Retired Williams Professor Named Head of Tillich Society

Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Charles W. Fox of Williamstown was elected president of the North American Paul Tillich Society at the recent meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Tillich Society in Chicago.

The Tillich Society was founded to honor and extend the theological and philosophical work of Paul Tillich, considered one of the two or three greatest theologians of the 20th century.

Tillich was the first non-Jewish professor to be fired from a German university when Hitler took power in 1933, given Tillich's sustained theological critique of facist tendencies in the decade after World War I in Germany.

Soon after his academic termination in Frankfort, Tillich was brought to this country by Reinhold Niebuhr to teach at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University.


In that role, Tillich began to publish his Systematic Theology, one of the most influential theological works published in the 20th century.

After his retirement from Union/Columbia, Tillich became a professor at Harvard University, where Fox had the opportunity to work closely with him as one of his teaching assistants.

Fox received his doctorate in philosophy of religion from Harvard, and he subsequently taught at Williams College and the State University of New York until his retirement from academic tenure.

Fox was elected to a three-year term as the society's president.


Tags: academic society,   Williams College,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown Fire Committee Talks Station Project Cuts, Truck Replacement

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday signed off on more than $1 million in cost cutting measures for the planned Main Street fire station.
 
Some of the "value engineering" changes are cosmetic, while at least one pushes off a planned expense into the future.
 
The committee, which oversees the Fire District, also made plans to hold meetings over the next two Wednesdays to finalize its fiscal year 2025 budget request and other warrant articles for the May 28 annual district meeting. One of those warrant articles could include a request for a new mini rescue truck.
 
The value engineering changes to the building project originated with the district's Building Committee, which asked the Prudential Committee to review and sign off.
 
In all, the cuts approved on Wednesday are estimated to trim $1.135 million off the project's price tag.
 
The biggest ticket items included $250,000 to simplify the exterior masonry, $200,000 to eliminate a side yard shed, $150,000 to switch from a metal roof to asphalt shingles and $75,000 to "white box" certain areas on the second floor of the planned building.
 
The white boxing means the interior spaces will be built but not finished. So instead of dividing a large space into six bunk rooms and installing two restrooms on the second floor, that space will be left empty and unframed for now.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories