symbols

•  A sign is something that conveys a message or a point to something but it has no deeper meaning. For example, a one-way sign or a notification
• A symbol is something that conveys a message and has a deeper meaning as they evoke emotion through going beyond the symbol itself. For example, a nation’s flag
• Paul Tillich

  Tillich made a distinction between a sign and a symbol. He believed that all language was made up of symbols and signs
• “the language of faith is the language of symbols” - Paul Tillich
• Paul Tillich

  Highlights that within religious discourse, symbols are the best way to discuss God’s nature in expressing his true meaning. Humans need to use symbols to communicate about God and to gain an understanding of his attributes. 

  Symbols like the cross help us to describe things that words are not capable of truly conveying as they obtain a deeper meaning. For Tillich, the only way that I can talk about God is through symbols. For example, the Cross is symbolic of Jesus’ sacrifice for humans, for God’s love and it symbolises atonement.
• The Problem of religious language, for Tillich, is the incorrect idea that it gives literal assertions (cognitive language) about the world when instead religious language should be understood as symbolic , as otherwise the use of the language becomes meaningless.
• “Religious symbols are distinguished from others by the fact that they are a representation of that which is unconditionally beyond the conceptual sphere they point to the ultimate reality implied” - Tillich
• “Religious symbols are distinguished from others by the fact that they are a representation of that which is unconditionally beyond the conceptual sphere they point to the ultimate reality implied”- through referring to God as the ultimate reality, Tillich argues symbolic language allows us to reveal the true nature and attributes of God. The symbolic understanding that transcends mere language as they are “unconditionally beyond the conceptual sphere they point to the ultimate reality implied”.
• Tillich refers to God as the “Ultimate Symbol” as he is the “ground of our being”.

  Humans are dependent on God as God is the foundation and source of all creation, meaning that ‘man’s ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate” unlike the use of cognitive language that limits the extent of God’s nature in its inability to provide profound meanings like symbols can.
• Tillich rejected the God of the Bible who was elevated as an ‘ideal’ by humans; because of this, theists have confused symbols with them being the reality of God, however, God transcends this an name as well as this finite reality and so this cognitive language can give way to assumptions or blasphemy
• Randall

  20th century philosopher

  -Supporting Tillich’s notion of symbols, he agrees that they are non-cognitive symbols providing an emotional response that is unique to them.

  Randall developed his own theory of symbolic language which was explicitly non-cognitive. Tillich’s theory had at least some seemingly cognitive elements to it, e.g. the participation of symbols in ‘being itself’ and the connecting of our souls to spiritual levels of reality.
• Tillich's 4 functions of symbols:

  -Motivation: Spiritual Motivation

  -Inspire: Influences Christ-like actions + faith

  -Clarify: establishes the divine and who they are

  • -Express emotion elicits an emotional response e.g the crucifix + sacrifice
• Tillich argues that symbols “teach us how to find the Divine: they show us visions of God” e.g rituals allow us to feel a unique, new-found understanding and connection with God.
• Strengths (of symbols)

  • -a creator would logically give humans the ability to refer to him - in line with God’s nature without having to use language moves beyond the literalistic interpretation
  • -humans can speak about God without anthropomorphising this as a human construct 
  • -Understanding the limitations of finite beings in comparison to a finite being.
• Weakness (of symbols)

  • -Symbols are sensitive to cultural referencing e.g the swastika was taken from Hinduism and manipulated by their believers.
  • -They are not consistent and Tillich himself recognised they ‘grow and die’
  • -A theist needs dependable language but symbols do not allow for a clear, definitive understanding about God potentially allowing for Anomie
  • -Meanings of symbols=subjective so it is impossible to know if they are interpreted ‘correctly’.