Pop-cultural approaches to Paul Tillich‘s image of God
Infos
This module offers an introduction to Paul Tillich’s image of God. To this end, a pop-cultural approach is chosen that enables students to develop their own definitions of religion, theology and God independently of Tillich.
Dauer
90 minutes
Kompetenzen
Students will gain an overview of Paul Tillich’s understanding of religion, in particular his “Theology of Culture”.
Materialien
Music video by Joan Osborne: “One of Us”
Podcast by Deutschlandfunk: Interview with Matthias Kroeger
Themenfelder
Task 1
Watch the music video “One of Us” by Joan Osborne.
a) To what extent is religion/theology a theme in the music video and lyrics of the song?
b) How would you describe the understanding of God in the song?
c) What do you think of the representation of God or the religious in the music video and lyrics?
Task 2
Work through the slides on Paul Tillich’s life and theology and summarise the main biographical milestones and the basic principles of his theology in your own words.
Task 3
Look at the “Jägermeister” and “Volkswagen” advertisements.
a) How would you describe the images?
b) To what extent do the images contain religious symbols?
c) What function could these religious symbols have?
Task 4
Read Paul Tillich’s text “Religion as a Dimension in Man's Spiritual Life”.
a) Why, for Tillich, should religion not begin with the question of the existence of God?
b) How does Tillich describe the relationship between religion and the three spiritual functions of morality, cognition and aesthetics?
c) What benefit does Tillich’s talk of religion as a dimension of depth promise?