Even the faith of the liberal needs expression and some communal formulation, and it needs to be defended against authoritarian attacks. Even more: the ultimate concern of the liberal needs concrete contents, as does every ultimate concern. He also lives in institutions of a definite historical character. He, too, has a special language and uses special symbols. His faith is not the abstract affirmation of freedom, but is the faith in freedom as an element in the concreteness of the total situation. If he undercuts this concreteness in the name of freedom, he produces a vacuum into which antiliberal forces can easily enter. Only creative faith can resist the onslaught of destructive faith. Only the concern with what is truly ultimate can stand against idolatrous concerns.
— Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, p.30.
Â
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In