ABSTRACT
Paul Tillich, in many respects the Thomas Aquinas of our time, is my example of the impasse in much recent philosophical theology. Kant gave eloquent expression to the problem that occurs when cosmological and teleological considerations are advanced to prove the existence of an absolutely necessary Being, an ideal without a flaw. Yet he insisted that no other ideal could satisfy intellectual or religious requirements. Tillich accepts the requirement of certainty, and draws from a preconceived ideal of God the conclusion that unconditioned Being cannot possibly be one being alongside others. Nor can unconditioned Being be understood in terms of any symbols that are derived from any existent that is, by definition, partial.
