Tillich, Paul Ultimate Concern Tillich in Dialogue by D. Mackenzie Brown

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So if there are, in the whole of the universe, causalities relationships of realities then
there are two possibilities. First we have the Greek world view, in which miracles were very
easy. They occurred continually, because the gods were members of the cosmos, beings with
power. And with their power they were interrelated with the whole of reality. When they
appeared, they could direct a hero s arrow and cause it to reach its aim or not. Then they were
also empirical causalities, beings like ourselves, but with slightly more power. This comes out
clearly in the tragedies, which speak against the gods. Prometheus stands already as a
representative of man in opposition to these gods.
The second possibility is that of the absolutely transcendent, and then the situation is quite
different. Then the whole can produce, within its own structure, things which are astonishing.
But this "divine" power is not a particular causality which interferes with the law of the
whole. That would be my answer.
Professor: It is not necessary to assume that this other realm of causality is outside of the
universe, but merely that it is beyond human understanding at a particular historical period.
Dr. Tillich: Oh, if it is a part of the universe, and cannot be understood by us today, it is very
easy to accept. There are innumerable things which we do not understand, and the deeper
physics goes into nature the more it understands the limits of its understanding. So if you take
it as a finite reality, I am open to any wonderful thing.
Professor: Is it possible to suppose that Jesus and the saints had access to a larger realm of
causality than other human beings in the same way that an atomic scientist has a greater
access than we do?
Dr. Tillich: Now here I would say, unfortunately or fortunately, that Jesus was not an atomic
scientist. He was a full human being, and if at that time he had had the knowledge of an
atomic scientist or a modern physician, I would take the position that his humanity would
have been denied. In matters of empirical knowledge he was as limited as anyone in his time.
He had, as people often can have, a deeper existential insight into the psychology of human
beings; this comes out very clearly, but it is not miraculous. It belongs to the person-to-person
relationship. And I would agree with you on this, that his insight into the human psychology
of other people was much more than ordinarily profound. But it was not mythologically
divine. Now if we introduce divine knowledge into the empirical realm of his knowledge, the
Council of Chalcedon is wrong. And because of his full humanity, strongly emphasized by the
Christian church, he could not have had supernatural knowledge about empirical realities.
Professor: In this respect, then, we would have to note a contrast between the Western
Christian tradition and some Asiatic traditions, where it is assumed that "transparency" brings
with it certain forms of knowledge and power which you have just denied in the case of Jesus.
Dr. Tillich: How for instance? It would be good if you could give us an example where this is
a matter of natural events. I do not mean psychological understanding. I know there are
phenomena where a mother has a feeling of what concerns her child, who may live a thousand
miles away. There is a kind of communication. These are facts which have often occurred,
and we do not know enough about them. But people who have experienced this many have
told me about these experiences never call them, in themselves, miracles.
Professor: An example would be the stories of the levitation of holy men, floating from place
to place. You have these even in Catholic tradition, like the stories of St. Teresa of Avila. At
Mass she was said sometimes to rise to the ceiling. These were not necessarily considered as
holy things but as powers or capacities that came to them simply because of their
transparency. From the religious point of view, Asian tradition has considered them to be
dangerous powers, even undesirable, but nevertheless not to be denied.
Dr. Tillich: I would insist first on some historical research. How well authenticated are the
documents? And then I would ask, is it possible that the inner vitality of a body does
something which we do when we spring, and which sometimes keeps the body quite a long
time in the air? (I could do this as a boy, very well.) This ability might be extended, if the
vitality or the tension of the muscles becomes stronger. But an actual negation of gravitation
would not be for me a "miracle." If such a phenomenon occurred, it would be to me demonic,
because it would deny the holy law by which all things in the universe strive toward each
other. And I consider gravitation, in this sense, to be the law of love in the universe, a tending
of each of us toward the other. The denial of this I would insist is a demonic form, unless
explained by an intensification of muscular tension something we know can happen in the
body, which makes "levitation" possible. I truly suspect any historical documents that try to
describe this phenomenon in any other way. After all, St. Teresa was in ecstasy, and perhaps
the others too!
In any case, this feeling of elevation in itself is a most interesting psychological phenomenon.
We call going to God an "elevation" to the divine. Why do we use this symbol. There is some
reason for it, and I would not give up the attempt to explain it. If you proclaim that here is a
particular divine power coming from outside, or that the divine power within her intensified [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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