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Tillich Archives: A Bibliographical and Research Report
By John J. Carey

PAUL TILLICH died on October 22, 1965, and as the tenth anniversary of his death approaches, it is not surprising that scholars in both Europe and America have begun reappraisals of his thought and influence. The massive German edition of his collected works (Gesammelte Werke, published by Evangelisches Verlagswerk of Stuttgart) has now reached 17 volumes and is for all practical purposes complete. ¹ In areas of theology, ethics, ecumenism, philosophy of religion, and aesthetics, Tillich's creative work continues to inform contemporary scholars, and the recent "Tillich as Person" controversy has reawakened latent interests in his life and career. This article provides a report on the current status of Tillich scholarship, focusing on: (1) Tillich bibliography and corpus; (2)Tillich archives; and (3) Tillich societies.

I

Tillich Bibliography and Corpus. Scholars over the years who have worked with Tillich's primary writings have been helped by four bibliographical guides: (1) the citations in James Luther Adams' 1945 doctoral dissertation at Chicago, which is a relatively comprehensive listing of primary and secondary sources through 1945; published by Harper and Row, 1965, in Paul Tillich's Philosophy of Culture, Science and Religion; but unfortunately the bibliography was not updated. That bibliography, however, remains especially valuable because of the inclusion of German reviews of Tillicb's work and the listing of a large number of works on Tillich in both English and German. (2) The bibliography compiled by Werner Rode for the Kegley and Bretall volume, The Theology of Paul Tillich (Macmillan,

John J. Carey is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Religion at Florida State University, Tallahassee. He has studied at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, St. John's Abbey and University, Collegeville, Minn. His article on "An Overview of Catholic Theology" appeared in our April, 1973 issue. At the 1974 meeting of the American Academy of Religion he convened the first North American Consultation on Paul Tillich Studies. This article is based on research done at the Tillich Archives at Harvard University.

¹ This project, begun in 1959, has proceeded under the able editorship of Renate Albrecht. There are 14 regular volumes and three supplementary volumes (Erganzungsbande) in print; although there are still some unpublished materials of Tillich's, it is my understanding that the G. W. will end with the publication of Vol. 14 as the bibliographical volume. Hereafter in this article the Gesammelte Werke will be referred to as the G. W.

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1952); this is less extensive but does contain citations of most of Tillich's major articles through 1950. (3) The bibliography compiled by Peter H. John for the Festschrift, edited by Walter Leibrecht, entitled Religion and Culture (Harper and Row, 1959); this remains the most comprehensive bibliographical statement of Tillich's works up to that time and is particularly helpful in citing when and where various articles were reprinted or translated. (4) The recent compilation by L. D. Bryan of Garrett Theological Seminary, entitled "The Thought of Paul Tillich-A Select Bibliographical Companion to the Systematic Theology" (1973). This study brings up to date most of Tillich's writings from 1959 to 1965 and has the additional value of listing many unpublished doctoral dissertations as well as other secondary articles dealing with Tillich's thought. This bibliography differs from the others in that it has a lengthy section organized topically and not chronologically; it is therefore easily used as a research tool. The study can be purchased from the Garrett Seminary Library, Evanston, Illinois. ²

The definitive bibliography of Tillich's writings, however, has just been published in Vol. 14 of the Gesammelte Werke under the direction of Peter H. John, currently pastor of the Lawrence Memorial United Methodist Church in East Pepperell, Massachusetts. John, over the years, has rendered a major contribution to Tillich studies through his copious notes and his concern to get on tape a large number of Tillich's public and classroom lectures. (It was primarily due to his efforts, for example, that we have in published form today Tillich's lectures on the history of Christian thought. ³) In addition to providing a complete Tillich bibliography of both German and English works, Vol. 14 points out where and when original articles have been reprinted and/or translated. The volume is particularly helpful because it has a special section describing where related materials on or by Tillich can be found. Any works mentioned in the bibliography which are not reprinted at some place in the G. W. are marked with an asterisk; perhaps the most notable exclusion from the G. W. are the letters and essays related to Emanuel Hirsch. (Hirsch was a close friend of Tillich's in the 1920's and 30's who came to endorse the Nazi movement.) Those not familiar with this episode of Tillich's German

