Fireman or Arsonist?

Sir:

Why do you suggest that Paul Tillich's vacuities are in any sense "A Theology for Protestants?" [TIME, March 16]. Theologians have often noted that Tillich's philosophical system has affinities with the ancient Docetic heresy, which was roundly condemned by the church.

Theologian J. Marcellus Kik recently wrote a parody on Tillich and Bultmann entitled "The King's Existential Garments"--with apologies to Hans Christian Andersen.

(THE REV.) JAMES G. MANZ First Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church Chicago

Sir:

Sometimes we wonder if these existentialists are firemen or arsonists!

Apparently, Christianity is lost if it must use Theologian Tillich's philosophy to support it.

WILLIAM F. BURKE JR. Founder and President National Psychiatric Reform Institute Altamont, N.Y.

Sir:

Tillich may be a great thinker, but human thought does not manufacture God. God is! Theology-totin' Tillich has got the cart before the horse. Prodigal man does not find God by high-flown speculations; God has to grab hold of his straying child. That's why his son came out of heaven, chasing after man.

(THE REV.) BERTWIN L. FREY Messiah Lutheran Church Fairview Park, Ohio

Sir:

I, too, am a Jesuit professor of theology of many years' standing, as is Father Gustave Weigel. May I politely dissociate myself and St. Mary's College from the "sustained brilliance" which Father Weigel sees in the confusion confounded that is Paul Tillich? AUGUSTINE KLAAS, SJ.

Saint Mary's College Saint Marys, Kans.

Sir:

Your excellent resume of the giddy theology of Paul Tillich suggests the possibility of his having ridden on the same train with the little girl who, on leaving Virginia, shouted: "Goodbye, God, we're moving to Arkansas."

(THE REV.) H. B. JOHNSON (RET.)

Moravian Church Kernersville, N.C.

Sir:

The German fraternity Wingolf, meaning "hall of friends," was a Christian fraternity of university students. Its motto to this day is Di Henos Panta! (Greek: All things through One, Christ!). Its foremost tenet has been the principle of chastity, followed by the principles of temperance and non-dueling. To say the least, many of us are perturbed by the "achristian" theological meanderings of our fraternity brother and fellow Lutheran, Tillich.

(THE REV.) T. R. BAUDLER

First Charge, Wingolf University of Erlangen (1935-36) Zion American Lutheran Church Eureka, S. Dak.

Sir:

Dr. Tillich has been for some of us the cathartic of Protestant traditionalism, providing a much needed theological and ecclesiastical enema. His thought is like the ocean --you can enjoy it from shore, you can cool off your feet, you can wade in and swim, you can jump in the middle and swim, but unfortunately, as the Herr Professor would be the first to agree, if you swallow too much too fast you can drown.

(THE REV.) ANDERSON D. CLARK Covenant Presbyterian Church Madison, Wis.

Sir:

I have read your article on the castle builder and fence-sitting theologian, Paul Tillich, and I must say that you did an excellent job about this man of whom I have a slight knowledge. It is astonishing how much material you brought in, partly by direct, partly by indirect communication. I think your presentation of his system was as clear as it could be, and the personal sections are as rich and warm as they could be. I heard that Mr. Tillich has received many congratulations about the article.

Now I must admit that Paul Tillich is the writer of this letter. He thanks you.

PAUL TILLICH Cambridge, Mass.

Free Hand

Sir:

Your article accurately presented my basic reasons for vetoing the proposed Sunday Closing Law [which would close grocery, clothing, etc., stores on Sundays--March 2]. However, I regret the manner of the article's presentation, which made it appear a direct conflict between myself and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), of which I am an active member.

While I was considering the bill in question, I was contacted by one of the General Authorities of the church. He did this specifically to inform me that, while many individuals among the General Authorities and among the church membership were strongly in favor of the Sunday Closing Law, the church as an organization was not attempting to influence my decision. The decision, a difficult one, was made for the reasons set forth in my veto message. This decision in no wise represented a "revolt" against the church.

GEORGE D. CLYDE Governor of Utah Salt Lake City

Portent?

Sir:

Your photograph of Senator Kennedy surrounded by Oregon's "Cavemen" [March 16] brought back memories of a similar photograph of the Cavemen which appeared during the 1948 presidential campaign. The honored guest at that time was Thomas E. Dewey. PFC WILLIAM R. BUNGE

Fort Belvoir, Va.

P: Besides Losing Campaigner Dewey, Loser Estes Kefauver also capered with the cavemen in 1952.--ED.

Redress

Sir:

Please, let's keep our records straight, and taint not my name. John Sack, author of Report from Practically Nowhere and my son, is 28 as of now, not 30 as you said [March 16]. I was married 30 years ago this month. What will my friends say? TRACY L. SACK

Larchmont, N.Y.

P: Nothing--now.--ED.

