On the Boundary: An Autobiographical Sketch

by Paul Tillich

Without peer as a precise observer and analyst of the contemporary situation, Paul Tillich was one of Christianity's greatest philosophical theologians. In describing On the Boundary, he said that it "consists of a general introduction to my thought from the point of view of its biographical genesis ... I hope it will elucidate my ideas by revealing their roots in actual situations and amidst practical needs. I think that every thought, even the most abstract, must have a basis in our real existence."

On the Boundary reveals how, during Paul Tillich's European years, his position with regard to many important aspects of life and thought stood between seemingly contradictory influences. In its original form, it was Part One of The Interpretation of History (1936), Paul Tillich's first volume after his emigration from Germany to America in 1933. After many years' persuasion, friends and scholars all over the world convinced Professor Tillich to authorize a newly translated, revised and abridged edition of the book. His editing of the final manuscript of On the Boundary was part of Paul Tillich's last literary work.

About this book, Father George Tavard has written: "Tillich looked back over an eventful past. The traumatic experience of leaving his country at the age of forty-seven sharpened his insight. It also colored his style with what may have been regret, and may also be a sublimation of existential reflection into delicate poetry."

Genres: Theology, Religion, Philosophy, Memoir, Autobiography

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

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and almost entirely intellectual biography of a culture hero of a bygone era, the book has inspired me to try to read many of the philosophical works that inspired him. Thus far I’ve only read the powerful Courage To Be.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as the first part of Tillich's larger work, The Interpretation of History. On the Boundary is a very readable autobiographical account of the author's intellectual placement in terms of the concepts he inherited from his nation, social class, and religion. The larger work, on the other hand, was the most difficult read for me of all of Tillich's works. This was partly because of the density of the writing and secondly because of the repetition of themes from his earlier and later works.

[Curt Matzenbacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first full book of Tillich's. With this being a rough autobiographical sketch, I'm interested to read more (I've got two more on my shelf) to see how his life on the boundary played out in his work.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming auto-biographical work that entices you to delve more into his thought and work.

[Judy]

Conceptually, good content, but some dated terminology. Even the term "Boundary" means something different today than it must have meant then. I think there would be a more communicative term available.