² Two other bibliographies have been compiled in America but have not been widely circulated: one by Grace C. Leonard of the Harvard Divinity School of Tillich's English writings from 1932 through September, 1956, and one by the library staff of the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1964 which is entitled "English Works by and about Paul Tillich." These two bibliographies (along with an addendum to the Leonard bibliography) are available for the cost of duplication from The Librarian, The Andover-Harvard Library, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass. 02138.
³ A History of Christian Thought, Carl E. Braaten (ed.), New York and Evanston, Harper and Row, 1968. Braaten edited and revised the stenographic record which Peter John made of Tillich's lectures at Union during the spring semester of 1963. Braaten's book is based on the second revised edition which John had mimeographed and circulated privately in 1956.

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career will find it described in David Hopper's Tillich: A Theological Portrait (New York: Lippincott, 1968), pp. 65- 100.

Concerning the present state of the Tillich corpus, it is of course regrettable that we do not have anything in English comparable to the Gesammelte Werke. A number of Tillich's most important German works have never been translated into English, although a team consisting of Franklin Sherman of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Roy Enquist of Texas Lutheran College, and John Sturnme of St. Olaf's College is currently working on Die sozialistische Entscheidung (1933). We still await an English version of Das System der Wissenschaften nach Gegenstanden und Methoden (1923) and of the important Hegel lectures Tillich gave in Berlin in 1931.

On a more encouraging note, English-speaking scholars will be pleased to know that Victor Nuovo of Middlebury College has recently completed translations of Tillich's two dissertations on Schelling; these important works, which marked Tillicb's introduction to German intellectual life in 1910 and 1912, will be published by the Bucknell University Press in 1975. ⁴ There are, in addition, some writings of Tillich's of which scholars only recently have become aware. Tillich gave a large number of talks on politics and the world situation addressed to Germans over the Voice of America during World War II; these have been compiled and published in 1973 as a supplement to Vol. 3 of the G. W. under the title An meine deutschen Freunde: Politsche Reden. Scholars from Germany have recently reported on the existence of many of Tillich's sermons preached while he was a German army chaplain in World War I; these would form an important contrast with Tillich's American sermons and could illumine the discussions which contrast the "early" and "late" Tillich.

The publishing of additional Tillich material in the United States is controlled by the Tillich Estate, which in turn has a working relationship with Harper and Row. The next major work to be forthcoming from this arrangement will be a volume of essays on Great Figures in the Western Tradition, edited by James L. Adams.

II

Tillich Archives. There are two major depositories of Tillich's handwritten original works and his unpublished manuscripts, one in Europe and one in America. The European archives are housed in Göttingen, Germany, and are a part of the residence of Frau Gertraut Stöber. The collection of the archives and their general maintenance has been a project of the European Paul Tillich Gesellschaft, and owes much to the personal dedication of Frau Stöber, who also serves as Secretary of the Paul Tillich Gesellschaft. The Göttingen archives include (among other things) 83 notebooks of Tillich's handwritten

⁴ The two dissertations are entitled Die religionsgeschichtliche Konstruktion in Schellings positiver Philosophie, ihre Voraussetzungen und Prinzipien (1910) and Mystic and Schuldbewusstsein in Schellings philosophischer Entwicklung(1912).

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materials from 1909-33; a project is currently underway in the Gesellschaft to get these materials typed. (Tillich's handwriting is practically indecipherable, even for native Germans.) There are also tapes of the 1963 lectures in systematic theology at Zurich and of the lectures in 1958 and 1961 at Hamburg. Tillich's written lectures on Hegel given at Berlin in 1931 are available, and it is hoped that these will soon be translated into English by Victor Nuovo. Frau Stöber also attempts to get copies of all dissertations on Tillich in English and German; many American dissertations are available on microfilm and continental dissertations are found as bound copies. The archives office seeks to stay abreast of doctoral dissertations currently being written on Tillich. At present, they are aware of 21 Protestant and 24 Roman Catholic dissertations in process.

