“I’m not afraid to admire Paul Tillich. He has been my spiritual father. I learned from him and loved him. Strangely, that seems to enrage many people.” Rollo May, the psychoanalyst and author who is well known in religious circles, sat in his Manhattan office discussing with me critics’ reactions to his Paulus, a small …

Continue reading “Paul Tillich as Hero: An Interview with Rollo May”

I have never fully understood Paul Tillich, either his theology or his private life, but I have always had the feeling that he would understand me. When I look back at my own history, I see that he came to my rescue at precisely the right time. It was almost as if I were waiting …

Continue reading “Paul Tillich’s Gift of Understanding”

It will no doubt surprise many to learn that the book Paul Tillich regarded as perhaps his most significant is one that is still practically unknown in this country, since it is only now being translated into English. Die sozialistische Entscheidung (“The Socialist Decision”) was published in 1933, only a few months before Tillich was …

Continue reading “Tillich’s Social Thought: New Perspectives”

By the time I started to study with Paul Tillich, I had been told for several years that pietas and intellectus could not join. In fact, I had tried to convince everyone, including myself, of this. My experience confirmed it. My father, a generous, liberal, loving pastor who fought both fundamentalism and rationalism in his …

Continue reading “What Tillich Meant to Me”