Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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harmoniously interact with his environment. This third
"estrangement" Tillich called "concupiscence.""' This
"unlimited desire to draw the whole of reality into one's
self" 2-° distorts a person's view of his world,
particularly of other persons. He depersonalizes his
fellows. They become "things" for his selfish use.2.1
Thus, man "has elements of disintegration or disease
in all dimensions of his being." ="1 And, following
from that, "it is not the disobedience to a law which
makes an act sinful but the fact that it is an expression
of man's estrangement from God, from men, from
himself."2.3
The Christian message offers hope of forgiveness,
restoration, and reconciliation. It offers this hope on
the basis of the life of Jesus the Christ. In Jesus of
Nazareth, God (the Infinite) has paradoxically entered
the finite world.
The Logos doctrine as the doctrine of the
identity of the absolutely concrete with the
absolutely universal is not one theological
doctrine among others; it is the only possible
foundation of a Christian theology which claims
to be the theology.2-14
Jesus lived a 'perfect' life among 'sinful' men.
"Essential God—Manhood has appeared [in Jesus] within
existence and subjected itself to the conditions of
existence without being conquered by them." In
contrast to all other persons, Jesus lived in absolute
harmony with God, himself, and his world.
His victorious life sets the example for humanity.