Religion: To Be or Not to Be
(10 of 10)
This precarious perch for man's soul is a long way from traditional Christian belief. Paul Tillich. Reinhold Niebuhr said once, "is trying to walk a fence between man's doubts and the traditions of man's faith. He walks the fence with great virtuosity, and if he slips a bit to one side or the other, it is hardly noticed by us humble pedestrians." There are many humble and not-so-humble pedestrians who think that no man who calls himself a Christian has any business on the fence in the first place. A fence is a risky place to spend much time. But to Paul Tillich, taking risks is perhaps the safest thing a Christian can do.
* The title is reserved at Harvard for a small group of distinguished scholars who work "on the frontiers of knowledge" without being limit ed to any particular school or department.
*This book, published in 1948, gave him a lesson in the semantics of U.S. publishing. His original title, The End of the Protestant Era?, was vetoed by the publishers on the grounds that no book with a question mark in the title sells well. "Then leave off the question mark," said Tillich. "That would be giving too much comfort to the Catholics," said his Protestant friends.
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