Chapter 22, “Behold, I Am Doing a New Thing” pp. 173-186
Isaiah 43:16, 1819; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 11:19; Isaiah 65:16-17; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Matthew 9:16-17; Revelation 21:1-5
Tillich here considers “old” and “new.” There is an old which has always been old because it is eternal. But usually we consider the old as something which passes away. In all of life, when we grow and change, bringing in something new means something old passes away, or at least that one new thing is chosen over against another.
We have pursued reason above tradition and superstition. This requires the old to pass away. We have chosen to live as individual nations, removing unity of all mankind. We develop a secular world which tends to exclude religion. But that cannot happen. We need a religious foundation or nothing new can be born from God.
Tillich reminds us that when something truly new comes to be, the power and even memory of the old is broken. Otherwise, the new is not really new. In all our pursuit of newness we must seek the new from that which is eternal, love. This is how we can find the new.
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