Whether supporting or opposing theological theory, Tian's explanation of history is a great stimulus. His most basic contribution is the concept of Kairos. This concept is the key to understand Tian's thought (Note 27). The birth of Christ is the biggest conflict between divinity and magic; Through this conflict, the kingdom of God defeated the kingdom of Satan (Note 28). In paul tillich's theological theory, the concepts of time and relevance are closely related.
On the positive side, paul tillich's historical theology is very valuable. The concept of opportunity, the main structure of history, the direct shoulder of history, the symbol of historical moment, the historicity and super-historicity of the kingdom of heaven have all made great contributions to the ideological line of contemporary theology. Therefore, the imperfection of paul tillich's theological thought lies not in what he said, but in his silence.
(1) His essentialization theory is the connection between Christology and historical theology. Jesus Christ is the core of history. Through Christ, the meaning or goal of history is presented. The purpose of this period of history is the "new reality", that is, the essential humanity. In Jesus Christ, "new reality" appears in history, but at the same time it has a goal beyond history and becomes the ultimate goal of historical progress.
However, paul tillich did not associate the "new reality" Christianity with eschatology. In other words, he did not clearly point out the connection between our resurrection and the resurrection of Christ. In addition, there is an unsolved problem: how can God and man be reunited because of essentialization? How does God unite with man through Christ? How is the divinity and humanity of the church unified? These questions are all different sides of the same question, and we need to seek answers.
(2) in paul tillich's eschatology, another surprising omission is about death. Death is the end of a person's temporal existence, belonging to that moment in history; However, because it is an absolute threat to "existence" (Note 29), paul tillich naturally put it aside and turned to pay attention to the super-historical significance of "death".
(3) paul tillich did not discuss the issue of life after death. This problem involves the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. He once discussed personal self-consciousness in eternity. Unfortunately, he only provided two negative statements: First, self-awareness cannot be excluded from eternal life. Second, the self-consciousness in eternal life is different from that in this world. He also gave two negative answers about the resurrected spiritual body; First, he is not a pure spirit. Second, he is not a pure substance. Paul tillich thought that the previous theories about soul and body were in danger of dualism, but he didn't give a clear answer.
From the above introspection, we notice that paul tillich's answers to questions are often symbolic or even untenable. This is the route taken by many modern theologians. Some people think that this answer is often more satisfactory than the other answers in the end. However, some people are very dissatisfied with this. They strive for a positive answer. They believe that "existence" itself is a great affirmation.
Finally, although paul tillich's theological theory is not perfect (in fact, no theologian's theory is perfect. ), but it is undeniable that he is one of the most famous theologians in modern times. On the issue of history and the kingdom of heaven, he once gave a very pertinent conclusion. Tian li can say: "We can't expect to find perfect justice and peace in the course of history, but we can hope that justice will win partially at a certain moment." (Note 3 1)