Paul Tillich

God is not a being but “Being-Itself” or “the ground of being.” God doesn’t exist but instead “God is”. To exist means to stand out from the ground of existence as a separate being. “Things” (stones, stars, people, and so on) exist by being separate things. God does not exist in that sense; rather, God is. The God of theological theism (supernatural theism) is bad theology because it sees God as a being beside others and as such a part of the whole of reality. But God is not a part of reality but is ultimate reality. Indeed, the natural and justifiable consequence of thinking of God as a separate being is atheism. God is “the God above God”—the God who remains when the God of supernatural theism disappears.