1951–1963

Tillich: The Method of Correlation and Apologetic Theology

In his three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–1963) Tillich, unlike Barth, regarded the task of theology as primarily apologetic and based on philosophy. Theology moves between the eternal truth of the message and the temporal situation; the method of correlation "explains the contents of the Christian faith through existential questions and theological answers in mutual interdependence": human existence asks the questions, revelation gives the answers. Tillich set it against the supranaturalistic, naturalistic and dualistic methods. Critics reproached him for giving philosophy too much power and fitting faith to an ontology (a "Procrustean bed").