Paul Tillich on the Easy Yoke Made Heavy
A quick zinger from Paul Tillich in 1963, characterizing the “new” (and yet strangely familiar) […]
A quick zinger from Paul Tillich in 1963, characterizing the “new” (and yet strangely familiar) challenges for the Church in practice, specifically its inveterate tendency towards decay to legalism:
The moral ‘yoke’ that Jesus wished to make easy has only been made heavier, and the message of grace has largely been lost, despite the numerous liturgical prayers for the forgiveness of sins. They do not express the vision that appears in Paul’s letters and John’s Gospel, or is expressed in the seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer – “save us from the evil one” – namely, the image of a demonic power ruling the universe and driving man into separation from God and hostility against Him. The prayers of forgiveness have, for many people, only the function of relieving the uneasy conscience from produced by trespass against traditional and often absurd rules of behavior, mostly of a prohibitive character. But they do not express the great paradox, that there is reunion with the eternal ‘Ground of our being’ without ‘right’ action on our part, without out being ‘good people’, or the ‘people of good will.’ Therefore, despite liturgical formulae, hymns, and the reading of lessons from the Pauline Epistles, the message of grace has been lost. Grace as the power of accepting the person who is unacceptable, and of healing the person who is mortally sick, has disappeared behind the preaching of the religious and moral law.
From Beyond Morality.
Perhaps I’m ill-informed, but it is my understanding that Tillich’s understanding of grace was so “radical” that he had multiple affairs with his students when he taught in the U.S.. He might not make the best apologist for the kind of “grace awakening” I think Mockingbird is advocating.
I hear what you’re saying, but I think we can still consider the man’s writing. I mean, does Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” hold no merit because of his shameful outbursts? The same can be said of Barth, for example, and (if we look into our hearts), each of us. “No one is righteous, not even one.” I may not be on board with a lot of what Tillich wrote, but I find his critique of the church (described above) to be insightful. Plus, if we were limited to only quoting those who would serve as spokesmen, that would be a pretty short list. Not sure even Luther would make that cut, given some of the things he said later in life…
JZahl, I love what I heard Steve Brown say…something like – “Make sure all your heros are dead….then they can’t do any more stupid things.” That would be a very short list.