Resisting Trump’s Dictatorship of Culture: Guidance from Paul Tillich

Dear Friends and Readers,

I offer this essay, excerpted from my book Contemporary Theologians, pp. 115-123, as a response to President Trump’s efforts to be a dictator of culture. Please feel free to share this essay and other recent ones with anyone who might be interested or benefited.

Fr. Jim Bacik

In a March 27, 2025 executive order, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, President Trump ordered the Smithsonian Institution’s many museums, libraries and research centers to promote “American greatness“ and it’s “unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness.” At the same time, he ordered removing improper “racist, sexist and oppressive ideology: for example, he said the evil of slavery should not be overplayed. Among Trump‘s many efforts to influence American culture he had himself appointed the Kennedy Center Board chairman with the power to determine what productions the Center would sponsor. Financially, he drastically cut the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) forcing some public stations in rural areas to close down.

To resist President Trump‘s efforts to become a dictator of culture let us turn to the great Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965), considered by many to be the 20th century’s finest theologian of culture. Born in Brandenberg, Germany, the oldest son of a Lutheran pastor, Tillich spent most of his adult life in the academic world. He received an excellent classical education, gaining advanced degrees in philosophy and theology. After completing his doctorate at the University of Berlin, he was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1912. While serving as a chaplain during World War I, Tillich suffered a breakdown as a result of the suffering and death he witnessed at the front. As his main therapy, he visited art museums to experience the healing power of great paintings. In the process he came to a deep appreciation of the religious significance of artistic experience.

Following World War I, he taught philosophy and theology at various German universities from 1919 to 1933, when he was dismissed from his position at the University of Frankfort by the Hitler regime. After emigrating to the United States, he held important professorships at Union Theological Seminary from 1933 to 1955, Harvard from 1955 to 1962, and the University of Chicago from 1962 to 1965, the year of his death.

Tillich’s interests, however, always transcended the academic world. His experience as a chaplain during World War I put him in touch with the thinking of ordinary young men as well as the tragic dimensions of life. More than any other contemporary theologian, he entered into dialogue with the major spheres of modern culture, including art, philosophy, science and psychotherapy. His vast writings are filled with references to contemporary cultural trends.

In our efforts to preserve artistic freedom, we should pay special attention to Tillich’s analysis of “Religion of the Heart,” which demands total involvement and wholehearted commitment. It is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, of being addressed by an unconditional demand, of being enlightened by the encounter with the holy. From this perspective, religion is not one aspect of life but “the substance, the ground and the depth” pervading the whole of life. The ultimate concern of religion appears in unconditional moral demands, in the passionate longing for truth, and in the infinite desire to express meaning. Genuine religion of the heart recognizes that the only legitimate ultimate concern is the “God above God” who is beyond all images and cannot be controlled or manipulated. The true God is manifested in Jesus Christ who through his death and Resurrection brings the New Being, the divine power which overcomes all the conflicts and contradictions which threaten human existence. Those who are grasped by the power of the New Being form the Spiritual Community in which the proper relationship between religion and culture is recognized and established.

Recalling the biblical story of Cyrus the Great (d 530 B.C.), a pagan Persian King, God used to free Israel from captivity, some Christians have claimed Donald Trump is a contemporary version of Cyrus anointed by God to make America great again. As believers in the “God above God,” who is beyond manipulation, it is important for us to debunk this claim which suggests Divine approbation for Trump’s authoritarian aspirations.

As disciples of Jesus Christ who is himself the “New Being,” and can be perceived as the “Icon of the Father” we are called to show how the arts can overcome the conflicts which threaten human existence and our democracy. The arts express democratic values and practices such as freedom of expression, the importance of creativity, and the courage to challenge authoritarianism. Creative artists challenge the way dictators distort history and control the national narrative to their own political ends. Critical artistic organizations speak truth to power, expose corruption and suggest creative ways of making the United States a more perfect union. Historically, suppression of the arts has set the stage for repressing other freedoms, such as freedom of the press, the right to protest, and to engage in open discussion of political alternatives. Tillich, who experienced this progression himself in Nazi Germany, urges us to find our own ways to support artists and artistic organizations that strive to preserve our democracy from a would-be dictator of culture.

As members of the “Spiritual Community,” Tillich calls us to make our voices heard in the public arena. First and foremost, we can do this through the ballot box, voting for candidates at all levels who will support freedom of artistic expression. Public witness could be given in various ways: supporting local public television stations; attending events sponsored by local museums; and advocating for public funding for the arts.

President Trump is clearly intent on becoming a dictator of culture. In response, the esteemed theologian of culture Paul Tillich instructs us in ways to resist this cultural authoritarianism and to mobilize the artistic community to create a brighter future for our national experiment in democratic self-government.