Tillich’s Conception of a ‘Theonomous Culture’

Paul Tillich cijeli je život bio na ´razmeđu´ filozofije i teologije, odnosno religije i kulture, pri čemu je posebnu pozornost posvetio odnosu između religije i kulture, odnosu koji će biti predmet našega uvodnog poglavlja. Potom ćemo, u prvom dijelu rada, razmotriti uzroke koji su doveli do raskola između ovih dviju temeljnih odrednica ljudskoga života, odnosno čovjekov prijelaz iz ´esencije´ u ´egzistenciju´ kroz simbol njegova ´pada´ i konflikt unutar razuma koji se odnosi na ´autonomiju´ i ´heteronomiju´, a što rezultira i stalnom borbom između autonomne i heteronomne kulture. U drugom ćemo dijelu razmatrati autorovu ´teonomnu interpretaciju kulture´, kako bismo pokazali na koji način konačna objava ´Novoga Bitka u Isusu kao Kristu´ nadvladava te sukobe, odnosno kako se putem teonomije ponovno uspostavlja ´temeljno jedinstvo´ između autonomije i heteronomije, a naše ćemo istraživanje zaključiti njegovim viđenjem ´kulture pod utjecajem Duha´ koju naziva ´teonomnom kulturom´. Kritičkom analizom autor je došao do zaključka da je Tillich, na temelju svoje analize odnosa između religije i kulture, koji je sažeo poznatom formulom: ´religija je supstancija kulture, a kultura je oblik religije´, uspješno povezao bitne odrednice religije i kulture te je pokazao kako je svekolika kultura utemeljena na religijskoj supstanciji pa kao takva predstavlja istinsko ´jedinstvo´ oblika i značenja u kojem dolazi do izražaja bezuvjetno značenje, bez kojega bi sva njezina djela, sa svojim posebnim značenjima, postala prazna i besmislena.Paul Tillich spent all his life walking the line between philosophy and theology, or religion and culture, and he paid special attention to the relationship between religion and culture, the relationship which will be the subject of our introductory chapter. Then, in the first part of the paper, we will examine the causes that brought about the schism between these two fundamental determinants of human life; namely, man\u27s transition from \u27essence\u27 to \u27existence\u27 through the symbolism of his \u27fall\u27 and the conflict within the reason pertaining to ‘autonomy’ and ‘heteronomy’, which also results in an unceasing struggle between an autonomous and heteronomous culture. In the second part, we will discuss Tillich’s ‘theonomous interpretation of culture’ in order to show how the final revelation of the ‘New Being in Jesus as the Christ’ overcomes these conflicts; namely, how theonomy re-establishes the ‘fundamental union’ between autonomy and heteronomy, and we will conclude our investigation by discussing his vision of ‘culture under the influence of the Spirit’ which he calls a ‘theonomous culture’. Through critical analysis we came to the conclusion that Tillich, on the basis of his analysis of the relationship between religion and culture which he summarised with the well-known formula, ‘religion is the substance of culture, culture is the form of religion’, succeeded in connecting the seminal determinants of religion and culture, and showed that the whole culture is founded on a religious substance and as such represents a true ‘union’ of form and meaning that brings out the unconditional meaning, without which all cultural products with their special meanings would become empty and meaningless