Existential Symbolism and Theological Anthropology

This chapter focuses on The Theological-Anthropological Method and the work of its principal architect Paul Tillich. It examines features of Tillich’s thinking that have had appeal in religious studies by elaborating on two frameworks in his thought and six Tillichian tenets about religion. It then exposes a striking paradox in Tillich’s theology. In his view, religions typically fail to apply the Protestant Principle, by which he means a self-critical criterion that is based on the belief that no human symbol is adequate to the task of representing the unconditioned. Tillich would thus have one judge many religions—those that lack, or fail to apply, that self-critical principle—as sources of idolatry and existential despair. It is argued that the potential of the Theological-Anthropological Method to provide motivating reasons to study religion is weakened by this fact.