Paul Tillich was born in Brandenburg, Germany in 1886. He studied theology at the universities of Berlin, Tubingen and Halle before being ordained as a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1912. During the First World War served as chaplain in the German Army.

After the war he taught theology in several universities until being dismissed in 1933 because of his opposition to Adolph Hitler. He emigrated to the United States and began teaching at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. This was followed by periods at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.

Tillich wrote a large number of books including The Religious Situation (1932), The Interpretation of History (1936), The Protestant Era (1948), The Courage To Be (1952) and the Dynamics of Faith (1957). Paul Tillich died in Chicago on 22nd October, 1965.