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The North American Paul Tillich Society
The North American Paul Tillich Society is dedicated to the study of the thought of Paul Tillich (1886-1965) and the application of his works to other areas of human knowledge.
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NAPTS 2025 Meeting, in conjunction with the AAR, in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday, November 21st, 2025
Call for Proposals on Tillich and Nature
For the 2025 Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society, the Society seeks papers vaguely organized around the theme of Tillich and Nature. The Society is particularly interested in papers addressing the following themes:
The Axiology of Nature in Tillich's Cosmology and Environmental EthicsA great deal of both Modern and Postmodern thought has emphasized that value is something projected by humans onto the world around us, not something inherent to things in themselves. The fact-value bifurcation has meant that, in both American and European approaches to environmentalism, most have argued that the environment is worth conserving or protecting as a natural resource to support human life (e.g., Pinchot), while a few have argued that the environment should be preserved because it is good in itself (e.g., Muir). Tillich develops robust categories of ontological elements (or cosmological metaphysics)-individualization and participation, dynamics and form, and freedom and destiny (ST, I.174-86)-as the generic traits of existence that are contingent on or grounded by the ground of being. In theory, these categories describe the world and any situation that might exist. In Tillich's mature thought, he developed a principled situationalist approach to ethics, with agape as the key moral imperative. This approach to social ethics and theological ethics has been particularly fruitful in the fields of medicine and technology, but Tillich wrote very little about how the principle of love might apply to the non-human environment, only how nature relates to structures of power (Love, Power, & Justice, 91-2).
What is Tillich's axiology of nature based on his cosmology?
Does a Tillichian axiology of nature identify the environment as good-in-itself or good as a resource to support human flourishing?
Many of the terms in Tillich's cosmological categories derive from depth psychology. Can a Tillichian axiology of nature and environmental ethics be extended to non-sentient parts of ecosystems or is it restricted only to sentient animals or to living organisms?
Would this axiology lead to a preservation or conservation approach to environmental ethics? How might a Tillichian approach to axiology and ethics balance these two impulses within environmental ethics?
How might Tillich's ethical approach be applied to the current environmental crisis?
The Ground of Being and Religious Naturalism(s)
Tillich's concept of the ground of being radically transforms many classical Christian theological concepts of God (while lifting up others that emphasize God as being itself or pure act) by rejecting both supernaturalisms and supranaturalisms that finitize God as a being, perhaps the highest, alongside the world (ST, II:5-10). Tillich also rejected "naturalism" because he associated it with materialistic and mechanistic concepts of the nature. His third way attempted to go beyond "two insufficient and religiously dangerous solutions" (ST, II:7). Tillich's claim that "Ontology is not a speculative-fantastic attempt to establish a world behind the world; it is an analysis of those structures of being which we encounter in every meeting with reality" (ST, I:20) provides an excellent criterion for deciding if a theology is a religious naturalism or not, but does his claim that "the finite world points beyond itself" (ST, II:7) undermine his own criterion?
Is Tillich a religious naturalist, by today's standards? Have the presuppositions of naturalism changed sufficiently to include the depth dimension, as Tillich required for theology?
Would he consider "ecstatic naturalism" a viable account
How does Tillich's ground of being religious naturalism(?) enhance or restrict divine freedom?
Papers that take a comparative approach to any of these topics are especially encouraged; possibly fruitful conversation partners for the topics of cosmology and religious naturalism might include, but are not limited to, Zhou Dunyi, Wang Bi, Adi Sa?kara, Abhinavagupta, Spinoza, Leibniz, Robert Corrington, Ursula Goodenough, Wesley Wildman, Robert Neville, and Donald Crosby. Possibly fruitful conversation partners for the environmental ethics part of the call might include Rosemary Radford Ruether, Rachel Carlson, Aldo Leopold, James Miller, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Peter Singer, Tom Regan, and John Lame Deer.
Papers on other generic themes which are timely and intended to advance the contemporary development of Tillichian studies are also welcomed
North American Paul Tillich Society Fellowship
Additionally, NAPTS seeks paper proposals from junior scholars (ABD or PhD completed no earlier than 2022) to participate in its Annual Meeting. Up to two selected participants will become 2025 Tillich Society Fellows. Each fellow will receive up to $250.00 in travel reimbursement to attend the annual meeting and will have their NAPTS dues waived for the year; please explicitly state that the proposal is for the Fellowship, not the general call, in order to be considered for funding. Fellows will also be assigned a mentor from among the more senior scholars in the Society who have related interests.
Proposals should develop an aspect of Tillich's thought (i.e. a theme, trajectory, or method) or constructively employ Tillich's method within their work. This is to say that the Society seeks constructive, rather than historical, proposals. We encourage papers that use specific theological tools or ideas from Tillich to address contemporary theological and cultural issues. In selecting Fellows, weight will be given to original constructive contribution over demonstration of exhaustive knowledge of Tillich's works. Abstracts of dissertation chapters, journal articles, or book chapters in progress are quite welcome.
To propose a paper for one of the topics in the general CFP, please submit an abstract of approximately 350 words and a current CV to Greylyn R. Hydinger no later than May 1, 2025. Fellowship proposals should indicate that the proposal is for the Fellowship, not the general call, and should include a 250 word abstract of the paper and a CV; these materials also should be submitted to Greylyn R. Hydinger by May 1, 2025. Selected proposals for the CFP and selected Fellows will be notified no later than June 1, 2025. Accepting the Fellowship includes agreement to attend the sessions of the NAPTS Annual Meeting on November 21st, 2025, in Boston, MA in conjunction with the AAR and SBL. Submissions of a proposal indicates agreement to submit a full paper draft by November 1, 2025 for pre-circulation among the panelists. Panel presentation durations will be limited in order to privilege time for Q&A and discussion of the papers.
Paul Tillich: Heritage series interviews November 13, 2018
Enhanced television interviews of Paul Tillich from the Heritage series, broadcast by Pittsburg Public Television, February 1961. Interviewing Dr. Tillich are Professors Walter Wiest and Robert C. Johnson of Pittsburg Theological Seminary.These videos will be posted under Tillich Resources