The academic center for Tillich scholarship in Germany is the University of Marburg, where Professors Carl-Heinz Ratschow and Eberhard Amelung are members of the faculty. Amelung, who received his Ph.D. from Harvard, wrote his dissertation under James Luther Adams on Tillich's involvement with the "Kairos Circle" in Berlin from 1919 to 1933; he is now the Dean of the Protestant Theological Faculty at Marburg. Professor Ratschow has served since 1969 as President of the Paul Tillich Gesellschaft. Moves are currently underway to relocate the Tillich archives at Marburg where they can be more effectively related to that theological faculty.

The Tillich materials at Harvard are in two categories, the first and most notable of which includes his unpublished lectures, class notes, discussion transcripts, personal files, and assorted memorabilia and manuscripts. ⁵ This material is organized in the following manner:

Series A. Early German Notebooks, including the miscellaneous versions of Tillich's first two dissertations on Schelling, and notes on ethics, apologetics, dogmatics, Old Testament and New Testament, Hegel, art and religion, history of philosophy, and the history of Protestantism.

Series B. Tillich's early German published works, including lectures before 1933; theological writings, notes for seminars and courses (ethics, the interpretation of history, philosophy of religion, the present situation; doctrines of man; existentialism). Also here are letters and notes, addresses, comments, sermons, baptisms, copies of Tillich's works translated from English.

Series C. Early unpublished notebooks in English (mostly Tillich's courses at Union Theological Seminary in the 1930's).

Series D. Unpublished English Manuscripts.

Series E. Primarily of interest to editors and others who might wish to consult Tillich's handwritten first drafts of the following books: The Courage to Be; Love, Power, and Justice; Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality; Dynamics of Faith; Christianity and the

⁵ A brief description of materials to be found in the Harvard archives is found in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, N.S., Vol. 1, no. 2 (Winter, 1968), pp. 14-16.

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Encounter of World Religions; Morality and Beyond; and the three volumes of Systematic Theology. This series also contains other miscellaneous published writings.

Series D, which is probably of most interest to Tillich scholars in America, covers a wide range of topics, and because of the interest and curiosity of those who have been influenced by Tillich, I will deal with these materials in some detail. For the most part, materials here are the handwritten notes of talks which Tillich gave to various groups and organizations, plus occasional, fully-typed manuscripts of lectures which he gave at various universities. In some instances, both the original handwritten notes and a typed version are available in the same folio. Frequently, the notes for talks are merely condensed and simplified versions of topics which Tillich had previously explored in print; various talks on existentialism, Protestantism, and religious socialism would be cases in point. There are several typed transcriptions of radio programs and interviews which Tillich granted; the range of subject matter is interesting ("The Theological Significance of Schweitzer," with Gerald Brauer in 1959; a roundtable discussion on philosophy with Charles Hartshorne, Walter Kaufmann, Helmut Thielicke, J. H. Randall, and others in 1959; "Theories and Problems of Aging," at Santa Barbara in 1965). The style is informal, and it seems clear that Tillich did not intend this material for publication.

There are some fascinating personal impressions of Tillich's travels. He wrote a lengthy report to his friends of his visit to Japan in 1960, after he returned to Cambridge, and a similar account of his impressions of Israel, after his trip there in 1963. (The latter report was written from Chicago in 1964.)

For scholarly purposes, however, there are three areas in which unpublished manuscripts can extend our present knowledge of Tillich's thought: (1) in ethics, (2) Judaism, and (3) in the interaction between theology and psychology.

(1) Ethics. The Harvard archives contain lectures which Tillich gave on "Religion and Sex," "The Development of Personal Morality," "Sex Relations, Love and Marriage," "The Christian Message and the Moral Law," and "Grounds for Moral Choice in a Pluralistic Society." (This last lecture, given by Tillich in a slightly different form at three universities in 1964, has been flagged by the Tillich estate.) It seems clear that in his approach to ethics, Tillich was exploring the boundary lines between the Judeo-Christian tradition and liberal humanism. He recognized the tensions posed by these alternate perspectives but felt that it was necessary to preserve the vitality of humanism. Seeking alternatives to the norms of "love" or "responsibility" so long associated with Christian ethics, Tillich poses the question: "What is the depth of our own particular kind of humanity?" The issue is whether or not we can say "yes" to our humanity, and can live with the risks and courage which this requires.

