Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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respond to it.
Paul Tillich's system is even more hesitant in its
assertions. Because man cannot objectively know God or
absolute truth, approximations are the best for which he
can hope. Tillich saw Christianity as the best symbolic
expression of faith, but he was more cautious (than
Bultmann) to place the Bible (Christianity's book) above
other sources of revelation. The Bible retains a unique
place in Christianity, though not as the source of
revelation, but as "the original document about the
events on which Christianity is based." 1 '2' According
to Christian theology. the Bible is itself one of these
significant events of Christianity, and thus cannot be
its standard. "The Bible as such never has been the norm
of systematic theology. The norm has been a principle
derived from Bible in an encounter between the Bible and
church."''
Revelation? Canon? Tillich thought it necessary to
leave these dogmas indefinite. But he saw such openness
as the strength of the church, preventing idolatry and
contributing to true worship.
For Tillich, the Bible is Christianity's primary
historical sourcebook, particularly in its portrayal of
the events of the life of Jesus. But the infinite God is
larger than Christianity, and certainly far overshadows
the statements of any book.
Harry Emerson Fosdick's God was Truth and Wisdom, a
personal being perhaps, but one who epitomizes wisdom.