Forgotten Lessons

Sir:

Senator Thomas John Dodd has praised Mr. John Foster Dulles for his unchanging outlook and foreign policy. He said that "flexibility implies compromise and concession | TIME, March 9] ... Have we forgotten the lessons of the Hitler era, with its compromises, concessions and flexibilities?" He belabors his point too far. There is a difference between yielding to Hitler's every wish, and allowing a foreign policy to change as the world situation changes--and the world changes over six years or fourteen.

C. W. OSBORN Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Sir:

Senator Dodd's "Stand Firm" policy against the Russians has reduced the mealy-mouthings of Fulbright to a "tale . . . full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

W. A. RITTENHOUSE Denver

Sir:

Senator Dodd displays the eloquent talents of a circus barker or a random rabble rouser--and on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and to applause. He defines flexibility as compromise, then defines flexibility as "not only without virtue," but as a vice. Not since the Spanish Inquisition has compromise been so perniciously attacked.

JOHN H. SNOW JR. San Francisco

Sir:

"Democrat" has meant to me race baiting, fiscal irresponsibility and obsequious relationships with custodians of organized-labor votes. Senator Dodd of Connecticut has shown me that "Democrat" can also mean statesmanship.

D. GORRELL Columbus

Sir:

I would rather see a man with the statesmanlike qualities of Senator Dodd as President of the U.S. in 1960 than any of the current crop of coy boys and eager beavers who would "like to be President."

JOSEPH W. MOSSER Avignon, France

Happy & Proud

Sir:

A number of newspaper editorials have echoed the fine tribute paid to the postwar accomplishments of veterans in TIME'S article, "What Ever Happened to the Veterans." I would like to add my personal commendation. The article made all of us here at VA happy and proud of our daily service to these citizens who, as you say, have become "the main stream of U.S. life itself."

SUMNER G. WHITTIER

Administrator Veterans Administration Washington, D.C.

Farm Revolution

Sir:

Congratulations on your skillful report on Farm Businessman North [March 9] and others like him who are upsetting not only production records but outdated concepts of what the agricultural industry really is. While efficiency of livestock production has been boosted by refined management methods and breeding of animals with better production potential, constant beefing-up of nutritionally balanced feeds has probably contributed more than any other factor to present efficiency in food production.

GEORGE GATES Editor, Feedstuffs Minneapolis

Sir:

I'd like to put in a word for Farmer East. You have put your finger on the inadequacies of our poor farmers in Vermont, but at the same time suggested a solution. All they need to get them out of the doldrums is a two-story pipe organ in each and every farmhouse. Then they can bat out Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring to their heart's content, without the annoying interruption of having to run out to the barn and pull switches for ten minutes on end.

DON TRACHTE

Arlington, Vt.

Sir:

Is the completely automated hog, whose comfort is so catered to that he never moves a muscle except to belch, the reason why lean meat has all but vanished from bacon ?

D.L. HARLEY Martinsburg, W. Va.

Sir:

Your article about Farmer North is certainly a Horatio Alger story, but with subsidies and soil bank, are we sure he didn't have a helping hand from a rich relative--namely, Uncle Sam?

FRED FREIDENFELD

Middleboro, Mass.

P: Farmer North figures that in his whole lifetime he has received about $5,000 for such small items as tiling underground water run-off systems, Government-stored wheat, liming his fields.--ED.

Sir:

Farm automation: most depressing thing I have ever read. I shall retire with my Currier & Ives, and memories of barefoot childhood, scrunching behind fresh furrows, and the excitement of discovering eggs in the corners of the barnyard.

CHARLES M. COOK

Falls Church, Va.

Austrians in Italy

Sir:

Your coverage of the so-called "oppressed" German-speaking South Tyrol Italian subjects is paradoxical [March 9]. The record of the Austrian government in dealing with Slovenian and Croat (ethnically Slavic) minorities reveals an amazing degree of similarity to the fate of German-speaking South Tyroleans under Italian rule. Perhaps one method to resolve this so-called "crisis" of German-speaking South Tyroleans under Italian rule is exactly what the Austrian provincial authorities have done with its Slovenian and Croat minorities, i.e., forced (direct and indirect) assimilation or immigration.

GERALD IVANCIE

Omaha

Trouble in Bolivia

Sir:

I, Gustavo Adolfo de Maldonado Medina, as a Bolivian and representing the soul of my people, ask satisfaction on the field of honor from the man responsible for your article [March 2], and name, as the situation demands, my seconds, who shall be Fernando San Martin and Colonel Gustavo Maldonado San Martin.

GUSTAVO ADOLFO DE MALDONADO MEDINA La Paz, Bolivia

Sir:

Now that we know the tremendous sum of money Americans have been pouring into Bolivia, why aren't we demonstrating our protests in front of their embassy?

(MRS.) RUTH A. BROWN Dallas

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