The Christian interpretation of history in Paul Tillich and Christopher Dawson

Abstract

The preparation of this dissertation has been an engaging and rewarding project. There were difficulties, to be sure, chief among them being Tillich's highly individualistic vocabulary and compressed style which produced a certain initial apprehension. But this writer, for one, can testify to the transition (that is likely to come to anyone who will study Tillioh's thought) from bewilderment to profound admiration and appreciation. Dawson's thought presented no such initial complications due to his loud and arresting style. There were, however, difficulties to be encountered in attempting to uncover the basic philosophical and theological presuppositions in his thinking. It is regrettable that Tillich's second volume of his Systematic Theology is not yet in print. This hurdle, however, was not insurmountable, for Tillich has published, in mimeographed form, an outline of his forthcoming Systematics whioh is really an abstract of material to be covered in Volume II. (Quotations from this source are referred to in footnotes as The Propositions.)