A cristologia de Paul Tillich a partir do encontro do cristianismo com outras religiões

Abstract

This study investigates the evolution of the theme regarding the relationship between Christianity and other religions in the thought of Paul Tillich, highlighting concerns explicit in his last works, written in 1960, at a time subsequent to his visit to Japan. According to some researchers, Tillich’s trip to East gave him a closer contact with the religion present in that cultural context, especially the Buddhism, which caused him to care, at least more explicitly, with other religions. He even said that he hoped that his Systematic Theology was considered from the history of religions’ point of view. The occasion on which Tillich mentioned this possibility in relation to his system came when uttered his last lecture, at an event organized by Mircea Eliade. The Romanian thinker said Tillich was reviewing his Systematic Theology, in the meetings which both of them organized. Indeed, Tillich had a great relationship with the history of religion after 1960. However, this does not mean that suddenly he changed his thought, or that he would be willing to give up what he thought, embracing once for all a new perspective. His more explicit concern with other religions can be understood as the result of a process that began early in the career of Tillich. In order to better understood this question, it is necessary to make an approaching of other religions’ thematic from Tillich's ontology, since his thinking about the being permeates all his work. Beside the ontology, it is found the centrality of Christology in his system, in particular through the conceptions of the New Being who appeared in Jesus as the Christ. New Being condenses both ontological and Christological aspects. Thus the relationship between Christology and ontology becomes a perspective to understand the thinking of Tillich as a whole, always considering the relationship between the works written before and after his trip to Japan. This allows conceive how Christology itself points to other religions.