#3 FPC, Lowville, NY Fall 2012 Theological Study Group

Study Notes for Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, Chapter One, Sections 4-6 Section 4: Faith & the Dynamics of the Holy faith gives us an awareness of the holy & we make what we have faith in holy, which means we sense the divine in what we have faith in the divine here means the content of our faith it is mysterious and it is both attractive, & repulsive we are fascinated by it & want to rest in it, but the divine also consumes us & is infinitely distant from us holy in this sense doesnt mean moral perfection but rather that which is set apart from ordinary life the holy is mysterious & cant be reached, which leads to ambiguity in our experience of the holy it can seem to be either creative or destructive, fascinating or terrifying there are divine & demonic qualities to the holy in the OT, the prophets so successfully combated the demonic elements that they transformed the meaning of holy so that it came to mean justice & truth but in doing so they lost the true meaning of holy as being both fascinating & terrifying we have to recover the true meaning, which lies below the alternative of the good and the evil (p. 17) just as faith that is idolatrous is still faith, so the holy that is demonic is still holy the point here is that Our ultimate concern can destroy us as it can heal us. In either case, we will have an ultimate concern Section 5: Faith & Doubt faith is both certain & uncertain the uncertainty is that we are limited, finite beings trying to relate to things that are ultimate & beyond us the uncertain element in faith can never be removed we have to accept it, which means that we have to be courageous courage here means daring to affirm our self in the face of finite realities faith means risk & the possibility of failure the risk is treating things that arent ultimate as if they are this is the greatest risk we can take & if we fail, our life loses its meaning & despair is the result but faith must take this risk ultimate concern, risk, & courage are all tied together all of this means that doubt is a necessary element of faith types of doubt: [1] methodological doubt scientific doubt [2] skeptical doubt an attitude toward all beliefs that rejects certainty and leads to despair, cynicism, or indifference it will ultimately break down, but it can have a positive benefit in liberating us from false faiths finally, however, personality is not possible without faith. (p. 22) in fact, true skeptics have faith in the truth as an ultimate concern [3] doubts #1 & #2 are not the ones necessary to faith existential doubt is necessary it is doubt about the content of ones ultimate concern it is an insecurity about every personal truth but faith includes courage & thus can embrace doubt about itself & can take risks this doubt is not always experienced but it is always present as a possibility in the very nature of faith there is no faith apart from it thus our doubts dont negate our faith but are an element always present in that faith in fact, serious doubt is confirmation of faith. (p. 25) it shows the seriousness of our faith Section 6: Faith & Community in popular thinking faith is equated with doctrines & w/ personal, private religion because of a long history of the institutional suppression of non-institutional, autonomous forms of faith can a faith community, in fact, embrace a faith that includes doubt? the answer is complicated and has to do w/ the nature of language itself, which belongs to a community w/out language, there is no faith [& w/out a community of faith, there is no language] the importance of the community of faith thus is that it makes the language of faith possible -- Only in a community of language can man actualize his faith. (p. 27)

#3 As a community of language, faith communities can exert tremendous pressure to force adherents to conform to their beliefs & norms this is because the dangers of an idolatrous faith are felt to be so great that people have to be protected from the selfdestruction of idolatry, which is felt to be demonic at the same time the community has to protect itself from heritics (defined as one who has turned away from the true to a false, idolatrous concern. p. 29) thru their influence on others, heretics can destroy a faith community the result, however, is that faith becomes pitted against faith in the struggle between the community & its critics (or the church & liberals) in a larger sense, creative faith is the only thing that can serve as an antidote to idolatrous concerns One answer to the question of how faith communities can exist w/out suppressing the beliefs of its members is that civil governments should remain neutral & not allow the suppression of doubt in modern times, in fact, most civil government have to deal w/ various religious groups & cant enforce all of society to believe in just one this means that the commonly held beliefs of the society become the spiritual substance of the society & governments should not prohibit doubts about that substance a 2nd answer is that forces w/in the faith community can attempt to stifle doubt, but this leads to a static faith elevates concerns that are not ultimate to the status of ultimate the only answer that works, however, is when creedal statements expressing ultimate concerns include criticism of themselves as part of the creed, which Tillich calls the Protestant principle doubt & criticism must always be possible, which means that the community of faith must always stand under the Cross, meaning divine judgment in short, faith is always a risk & communities of faith must always live w/ that risk Questions 1. Why does Tillich argue that the holy has a demonic element to it as well as a fascinating one? Why is it crucial to maintain this aspect of faith? Do you agree with his argument? Or, is it a misunderstanding of the word holy as we use it today? 2. One of Tillichs many definitions of faith is: An act of faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by and turned to the infinite. (p. 18) Does this definite describe your own understanding of faith? Do you have a sense of having been grasped by the infinite? 3. Is it true that personality is not possible without faith? 4. Does it make sense to you that doubt is a natural and necessary part of faith? How have you or do you experience doubt when it comes to your personal faith? 5. Can a faith community embrace a faith that includes doubt? Is it OK for pastors & lay leaders to openly express doubts? If they do, isnt that harmful to the local church & to the faith of its members? 6. How do we identify what is genuine faith and what is heretical? What standards do we apply? What are the heresies of the contemporary church? Who are its heretics? Why? 7. In concrete terms, what does it mean for a church to live the risk of faith? How can it incorporate self-criticism & risk into its life?