Edition of Paul Tillich’s Correspondence (1933-1951)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Graf
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 444828611

This digital hybrid edition project makes a fundamental contribution to the study of the work of Paul Tillich (1886–1965), one of the most important and influential Protestant theologians and philosophers of religion of the 20th century. It makes accessible for the first time his extant correspondence between 11/3/1933, and 4/23/1951. Through the edition of unknown correspondence and its scholarly indexing, it provides the possibility of research with sources that are important both for the history of theology and for the history of science, culture and politics of the 20th century. - Hypotheses/research questions/objectives: The scholarly goal of the project is the digital open-access and print editions of Paul Tillich’s correspondences between 1933 and 1951, as well as their scholarly indexing and annotation. The project evaluates new sources and connects them together, making them accessible for research. This not only opens up new perspectives for international Tillich research, but also makes visible the networks of German emigrants in the USA after 1933 in which Tillich operated. - Approach/methods: The edition project is realized by a digital edition technique with a TEI-publisher. Data provision will be according to FAIR principles, which include licensing under Creative Commons CC-BY for the materials and CC-0 for the metadata. In order to guarantee a successful implementation of the project at the different project sites, it is structured in three clusters and the three pillars: I. transcription of the correspondences, II. electronic open access edition of the correspondences, III. scientific indexing of the correspondences. Another tool used in the project for the indexing of the manuscript sources is the program ‘Transkribus’ for the recognition of manuscripts. - Level of originality/innovation: The project can be successfully carried out by uniting digital humanities and the humanities. Not only does it present hitherto unknown correspondence by Tillich that sheds light on the previously unexplored and partially-explored phases of his work after emigration in 1933, during the II World War and the first post-war years, but it also prepares this data using digital edition technology in such a way that it can be linked to other digital edition projects. In this way, the Editions project places worldwide Tillich research on a fundamentally new footing, opens up far-reaching innovative perspectives on the interpretation of his work, and contributes to research on emigration and the history of science. Primary researchers involved The International Joint Project is carried out under the direction of the applicants at the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Vienna and the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Munich by the project staff and the student assistants supporting them.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Christian Danz