Religião e nazismo: o socialismo religioso como denúncia e oposição ao totalitarismo em Paul Tillich

Abstract

In general, this thesis aims to analyze the relationship between religion and politics in the thinking of Paul Tillich, one of the most renowned theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich’s work is characterized by being built on borders, such as theology and philosophy, developing his own method that seeks to correlate two distinct realities. More specifically, this research was built around the understanding of religious socialism, a movement of which Tillich was part during the 1920s in Germany, and to which he systematically contributed in its conceptual elaboration. However, the thesis is based on the hypothesis, defended in the first chapter, that the socialism constructed by Tillich is not just a mere pile of concepts and theories, but is the result of the experiences, traumas, and situations he experienced – especially his service as a chaplain in the German army in the First War. At this first moment, the analysis of the kairos concept as a principle for interpreting history was fundamental for analyzing the German context and Tillich’s own life. Secondly, we seek to analyze the book The Socialist Decision, published in 1933, which was the formal reason for Tillich’s dismissal from the professorial chair he occupied at the University of Frankfurt. The book was banned from circulation by the Nazi government and was burned in public, resulting in Tillich’s exile to USA. We seek to discuss the central concepts of Tillich’s socialist formulation, his relationship with Jewish prophetism, and the rescue of the young Marx, to whom he attributes greater significance than Marxism itself. Thirdly, we seek to analyze precisely the relationship between religion and Nazism, observing the elaboration of Tillich’s concept of religion as ultimate concern and seeking to demonstrate how, from a normative point of view, religion should be understood as the apprehension of the human being by the unconditional. Therefore, the thesis defends the idea that religious nationalism, in general, but taking Nazism as an example, is a distortion of the sacred, fitting the definition of idolatry as the usurpation of the infinite by that which is finite. Nazism, like all idolatrous religious nationalism, brings with it the perversion of the sacred and, therefore, always results in chaos and destruction as demonic consequences. From this, we seek to point out new ways to overcome totalitarian projects – whether political or religious – also seeking to highlight the challenges that arise on the current horizon of any truly socialist decision.