lich's theology. This is a difficult matter because of the indeterminacy of human experience in this regard. Tillich acknowledges this throughout his writing, as for example when he refers to the Holy as something that "transcends positively and negatively all immediate forms of consciousness . . . [and] becomes for consciousness on the one hand the fulfillment toward which the latter strives and on the other the abyss before which it recoils" (Tillich, 1969, p. 84). It appears to be the purpose of Tillich's theology to interpret what is transcendent with a view toward finding meaning in what is immediately available to the rational consciousness. For Tillich, this means making the Christian message relevant to the modern human condition. In this connection he refers to "situation" theology, which considers "the creative interpretation of existence . . . under all kinds of psychological and sociological conditions. . . The 'situation' to which theology must respond is the totality of man's creative self-interpretation in a special period" (Tillich, ST I, p. 4). To put it another way, Tillich asserts an immediate real-world relevance for what may initially be perceived as timeless or eternal.
Tillich's point of departure in that regard is what he calls the Protestant principle (Tillich, Protestant, 1957; ST, 1951, 1957 & 1963), the name given to the religious concept, originating with Luther's interpretation of Paul, of justification by faith, "the idea that separated Protestantism from Catholicism and that became the so-called 'material' principle of the Protestant churches" (Tillich, Protestant, 1957, p. x). The Protestant principle was initially formulated as an alternative to the Roman Church's self-designation as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic--each of these characteristics an attribute of the fact that the institution of the Church is authoritative as an institution in all matters of faith and doctrine. In such an institutio...