Hannah Arendt and Paul Tillich

On a recent trip to the Hannah Arendt Library at Bard College, we came upon this copy of Paul Tillich's The Shaking of the Foundations. Tillich was a revered American existentialist philosopher and Christian theologian. Over the course of his life in the early- to mid-twentieth century, he wrote a series of sermons, a third of which were published in this particular book. Above all else, The Shaking of the Foundations was  meant to broaden Tillich's reach and make his ideas available a broader audience.

Per Volume 9, Issue 1 of the Journal for the History of Modern Theology, Tillich regularly maintained correspondence with Hannah Arendt. He was also very close to Hilde Fränkel, who became a good friend of Arendt's after Tillich introduced the two to one another. It is likely through Fränkel that Arendt came into possession of this book, as is suggested by a message written by Tillich on the book's inside cover. The message reads: "'Thou art accepted!' To Hilde" and is dated May 5th, 1948.

You can read the entirety of The Shaking of the Foundations here.