Christian Humanism Research Articles

The Importance of Tenderness in Personal Relationships

This article explores the significance of tenderness in human relationships and psychology through the contributions of key thinkers in philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy. Drawing on the work of Gabriel Marcel, Jacques Maritain, Maurice Nedoncelle, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Juan Rof Carballo, tenderness can be presented as a transformative force in human interactions, rooted in the recognition of the other’s dignity and the cultivation of mutual respect and love. Marcel’s “I-Thou” relationship, Maritain’s Christian humanism, and Nedoncelle’s emphasis on reciprocity frame tenderness as a profound way of being that enables authentic connections. From a psychological perspective, Erich Fromm and Rof Carballo highlight tenderness as essential for emotional well-being and societal healing, offering a counterbalance to the alienation and violence of modern life. Additionally, in education, as illustrated by Joaquín Benito and Alejandro Cussiánovich, tenderness emerges as an indispensable element for fostering empathy, emotional growth, and spiritual development. This article argues that tenderness is not a fleeting sentiment but a vital, transformative practice, integral to personal fulfilment and societal cohesion. By embedding tenderness into human relations and education, we can cultivate deeper, more compassionate connections that contribute to individual and collective well-being.

Heretical Views on the Deity and Humanity of Jesus Christ and the Evangelical Standpoint

This work aims to encourage Christians, teachers, and pastors to actively prepare themselves as apologists on Christ's deity and humanity. Defending the gospel's truth regarding Jesus' nature is crucial due to widespread perversions of this doctrine, which cause spiritual, theological, and moral issues within Christendom. Many professing Christians are unknowingly affected by the false teachings of growing cults, leading to confusion about Jesus being truly God and truly man— a fundamental Christian doctrine. Understanding this doctrine will aid Christians, pastors, new believers, and outsiders in appreciating Christ's plan and purpose. It will also encourage and strengthen theologians, pastors, and laypeople to study diligently and effectively propagate the true doctrine of Jesus Christ. As many are confused by perverted teachings, this work is necessary to clarify the true nature of Christ and reinforce commitment to His Lordship. Given the seemingly paradoxical nature of this doctrine, Christians, especially theologians, must face these challenges with God's power and strength to teach, preach, and expose the true doctrine of Jesus' deity and humanity. This effort will combat the age-old perversions introduced by Satan and propagated by cults.

HOLISTIC EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL SPACE IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

The article presents a historical-pedagogical analysis of the content and development of the humanistic idea of holistic education in the European socio-cultural space during the Early Modern Period. It traces the value-based interpretations of the idea of holistic education within both secular (Renaissance humanism) and religious (Christian humanism) worldviews of the early modern era. The study reveals that the concept of holistic education was formulated within the philosophical and cultural discourse of Renaissance humanism. It is noted that the Renaissance ideal of holistic education was based on three key components: first, the virtues of broad erudition, intellectual culture, and the art of rhetoric; second, moral principles focused on the ideals of goodness, virtue, modesty, and personal inner culture, as well as Christian priorities of love and compassion; third, the recognition of the individual as the highest value, grounded in the dignity and rights of the person, and the idea of comprehensive and harmonious development of one’s abilities and talents. This also includes the Renaissance virtues of active engagement, initiative, industriousness, persistence, and the appreciation of physical beauty and courage. It is shown that the institutionalization of the idea of holistic education was carried out through the educational activities of Protestant gymnasiums, Jesuit colleges, brotherhood schools, and other educational institutions founded in the context of Protestant Reformation, Catholic Reformation, and religious reforms in the East Slavic lands. The article outlines the civilizational and human-creative significance of the concept of holistic education for the formation of modern European civilization.

The ‘image of God’ and the schooling of virtue: Christian-ethos schools of character for the whole community

ABSTRACT This article reports how the Judeo-Christian belief that all persons are ‘made in God’s image’ (imago Dei) leads to an egalitarian and generous evaluation of children and young people educated in a group of Christian-ethos schools with no ‘faith-test’ for admission in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of the north of England. The inclusiveness of Christian humanist perspectives, ancient and modern, conceiving of imago Dei as the divine gift of moral virtue, underpins the model of character education evaluated here. Drawing on a tradition of generous Christian humanism is seen to equip these Christian-ethos schools to provide students of all faiths and none with an inclusive education of character. Baptising neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics underpinning character education and repristinating shared virtues also avoids privileging either confessional Christian nurture or pervasively secular character education and are relevant more widely.

