The Analysis and Review of the Relation between Theology and Culture from Paul Tillich's Perspective

Abstract In the first half of the nineteenth century the dispute over the compatibility of the Christian faith with the new scientific discoveries was one of the hottest debates in the Western theologians' thoughts, especially in Germany. Most of the Protestant theologians, who were known as "liberal", believed that in the light of the new scientific discoveries, the Christian faith and theology alike needed reconstruction. These theologians came to this conclusion that religion and culture were, in practice, one and the same. Tillich's work, in between, was a continuation of such a view about religion and culture. One can say that, indeed, all his endeavors are to show a kind of coherent and logical compatibility between Christianity and the new culture. He does this in his most important book Systematic Theology. In this article, along presenting and analyzing his work in this book, his success in this regard is evaluated. He believes the relation between theology and situation, which is the relation between religion and culture, is in fact the relation between "asking" and "answering". Religion and culture always constitute a unified whole, the form of which is culture and the content and essence of which is religion. The book Systematic Theology is, indeed, based on this very fact. The work consists of five parts: In the first part, he correlates the religious symbol of Logos with this question of modern culture as how one can reach to the important human truth. In the second part, the religious symbol of the creator God is correlated with this modern culture's question of the infinite as how one can resist the destructive powers that threaten one's life. In the third part, he correlates the religious symbol of Jesus Christ with this question of the modern culture as how we can cure the disease of estrangement in us and in our neighbors. In the fourth part, the religious symbol of the Holy Spirit is correlated with this modern culture's question as how one can possess the genuine life, while the ethics, religious experiences and the new culture are all obscure. And finally, in the fifth part, the religious symbol of the Kingdom of God is correlated with this question as whether the history has any sense. In order to answer the first question, Tillich seeks to analyze the structure of human reason. Therefore, Tillich, in the first part of his theological system, comes to the conclusion that the major reason for doubt and skepticism in the modern time i