Looking for Absolutes
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. ”
Each generation thinks they have the ultimate knowledge and previous generations remain severely limited. The same is true of theologians. Because previous generations did not affirm women’s ordination, the LGBTQ community, and often ignored racial challenges, etc., we refuse to listen or learn from their experience. As a result, few, in any, seminary students today take the time to read one of the most brilliant 20th-century theologians, Paul Tillich. Last week I picked up a book printed in 1967, written by Ruth Nanda Anshen, describing Tillich’s work, entitled My Search for Absolutes.
Today, we struggle mightily with the idea of relativism. If everything is relative, there are no absolutes. Life without absolutes means we have no God, no moral imperatives, nothing to hang our intellectual and spiritual hats on. Paul Tillich recognized that relativism would continue to chip away at our personal and corporate identity and leave us with nothing but empty fatalism. So, with passion, Tillich went in search of absolutes.
Tillich finds an absolute in God’s divine agape love. Agape love is a moral principle that transcends limitations and cannot be proven wrong. Yet, Anshen describes Tillich’s concern to remain focused on retaining the integrity of agape love. “To be correctly understood, it must be purged of many wrong connotations. Love as agape has the basic principle of justice within itself. If people deny justice to others but say they love them, they miss completely the meaning of agape.”
Even absolutes require human responsibility. Sadly, through free will, we humans have the creative power to destroy love. Yet, with God’s help, we will be able to learn to love absolutely through the Holy Spirit. Love, with divine agape, can call us to care for enemies, embrace justice, and embrace the needy. Pray for God to give us the faith and determination to embrace the absolute of agape love, so all have a foundation of hope and grace, so life will not feel nihilistic, and love will reign in our hearts and experience in our world.
