Morality and Beyond

by Paul Tillich

Paul Tillich's classic work confronts the age-old question of how the moral is related to the religious. In particular, Tillich addresses the conflict between reason-determined ethics and faith-determined ethics and shows that neither is dependent on the other but that each alone is inadequate. Instead, Tillich reveals to us the gift that came with the arrival of a new reality that offers a power of being in which we can participate and out of which true thought and right action are possible. The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Religion

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Paul Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was – along with his contemporaries Rudolf Bultmann (Germany), Karl Barth (Switzerland), and Reinhold Niebuhr (United States) – one of the four most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century. Among the general populace, he is best known for his works The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957), which introduced issues of theology and modern culture to a general readership. Theologically, he is best known for his major three-volume work Systematic Theology (1951–63), in which he developed his "method of correlation": an approach of exploring the symbols of Christian revelation as answers to the problems of human existence raised by contemporary existential philosophical analysis.

Reviews

[Chet Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enormous, consuming book to only top out at 95 pages. Tillich speaks with a prophetic cadence, especially concerning social trends in Protestant progressive bourgeois ideals. The last sentence of the book, a bit of a tease, is a fine summary of the heart of this book:
“And this is the meaning of ethics: the expression of the ways in which love embodies itself, and life is maintained and saved” (95).

[Joshua Ocon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tillich is an outstandingly insightful thinker capable of leading kernel assumptions in philosophy and theology to reasonable conclusions that transcend the differences of traditions and, at the same time, bridge them. As in his Dynamics of Faith and The Courage to Be, this movement can also be observed in this work, having agape and kairos as the chief backbones of a solid understanding of 'morality' that can withstand the challenges of moral relativism prevalent in our time.

[Bruce Reiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

some days you have to return to what you read in college. this is a hopeful book and the rating probably reflects my inabilities to find a path as opposed to the author's analysis of life, ethics and morality. the author makes some clear distinctions between the laws of the Old Testament and the grace of the New. He does quick comparisons of Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits on the Catholic side and Protestant sects on the other. He discusses the Greeks and Romans with a little talk about Socratic, Stoic and Epicurean approaches to morality and ethic.The Beatles may have hit it with "All you need is Love", but I fear that the message in this day and age is Authoritarian. A good read put together by a scholar. Makes one wish that I had lived my life better and truer.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tillich has the ability to clarify much of what was left usaid when it came to theology and philosophy, and the same is true here with his foray into the field of ethics. He has some issue with proper interpretation of Scripture to prove his points, but most of what he says here is valid and worthy of review if weare to develop a consistent Christian ethic. I recommend thisto anyone who wants a truer understanding of living by the principle of love (agape).

[John]

Very short and readable, like many of Tillich's later texts. I had read the last two essays in a previous volume, but reading the first three was clarifying, as Tillich's concepts are so concise. His definition of religion interests me in its extraordinary breadth, so I am continuing that thread by reading his much more difficult What Is Religion? which is partly a translation of some of his early German works...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty quick but dense read. My highlights:

- The 3-4 'agape pages' in Chapter 2, explaining how 'love is one', guided by agape. Worth reading for those few pages alone!
- The bits in Chapter 1 where he describes immoral vs moral choices as those which either disintegrate or establish our essential selves. Still haven't wrapped my head around that.
- Love as both an eternal, unchanging principle and an ever-changing 'listening' to situations

[Dean Chavooshian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last lines succinctly summarize Tillich's thoughts on morality and ethics in this worthy book: "The forms and structures in which love embodies itself are the forms and structures in which life is possible, in which life overcomes its self-destructive forces. And this is the meaning of ethics: the expression of the ways in which love embodies itself, and life is maintained and saved."