The collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains speeches, sermons, and other materials, including Tillich's 1952 James W. Richard Lecture, eventually published as Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality, among others; a 1953 stenographic transcription in 4 copies of Tillich's lecture notes for his Spring 1953 course, Church History Systematic Theology 108-Introduction to the History of Christianity; a photocopy and a bound copy of Tillich's Systematic Theology [Vol.1], the preliminary draft meant for his students' private use, in five parts; as well as a separately sourced preliminary draft of Tillich's Systematic Theology [Vol.1] annotated by Eric Gault Finley, who was a visiting student from Teachers College, Columbia University, and attended Tillich's courses between 1949 and 1951.
Series 1: Speeches and Sermons, 1943 -- 1965
This series contains speeches and sermons and other materials, including Tillich's 1952 James W. Richard Lecture, eventually published as Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c1955], a typescript of Tillich's 1954 personal correspondence in German dealing with a forwarded question concerning his theology, typescripts of a 1943 letter to Thomas Mann in English, a 1955 presentation titled "Church and Contemporary Culture", a 1965 address before the Pacem in Terris Convocation, and a compilation of sermons delivered between 1955 and 1964. A number of sermons do not have any original date annotation.
Series 2: Course Lecture Notes, 1953 -- 1956
This series contains a 1953 stenographic transcription in 4 copies, one of which is incomplete, of Tillich's lecture notes for his Spring 1953 course, Church History Systematic Theology 108-Introduction to the History of Christianity; the stenographer was Peter Hanna John (BD 1957) who also edited History of Christian Thought [Providence?: 1956].
Series 3: Systematic Theology Course Notes and Drafts, circa 1930 -- 1952
This series contains a photocopy and a bound copy of Tillich's Systematic Theology [Vol.1], the preliminary draft meant for his students' private use, in five parts. The fifth part is stamped with the date of May 1940. There is also a loose-leaf record, which may be verbatim, of parts III and IV of Tillich's Spring of 1952 Systematic Theology 338: Advanced Problems in Systematic Theology course with an extensive index and a fragmented variant of Systematic Theology parts three, four and five.
Series 4: Eric Gault Finley's Annotations on Systematic Theology, 1950 -- 2002
This series contains a separately sourced preliminary draft of Tillich's Systematic Theology [Vol.1] annotated by Eric Gault Finley who was a visiting student from Teachers College, Columbia University, and attended Tillich's courses between 1949 and 1951. The series includes Finley's transcription of a compilation of Propositions in the form of a spiral bound copy titled "The Underlying Propositions to Paul Tillich's Theology," and miscellaneous supplemental material. This was distributed to all students enrolled in Tillich's Systematic Theology 337 and 338 courses. In addition, this series includes the partially annotated personal copy of Systematic Theology draft part 3 and a non-annotated copy of part 5 from Elmer Jacob Frederick Arndt's, STM 1931.
Union Theological Seminary Archives: UTS 1, papers of faculty and students
This collection is arranged in four series: Series 1: Speeches and Sermons; Series 2: Course Lecture Notes; Series 3: Systematic Theology Course Notes and Drafts; and Series 4: Eric Gault Finley's Annotations on Systematic Theology.
The collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
Item description, UTS1: Paul Tillich Papers, Series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
The main collection of Paul Tillich's papers is held at the Harvard Divinity School: Tillich, Paul, 1886-1965. Papers, 1894-1974., bMS 649. Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University.
A former finding aid includes a listing of Paul Tillich's courses taught at Union Theological Seminary from 1933-1955; please contact Burke staff for more information.
The exact provenance of Series 1 is unknown; however, there is evidence in the collection (Series 1 Box 1 Folder 2) of Tillich's intention to place a copy of his Systematic Theology, preliminary draft in 5 parts, in the Union library (1954). On June 14, 2005 Rae Finley (Series 4 Box 4 Folder 4), wife of Eric Gault Finley, donated her husband's material to the UTS Archive. David Arndt (Series 4 Box 4 Folder 4) donated alumnus Jacob Frederick Arndt's materials on September 8, 2008. UTS Alumnus Peter Hanna John is assumed to be the source of the 1953 stenographic transcription of Tillich's lecture notes.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
Some lecture notes, sermons, and drafts of books were cataloged by Lynn A. Grove on 1988-07-14. Metal clips and staples were removed from materials and folded items were flattened. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Acidic items were separated from one another by interleaving with acid-free paper as needed. The finding aid was created by Maksim Astashinskiy in 2012 and updated by Rebecca Nieto in 2018 with the support of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2024.
2024-02-29 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
Paulus Johannes Oskar was born on August, 20th 1886, to parents Johannes Oskar Tillich and Wilhelmina Mathilde Dürselen, in Starzeddel, Germany. In 1902, the year of his confirmation in the Lutheran Church at the age of sixteen, Paul decided that he would immerse himself in philosophy. Tillich attended three institutions between 1904 and 1907: studying in Berlin, Tübingen and Halle before earning his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Breslau (1911) and subsequently returning to the University of Halle (1912) to complete his Licentiate of Theology degree. Having held appointments at the faculties of Marburg, Dresden and Leipzig, Tillich was dismissed in 1933 from his chaired professorship in philosophy at Frankfurt am Main as a reprisal for his speaking out against the National Socialist Party. Fortunately for Tillich, his personal and academic history was of great interest to H. Richard Niebuhr of Yale University and his brother Reinhold of Union Theological Seminary. In consultation with the Niebuhr brothers and the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, Henry Sloane Coffin (Union's president between 1926 and 1946) recruited Tillich to the Seminary. In spite of the enduring Depression, together with apportioning a modest living stipend and on-campus housing for the Tillich family, the Seminary's Board of Directors approved a lectureship for Paul in philosophy of religion and systematic theology. Thanks in part to Union seminarians and others lobbying on his behalf, Tillich was made an associate professor by 1937. Three years later he was promoted to the rank of full professor in the area of philosophical theology. Although Tillich's scholarship was seen as overly theological in nature and thus not squaring well with the methodologies employed by the Department of Philosophy at neighboring Columbia University, his ideas were well received at Union once students grew accustomed to Tillich's Germanisms and the new terminology he coined to better express himself in the English language. Tillich's tenure at Union culminated with the publication of the first installment of his 1951 Systematic Theology, which was followed by the popularly acclaimed 1952 work titled The Courage To Be. Tillich retired from the Seminary as the Charles A. Briggs Graduate Professor of Philosophical Theology in 1955. Tillich went on to spend another ten years in the academy: seven as University Professor at Harvard and three as the Nuveen Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago, up until his death on October, 22nd 1965 at the age of seventy-nine. Paul was survived by his second wife Hannah Werner-Gottschow, whom he married in 1924, and their two children: son René Descartes and daughter Christante Farris. Well past the age of retirement, Paul continued teaching, lecturing widely and writing. He published the third and final installment of his renowned Systematic Theology in 1963, just two years ahead of his passing. Much like The Courage To Be, Tillich's 1957 Dynamics of Faith strove to introduce existential religiosity to a broader audience.
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