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Conference Presentations by Alexander Blondeau

Returning to Tillich, 2018

Paul Tillich stated that salvation has as many meanings as there are negativities to require salv... more Paul Tillich stated that salvation has as many meanings as there are negativities to require salvation from. A contemporary negativity is the profanization of life resulting from efforts to attain fulfillment by way of technological control. In response to this, a movement has developed that champions the spontaneity and risk of adventure as a road to fulfillment. This paper makes use of Tillich’s concepts of “structure” and “depth” to argue that in a culture dominated by merely structural awareness, adventure, though not without its own ambiguity (the demonic), does serve as an opening to the depth of life, and therefore the possibility of salvation.

This paper studies intersections in the paradoxical soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian M... more This paper studies intersections in the paradoxical soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian Moore. Tillich’s soteriology will be seen in its philosophic mode, as viewed through his conceptualization of reason and revelation. The question will be, on this point, how does salvation relate to knowing? On the other hand, Sebastian Moore’s desire based soteriology will be seen in its psychotherapeutic mode. The question here will be, how does salvation relate to human desiring? By exploring the paradoxical dynamic operating in each of these thinkers it will be shown how they establish the possibility of intimacy by way of a drive toward union that is characterized by a radical form of detachment. In light of this, a final section will be devoted to exploring the possible role of centering prayer as a means of growing into a life thusly shaped.

This paper shows how the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” is asked from a... more This paper shows how the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” is asked from a framework that makes an affirmative answer impossible without positing God as a wholly arbitrary stopping point. The trouble lies in the way this tradition conceives of God as a concrete particular. As a concrete particular there is no necessary relation between the essence of God and the exemplification of God’s attributes (goodness, kindness, faithfulness, etc.). It is shown how this conception makes any assertion of metaphysical necessity ultimately arbitrary. As an alternative to this way of thinking, Paul Tillich and Thomas Aquinas are put into conversation as representatives of the classical ontology of divine simplicity. It is shown that if God’s essence is identical with God’s existence, then the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” doesn’t even make sense. Such a God is not a particular nor a universal, but the ever-emerging power of Being-itself. As such, radical doubt in the moral realm is therefore a path to moral goodness, and not the manifestation of mere autonomous self-assertion.

A recent movement in analytic philosophy of religion has attempted to explicitly enter the discou... more A recent movement in analytic philosophy of religion has attempted to explicitly enter the discourse of theology in the analytic mode. This presentation attempts to show the promise and danger of analytic theologizing. It is argued, by way of Paul Tillich, that the conceptual tools of analytic discourse provide one way that human thought can arrive at the doorstep of revelation. But this is so only if it is able to avoid the temptation of equating its logical object with the 'object' of theology. A trinitarian pattern of reasoning is proposed in the conclusion in which human reasoning is both conceptually incarnate, yet broken in its attempts to reveal the Father. In this paradox the Spirit is present.

Published Papers by Alexander Blondeau

Word & World, Jan 1, 2015

This is a paper for those for whom prayer has become a problem. Part of growing up is learning ho... more This is a paper for those for whom prayer has become a problem. Part of growing up is learning how to work in this world. Work is the effort and skill put to the service of applying means to some end. Almost anything we do in life can be conceived of in terms of work, it is natural then that one's life of prayer might be thought of thusly as well. However, this is a mistake that will guarantee that the spiritual lifeblood of one's prayer life will soon run out. Prayer does not work. I conclude that "living" is a better metaphor for what happens in prayer. To get there I utilize the framework of Paul Tillich and suggest that Centering Prayer can be a practice suitable to reconnecting the surface of life, ecstatically, with its depths.

