Contributor: Victor E. Everhart, PhD (47774451)
Paul Tillich, Noted Theologian, Dies In Chicago
The Rev. Dr. Paul Johannes Tillich, professor of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and summer resident at 84 Woods Lane, East Hampton, died Friday night at Billings Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Ill., where he had been a patient since suffering a heart attack on Oct. 13, shortly after leaving East Hampton.
Dr. Tillich was bom in Starzeddel, Kreis Guben, Prussia, on Aug. 20, 1886. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Tubingen, and Halle, and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Breslau. He was made an honorary doctor of theology at the University of Halle in 1926. He taught at universities in Dresden, Marburg and Frankfurt, until shortly after Hitler rose to power in 1933.
He was relieved of his teaching position for his anti-Nazi sentiments, which he frequently proclaimed from lectern and pulpit. Finally, he was driven out of the country in the same year and came to the United States and a teaching post at the Union Theological Seminary in New York.
He once said " I had the great honor and luck to be the first non-Jewish professor dismissed from the German Universities."
After teaching at Union Theological Seminary for 22 years, he went to Harvard where he received the title of university professor, a title reserved for a small group of distinguished scholars who work "on the frontiers of knowledge" without being limited to any particular school or department. His courses at Harvard were popular with both Harvard and Radcliffe students and his numerous books of sermons and theology became widely read. He was given a doctor of divinity degree at Yale, and received honorary doctorate degrees from many universities here and abroad. He went to Chicago in 1962.
Dr. Tillich's beliefs were often unorthodox, and stirred controversy as well as approval. His opinion was that theology should satisfy two basic needs: "The statement of the truth of the Christian message, and the interpretation of this view for every new generation.
Definition
The newspapers have quoted widely a comment of Justice Tom Clark of the United States Supreme Court, on Dr. Tillich's fundamental definition of a Supreme Being: "The eminent Protestant theologian, Dr. Paul Tillich . . . identifies God not as a projection 'out there' or beyond the skies but as the ground of our very being."
John R. Everett, president of the New School for Social Research in New York and a former pupil of Dr. Tillich at Union Theological Seminary, announced on Saturday that Dr. Tillich was to have joined its graduate faculty of political and social science, beginning in February.
Gerald C. Brauer, dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School, said that a memorial service will be held at a date not yet set, in the Rockefeller Chapel at the Univer sity of Chicago.
Dr. Tillich is survived by his wife, the former Hannah Werner; and by two children, Mrs. Erduthe Farris of New York, and Rene Stephen Tillich of Berkeley, Cal.
The funeral service was private and simple, restricted to members of his family and close associates. Burial after cremation will be in the family plot in East Hampton.
The East Hampton Star., October 28, 1965, Page 1 & 6
Contributor: Victor E. Everhart, PhD (47774451)
Paul Tillich, Noted Theologian, Dies In Chicago
The Rev. Dr. Paul Johannes Tillich, professor of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and summer resident at 84 Woods Lane, East Hampton, died Friday night at Billings Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Ill., where he had been a patient since suffering a heart attack on Oct. 13, shortly after leaving East Hampton.
Dr. Tillich was bom in Starzeddel, Kreis Guben, Prussia, on Aug. 20, 1886. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Tubingen, and Halle, and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Breslau. He was made an honorary doctor of theology at the University of Halle in 1926. He taught at universities in Dresden, Marburg and Frankfurt, until shortly after Hitler rose to power in 1933.
He was relieved of his teaching position for his anti-Nazi sentiments, which he frequently proclaimed from lectern and pulpit. Finally, he was driven out of the country in the same year and came to the United States and a teaching post at the Union Theological Seminary in New York.
He once said " I had the great honor and luck to be the first non-Jewish professor dismissed from the German Universities."
After teaching at Union Theological Seminary for 22 years, he went to Harvard where he received the title of university professor, a title reserved for a small group of distinguished scholars who work "on the frontiers of knowledge" without being limited to any particular school or department. His courses at Harvard were popular with both Harvard and Radcliffe students and his numerous books of sermons and theology became widely read. He was given a doctor of divinity degree at Yale, and received honorary doctorate degrees from many universities here and abroad. He went to Chicago in 1962.
Dr. Tillich's beliefs were often unorthodox, and stirred controversy as well as approval. His opinion was that theology should satisfy two basic needs: "The statement of the truth of the Christian message, and the interpretation of this view for every new generation.
Definition
The newspapers have quoted widely a comment of Justice Tom Clark of the United States Supreme Court, on Dr. Tillich's fundamental definition of a Supreme Being: "The eminent Protestant theologian, Dr. Paul Tillich . . . identifies God not as a projection 'out there' or beyond the skies but as the ground of our very being."
John R. Everett, president of the New School for Social Research in New York and a former pupil of Dr. Tillich at Union Theological Seminary, announced on Saturday that Dr. Tillich was to have joined its graduate faculty of political and social science, beginning in February.
Gerald C. Brauer, dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School, said that a memorial service will be held at a date not yet set, in the Rockefeller Chapel at the Univer sity of Chicago.
Dr. Tillich is survived by his wife, the former Hannah Werner; and by two children, Mrs. Erduthe Farris of New York, and Rene Stephen Tillich of Berkeley, Cal.
The funeral service was private and simple, restricted to members of his family and close associates. Burial after cremation will be in the family plot in East Hampton.
The East Hampton Star., October 28, 1965, Page 1 & 6
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement