By the end of April 1923, Paul Tillich’s Das System der Wissenschaften nach Gegenständen und Methoden was published by the German publishing house Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Göttingen. Based on numerous source documents from the publishers’ archives and particularly on the correspondence between the publishers Wilhelm and Gustav Ruprecht, hitherto unknown but now edited and commented on here, the present article explains that Tillich wrote his System of the Sciences primarily for the publisher. It was Emanuel Hirsch who established the (...) connection between them as the publishing house was looking for a new editor for their popular series Wege zur Philosophie, published since 1911. After Hirsch having brought Tillich into play, Wilhelm Ruprecht could convince the Berlin “Privatdozenten” to become the new editor of the series. As to the series, Tillich unfolded the concept of a comprehensive system design which covered 65 topics, i. e. forthcoming volumes. When the publisher then demanded that Tillich prove his abilities to write comprehensively in common language by providing a sample of a first issue of the series, he began to work on his System der Wissenschaften. Although this text contained all sorts of ideas and concepts, it was certainly not very well suited as an introduction to a series of popular accounts of the central themes and matters of philosophy. In the end, the System was published, although not as a volume of the series as having been announced by the publishing house in 1922, but as a text in its own right. (shrink)

This paper is concerned to take a closer look at the relations between Paul Tillich and Fritz Medicus, his philosophical teacher in Halle. The center of attention is on their orientation within neo-Kantianism and the Fichte and Schelling renaissance. A collection of letters and other documents reflects their involvement in events of contemporary history, their respective literary works, and an ongoing friendship.

On 11 October 1947 Paul Tillich conducted the wedding service of Dankwart Rüstow and Rahel Löwe. He gave the church’s blessing to the son and daughter of two friends, Alexander Rüstow and Adolf Löwe, whom he had known since his time as a Privatdozent in Berlin. Both had been involved to different degrees in the Kairos-Circle which had formed around Tillich immediately after the First World War. The sermon, which was unknown for a long time, is published here in a (...) critical edition together with a historical introduction. Tillich makes use of two key concepts, ‘scattering’ and ‘re-unifying’ to illustrate marriage as a sign of the Exile. (shrink)

Little is known on the history of reception of Carl Schmitt's works by Christian theologians. One trace can, however, be identified: it leads us back to Paul Tillich, who began using the term “Politische Romantik” no later than the early 1930s. The present contribution demonstrates this fact by citing a key text of Tillich's, the 1932 essay entitled “Sozialistische Entscheidung”. One of the central insights lies in the fact that this text was not, as is usually assumed by extant research (...) on Tillich, subjected to Nazi book burnings, was not even banned, but remained on the shelves relatively unscathed. This can be shown by looking at the inventories of domestic and foreign libraries. (shrink)

Heidelberg's intellectual milieu of the early twentieth century can be characterised as a ‘laboratory of the modern age’. Here scholars intensively discussed the crisis of the modern age and in numerous historical and systematic studies attempted to determine the ‘cultural significance’ of religion for modernity. This article takes a look at exemplary aspects of the debates on religion of the jurist Georg Jellinek, the sociologist Max Weber and the Protestant theologian Ernst Troeltsch. Jellinek investigated the significance of religious ideas for (...) the genesis of modern human rights, Weber analysed the ascetic-Protestant, i.e. Puritan roots of the modern capitalism and Troeltsch examined the differences between the social ethos of German Lutheranism and that of the Calvinist world of thought. The primary concern of all was the relevance of religion to present times. For this reason it is necessary that the theories set forth by Jellinek, Weber and Troeltsch also be read with regard to their possible ‘cultural significance’ for the present day. (shrink)

Friedrich Wilhelm Graf attends to questions of the role and function of theology and churches in the former DDR. Current and short-winded theological-political paradigms are in his opinion too little useful to reflect upon and clear up the meanwhile historical period of»Kirche im Sozialismus«. Graf discusses the remarkable affirmation of streams of theology towards socialism. Dealing with this topic from an historical point of view begins in the early nineteeth century, precicely: in the attitude of social-romantic anticapitalism. This view pointsout (...) a surprising line of continuity, which Ieads to the theological approval of socialism in the former DDR-churches. (shrink)

This edition of previously unpublished correspondence from the archive of the New York Union Theological Seminary between young Charles Augustus Briggs and his teacher Isaak August Dorner dates from the second half of the 19th century. It offers insight into the transnational idea flow and interconfessional exchange on the understanding of theology. It is supplemented by letters from August Dorner jun. to Charles Briggs and two letters of recommendation that illustrate the density of the enticing web of intellectual relationships.

This edition of till now largely unpublished correspondence between Paul Tillich and Dolf Sternberger dates from late 1933 until Tillich's death. The writer, essayist, journalist, and political scientist Sternberger was one of Tillich's most important students. In 1932, he was awarded a doctorate for his thesis on Martin Heidegger's notion of death. Until 1943, he worked for the „Frankfurter Zeitung“ and started to pursue an academic career after World War II. Despite their divergent paths through life, Sternberger and Tillich always (...) maintained a close relationship. (shrink)

This edition makes available the correspondence between Paul Tillich and his friend, the philosopher Richard Kroner, who were colleagues at the Technische Universität Dresden from the winter semester of 1925/26. They were to meet again in New York after Tillich's emigration to the United States in 1933, and Kroner's six years later. In 1941 Tillich was able to secure Kroner a visiting lecturer position at Union Theological Seminary. The exchange of letters, which also includes contributions from their wives Hannah Tillich (...) and Alice Kroner, covers the period from 1942 to 1964. It offers a remarkable account of the struggle for self-assertion and reorientation of two very different personalities who escaped the destructive will of the National Socialists. While Kroner and Tillich shared an enthusiasm for the philosophical legacy of German Idealism, they expressed it very differently in their respective works. (shrink)

This edition, which follows a paper on the relationship between Paul Tillich and Fritz Medicus, presents their till now largely unpublished correspondence. The letters are supplemented by other significant documents from the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and the university archives of Jena and Halle.

In kritischer Distanz zu etablierten religiosen Institutionen suchen sie auf ihre spezifische Weise Lebenssinn zu generieren. Insoweit sind sie selbst zentrale Akteure der modernen Religionsgeschichte.

Die University of Tokyo hatte mich zu einem Vortrag über die im Rahmen der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe als Band 9 erscheinende Neuausgabe von Ernst Troeltschs “Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen” eingeladen. Das mir vorgegebene Thema lautete: “The Significance of Troeltsch’s Soziallehren for the Present”’. Im ersten Teil skizziere ich die Genese von Troeltschs christentumshistorischem Hauptwerk. Im zweiten Teil geht es um die zentralen Themen seines “Lieblingsbuches”. Im dritten Teil werden einige seiner handschriftlichen Zusätze und Marginalien kurz vorgestellt, die die 2020 (...) erscheinende Kritische Ausgabe der “Soziallehren” erstmals zugänglich macht. Abschließend entfalte ich eine Antwort auf die Frage, warum es sich auch heute noch lohnt, Ernst Troeltsch zu lesen. (shrink)