Pastoral Therapy on Euthanasia: Christian Humanism and Ubuntu Embracing Openness

The debate over practices of physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and other end-of-life questions is still ongoing in many countries around the world. At least, as of 2024, only 15 countries had varyingly legalised it under very specific, regulated conditions, while many more still view it as an extremely complex issue that, amongst other things, conflicts with their deeply held religious beliefs. Premised on their belief in the image of God as the source of human life, most monotheistic religions, but Christians in particular believe in the preservation of human life to its natural end. However, the unquestionable reality of this traditionally-held Christian belief does not preclude the rare reality where terminally ill Christians themselves, upon suffering excruciating pain, begin either to desire some form of a hastened death overtly or covertly. Under such conditions, however, pastoral therapists in particular lack the aptitude to openly initiate practical dialogues with patients, be it in the spirit of Ubuntu or to concretise the Christian position. That being said, the purpose of this article is to prepare Christian pastoral therapists in particular and the counselling profession in general to openly handle cases where agonising human suffering leads to suicidal thoughts or actions. In order to achieve this, the paper, through the use of literature reviews and desktop studies, draws on literature encompassing specific biblical instances in which not only physical suffering, but also mental suffering somehow led to suicidal events. The African concept of Ubuntu is then integrated into Christian humanism to promote pastoral therapeutic dialogue which may enrich Christian self-knowledge about the sacredness of human life, despite the urge of suicide or euthanasia. As per Christian humanism framework, Christian self-knowledge is inspired by the excruciating suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. All things considered, pastoral therapy is endowed with the ability to present the image of God in human suffering while rejecting the urge for euthanasia or suicide.

Life‐giving Flesh: Deity, Humanity, and the Efficacy of the Atonement – Part Two

AbstractThe life‐giving power of Christ's flesh and the unique efficacy of his atoning death is grounded in the fact that the flesh belongs to a divine person, the eternal Word. The previous article critiqued an attempt to explain the life‐giving power of Christ's flesh by way of a divine suffering on the cross and instead sought to ground the efficacy of Christ's atoning death in the proper and instrumental power of Christ's humanity. This second article argues that the efficacy of Christ's atoning death is grounded also in the infinite worth of the ransom that he pays on the cross. The claim that the infinite worth of Christ's ransom is derived from his deity, which itself does not suffer or die, will be articulated in dialogue with several patristic, medieval, and early modern theologians.

Rescuing Maritain from His Reception History: A Reappraisal of William T. Cavanaugh’s Critique in Torture and Eucharist

The influential writings on church and state of philosopher Jacques Maritain, who died in 1973, possessed a mid-twentieth century hopefulness about a new birth of freedom and a lay-led Christian humanism. In light of the next twenty-five years of experience—particularly that of the regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile—William T. Cavanaugh, in his 1998 book Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ, argued that Maritain’s work facilitated the marginalization of the faith in the modern nation-state. Another quarter-century later, this essay reappraises Cavanaugh’s criticisms of Maritain’s views on the nature of the Church, the role of the laity, and the power of the state. It argues that while Cavanaugh’s concerns about sovereignty, subsidiarity, and formation have been vindicated, a careful reading of Maritain’s lesser-known and later works suffice to justify Maritain’s views of the laity and the church. Maritain remains a vital resource for theologians who seek to avoid both, on the right hand, a resurgent integralism and Christian nationalism and, on the left hand, a relativizing of the Gospel in what Maritain called “kneeling before the world.

