폴 틸리히의 초기와 후기 문화신학에 나타난 종교와 문화간의 관계성에 관한 비교 연구

Abstract

It is certain that Tillich’s earlier view of a theology of culture and its tasks is consistently maintained throughout his whole life. All his theological writings, whether early or late, aim to give an analysis of human cultural creations from the standpoint of religious substance and to find a mode of expression for it. However, the emphasis of his theology of culture has been changed. In his earlier writings, Tillich pursues a creative synthesis between culture and religion, namely, a harmonious synthesis between form and substance. In doing so, he not only criticizes the existing culture but also underlines the value of the theonomous character of all human cultural forms. Tillich argues that the theonomous experience is not to be limited to Christian church history or even to Christian cultural history, but must be looked for in effective symbols wherever they are found. Tillich’s early theology of culture tries to give genuine expressions of the Unconditioned to concrete religious experiences, even without Christian symbols and norms. However, in later writings, Tillich devalues the theonomous character of human cultural form. Although Tillich still looks for the expression of the unconditioned in all human cultural life, he no longer believes that material culture was sufficiently transparent to the religious substance in which it was grounded. In other words, the religious substance is still there, but it cannot be discerned without the paradigmatic norm of the New Being in Jesus as the Christ and the deposit of Christian symbols. For this reason, the later Tillich’s theology of culture shows more theological character and emphasizes the limits of human spirit and creativity rather than its mediate power of the unconditioned. Consequently, it causes him to abandon his earlier vision of a well balanced cultural synthesis between religion and culture. Rather, he grasps the relation between culture and religion as that of questions and answers. Here, culture appears as the fallen situation that must be overcome by religion (specifically, by Christian symbols and norms). This study aims to trace the development of Tillich’s theology of culture. However, I aim to give not a fully complete and exhaustive account of his theology of culture, but a correct and succinct account of the essential points of his theology of culture. In the following sections, I elucidate some significant shifts of Tillich’s theology of culture by briefly outlining both Tillich’s early theology of culture (section 1) and his late theology of culture (section 2). Then, I present some limitations of Tillich’s late theology of culture in the last concluding section.