Religious Language as Symbolic

Presented by Paul Tillich

According to Tillich, religious statement should not be interpreted literally. E.g. “Yahweh spoke to the prophets” does not mean that God “speaks” by expelling air across physical vocal cords

According to Tillich, when God is a subject of predication (that is, when qualities, relationships, or actions are attributed to God), such descriptions must be understood symbolically because God is transcendent, infinite, and beyond all limits

Tillich, refers to God as “wholly other” to emphasise that he is radically unlike anything else we know. Tillich famously presented the view that God is not being at all but “the Ground of Being”. (to suggest God is a being would suggest that he is a thing within many).

“The ground of being”… just as the foundation supports the building, God is the foundation of all existence

Without this ground, nothing could exist at all. This avoids imagining God in physical or human like terms and instead presents God as the deepest level of reality.

According to Tillich, God is being experience of God is experience of existence itself not of a being

God is encountered through religious experience, we encounter that which gives meaning to all things and discover that God is “being-itself”. It is an experience which gives meaning to everything else. God is the “ultimate concern”

Because God is not a being, the language cannot adequately describe “being-itself”

To speak of “being-itself” is, in effect, to explore what it means to exist at all

Any attempt to speak of God in literal terms is mistaken, as it treats God as a specific, separate being among others. To describe God literally wrongly implies that God is a being with particular characteristics and actions, whereas Tillich insists that God transcends such categories.

He therefore maintains that it is impossible to state in literal terms exactly what symbolic language about God is asserting

If religious statements are not intended to make literal claims about God’s attributes, what purpose do they serve?

Tillich argues that religious language functions as a form of revelation. It directs individuals towards their “ultimate concern” and provides an opportunity to encounter God

Through symbols, individuals are able to connect with a deeper, higher level of reality that would otherwise remain inaccessible. In this way, symbols open up a dimension of understanding and link us to this greater reality.

Symbols emerge – they are not created. Symbols are not artificially invented – they arise naturally out of religious experience.

To believe that the true nature religion can only be discovered through religious experience and that such experience can only be expressed by symbolic language. The symbolic language used by others to express the experience of God opens up levels of reality that which otherwise be closed to us.

Every single opens up a level of reality for which non-symbolic language is inadequate. For example, artistic forms such as poetry, visual art, and music, are able to express and uncover aspects of reality in ways that no other form of language can achieve.

By revealing the deepest levels of reality, religious symbols also uncover

The most profound dimension of human experience within the soul

Tillich develops his ideas by distinguishing between signs and symbols. A sign uses images and words to point something beyond itself. E.g. a traffic signal that is okay to move – it means go.

There is no essential relationship between the sign and the command or reality it points to. The sign could be changed – a blue light might come to be a sign to go.

Signs do not participate in the reality which they point to – there’s no connection between the green light and the command to go; it is just that we have chosen that green should signal go

Symbols, like signs, point to something beyond themselves but unlike signs, symbols do participate in the reality they pointed. Symbols emerge as symbols because they are connected in someway to reality which they point to.

Emerge

They aren’t choosing in a random way. They emerge as symbols because they produce responses. Symbols die when they no longer produce responses.

The cross is connected to the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion is believed by Christians to demonstrate God‘s love. The cross emerges as a symbol for God‘s love. As a symbol, it connects the believer to a higher reality and evokes emotion. Each person will connect with the symbol in a different way.

• Tillich would understand the cross as a religious symbol that does far more than simply refer to a historical object or event. In his view, the cross participating and reveals a deeper level of reality.

• The cross symbolises theme such as sacrifice, suffering, and redemption, but it is not just a sign pointing to these ideas. Instead, it opens up a deeper dimension of reality, allowing believers to encounter the meaning of these ideas in their own lives.

• For Tillich. The cross expresses the ultimate concern of Christianity. It points to the human condition – sin, estrangement, and suffering – and at the same time reveals the possibility of reconciliation and transformation through God

• The symbol of the cross also works on the inner life of the person. It does not just tell a story about Jesus’s death; it evokes a personal response, opening up the deepest level of the soul to experiences of guilt, forgiveness, hope, and new life.

• Importantly, Tillich would say the meaning of the cross cannot be fully captured by literal explanation. Any attempt to reduce it to a simple historical or factual statement misses its power. Its true significance lies and how it communicates something ultimate and transcendent through symbolic language.

• In summary, for Tillich, the cross is a powerful symbol that reveals profound truths about God and human existence, opening up both deeper reality and deeper human experience

Tillich’s theory of participation suggest that symbolic meaning involves four key elements

Pointing beyond itself, participation, revealing reality, opening the soul

Pointing beyond itself

A symbol directs attention to something greater than itself.

E.g. the crucifix points to Christianity, while religious language refers to God or the divine

Participation

Symbols do not merely indicate something; they share in its reality. The crucifix is not just a reminder of Christianity but is part of it and religious language participates in the being of God, or in “being-itself”

Revealing reality

A true symbol discloses a deeper level of meaning, opening up spiritual dimensions of reality that would otherwise remain hidden

Opening the soul

Symbols also correspond to and awaken deeper levels of the human soul, allowing individuals to experience the same dimensions of reality internally