Why Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be Is a Philosophical Guide for 21st-Century Media Managers . . . and Everyone Else for that Matter

Abstract

The world has become a fractured place, as philosopher Louis Hodges has written. This fractured state can be confusing and, at times, paralyzing for media professionals, particularly managers, on both professional and personal levels. This article takes an unusual approach by offering hope via one person and one book and one idea: philosopher/theologian Paul Tillich and The Courage to Be. It merges Tillich’s abstract concepts of religion, existentialism, anxiety, and the symbolic nature of God with the concrete dimensions of today’s media world and offers a useful philosophical realm for media managers, academics, and the common person.