Theological Concept!
So, Today in religion I was playing around with some ideas on what to do for my thesis paper this semester. It's basically going to be a two part paper one for mid-term and than we have to build off that to do our final thesis paper. I was originally going to do it on prayer and the lords prayer and interpreting the meanings into a modern context.
First of all before I say what I'm actually doing now I will give you a background for my class. We are studying the Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich. Tillich was a famous theologian in the forties and fifties and gave different ways of interpreting symbols, faith, and the meanings of Christianity. He doesn't change the concept of Christianity but rather sheds a different perspective on it. An example of this is Idolotry and how anything but the ultimate concern "God" can become Idolatry if one puts something above God. This is a really wierd/interesting way to look at it. An example that he tends to use is putting Jesus the human above God. God abides in Jesus but if one claims Jesus the human to be God than we lose the fact that the human part of Jesus is how God relates to the world. God sent his own son.
This idea through me for a loop when I first heard it. I struggled with this and digested it and finally feel like I have grasp on it. It isn't as radical or wierd as it first seems, Tillich just phrases it wierd. What he is attempting to get at is that Jesus is the messiah, the christ, and holds the presence and manesfestation of God here on Earth. This does not take away Jesus as a human because jesus is human but holds God at the same time. Its the fact he died for us that is important and that all of his works and his examples he sets for us is more important than the Jesus of Nazereth that walked the Earth 2007 years ago aproximatly. Anywho to sum it up, Jesus the Christ is more important than Jesus of Nazereth....
I hope that made sense, because it did in my mind. Like I said tillich phrases things wierdly and I'm not sure that I'm helping. At the end of this I still end up to the same conclusion that I had already had before I read him. Jesus died for us to relieve us of our sins, Jesus is our Messiah, Jesus is the Son of God "but not God himself but rather the manefestation of God" and that he is coming once more! Anywho the point of all that was to say that Jesus of Nazereth can become an Idol if we put him and his being above God and what Jesus Christ has taught us, because there is a clear dividing line between the man and the Christ. I think...
Anyways back to my paper topic, and actually the above really doesn't clarify it at all. I"m going to write on Science and Tillich and his beliefs to science and than for my final I will challenge Tillichs views and bring in different theologians to challenge it such as Ian Barbour, someone with the last name Peacocke.
Anyways thanks for listening to my ramblings.
ADIOS!!!
First of all before I say what I'm actually doing now I will give you a background for my class. We are studying the Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich. Tillich was a famous theologian in the forties and fifties and gave different ways of interpreting symbols, faith, and the meanings of Christianity. He doesn't change the concept of Christianity but rather sheds a different perspective on it. An example of this is Idolotry and how anything but the ultimate concern "God" can become Idolatry if one puts something above God. This is a really wierd/interesting way to look at it. An example that he tends to use is putting Jesus the human above God. God abides in Jesus but if one claims Jesus the human to be God than we lose the fact that the human part of Jesus is how God relates to the world. God sent his own son.
This idea through me for a loop when I first heard it. I struggled with this and digested it and finally feel like I have grasp on it. It isn't as radical or wierd as it first seems, Tillich just phrases it wierd. What he is attempting to get at is that Jesus is the messiah, the christ, and holds the presence and manesfestation of God here on Earth. This does not take away Jesus as a human because jesus is human but holds God at the same time. Its the fact he died for us that is important and that all of his works and his examples he sets for us is more important than the Jesus of Nazereth that walked the Earth 2007 years ago aproximatly. Anywho to sum it up, Jesus the Christ is more important than Jesus of Nazereth....
I hope that made sense, because it did in my mind. Like I said tillich phrases things wierdly and I'm not sure that I'm helping. At the end of this I still end up to the same conclusion that I had already had before I read him. Jesus died for us to relieve us of our sins, Jesus is our Messiah, Jesus is the Son of God "but not God himself but rather the manefestation of God" and that he is coming once more! Anywho the point of all that was to say that Jesus of Nazereth can become an Idol if we put him and his being above God and what Jesus Christ has taught us, because there is a clear dividing line between the man and the Christ. I think...
Anyways back to my paper topic, and actually the above really doesn't clarify it at all. I"m going to write on Science and Tillich and his beliefs to science and than for my final I will challenge Tillichs views and bring in different theologians to challenge it such as Ian Barbour, someone with the last name Peacocke.
Anyways thanks for listening to my ramblings.
ADIOS!!!
posted by Amazing Tyler at 8:41 PM
2 Comments:
Certainly you have bit off a full meal deal here! A worthy meal I might add! You go! In the end...Revelation how do we see Jesus? In the beginning...Genesis how do we see Jesus? How do we perceive His Kingdom? What aspects of his will do we really want to see come about NOW! Why should we ask Him to lead us not? Have fun!
Beware of people with funny last names.
Oh wait...
j/k, good job explaining it. I'm looking forward to your conclusion on the origins of infant baptism.
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