The Task of Theological Humanism
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natural life. What good deal of the following chapters of this book to explain the point, it is warranted, we contend, to speak of human distinctiveness. We say in order to stress that human beings are not absolutely unique within the then about theological humanism? While it will take a distinctiveness
realms of life. Other creatures face the unrelenting task of integrating their existence against forces of disintegration and death, have capacities for action and forms of consciousness, and, in some primates, have “moral” emotions and sympathies. Yet human beings are distinctive, we contend, because of the
extent of the demand and capacity to exercise power in order to respect and enhance the integrity of life. Neither earth nor being is the ethical focus, but human responsibility for the integrity of life. Human distinctiveness is a way of speaking about the depth of moral responsibility and not moral privilege,
and in two respects.which human life is embedded in and interdependent with other forms of life on this planet. Human beings exist within and not against the realms of The range of goods that must be integrated in life shows the ways in
life. And yet human beings confront the task of integrating their personal and social life as a tual given. The integration of human existence (personal and social) is chosen and achieved with respect to ideals and norms that orient life. Being human moral task rather than a simple biological need or instinc-
is a distinctly moral and spiritual project. Human beings are things “in between;” we exist in between features of given life and the ongoing task to achieve the integration of existence. This means, in terms used before, that humanity is both an origin and a destiny, something received and something
achieved. Human distinctiveness is, ironically, the burden of fashioning our existence, tending our garden.technologWith the radical expansion of human power that characterizes the ical and global age, human distinctiveness is intensified. The fate of
the earth, other species, and also human well-being falls within the scope of collective human responsibility. This is the second respect in which human beings are distinctive. Human power is both the problem and the possibility for a livable future. What values and ideas and norms will guide the exercise
of human power, individual and social? Ought we to seek the continual maximization of power in order to further human purposes, as over-humanization will of God and God alone, as the various kinds of hypertheism contend? contends? Is the human calling to live in conformity to the
Theological humanism holds that the distinctive calling of human beings in our global age is to respect and enhance the integrity of life. If that calling is forsaken, then the powers of this age are unleashed from any purpose other than their own advancement or these same powers are shackled to those