Life‐giving Flesh: Deity, Humanity, and the Efficacy of the Atonement – Part One

AbstractThe life‐giving power of Christ's flesh and the unique efficacy of his atoning death are grounded in the fact that the flesh belongs to a divine person, the eternal Word. Though some theologians have argued that this should be explained by a divine sort of suffering taking place on the cross, this essay briefly critiques the idea of divine suffering in the atonement and proceeds to offer constructive discussion of other ways in which the life‐giving power of Christ's flesh and the efficacy of his atoning death are grounded in his deity. This first requires a consideration of the way in which Christ's humanity is empowered and supported by his deity in his suffering and atoning death, which will be articulated in dialogue with several patristic, medieval, and early modern theologians. A second essay will then elaborate further on the relationship between the efficacy of the atonement and the deity of Christ by discussing the way in which the ransom that Christ pays on the cross derives its infinite worth from his deity.

Korotko’s phenomenological myth of Odesa in Bera and Cucumber: otherness, melancholy and anthropocene

In the research, with the help of the method of mytho-criticism and archetypal analysis (Carl Gustav Jung), the author has analyzed and outlined the chronotope represented in the stories in Bera and Cucumber by Aleksandr Korotko. This book, translated into English by M. Pursglove, was published in London in 2023. With the help of archetypal analysis, the Odesa text was characterized as a mythological one. It has been investigated that the Odesa narrative represents a special worldview of the heroes, who are characterized by a combination of kabbalistic worldview, Christian humanism, Turkish melancholy, contemplativeness that results from the unity of the heroes of the Odesa space with eternal nature elements. The writer reconstructs the Odesa identity in its ontological form: the social interaction between the characters reveals their essence superficially, on the other hand, the anthropocene way of depicting the characters as immanently connected with the elements of nature reveals their universal ontological essence. The Odesa text is represented as mythological one, the loci of which are subordinated to the idea of the immutability of space and time. This is the peculiarity of the chronotope marked by mythological intentions: the characters appear only as variable, fluid entities in the macrocosm of Odesa that as depicted in Korotko’s stories is characterized by the intertwined relationships between the spirit, nature, and humanity from ancient times. Rather than viewing human beings and nature within a subject-object framework, the writer presents a holistic system that reflects an anthropocene perspective of the world. The article argues that traditional logocentric paradigms fall short in capturing and unraveling the identity of Odesa that is intricately woven into the interconnected narratives of Korotko's stories.

A CHRISTIAN HUMANISM VS. THE TRANSHUMAN APPROACHES ON FINITUDE AND DEATH

The human being experiences in the depths of his being a longing for plenitude. However, pain, disease and death accompany their existence. Transhumanism tries to overcome the limits of man through all a technological scientific development and ventures to predict the definitive triumph over death. In this study, we carry out a historical journey in which we analyze the meaning of finitude and death for both transhumanism and Christian humanism, focused on the person. Transhumanism and Christianity coincide in the desire to conquer death. The understanding of the concepts studied and the means to save humanity that they are proposed differ in both approaches. We understand that in transhumanism there is a reductionism of the definition of person and therefore of the solution that it is offered to respond to the deep longing inscribed each human being.

Extra-Terrestrials or Terrestrial Heretics? Being Green in the Middle Ages

ABSTRACT In this paper, we seek to propose a novel solution to the Green Children of Woolpit, a twelfth-century “alien” mystery by approaching the “otherworldly” through a terrestrial, theological lens. In focusing specifically on their otherworldliness, we suggest a congruence between the children's characteristics and the theological threat of early Catharism. When viewed Christologically, the Green Children mystery offers ample opportunity for exotheological discourse, focusing as it does on key Christian theological issues such as Christ's humanity, the Incarnation, and what it means to be human in the Middle Ages.

JOHN FISHER (1469-1535): BETWEEN MEDIEVAL LEARNING AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE (ON THE PROBLEM OF STUDYING HUMANISM IN ENGLAND)

