian Paul Tillich’s and the moral philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch’s conceptualisations of the self and of love. As I will argue, Tillich’s and Murdoch’s engagement with modern thought leads them to develop accounts of the self, which correspond with understandings of love as both selfless and conducive to human flourishing. On the basis of their thought I thus argue that selfless love and human flourishing can be understood as interdependent even today.

"The Concept of 'the Human' in the Work of Hermann Hesse and Paul Tillich" is an interdisciplinary study in theology and literature. Three chapters each on Hesse and Tillich discuss the life work, and critical significance of both men. The seventh chapter compares their similarities and their contrasting views. In his work Hermann Hesse singles out the artist as the best example of true personhood and believes that individuals become fully human by being aesthetes, possessing ironic humor, learning to love unconditionally, expressing themselves while at play, transcending themselves through magical thinking, i.e., bringing into harmony the polarities of life, and finally, by assuming ethical responsibility for life to the point of sacrificial service. In the work of Paul Tillich existential man experiences estrangement, but essential man possesses a vision of wholeness and therefore of potentiality. However, maturity is to be found in becoming reconciled. Jesus as the Christ is the New Being who reunites man with God, Sanctification describes what it means to be fully human, and participation in a theonomous culture requires that one help make human life more human for others. The final chapter compares the life and work of Hesse and Tillich and concludes; both men have a tripartite view of human nature, they recognize the ambiguities of life as well as the demonic element in man, perfection is beyond an individual's grasp hut fulfillment is not, and both men are humanists who oppose dehumanization. They differ in that Tillich is more interested in ontology than in psychology, Hesse stresses self-realisation, whereas Tillich: stresses becoming whole by way of reunion with Being-itself. Hesse appreciates the aesthetic and ethical stages of life but lacks Tillich's emphasis on the depth dimension. Hesse's answer to the human situation is autonomous rather than theonomous as advocated by Tillich. The implications of both Hesse's and Tillich's thought include the following: becoming fully; human is a lifelong process; man is most human when he reflects his best self or the image of God; being human must address itself to the perennial problems of man (sin, suffering, and death); anthropology rather than dogmatic theology is the arena in which the theological enterprise should take placer and finally. the contemporary church needs to be aware of the necessity for both personal religious experience and social action.

Since time immemorial, humankind has been concerned with freedom. This thesis introduces the most important thinkers who devoted themselves to studying freedom and who greatly influenced the perception of freedom. The thesis includes historical overview focusing on the problem of freedom mainly from theological and philosophical point of view. However, two authors in the field of psychology and sociology are mentioned as well. In existentialist philosophy, the human freedom is one of the most crucial topics, and it is presented here on the work of the writer Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky, the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and the theologist Paul Tillich.

Through a focus on four rubrics: emancipatory rationality, anthropology, metaphysics and religion, the dissertation demonstrates clearly that with similar resources yet different emphases, Paul Tillich, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno uniquely structure what are largely complementary critical interpretations of a modernity which they see to be diseased, and whose subjects are unable to realize the promises of enlightenment. They shine similar lights on the 'steel-hard cage' of a modernity which they hope to overcome, and possibly to redeem, in largely compatible ways. In demonstrating this, the dissertation unearths some striking similarities shared by the three thinkers, and simultaneously reveals clear lines of dissimilarity between them in other key areas. This includes important distinctions between Adorno and Horkheimer, not only in the 1930s, but also in the 1940s, by which time they claimed to be writing with a single mind and purpose. Key similarities which will be disclosed include an initial reliance upon Hegel’s dialectical structure and Marx’s emancipatory social vision and a trenchant critique of the reifying and dehumanizing forces of capitalism. The modern subject thinks itself free but cannot achieve the liberation promised by enlightenment; instead, the subject experiences alienation and estrangement. Central shared goals include an increase in justice and the hope for not only ending barbarism and the suffering it causes, but also holding the memories of those who have died without justice alive. In a similar manner, major differences arise from common sources and hopes. The drive for transcendence takes a very different form in Tillich’s theological system than it does in the secular-Jewish longing for a hypothetical messianic moment found in the work of Adorno and Horkheimer during the period 1929-50, on which this study focuses. When the writings of Adorno, Horkheimer and Tillich are placed along side of one another, and in conversation with one another, something greater than demonstrable intellectual influence is revealed. Despite some substantial differences in methodology and assumptions, there are remarkable consonances between the types of critical social theory developed, and when read in concert, new insights into each thinker’s oeuvre become clearer and increasingly reveal a kaleidoscopic consonance.

The subject of faith has long been a subject of study for both theologians, whose prime concern has usually been with the nature and object of a particular faith, and philosophers of religion who have been more concerned with the relationship between faith and reason. This thesis differs from both such approaches in that its primary aim is to examine the psychological structure, functions and experience of the general phenomenon of human faith; that need to trust, be loyal to and centre one's life in something outside of oneself, It should not be identified with any one school of psychological theory; rather, its intention is to use a psychological description of faith to enhance the theological understanding of faith. Its methodology is to examine the psychology that underlies three particular theologians' understandings of faith: Paul Tillich, H, Richard Niebuhr and Wilfred Cantwell Smith. In addition to examining the psychology of faith, a second aim is to examine what the present author sees as a practical implication of such a psychological understanding of faith as expounded by W. C. Smith in his proposal for the construction of a universal theology. Chapter One is a general introduction to the thesis, a definition of terms and a brief examination of the place a psychology of faith has in the wider field of the psychology of religion. Chapters Two, Three and Four follow a similar format: each is a separate examination of the psychology that underlies Tillich's, Niebuhr's and Smith's understandings of faith respectively. In the case of Tillich and Niebuhr a differentiation is made between an objective psychological understanding of faith which concerns the functions and structure of faith and a subjective understanding which concerns the experience of faith. Chapter Five is in the form of a conclusion and proposes a uniform understanding of the psychology of faith based on the previous three authors. It also examines the main discrepancy between the authors' understandings of faith in their descriptions of the final object and source of faith. Following Chapter Five is a Postscript which examines W. C. Smith's proposal for the construction of a universal theology which the present author sees as a practical application of understanding faith psychologically.

