Tillich’s Indebtedness to Kant: Two Recently Translated Review Essays on Rudolf Otto’s Idea of the Holy

Abstract

The article will show, through two of Tillich’s lesser-known writings – the newspaper review articles on the person and work of Rudolf Otto – that Otto greatly influenced Tillich at a formative stage in his intellectual development and that several key elements of Tillich’s mature thought are found in Tillich’s analysis of Otto. It will also show, in reference to the interpretations of Caird and Palmquist, that Otto’s philosophy of religion can be fruitfully understood as a direct extension of Kant’s critical philosophy. Furthermore, o author show how the superstructure of Tillich’s theology bears a striking resemblance to Kant’s philosophy in the sense of Caird, Otto, and Palmquist. Insofar as this analysis is accurate, Tillich’s systematic theology is as much grounded on the philosophy of Kant as it is on the philosophy of Schelling.