The article studies the peculiarities of the intellectual image of the Christian thinker of the Renaissance, chancellor of Cambridge University - John Fisher (1469-1535). It is noted that in the memoirs of contemporaries and foreign historiography there is no unambiguous definition of his scholarly views. J. Fischer is characterized by features typical of both the adherent of scholastic thought and humanism. It is emphasized that the diversity of opinions is connected with the ambiguity of the term humanism. It is concluded that the assessment of J. Fisher as a humanist cannot be accepted without reservations, no matter what understanding of the concept of humanism the researcher adheres to. From the point of view of E. Garen’s concept, J. Fischer cannot be called a humanist, because his views did not include an aspiration to anthropocentrism. Within the framework of P.Christeller’s concept, who defined humanism as a preoccupation with words, J. Fischer showed features of humanist scholarship, but his philological studies were not so much concerned with ancient literature as with the writings of the Church Fathers, who combined classical eloquence and Christian worldview. The concept of Christian humanism, based on the changes in the church and society through the enlightenment mission of the clergy through the activation of preaching activities, makes it possible to define J. Fischer in this niche. However, his recognition of the authority of scholasticism and his repeated citation of the works of numerous scholastics distinguish him from other supporters of this trend, who opposed most of their views to scholasticism.

The Catechism through Andean Eyes: Reflections on Post-Tridentine Reform in Inca Garcilaso de la Vega’s Comentarios reales

The depiction of Andean religion in the Comentarios reales de los incas (1609, 1617) has centered on Garcilaso de la Vega’s providential interpretation of Inca pagan governance and the influence of the Christian humanist traditions that he mastered as an adult in Spain. However, scholars have not adequately recognized his attention to the ecclesiastical debates regarding the persistence of Inca cult beliefs and practices in the colonial Andean society of his day. This paper examines a new source for understanding the chronicler’s portrayal of Inca religion, the catechisms and canon decrees of South America’s definitive post-Tridentine assembly, the Third Provincial Council of Lima (1582–1583), which established the Church’s official stance on the fundamental “idolatry” of Inca morality and ritual customs and the need for their extirpation. It will be argued that Garcilaso’s knowledge of natural and canon law provided the basis for his defense of the Incas’ religion and justice system and his criticisms of the anti-Inca tenor of the council’s directives on Andean custom and intercultural dialogue. The chronicler’s response to the council’s pronouncements on the ritual of penance, in particular, offers novel insights about the indigenous reception of the Church’s missionary regime within an orthodox and culturally-integrated vision for Andean Christianity.

The Christian Humanism of C. S. Lewis’s Abolition of Man

This article uses a particular cultural-historical lens—Christian humanism—for reading C. S. Lewis’s three-part work The Abolition of Man. The argument (1) traces Christian humanism from its patristic roots to its modern resurgence; (2) outlines key themes of Christian humanism, acknowledging the breadth of manifestations and contested elements hidden in that term; (3) outlines Lewis’s Christian humanism; and (4) suggests elements of The Abolition of Man that indicate Lewis’s Christian humanism.

Ethical foundations of Jacques Maritain’s and Michael Novak’s conception of human rights

Abstract The aim of the contribution is to outline the ethical foundations in Maritain’s and Novak’s interpretation of human rights in a wider historical context and to assess its meaning for the present, with special regard to our Central European area. The issue of human rights has, in addition to its political aspect, an inherent ethical one. Fundamental human rights relate to the possibility of autonomy of a person as a moral being endowed with reason and striving for a meaningful life. Therefore, these rights have a fundamental role in practical life; however, they have also become an issue of speculative philosophy and theology, where the focus is upon concepts of freedom and reason. Jacques Maritain and Michael Novak were important figures in the advancement of human rights at the international level, with exceptional impacts especially in Central Europe. Both have their roots in Christian humanism, and for both their concept of human relations is derived from Biblical religion and love for one’s neighbour. Novak accepts Maritain’s concepts of a person and human dignity, and he tries to explain his own concept of democratic capitalism in accordance with it.

Being and Becoming: The Human Person and Human Dignity in Charles Malik’s Contribution to the UDHR

Charles Malik’s contribution to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) introduced in the conversation a profound commitment to the Christian humanist tradition by challenging the drafting committee to imagine an idea of human rights moving beyond the triviality of the distinction between individual and society. Driven by his influences from Orthodox theology, existentialist philosophy, neo-scholastic tradition, and from his rich ecumenical networks, Malik produced a synthesis which gravitates around the notion of the human person and its inherent dignity, which defined in different ways the trajectory of the discussions of the UDHR committee and, ultimately, the trajectory of modern human rights.