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Tillich seemed to be grappling for an alternative to the "divine command" approach to ethics and clearly was attracted to aspects of a self-realization ethic. Tillich stressed that in this border-line living we are not just isolated individuals but are sustained by a latent spiritual community which exists in a pluralistic society. In almost all of his lectures on ethics, Tillich emphasized the need for both fresh answers and fresh questions about the meaning of the good life. His deepest concern was that people will tire of the intensity of a new search for meaning and will lapse back into the traditional models of thought and value. Earlier than most western theologians, he sensed that the old absolutes were crumbling and that creative life requires both courage and the capacity to live with ambiguity.

(2) Judaism. Tillich had a long-standing interest in the Jewish people and in Judaism as a faith. Perhaps the fullest statement of his concern is found in his four Berlin lectures, delivered in 1953, on "Die Judenfrage, ein christliches und ein deutsches Problem." (These lectures, published in Germany, have never been published in English, although several private translations have been made.) There are four unpublished manuscripts which show Tillich's special concern for Judaism and Germany: "Can the Jew Return to Germany?" (a handwritten manuscript of a talk given in 1946); "The Religious Relation Between Christianity and Judaism in the Future" (typed, n.d.); "Protestantism and Anti-Semitism" (typed, n.d.), and "My Changing Thoughts on Zionism" (a revised but unpublished typed manuscript of a talk which Tillich gave in Chicago in 1959; restricted by the Tillich estate).

Tillich made an important distinction between anti-semitism and anti-Judaism; he felt that much of Lutheran (and other conservative Protestant) resentment against the Jews was in the theological resistance of the Jews to the universal claim of the gospel. As long as Christians assert that individual salvation is dependent on faith in Jesus as the Christ, there will be a tension with Jews. This tension can be called "anti-Judaism." Yet anti-semitism is a different thing. It speaks of Jewish inferiority and in varying degrees tolerates discrimination or even persecution. Much of the root of this, in European Protestantism, Tillich saw in the Lutheran social ethic, which is tolerant of many shades of totalitarian thought in the state as long as the church as a bearer of "pure doctrine" is unmolested. In his manuscript on "Protestantism and Anti-Semitism," Tillich writes that "there is no guidance for politics in the Lutheran system." He argued that there is less anti-semitism in America then in Europe, not only because of the religious pluralism found here but also because of the sectarian emphasis on the presence of the divine in every human soul. In this "inner light" mentality, every person is more important than an individual creed, and the Jew is on equal footing with the Christian. For his own part, Tillich rejected any notion of a Christian mission to the Jews, and in fact he felt that the prophetic spirit of

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Judaism needs to be independently preserved as a corrective to Christian churches, which so frequently border on paganism.

Concerning the nation of Israel and the Zionist movement, Tillich acknowledged that he had come to feel that any historically relevant group had to make space for itself. It is therefore understandable that the Jews need a land. The tension of modem Judaism, as indeed with the biblical period, is between the land (sacred space) and a faith in the Holy (being a people of a sacred time). The average Jew needs the identity of space (the nation Israel), but not all Jews will be bearers of the exclusive monotheism which points to the trans-historical Kingdom of God.

The basis for unity which Tillicb saw in Judaism and in Christianity was in the shared prophetic tradition and in a common mystical awareness of the Divine. Tillich felt that Kabbala mysticism had intertwined with Jacob Boehme and hence entered into Christendom, and even Berdyaev was influenced by Kabbalistic elements. Any movement for religious renewal which affirms the mystical presence of the Divine can potentially bring Jews and Christians closer together.

(3)Psychotherapy and Personality. Tillich's published works in this area are, of course, extensive, and it is not surprising that a number of his unpublished lecture notes are similar to his published work (for example, his manuscript on "Psychiatry and Theology," presented to a theological discussion group in Washington, D.C., in 1956). Tillich did, however, pay a special tribute to Freud in a lecture given at the University of Minnesota in 1957; he praised the rigor of Freud's naturalistic critique of religion and of Freud's theory of culture, and he felt that Freud's work on the unconscious was of major significance for contemporary thought. On the critical side, however, he felt that Freud overstressed the libido and showed little sophistication about the meaning and function of religious symbols. The deepest human need, Tillich observed, is not for an analyst's acceptance but for a transcendent acceptance.

