"A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich
and Henry Nelson Wieman"
Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Statement of problem
2. Sources of data
3. Review of the work of other investigators
4. Methods of investigation
5. The structure of the dissertation
II. THE METHODOLOGIES
OF TILLICH AND WIEMAN
1. Tillich's method of correlation
i. The negative meaning of correlation
(1) Supernaturalism
(2) Naturalism
(3) Dualism
ii. The positive meaning of correlation
(1) The correspondence of data
(2) Logical interdependence of concepts
(3) Real interdependence of things or events
(4) Correlation as existential questions and theological answers
in mutual interdependence
(5) The meaning of philosophy and its relation to theology
2. Wieman's scientific method
i. Tests of truth which Wieman rejects
(1) Revelation
(2) Faith
(3) Authority
ii. The positive meaning of the scientific method
iii. Knowledge of God through the scientific method
3. A comparison and evaluation of the methodologies of Tillich and
Wieman
III. TILLICH'S CONCEPTION
OF GOD
1. The question of being
i. The basic ontological structure
(1) Man, self, and world
(2) The logical and the ontological object
ii. The ontological elements
(1) Individuality and participation
(2) Dynamics and form
(3) Freedom and destiny
iii. Being and finitude
(1) Being and non-being
(2) The finite and the infinite
iv. The categories of being and knowing
(1) Time
(2) Space
(3) Causality
(4) Substance
2. God as being itself
i. God's transcendence of finite being
ii. God's transcendence of the contrast of essential and existential
being
iii. The invalidity of all arguments for the existence of God
iv. God as being and the knowledge of God
3. God as the unconditional
4. God as ground and abyss of power and meaning
i. God as ground
ii. God as abyss
iii. Is the abyss irrational?
5. God as creator
i. God's originating creativity
ii. God's sustaining creativity
iii. God's directing creativity
6. The ontological elements applied to God
i. Individualization and participation
ii. Dynamics and form
iii. Freedom and destiny
7. The traditional attributes
i. God is eternal
ii. God is omnipresent
iii. God is omniscient
8. Divine love and divine justice
i. The divine love
ii. The divine justice
9. The trinity
10. The question of the personality of God
11. Is Tillich an absolute quantitative monist?
IV. WIEMAN'S CONCEPTION
OF GOD
1. The nature of God
i. God as the creative event
(1) The first subevent
(2) The second subevent
(3) The third subevent
(4) The fourth subevent
ii. God as growth
iii. God as supra-human
(1) God and man
(2) God not supernatural
(3) The functional transcendence of God
iv. God as absolute good
2. God and value
i. Wieman's theory of value
(1) Value theories rejected by Wieman
(2) Value as appreciable activity
ii. God as supreme value
(1) God as more than possibility
(2) God as the unlimited growth of the connection of value
iii. God as creative source of value
3. God and evil
i. Evil as destructive of good
ii. Kinds of evil
iii. God's finiteness
4. The question of the existence of God
5. The question of the personality of God
i. Objections to the idea of a personal God
ii. God as process
6. Wieman's use of specifically Christian symbols in his conceptions
of God
i. The grace of God
ii. Divine love and justice
iii. Divine forgiveness
iv. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ
V. A COMPARISON AND
EVALUATION OF THE CONCEPTIONS OF GOD IN THE THINKING OF WIEMAN AND
TILLICH
1. God's existence
2. The personality of God
3. The transcendence and immanence of God
4. The super-human character of God
5. The power and knowledge of God
6. The eternity and omnipresence of God
7. The goodness of God
8. God's creative activity
9. God and evil
10. The question of monism versus pluralism
VI. CONCLUSIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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