Paul Tillichs Dynamics of Faith Book Review

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Tillich’s thesis in Dynamics of Faith is that faith is the act of giving oneself to something larger than oneself—something external to oneself and greater than oneself—and in doing so, one discovers one’s true self. It is rooted in the concept of becoming, the idea that one is always in a state of becoming; faith is the expression or medium by which this act of becoming is generated. It is also linked to the idea expressed by St. Paul that in placing one’s faith in Christ, one is able to put on the new man. The point of faith is to be connected to the ultimate concern, which for the Jews of the Old Testament was God: God was the end point—the end all be all. Tillich makes this apparent early on in the book, and the concept that is being expressed is certainly valid. The trouble that Tillich aims to address is how the faith of the Jews of the Old Testament—their focus on the ultimate concerne—i.e., union with God—can be translated into the language of today so that a modern person can appreciate it and apply it to his own life.[footnoteRef:2] [2: Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith (NY: Harper, 2001), 3.]

One of the problems with Tillich’s approach, however, is that he longs—as he clearly states in the introductory remarks to the book—to see the word “faith” dropped from the lexicon of the English language. He does not like it, does not want to use it, but is compelled to because of the “powerful tradition [that] protects it.”[footnoteRef:3] This is troubling primarily because faith is a stumbling block only for those who do not believe. 1 Corinthians 1:23 states, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” In other words, Christ and faith in Christ is an obstacle when one has no belief. Faith is an act, as Tillich correctly proposes, but it is one that has to be rooted in the mind and expressed in the will. There has to be good reason to have faith. Tillich also indicates this: the problem he holds is that faith is a word that triggers too many emotions in people today: it has too much bad blood associated with it—too many wars, too many horrors, too much suffering, too much hope, too much emotionalism, too little reason and rationality. [3: Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, xxiii.]

It is a point that Walker Percy makes in some his works: faith is a dead word and should be replaced, but of course Percy like Tillich arrives at the conclusion that it cannot be replaced. The reason that Percy gives, however, is different from that given by Tillich. Percy holds that the term faith cannot be replaced because it is the reality—the word used by God Himself: faith is what He wants from us, and as such, there is to be no thought of trying to get around it. As embarrassing and frustrating and hard as it may be to talk about faith, it has to be done, and the more confident and securely one can talk about it, the more likely one is to generate the act of faith—the act of becoming as Tillich describes it—that is needed to become truly united with God and the Trinity.

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Tillich’s thesis is proved by referring to the Scriptures as well as to philosophy. He combines theology and philosophy in order to show what faith is and how it works, invoking a new kind of idea or concept of how faith can be imagined for the reader of the modern world. Tillich describes faith as the ultimate concern and provides the example of the person concerned with success. Faith is an expression of concern—and religious faith is an expression of the ultimate concern, which is successful union with God.[footnoteRef:4] Tillich explains this fully and convincingly and the example of the businessman who is concerned with success in business helps to show exactly what he means by concern and faith as the state of ultimate concern. The ultimate concern, of course, is the question of what is the point of life—why are we here; where are we going? Why do we do the things we do? Tillich aims to show that faith is there to help us answer these questions by showing us how to find the answers in Christ. [4: Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, 4.]

As the aim of Tillich is to explain the necessity of faith to the modern reader, though he does not believe that faith is a good word, as it has been corrupted over time by inappropriate sentiments and ideas connected with it, Tillich attempts to situate the explanation in a theoretical field that tends to complicate the concept more than it needs to be. Faith should be approached simply and humbly. These should be the conditions for discussing faith—intellectual theories and philosophical notions can be used of course, but the modern mind is just as much out of sorts with these ideas as it is with the notion of faith. In order for the modern to be able to approach faith correctly, there has to be a submission of the will. The will must be willing, in other words, to stop asserting Self and let God begin to assert some of His own messages.

By focusing on Freud at times, Tillich shows that his own approach is somewhat outdated. While Freud certainly brought new ideas and expressions to the field of psychology and psychiatry, it is hardly necessary to include Freud in a discussion of faith, as any investigation into the id, ego and superego is enough to make one feel disjointed and not in control of what should otherwise be a very simple, controlled process. To have faith, one makes an act of faith. Just like to have a home, one makes an act of building the home. Tillich gives too much room to a discussion of the psychology of having faith, which distracts from the aim of faith, which is God. In order to strengthen the concept of faith, one simply needs to strengthen the concept of God. The stronger that God and Christ are in the imagination, the more easily faith can be….....

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