Paul Tillich The Dynamics Of Faith

When it comes to discussing science and religion, people normally do not combine the two and this is because of their different characteristics. Religion is open for interpretation and diverse, while science is rigid and precise. Unlike science, religion is often difficult to explain or prove. Religion is a compilation of many theories composed of believed stories passed down through word of mouth or by book, but other than people saying that it is real there is no way of proving religion’s authenticity. Science on the other hand is experimental and proven through data collected. Science can explain complex processes of the world using chemistry, biology, physics, etc. The theories that stem from those subjects can be argued, but they are argued
Similar to Lewis, Tillich talks about the total demand of faith which is giving total surrender to your faith. The two others are threat and promise. The threat being that if a person does all things morally correct and is active in their faith, there is a possibility that they will not receive fulfillment. The promise is a person being rewarded with the fulfillment they desired (247). The other theme of Tillich is his idea of there being an ultimate concern. In regards to faith, “faith is the state of being ultimately concerned” (248). In other words, if one has fully committed to their faith then they are being ultimately concerned about whether they will receive fulfillment. In science there are similar principals. A scientist will have faith in their research or their experiments and will hope for some results, whether they be good or bad. A scientist does face the threat or promise complex because while they hope to receive good results they may collect no data or useless data. In religion this concept also applies, but in different context. At least within science you can safely assume that you will receive some sort of response; bad data, good data, or errors. In religion however, that can not be a safe assumption. Because religion is ambiguous and the theories are not able to be confirmed in any aspect, it is hard to determine what actions need to be done in order to receive a response. A religious person can spend their whole life living by a truthful moral compass and devoting their life to learning and studying the teachings of their religion. Then there can be another person who rarely participates in their faith and does not bother with learning from it. The problem is that both of them are given the same threat or promise of fulfillment. In religion there is no definite guideline to how people need to act in order to receive fulfillment. This