In this issue: ❏ Note from the Editor ❏ Call for Papers for the 2015 Jahrbuch ❏ New Publicatio... more In this issue:
❏ Note from the Editor
❏ Call for Papers for the 2015 Jahrbuch
❏ New Publications on Tillich or by Tillich Scholars
❏ “Inexhaustible Depth: The Role of the Nothing in Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology” by Richard Grigg
❏ “Intimacy through Self-loss: Intersections in the Paradoxical Soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian Moore” by Alexander T. Blondeau
❏ “Tillich’s Systematic Theology as a Template for the Encounter of Christian Theology and Religious Naturalism” by Wesley J. Wildman
❏ “Cultural Transformation as Ultimate Concern: Tillich’s Theological Project of Cultural Embeddedness in Conversation with the Black Liberation Theology of James Cone” by Zachary W. Royal
❏ “The Irrelevance and Relevance of the Radical, Impure Tillich” by Michael Grimshaw

In this issue:  The Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in Baltimore and ... more In this issue:
 The Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in Baltimore and the New Officers of the Society
 Call for Papers for the 2014 Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society and the American Academy of Religion Group “Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture” in San Diego
 Call for Papers for a Conference on Paul Tillich in Oxford, 14–15 July 2014
 Call for Papers for the Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Paul-Tillichs Gesellschaft, 11 – 13 April 2014
 New Publications
 Tribute to Professor Robert P. Scharlemann by Mary Ann Stenger
 Announcement: Publication Opportunity—God in Popular Culture by Stephen ButlerMurray
 The Annual NAPTS Banquet Address by Marion Hausner Pauck: “Looking Back While Looking Forward”
 Beyond Kantian Criticism: Paul Tillich’s First Philosophy of Religion by Claude Perrottet, reviewed by Jean Richard
 “Inevitable, but not Necessary: Using Tillich’s Ontology to Formulate a 21st Century Interpretation of the Fall and Original Sin” by Annette Neblett Evans
 “Yes, But Only If God Does Not Exist: A Tillichian Answer to the Question of God’s Necessity for Morality” by Alexander T. Blondeau
 “Anxiety, Finite Freedom and the Fall of Humanity in Schelling, Kierkegaard, and Tillich” by Christian Danz

Dissertations by Alexander Blondeau

It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As ... more It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As a sociological fact, this may be hard to argue against. Much that goes by the name Christianity looks quite near to what Ernest Becker described as a fearful “death denying ideology.” In theological terminology, such ways of being amount to self-salvation programs. The terror of death drives us to avoid all forms of death. Yet, at the heart of Christianity stands one who chose his own death and encouraged his followers to take up their own crosses and follow him. Such an act, apparently, has an important role to play in an understanding of Christian salvation. In this thesis, I make use of developmental stages theory to illuminate what that role is. I argue that Christian salvation is founded on a paradoxical death that is best made sense of in light of contemporary developmental stages theory, in particular, at the thresholds of developmental stage transition. To illuminate this claim I trace out the logic across the rational, desirous, and active dimensions of human being. These dimensions are explored, in order, by way of Paul Tillich’s philosophy of religion, Sebastian Moore’s spiritual Christology, and the practice of Centering prayer. Taken together, it is concluded that Christianity has tremendous resources for helping its adherents come to grips with their death denying strategies and therefore enlarge their capacity for psychological and spiritual maturity.

In this paper the question of God’s necessity for morality is examined from an ontological perspe... more In this paper the question of God’s necessity for morality is examined from an ontological perspective. Two ways of answering “no” to the question are explored in section one: reductionistic ethical naturalism, and non-theistic ethical non-naturalism. The former is found to end with a reduced conception of morality, while the latter, though remaining non-theistic, posits a ground of reality somehow capable of making ethical facts true without providing an account of what it is about that reality that achieves this. Three ways of answering “yes” to the question are then explored in part two: a combination of theistic platonism and divine command theory, theistic essentialism, and a non-theistic religious theory. The first theory vacillates between understanding God as a concrete particular and ultimate value in a problematic way. The second theory attempts to root morality in God’s essence but is found not to succeed. And finally, the third theory is found to be the most satisfactory by being able to assimilate many of the insights of all prior theories while avoiding their pitfalls. This theory does so largely because of an understanding of God not as an existing being—one that is either the source of morality or subordinate to an ultimate value—but being-itself.

