IS CHRISTIANITY STILL UP-TO-DATE? AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Abstract

In a world dominated by newness, the question we start with is inevitable: is Christianity still relevant today? For believers and religious affiliates, the question is superfluous; but it falls to them to deliver valid answers, even to such rhetoric. Where will they build their argument from? From a God whom the opposing camp has long since disqualified? We believe that one of the common, valid premises for effective dialogue and constructive criticism is the human being itself. Man is the immediate reality, impossible to neglect, which is the concern of both believers (a being destined to fulfilment through deification, legitimised as a person by God) and non-believers (a being legitimised by itself). The evolution of this being becomes the control lamp of ontological truth and implicitly contains the answer to our question. We have analysed, comparatively, two vectors, two potential directions relevant to human evolution. The first is described in two landmark works of literature, The Abolition of Man and The Brave New World, and the other through a summary of the orthodox Christian anthropological paradigm. In the case study I have developed, I have come to the conclusion that in the manner in which man undergoes a rationalistic immanent reductionism, becoming merely nature, he becomes himself a piece of nature and seals his demise through dehumanization, becoming himself an idol without consciousness. At the same time, if he empowers his inner, spiritual universe and tries to establish himself in the mystery of the personal God by relating correctly to nature, i.e. to the nature within him, he will find himself in the position of the saint who has risen above nature by the spiritual discipline of instincts. Here true reason and full freedom are revealed. So, despite hostile social pressure, Christianity is not only relevant today but, along the lines of this argument, necessary.