Religion as Ultimate Concern

            It should be noted that many scholars have attempted to interpret and understand religion without reference to either the concept of sacred power or the belief in the sacred and the profane. On such person was the prominent 20th century Christian theologian, Paul Tillich. Rather than use the concept of the sacred, Tillich describes religion as having to do with that which is of  ultimate concern to an individual or society. . According to Tillich, religion is the “depth dimension” to all human experiences; that is religion is what gives life meaning and embodies what humans value above all else. This ultimate concern does not necessarily require a separate realm of being known as the sacred.  Nevertheless, the concept of ultimate concern functions in the same was as the sacred:  both organize one's life around that which is considered to be most important or most real.  The point that Livingston makes is that whatever is “ultimate” is sacred and whatever is sacred is “ultimate”.