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Jacob Boehme and Paul Tillich: a reassessment of the mystical philosopher and systematic theologian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2006

DANIEL J. PETERSON
Affiliation:
Department of Religion, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA 98447-0003

Abstract

Jacob Boehme, the seventeenth-century mystical philosopher, had a significant influence upon Paul Tillich. In this article I offer a reassessment of the relationship between these two thinkers by arguing for an orthodox interpretation of Boehme's doctrine of God that links him more closely with Tillich than recent commentators have suggested. Specifically, I show how Boehme and Tillich stand united against the heterodox Hegel in their presentation of a dynamic process of divinity's self-differentiation and reconciliation that completes itself apart from history rather than within history. This move, I conclude, keeps Boehme and Tillich squarely within the realm of Christian orthodoxy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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