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Paul Tillich

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Critically assess the views of Paul Tillich on religious language.
(35 marks)
In this essay I am going to critically assess the views of Paul Tillich’s views on religious language. I will first start by critically assessing Paul Tillich’s theory of religious language being presented as symbols and his rejections of signs. I will then conclude and provide a short summary before moving on to views for and against his ideas, before stating my own thoughts.
Paul Tillich was a German- American theologian who believed that it is possible to speak meaningfully about metaphysical concepts and from this he came up with the theory that religious language, because it is symbolic in nature, has an overwhelming effect upon humans. Tillich argued that religious language is symbolic. This means that religious symbols communicate the most significant values and beliefs of human beings.
Tillich initially had to start his theory by making a distinction between signs and symbols. Tillich suggested that signs do not participate in what they symbolise. By this he means that signs only point to a statement and have no additional effect. For example a sign may point the way to a town centre, but that’s all it does. It doesn’t fill you with peace, hope, excitement or any other emotion. Tillich believed that symbols on the other hand are powerful as they actually take part in the power and meaning of what they symbolise. This means that symbols have more effect on a person and give meaning of the object. For example a cross symbolises Jesus’ sacrifice and the belief about God and his plan for salvation. Therefore, a symbol communicates more effectively with us. Tillich then tried to argue that religious language operates as a symbol, in the sense that the language gives a meaning to people and isn’t just words.
Symbols according to Tillich communicate something which is often hard to

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