The Shape of Theological Humanism
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of “man” than Nietzsche, if no less strident. These and other critiques of humanism center on conceptions of human capacities and aspirations as well as the distinctive value Western religious and cultural traditions have assigned to human beings within the scheme of things. It is important to see that
anti-humanism was never lacking “moral passion.” Even Nietzsche sought to overcome man in the name of a higher type of human being.passion for the dignity of life that drives much of the anti-humanist attack on humanism. (^4) There is a
of classical humanism and also to unfold some main metaphors of human freedom created by its representatives. Later in the book we will put those metaphors to work in formulating theological humanism. The second task The purpose of this chapter is thereby twofold. It is, first, to isolate features
is to clarify criticisms of humanism, what is called “anti-humanism,” and also the current revision in humanism dubbed “neohumanism.” In brief, anti-humanism challenges the distinctive worth given to human beings by humanists and also sets human life within a wider, non-human context.
Neohumanists, conversely, revise humanism in response to anti-humanist criticisms; their central revision, we will see, is to shift from a classical humanistic focus on self-realization and cultivation to a principled con-cern for the other, for the “finality of the you,” as Todorov puts it. Theo-
logical hinsofar as the integrity of life, and not just the other human being, is the primary focus.We begin, then, with basic features of humanism.umanism joins this neohumanist revision but takes it even further
The contrast between assessments of human life noted above is not a modern phenomenon. Some ancient philosophers cursed the day they were born. The Human Focus
Seneca, the Roman Stoic, writer, and man of affairs, committed suicide, as did others. In his last words, Socrates asks that a cock be sacrificed to the gods in thanks for healing him from the disease called life. Centuries later, in 1198 before he became pope, Innocent III wrote on the misery of man. He
begins the treatise with scripture: “Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?” ( Jeremiah 20:18). Innocent III then reflects on human misery from the cradle to the grave sustained only by the hope of heaven.
and during the flowering of the Italian Renaissance, Giannozzo Manetti There have always been counter-voices. Four centuries after Innocent III