Papers by Alexander Blondeau

Returning to Tillich, 2018

Paul Tillich stated that salvation has as many meanings as there are negativities to require salv... more Paul Tillich stated that salvation has as many meanings as there are negativities to require salvation from. A contemporary negativity is the profanization of life resulting from efforts to attain fulfillment by way of technological control. In response to this, a movement has developed that champions the spontaneity and risk of adventure as a road to fulfillment. This paper makes use of Tillich’s concepts of “structure” and “depth” to argue that in a culture dominated by merely structural awareness, adventure, though not without its own ambiguity (the demonic), does serve as an opening to the depth of life, and therefore the possibility of salvation.

This paper studies intersections in the paradoxical soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian M... more This paper studies intersections in the paradoxical soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian Moore. Tillich’s soteriology will be seen in its philosophic mode, as viewed through his conceptualization of reason and revelation. The question will be, on this point, how does salvation relate to knowing? On the other hand, Sebastian Moore’s desire based soteriology will be seen in its psychotherapeutic mode. The question here will be, how does salvation relate to human desiring? By exploring the paradoxical dynamic operating in each of these thinkers it will be shown how they establish the possibility of intimacy by way of a drive toward union that is characterized by a radical form of detachment. In light of this, a final section will be devoted to exploring the possible role of centering prayer as a means of growing into a life thusly shaped.

This paper shows how the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” is asked from a... more This paper shows how the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” is asked from a framework that makes an affirmative answer impossible without positing God as a wholly arbitrary stopping point. The trouble lies in the way this tradition conceives of God as a concrete particular. As a concrete particular there is no necessary relation between the essence of God and the exemplification of God’s attributes (goodness, kindness, faithfulness, etc.). It is shown how this conception makes any assertion of metaphysical necessity ultimately arbitrary. As an alternative to this way of thinking, Paul Tillich and Thomas Aquinas are put into conversation as representatives of the classical ontology of divine simplicity. It is shown that if God’s essence is identical with God’s existence, then the question “Is God metaphysically necessary for morality?” doesn’t even make sense. Such a God is not a particular nor a universal, but the ever-emerging power of Being-itself. As such, radical doubt in the moral realm is therefore a path to moral goodness, and not the manifestation of mere autonomous self-assertion.

A recent movement in analytic philosophy of religion has attempted to explicitly enter the discou... more A recent movement in analytic philosophy of religion has attempted to explicitly enter the discourse of theology in the analytic mode. This presentation attempts to show the promise and danger of analytic theologizing. It is argued, by way of Paul Tillich, that the conceptual tools of analytic discourse provide one way that human thought can arrive at the doorstep of revelation. But this is so only if it is able to avoid the temptation of equating its logical object with the 'object' of theology. A trinitarian pattern of reasoning is proposed in the conclusion in which human reasoning is both conceptually incarnate, yet broken in its attempts to reveal the Father. In this paradox the Spirit is present.

Word & World, Jan 1, 2015

This is a paper for those for whom prayer has become a problem. Part of growing up is learning ho... more This is a paper for those for whom prayer has become a problem. Part of growing up is learning how to work in this world. Work is the effort and skill put to the service of applying means to some end. Almost anything we do in life can be conceived of in terms of work, it is natural then that one's life of prayer might be thought of thusly as well. However, this is a mistake that will guarantee that the spiritual lifeblood of one's prayer life will soon run out. Prayer does not work. I conclude that "living" is a better metaphor for what happens in prayer. To get there I utilize the framework of Paul Tillich and suggest that Centering Prayer can be a practice suitable to reconnecting the surface of life, ecstatically, with its depths.

