— Ch. 1 · Childhood And Early Education —
Paul Tillich.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Paul Johannes Tillich was born on the 20th of August 1886, in the small village of Starzeddel. This location lay within the Province of Brandenburg, then part of Germany and now known as Starosiedle, Poland. He grew up with two younger sisters in a household divided by religious temperament. His father, Johannes Tillich, served as a conservative Lutheran pastor for the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces. His mother, Mathilde Dürselen, hailed from the Rhineland and held more liberal views than her husband.
When Paul turned four years old, his family moved to Bad Schönfliess. This town contained only three thousand residents at that time. Young Paul began his primary schooling there while living away from home. In 1898, he traveled to Königsberg in der Neumark to attend gymnasium school. The distance required him to stay in a boarding house where loneliness drove him to read the Bible daily. School exposure introduced humanist ideas into his developing mind.
The year 1900 brought another move when his father transferred to Berlin. Tillich switched schools in 1901 and graduated in 1904. A personal tragedy struck just before this graduation. His mother died of cancer in September 1903 when Paul was seventeen years old. He attended several universities following his secondary education. These included the University of Berlin starting in 1904, the University of Tübingen in 1905, and the University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1905 to 1907. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Breslau in 1911. His doctoral dissertation focused on Schelling and the history of religion. He received his Licentiate of Theology at Halle-Wittenberg in 1912.
War Service And Academic Rise
Tillich's life changed dramatically with the outbreak of World War I. On the 28th of October 1914, he joined the Imperial German Army as a chaplain. This decision followed his marriage to Margarethe Wever earlier that month. During the conflict, Tillich served directly in the trenches of France. He buried his closest friend and numerous soldiers in the mud of the battlefield.
The trauma of combat left him physically and mentally shattered. He was hospitalized three times due to injuries sustained during active duty. Despite these hardships, he received the Iron Cross for bravery under fire. Returning home after the war, he found himself unable to resume normal life immediately. His academic career began only after this period of recovery.
In 1919, Tillich became a Privatdozent of Theology at the University of Berlin. He held this post until 1924. During this time, he met Hannah Werner-Gottschow while she was married and pregnant. They married in March 1924, making it their second marriage each. Their lifestyle included an open marriage arrangement which upset some observers but kept them together into old age. She later wrote a book titled From Time to Time about their shared life.
From 1924 to 1925, Tillich served as associate professor of theology at the University of Marburg. Here he developed systematic theology concepts while teaching a course on the subject during his final term. At Marburg, he formed professional relationships with Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Heidegger. These connections would shape future theological debates. From 1925 until 1929, he taught at Dresden University of Technology and the University of Leipzig.