One undated and undesignated Tillich lecture was given at a conference for dialogue between eastern and western religious traditions. Tillich's typed notes on the topic "Immortality and Eternal Life" show how he contrasted two motifs. The religious issue, he argued, is in the search for continuing self-consciousness; both "immortality" and "eternal life" are symbols which point to this and attempt to make the notion vivid. Tillich felt that the philosophical clue is in the concept of essence; we can speak of a person's "essentialization" as a free actualization and hence as a continuous creation. Tillich wrote:

Essentialization in this sense is not a simple return to what was, but a return with higher (or lower) fulfillment of our potentialities. This allows for a nonsuperstitious speaking of the eternal dimension of the soul and the belongingness of the body to the whole of being. Socrates' body is essentialized as much as his soul.

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This quotation is typically Tillichian in language and is enigmatic, but it does show how Tillich within his own system was trying to build bridges between east and west.

Tillich's interest in human growth and dynamics is reflected in his talk entitled "On Creative Listening," which he gave at Bucknell University on the occasion of receiving an honorary degree. (The manuscript is typed and in semi-finished format, but is undated). No one can be creative, he maintain, who has not mastered the art of listening. To be a creative listener one must be willing to be drawn into subject matter. There is a hidden sublimity in the natural as well as the human realm, and the person with "ears to hear" can also become attuned to the unconscious depths of life. To be depthful people we do not need so much the stimulation or inspiration of others as we need the almost mystical sensitivity to the world about us and a responsibility for what one hears. And in the personal realm, Tillich observes:

Creative listening to another person begins when silence has become possible between two people-tbe most difficult thing-and when through this silence somebody speaks to us silently, and we listen so that a real communion is created. But it is not only the moment of mutual silence in which creative listening can take place, it is also within a seemingly superficial conversation in which one may hear many more things than are actually said. Hearing what the other wants to say, but is unable to, is creative listening. The more you are capable of doing this, the more precious human relations you will have.

Other materials in the Harvard collection include the handwritten versions of most of Tillich's English language books (Series E), files of his early personal correspondence, his English professional correspondence from 1933-65, and assorted memorabilia (for example, some photographs of his army days in World War 1, some early German school notebooks, certificates and awards). ⁶

Not all of the material at Harvard, however, is available. The Tillich Estate (of which Dr. Robert C. Kimball of the Starr-King School of Theology in Berkeley, California, is literary executor) has "flagged" most of the manuscripts which are in near-finished form, presumably because of the possibility of their eventual publication. (These manuscripts can be read with permission of the Harvard librarian but cannot be photocopied or quoted without permission of the Tillich Estate). The Estate has also flagged much of Tillich's personal correspondence, including his correspondence with his family. It is my understanding that this material will not be made available to the public for 50 years. There is an ample amount of memorabilia from Tillich's early life, however, to give a distinct flavor

⁶ Although my own work in the archives led me to feel that the three areas described in this article are the areas of Tillich's thought most illumined by the unpublished materials, it may be that scholars with other interests will find particular help from other manuscripts. Donald Weisbaker of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for example, has presented two papers which I have heard on Tillich's aesthetics, and he believes that some of the unpublished manuscripts on that topic provide important clues to Tillich's thought.

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to the man and his career, and extensive professional correspondence is readily accessible.