In this issue: ❏ Note from the Editor ❏ Call for Papers for the 2015 Jahrbuch ❏ New Publicatio... more In this issue:
❏ Note from the Editor
❏ Call for Papers for the 2015 Jahrbuch
❏ New Publications on Tillich or by Tillich Scholars
❏ “Inexhaustible Depth: The Role of the Nothing in Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology” by Richard Grigg
❏ “Intimacy through Self-loss: Intersections in the Paradoxical Soteriologies of Paul Tillich and Sebastian Moore” by Alexander T. Blondeau
❏ “Tillich’s Systematic Theology as a Template for the Encounter of Christian Theology and Religious Naturalism” by Wesley J. Wildman
❏ “Cultural Transformation as Ultimate Concern: Tillich’s Theological Project of Cultural Embeddedness in Conversation with the Black Liberation Theology of James Cone” by Zachary W. Royal
❏ “The Irrelevance and Relevance of the Radical, Impure Tillich” by Michael Grimshaw

In this issue:  The Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in Baltimore and ... more In this issue:
 The Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in Baltimore and the New Officers of the Society
 Call for Papers for the 2014 Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society and the American Academy of Religion Group “Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture” in San Diego
 Call for Papers for a Conference on Paul Tillich in Oxford, 14–15 July 2014
 Call for Papers for the Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Paul-Tillichs Gesellschaft, 11 – 13 April 2014
 New Publications
 Tribute to Professor Robert P. Scharlemann by Mary Ann Stenger
 Announcement: Publication Opportunity—God in Popular Culture by Stephen ButlerMurray
 The Annual NAPTS Banquet Address by Marion Hausner Pauck: “Looking Back While Looking Forward”
 Beyond Kantian Criticism: Paul Tillich’s First Philosophy of Religion by Claude Perrottet, reviewed by Jean Richard
 “Inevitable, but not Necessary: Using Tillich’s Ontology to Formulate a 21st Century Interpretation of the Fall and Original Sin” by Annette Neblett Evans
 “Yes, But Only If God Does Not Exist: A Tillichian Answer to the Question of God’s Necessity for Morality” by Alexander T. Blondeau
 “Anxiety, Finite Freedom and the Fall of Humanity in Schelling, Kierkegaard, and Tillich” by Christian Danz

It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As ... more It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As a sociological fact, this may be hard to argue against. Much that goes by the name Christianity looks quite near to what Ernest Becker described as a fearful “death denying ideology.” In theological terminology, such ways of being amount to self-salvation programs. The terror of death drives us to avoid all forms of death. Yet, at the heart of Christianity stands one who chose his own death and encouraged his followers to take up their own crosses and follow him. Such an act, apparently, has an important role to play in an understanding of Christian salvation. In this thesis, I make use of developmental stages theory to illuminate what that role is. I argue that Christian salvation is founded on a paradoxical death that is best made sense of in light of contemporary developmental stages theory, in particular, at the thresholds of developmental stage transition. To illuminate this claim I trace out the logic across the rational, desirous, and active dimensions of human being. These dimensions are explored, in order, by way of Paul Tillich’s philosophy of religion, Sebastian Moore’s spiritual Christology, and the practice of Centering prayer. Taken together, it is concluded that Christianity has tremendous resources for helping its adherents come to grips with their death denying strategies and therefore enlarge their capacity for psychological and spiritual maturity.

In this paper the question of God’s necessity for morality is examined from an ontological perspe... more In this paper the question of God’s necessity for morality is examined from an ontological perspective. Two ways of answering “no” to the question are explored in section one: reductionistic ethical naturalism, and non-theistic ethical non-naturalism. The former is found to end with a reduced conception of morality, while the latter, though remaining non-theistic, posits a ground of reality somehow capable of making ethical facts true without providing an account of what it is about that reality that achieves this. Three ways of answering “yes” to the question are then explored in part two: a combination of theistic platonism and divine command theory, theistic essentialism, and a non-theistic religious theory. The first theory vacillates between understanding God as a concrete particular and ultimate value in a problematic way. The second theory attempts to root morality in God’s essence but is found not to succeed. And finally, the third theory is found to be the most satisfactory by being able to assimilate many of the insights of all prior theories while avoiding their pitfalls. This theory does so largely because of an understanding of God not as an existing being—one that is either the source of morality or subordinate to an ultimate value—but being-itself.