Research On Paul Tillich’s Existentialism Christology

Paul Tillich’s existential theology was born in the middle of the twentieth century.At that time,the Post-war Western world fell into the general anxiety caused by nihilism.Like many existential philosophical schools,Tillich’s existential theology is very concerned about this existential situation.Tillich believes that God in Christianity is being-itself,it manifests itself as a power in Jesus Christ.The power of being enables Christ to realize the transformation of existence and become a new being.The premise of transformation of existence is to participate in the existence.Tillich believes that existence is the combination of being and non-being,existence means being subject to the threat of non-being.This is the inherent limitation of human beings,which leads to the tension between the two poles in the basic ontological structure-the self and the world,and leads to the anxiety that can not be rid of.Jesus Christ is fully involved in this state of human existence,the cross of Christ is the core symbol of Christ’s participation in existence.In Tillich’s opinion,those who exist either go to despair or embrace courage of being.The former means the break of ontological structure,whose root is estrangement from the power of being;The latter is the so-called state of new being.In the new being,finiteness and anxiety are not eliminated,but incorporated into the courage of being.The reason why this is possible is that the power of being promotes a being to surpass every specific existence condition on the basis of existence.That is to say,existence has not been denied,but it has indeed been transformed and upgraded.Tillich believes that Jesus Christ is a new being,the resurrection of Christ is the core symbol of Christ’s transformation of existence.Although a new being is thought to have been embodied in Jesus Christ,the question remains: how can we reach it instead of being on the verge of despair in our estrangement from the power of being? In Tillich’s opinion,idolatry and mysticism,as two different ways of self-help,can not complete this mission,because they both distort the power of being.Tillich believes that the ultimate standard of salvation is also evident in Jesus Christ.More precisely,it is evident in the cross of Christ.The death of Christ shows that Christ is a symbol pointing to the ultimate,not the ultimate itself.He refuses to become the object of idol worship.Opposing the equivalence of specific religious symbols with the ultimate is the so-called Protestant principle.The ultimate nature is only in being-itself,which cannot be replaced by any beings.But Tillich’s protestant principle do not deny the significance of religious symbols.The symbol is considered the language of religion and belief.It goes beyond itself in itself and speaks the God that cannot be spoken,that is,the being-itself.As a religious symbol,the portrait of Christ in the Bible is fundamentally an expressionist art.It points not to the Jesus in history,but to the Christ as a symbol of new being.So,Tillich’s socalled salvation is not only against idolatry,but also against mysticism,which makes all symbols disappear in nothingness.In the final analysis,salvation is only to make being-itself manifest as it is,that is,to remove the cover of being-itself,and idolatry and mysticism are the two forms of this cover.However,Tillich also believes that the realization of salvation in history is always fragmental.It is only in Jesus Christ that complete salvation is revealed.However,this is possible because Jesus Christ was originally an artistic portrait for the purpose of creating a new being.There are both differences and connections between the new being shown in the portrait of Christ and the concrete existence of us.Tillich’s existentialist christology is helpful to enhance our understanding of religion.In Tillich’s theological thought,Jesus Christ is only meaningful as a symbol pointing to the new being.He also believes that this conclusion can be analogized to other religious symbols.Here,the objects worshiped by traditional religions are actually transformed into artistic images with profound implications.In addition,Tillich’s way of salvation also helps to deepen our understanding of existence.