culture is most conducive to theflourishing of Christian humanism, and how
we can create such a social framework.
UNDER WHAT CULTURAL CONDITIONS CAN
CHRISTIAN HUMANISM FLOURISH?Obviously, we do not want to return to the past: already Maritain realized that
political Christendom was dead. In its place he proposed‘a personalist,
pluralist, and peregrinal’version of Christian political philosophy.^50 Maritain
built this new Christendom on the‘democratic charter’, a convergence on
practical conclusions that construe the democratic, liberal polities.^51 Turning
our attention fully to what Christian humanism can contribute to society,
politics, and the economy, we can take refuge in the general principles of
natural law. In order to construct a just and charitable society, that society
must be based on the great principles of natural law, such as respect for human
dignity, subsidiarity, and solidarity. Of course, these are rational in essence,
rather than specifically Christian. However, a number of religious elements
help societies discover what is just in varying historical situations: prayer; the
sacraments; the context of Christian faith; the motivation stemming from
eternal retribution; and the formation of conscience in a community of
faith. Beyond all this (which could be said of other religions as well), Christian
faith contributes charity as its hallmark. I will return to this further on. Many
of these values have already been achieved. We have not reached the situation
that T. S. Eliot defines as a‘pagan society’. Despite the shadows that lie on it,
we can love our culture, for it is basically good. Throughout the centuries,
many Christian values have formed our civilization through a process of
cultural transformation. Still, it is an ongoing process that is never completed,
and we face the challenge of a Western cultural crisis.
PROPOSAL FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF
CURRENT CULTURE BY CHRISTIAN HUMANISMHow can this cultural transformation be produced and continued in the
present situation? First and foremost, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. He(^50) Cf. Hittinger,Introduction, 17.
(^51) T. S. Eliot wrote something similar but less analytic. He called it a‘Christian society in a
negative sense’: Eliot,Christianity and Culture: The Idea of a Christian Society and Notes towards
the Definition of Culture(New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1968), 10.
A Catholic Concept of Christian Humanism 213