Some of Tillich's occasional newsletters to his friends around the world give insights into the vigorous professional pace he kept. The following excerpt of his letter of February, 1959, written from Cambridge, shows something of the pace of his work schedule:

The months before Christmas were filled with an unusual amount of regular work in Harvard (because of the absence of three members of our "Systematic" department) and with very important outside lectureships, sermons, and articles to be written. There was no weekend before Christmas in which I could have sent "Season's Greetings" to anybody. One of the reasons was a special sermon I had to give in the Washington Cathedral on December 28th to a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an event which brings together thousands of scientists. The large Cathedral was completely filled. From Washington, I went directly to Chicago for a four week program of seven regular lecture hours weekly and many special obligations. These four weeks in the center of the Middle West of the United States are very important for my work. They take place every second year, and I have as many friends there as I have in Cambridge or Hamburg. The return trip from Chicago was interrupted by two lectures with discussions and extra speeches, and an additional burden of anxiety about a lecture on "Art and Ultimate Reality" to be given in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. (It had to be done with slides-Lichtbilder). When I sat down to prepare it, an unexpected interruption occurred. There was a painter waiting for me, sent by Time Magazine, to make a portrait of me for one of their March covers. I had to sit for him in my office for five mornings without being able to read, write, or even think. He did a very good job-but the time for work was gone. Finally, I gave my New York lecture. But already on the return train, two reporters, a man and a woman, joined me and started a four-day interrogation period for the article about me in the same issue of Time. Again, four days for work were gone, and yesterday I had to give my sermon in the University Church here at Harvard.

The second part of the Tillich archives includes the chronological shelving of all of the German and English writings, including chapters in various anthologies, reprinted material, translations of his books into various languages, and book reviews. This arrangement greatly facilitates locating articles in now defunct or not widely circulated journals. The archives do not presently include copies of secondary works (and/or dissertations) dealing with Tillich's thought, although such additions would add considerably to the research value of the collections.

Although it is personally moving and professionally interesting to review the memorabilia and unpublished work of Tillich, I finished my perusal of the Harvard archives with the distinct impression that everything of consequence which Tillich had to say as a theologian has found its way into print. I was interested to find that in his last years, Tillich frequently lectured on the theme of ethics. He had apparently more interest in this area than his limited publications (Morality and Beyond) would suggest. He had the tendency, however, to take a basic

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conceptual orientation in ethics and rework it in a dozen lectures, all of which are essentially the same. (Few preachers and teachers, however, have room to criticize Tillich on this score.)

III

Tillich Societies. I have already referred to the European Paul Tillich Gesellschaft, which was founded in 1960 as the "Circle of the Friends of Paul Tillich." The major impetus for the founding of the Circle was the conviction that Tillich had much to say to the postWorld War 11 situation in Europe, but his friends realized that most of his early German writings were out of print and that his English language works had not been translated. One of the early projects of the Circle, therefore, was to get Tillich's approval for a German translation of his English writings, and this group was largely instrumental in the publication of the Gesammelte Werke. In 1969 the society changed its name to the Paul Tillich Gesellschaft E. V., and it currently has 236 members from a number of countries. The society holds an annual meeting (usually in early May) in Hofgeismar, and focuses on a particular theme related to Tillich's work. Some of the topics which have been dealt with in the past include: "The Symbol" (1962); "The Problem of Protestantism" (1963); "Ernst Bloch and Paul Tillich-Eschatology and Utopia" (1964); "Guilt and Redemption: Paul Tillich and Depth Psychology" (1971); "Religion and Christendom" (1972); "Religious Socialism" (1974). A major shift in the orientation of the society has been the moving away from the Tillich exegesis which characterized its early years to more critical reflection on contemporary problems in the spirit of Tillich.

Although it would be premature to speak of a North American Paul Tillich Society, it should be mentioned that at the 1974 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Washington, D.C., a Consultation was held on Paul Tillich Studies, with over 60 scholars attending. Participants heard a major address by James Luther Adams and reports on various translations and works in process. The group voted to have another consultation in 1975 in Chicago, to mark the tenth anniversary of Tillich's death, and in the interim I was asked to convene a committee which would propose to the 1975 consultation a model for a more formal organization of a North American Paul Tillich Society. In all likelihood there will be a Tillich newsletter produced sometime in the next year to keep participants up to date on developments in Tillich scholarship. Persons who would like to get on the mailing list for the newsletter and other plans for the 1975 consultation should communicate with the author.

There are not many sycophants among the current group of Tillich scholars, but there are many who were influenced by his wide vision of how theology relates to life. It is in that critical spirit of what was once called "belief-ful realism" that the work of Tillich scholarship goes on.