Conservative ideas in pedagogical thinking of phenomenologist Ján Patočka and personalist Ladislav Hanus

In this paper we focus on the reflection of conservative ideas reflected in pedagogical thinking. The conservative trend in the philosophy of education is presented in a selection of two representatives from the environment of the former Czechoslovakia, who lived and were active in the period of totalitarian real socialism. We present the philosopher and phenomenologist Ján Patočka and the personalist and theologian Ladislav Hanus. Both of them are united by the fact that their works are based on the common philosophical direction of phenomenology and existentialism. In addition, both representatives, above all, through their personal life stories, have been committed to humanistic and conservative values, for which they had to endure persecution during the totalitarian period. They tried to pass on their convictions through the formation, upbringing and education of the younger generation. This common purpose also linked them to pedagogy, to the development of philosophical pedagogical thinking. This article will compare the philosophical views of both, as well as the personalistic and anthropological conceptions of society that were rooted in phenomenology as well as in the tradition of Christian humanism. The contribution of the life and work of J. Patočka and L. Hanus remains significant for contemporary pedagogy and philosophy of education. The paper has also attempted to add some of the basic knowledge of philosophy of education needed in the education of future teachers.

Possibilities for a New Social Model?

One of the most important terrains of the European search for new ways in politics between the two world wars was the debate on the reorganization and tasks of the state and, within it, of the economy and society. This topic dominated academic discourse in the 1920s and 1930s. The thinkers who sought answers—economists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and ecclesiastics—could build on the work of early predecessors, reaching back as far as Thomas Aquinas’s “organic view of society,” later embodied in the economic and political theory of Jesuit solidarism. The common feature of the theories that emerged in the interwar period was that they approached the construction of the state not from the point of view of the individual, but from that of social groups. Vid Mihelics, a prominent exponent of these ideas in Hungary, devoted his journalistic, scientific, and political activities to the Hungarian Catholic revival. His interests focused on social issues and related teachings of the Church. His writings sought solutions through the ideas of Christian humanism, which for him was “the inalienable essence of true Europeanism.” His writings can help us better understand how interconnected Hungarian intellectual life was with European trends in the interwar period. zachar.peter.krisztian@uni-nke.hu

“동인도제도이야기(東印度諸島物語)”로 보는 전시기 트랜스 동아시아 문화의 발견

Koide Shogo is known as a children's literary writer who has been creative based on Christian humanism, but between 1941 and 1944, the theme of his work changed to Namyang, ships, seas, and travel. He published The Story of the East Indies, a human geography book of the East Indies, for Japanese children in 1944. The Story of the East Indies explains the geography, climate, resources, culture and plants of the East Indies in detail, and the idea of Daedonga public ownership is expressed while recalling Japan's mission as a small citizen. It is the discovery of trans-East Asian culture that he designed to make Japanese small people feel close to Namyang through the East Indies. The artist describes how similar the culture of the East Indies is to Japan at various levels, highlighting the movement and exchange of human and material resources in the past. The author's work can be seen as meaningful in terms of “respect” for others, “communication” and “finding commonality” between them when reading from the perspective of interculturalism today.

Theodore of Mopsuestia – an exponential exegete of the Antiochian School in the golden age of Christianity

This paper explores the life and work of Theodore of Mopsuestia, a key exponent of the Antiochene school of biblical interpretation. After providing biographical background situating Theodore as a student of Libanius and Diodore of Tarsus, the article outlines the history of the School of Antioch and Theodore's role as a teacher propagating principles of grammatical-historical exegesis. His prolific writings included commentaries on much of Scripture, though his interpretation emphasized the literal sense while downplaying typological readings. Doctrinally, Theodore combatted contemporary heresies but evidenced questionable Christology himself. He spoke of two subjects or persons in Christ and rejected the communication of attributes between Christ's divinity and humanity. Though initially orthodox, Theodore's theology anticipated Nestorian ideas, leading Cyril of Alexandria to critique his work. Ultimately the Fifth Ecumenical Council condemned Theodore posthumously. Modern scholarship has aimed to rehabilitate his legacy by distinguishing his use of terminology, assessing newly discovered writings, and analysing translation issues, yet his condemnation has not been overturned. Thus, this study presents a complex picture of this exegetical pioneer – a creative, ingenious interpreter who crossed boundaries into heterodoxy.