It was the purpose of this study (1) to present selected aspects of Ernest Ligon's view of the learning process as it applies to religious knowledge; (2) to present selected aspects of Paul Tillich's view of the learning process as it applies to religious knowledge; (3) to compare Ernest Ligon's view of the learning process as it applies to religious knowledge with Paul Tillich's view.

Den här uppsatsen är en jämförande textanalys av Paul Tillichs ontologiska element och Jonna Bornemarks paktivitetsbegrepp utifrån Bornemarks beskrivning av graviditetserfarenheten i Jag är himmel och hav: en filosofisk undersökning av graviditet, liv och jagets gränser. Målet för jämförelsen är utforska deras gemensamma utgångspunkt i avgrunden som livets kreativa djupdimension. Utifrån jämförelsens resultat skissar författaren en skapelseteologi som närmar sig Catherine Kellers creatio ex profundis.

La question de la communication du langage religieux est devenue urgente, car il ne communique plus aux hommes et aux femmes d'aujourd'hui la profondeur religieuse initiale. Cette question concerne les rapports de la religion et de la culture. Tillich nous invite à retrouver la profondeur véritablement symbolique du langage religieux. Par une étude précise de quelques termes religieux fondamentaux, nous indiquons comment la méthode de corrélation de Tillich est au service d'un projet apologétique. La théologie de la culture n'est pas sans rapport avec la théologie d'Église. Dans sa période allemande (socialiste) comme dans sa période américaine (existentialiste), Tillich cherche à rendre possible le dialogue entre les personnes sécularisées et les croyants. Cette entreprise permet pour aujourd'hui d'entrevoir concrètement un dialogue fructueux entre ces deux publics.

La publication, en 2001, du texte très élaboré du premier cours de Paul Tillich sur la philosophie de la religion (Berlin, 1920) a permis de jeter un regard neuf sur la pensée religieuse du Tillich allemand. Le but de la présente thèse était d'explorer l'originalité de ce nouveau document par rapport aux textes publiés sur le même sujet dans les années qui suivirent. De par sa date, ce texte représente la genèse de la philosophie de la religion tillichienne. Il est également de loin le texte le plus élaboré que nous ayons en la matière. Son étude a donc permis d'explorer plusieurs thèmes clé et de clarifier la pensée de Tillich à l'époque d'une manière que les textes connus précédemment ne permettaient pas. Par ailleurs, l'analyse du cours a permis de confirmer la continuité étonnante de la pensée religieuse de Tillich. Le nouveau document contient deux points forts sur lesquels mon travail d'analyse s'est naturellement porté. D'une part, il y a la présentation détaillée, tant conceptuelle qu'historique, de la méthode critique-intuitive développée par Tillich pour saisir la nature de la fonction religieuse. D'autre part, le texte permet de découvrir l'importance insoupçonnée et la nature de l'influence de Kant sur la pensée du premier Tillich. Tillich présente son approche comme une nécessité issue de la perte de l'innocence originelle propre à la religiosité immédiate avec l'avènement de la modernité, situation qui amena à l'impasse des solutions métaphysiques où Dieu est conçu comme un Être objectivé. Pour Tillich, l'approche critique de Kant, orientée vers une analyse de notre conscience, permit un renouveau historique sous forme de philosophie de la religion. Néanmoins, la réflexion rationnelle à elle seule ne peut permettre de retrouver une religiosité authentique. Il est nécessaire d'y joindre une approche intuitive par laquelle la nature inconditionnée de l'être est donnée de manière immédiate. L'analyse du texte de 1920 m'a permis de montrer de manière inédite comment, aux yeux de Tillich, l'élément intuitif comme l'élément critique trouvent leur origine en Kant, même si ce dernier n'est pas parvenu à saisir la nature paradoxale de la relation entre ces deux composantes.

Le but de cette thèse consiste à montrer l'évolution du problème du Jésus historique dans l'œuvre de Paul Tillich. Dans cet objectif, sept de ses textes, échelonnés sur plus de cinquante ans, sont étudiés dans leur ordre chronologique. Le document fondamental intitulé « La certitude chrétienne et le Jésus historique» date de 1911 et son analyse constitue la première partie de cette recherche. Les autres textes analysés, dans la seconde partie, sont la Dogmatique (1925), « La signification du Jésus historique pour la foi chrétienne» (1938), la Théologie systématique (1957), la Dynamique de la foi (1957), « Le Jésus historique et le Christ de la foi» (1961), Dialogues avec des étudiants (1963) et en dernier, la« Réplique» de Tillich à D. Moody Smith (1966). L'essentiel de la conception tillichienne sur le Jésus historique se trouve déjà dans le document de 1911. Pour Tillich, l'objet propre de la foi est l'image biblique du Christ, à travers laquelle le croyant expérimente la puissance divine.