ABSTRACT

Tillich insisted that “Personal Being” is the preeminent symbol that may be predicated of God. This symbol points beyond itself to Being-Itself, that power which restores and sustains the dialectical tension between being and nonbeing. In so doing, this symbol opens up “otherwise inaccessible levels of reality.” In the process of pointing beyond itself, this symbol “negates itself” insofar as it indicates the transcendence of Being-Itself, that ontological power which stands “over-against” all created reality.