It's interesting that Cobb focuses on Tillich in his study of theology and culture. The first research paper that I wrote as a student at Fuller 8 years ago was on Paul Tillich. Professor Charlie Scalise turned me onto Tillich since his views on popular culture and embracing the objects of popular culture were near my own interests in forming a new way to look at church, ala the emerging church model.
Paul Tillich had an interesting take of systematic theology that uses different language to observe the physical world around him. Words like "being," "ultimate concern," "self-alienation" are not the typical conventional religious language, and for me it was a breath of fresh air into the long-winded musings of other theologians.
It does take a while to get your head around his thinking, but once you do, the genius of Tillich’s method is that it creates meaning. Everything becomes relevant. The system is based on experience. It is not the product of cool reflection; it is about getting involved in the world and in the revelation. Through Tillich, theology is a way of life, not a body of information. There are no limits whatsoever to what theology can be or what can be theology.
Friday, January 25
Reading: Cobb [Theology]
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Be sure to pull out what Cobb says about Tillich (and whether he agrees or not) as well.
Cobb seems to agree with Tillich on most levels as he builds a vocabulary seemingly drawn from Tillich, consisting of words and phrases like 'ultimate concern,' 'the holy,' 'myth,' and 'liminality,' which he then uses to analyze popular cultural here.
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