[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
when he might temporarily wish he were not committed a feeling in moments of weakness,
personal disadvantage, and so on? Is this not true of any other decisive position? Suppose, in a
marriage, in a moment of bitterness one could throw the other one out, what would happen to
the stability of human institutions?
Dr. Tillich: Now we are not all California movie stars. We have an intimate relationship to
other human beings. For instance, the possibility that my dedication to theology and
philosophy could be broken has never entered my mind. Even in some desperate moment,
concrete moments when I tried to escape out of theology completely and flee into philosophy
which I could have done easily, in terms of external conditions the vow (which I never
gave of course, but which was my internal drive to be a theologian) was very strong and kept
me at it. But I never said to myself, "If I abandon theology, I will break my vow." There are
others whom I actually counseled to leave theology, because they were defeated by it; they
had chosen theology, but it was impossible for them to continue because of the whole inner
structure of their spiritual life.
Professor: Then a true vow is to be true to yourself, not to any particular statement of a
moment?
Dr. Tillich: Yes, now, you see, all these situations stand under the principle of agape. If we
see them only in abstract terms, it would seem that we could go jumping about in this or that
direction, but that is not the reality. The reality is that if we abandon a direction of our life
which we have chosen, and which has many foundations in our past and is still a power in our
present, it is a heartbreaking thing. And only in an utter boundary-line situation or crisis
should it be done in very serious matters.
Professor: Could you define agape once more?
Dr. Tillich: Agape is that form of love in which God loves us, and in which we are to love our
neighbor especially if we do not like him. I think this paradox is most characteristic; would
you agree?
Franciscan Father: I would.
Professor: Our third question is this: You say, on page 92 in the last chapter of your book,
Christianity and the Encounter of World Religions: "The ritual element was devaluated by the
Reformation, in the theology of both the great reformers and of the evangelical radicals. One
of the most cutting attacks of Luther was directed against the vita religiosa, the life of the
homini religiosi, the monks. God is present in the secular realm; in this view Renaissance
and Reformation agree. It was an important victory in the fight of God against religion." Now
since monks devote their lives to a search for the divine, is this not at least one of the
legitimate possibilities in man s pursuit of the ultimate? Why then was Luther s action a
victory when it deprived the Protestant world of the monastic alternative? There is not very
much of the monastic life in the Protestant religion; there is a little in the Lutheran and a little
in the Anglican, but, by and large, the Protestant world has lost this important alternative.
Layman and Monk
Dr. Tillich: Now when I refer to Luther, the situation is very clear. For Luther was a monk
himself, one of the most ascetic, and full of the vitality which drove beyond asceticism; and in
these struggles he came to the conviction that monastic work is not better than the layman s
work. What he fought against was the conviction that the monastic work was somehow nearer
to God, in principle of course. I mean, every Catholic would admit that there are bad monks
and good monks, just as there are bad businessmen and good business men as Christians. But
that is not the principal consideration here. The principal consideration is whether on the
highest level the ascetic, monastic life is superior to the active life in the world. (Let us always
think of the businessman, because he is considered a kind of opposite.)
As for the "superiority" of the homini religiosi it is obvious that the use of this term
presupposes the knowledge that what were known in medieval Latin as homini religiosi,
religious men, were the monks. And the very fact that this word was applied to them shows
that the really religious life was thought to be the life of a monk. And against this idea that
was one aspect of it Luther revolted in the name of the secular world. The Reformation is
largely a secular revolt against the religious life as being superior to the secular life.
The other aspect was that the kind of work done in monasticism, religious work, was believed
to constitute the merit required in order to deserve the grace of God, more than could be
expected by those who did not do this sort of work. Luther denied this because he had
rediscovered the idea of grace alone, the idea that divine grace alone makes it possible for us
to be accepted by God. This is what I call in my Courage To Be the acceptance of acceptance
the acceptance of the fact that we are accepted. And that is unconditional; it comes from
God.
In the monastic tradition of his time there was much of what Luther called "work"
salvation by work, by intensive asceticism, discipline, self-control, and so on. Luther
consulted his heart and came to the solution that work does not save in itself. He found his
saving grace when he read I think in III John 16 that it is grace alone that makes us just
before God. That is the reason for Luther s stand.
Concerning the possible loss of an alternative in Protestant ism, I believe that Protestantism [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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when he might temporarily wish he were not committed a feeling in moments of weakness,
personal disadvantage, and so on? Is this not true of any other decisive position? Suppose, in a
marriage, in a moment of bitterness one could throw the other one out, what would happen to
the stability of human institutions?
Dr. Tillich: Now we are not all California movie stars. We have an intimate relationship to
other human beings. For instance, the possibility that my dedication to theology and
philosophy could be broken has never entered my mind. Even in some desperate moment,
concrete moments when I tried to escape out of theology completely and flee into philosophy
which I could have done easily, in terms of external conditions the vow (which I never
gave of course, but which was my internal drive to be a theologian) was very strong and kept
me at it. But I never said to myself, "If I abandon theology, I will break my vow." There are
others whom I actually counseled to leave theology, because they were defeated by it; they
had chosen theology, but it was impossible for them to continue because of the whole inner
structure of their spiritual life.
Professor: Then a true vow is to be true to yourself, not to any particular statement of a
moment?
Dr. Tillich: Yes, now, you see, all these situations stand under the principle of agape. If we
see them only in abstract terms, it would seem that we could go jumping about in this or that
direction, but that is not the reality. The reality is that if we abandon a direction of our life
which we have chosen, and which has many foundations in our past and is still a power in our
present, it is a heartbreaking thing. And only in an utter boundary-line situation or crisis
should it be done in very serious matters.
Professor: Could you define agape once more?
Dr. Tillich: Agape is that form of love in which God loves us, and in which we are to love our
neighbor especially if we do not like him. I think this paradox is most characteristic; would
you agree?
Franciscan Father: I would.
Professor: Our third question is this: You say, on page 92 in the last chapter of your book,
Christianity and the Encounter of World Religions: "The ritual element was devaluated by the
Reformation, in the theology of both the great reformers and of the evangelical radicals. One
of the most cutting attacks of Luther was directed against the vita religiosa, the life of the
homini religiosi, the monks. God is present in the secular realm; in this view Renaissance
and Reformation agree. It was an important victory in the fight of God against religion." Now
since monks devote their lives to a search for the divine, is this not at least one of the
legitimate possibilities in man s pursuit of the ultimate? Why then was Luther s action a
victory when it deprived the Protestant world of the monastic alternative? There is not very
much of the monastic life in the Protestant religion; there is a little in the Lutheran and a little
in the Anglican, but, by and large, the Protestant world has lost this important alternative.
Layman and Monk
Dr. Tillich: Now when I refer to Luther, the situation is very clear. For Luther was a monk
himself, one of the most ascetic, and full of the vitality which drove beyond asceticism; and in
these struggles he came to the conviction that monastic work is not better than the layman s
work. What he fought against was the conviction that the monastic work was somehow nearer
to God, in principle of course. I mean, every Catholic would admit that there are bad monks
and good monks, just as there are bad businessmen and good business men as Christians. But
that is not the principal consideration here. The principal consideration is whether on the
highest level the ascetic, monastic life is superior to the active life in the world. (Let us always
think of the businessman, because he is considered a kind of opposite.)
As for the "superiority" of the homini religiosi it is obvious that the use of this term
presupposes the knowledge that what were known in medieval Latin as homini religiosi,
religious men, were the monks. And the very fact that this word was applied to them shows
that the really religious life was thought to be the life of a monk. And against this idea that
was one aspect of it Luther revolted in the name of the secular world. The Reformation is
largely a secular revolt against the religious life as being superior to the secular life.
The other aspect was that the kind of work done in monasticism, religious work, was believed
to constitute the merit required in order to deserve the grace of God, more than could be
expected by those who did not do this sort of work. Luther denied this because he had
rediscovered the idea of grace alone, the idea that divine grace alone makes it possible for us
to be accepted by God. This is what I call in my Courage To Be the acceptance of acceptance
the acceptance of the fact that we are accepted. And that is unconditional; it comes from
God.
In the monastic tradition of his time there was much of what Luther called "work"
salvation by work, by intensive asceticism, discipline, self-control, and so on. Luther
consulted his heart and came to the solution that work does not save in itself. He found his
saving grace when he read I think in III John 16 that it is grace alone that makes us just
before God. That is the reason for Luther s stand.
Concerning the possible loss of an alternative in Protestant ism, I believe that Protestantism [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]