Theology 4 - On Being Human

Chapter 1. Created and Evolved

Each and every human being is a
unique person created in the image
of God.

A philosophy of being or existence

􀂄 PHILOSOPHY – absolute, ultimate, foundational
􀂄 Why finite beings exist at all
􀂄 SCIENCE – cosmology, biology, evolution
􀂄 How and why the universe is unfolding as it is
􀂄 Thomas Aquinas: God is “Subsistent Being
itself” – sheer “TO-BE”, the limitless, actual
perfection of all perfections (including the
perfection of Personhood), the creative source
and origin of all that is.

What is it to be a person?

􀂄 Person = “an individual substance of a rational
nature”
􀂄 some-thing - individual
􀂄 some-one – reflective, self-conscious, relational
􀂄 What? “nature” = instance of a kind
􀂄 Who? a particular someone
􀂄 “Person” can be used analogously of individuals
of various kinds – human, angel, God

Modern understanding of person

􀂄 Human personhood understood in isolation
from God
􀂄 Self-sufficient source of meaning and truth
􀂄 John Locke (1632-1704) made a distinction

􀂄 Human living organism of a certain species
􀂄 Person … consciousness which is inseparable
from thinking and essential to it
􀂄 Omits principle of substance



Chapter 2. Bodily and Spiritual

Human persons are at once both material
and spiritual beings: we belong to a
physical universe, and yet we are
destined for relationship with God, now
and for eternity.
We are finite beings with a capacity for
God who is infinite.

The “spirituality” of human intelligence

􀂄 “Spiritual” = non-physical, not explainable
in material or scientific terms
􀂄 We are able to grasp the intelligibility of
the world in a universal non-material way
􀂄 The human intellect is not a material entity
􀂄 Not reducible to the neuro-physiological
activity of the brain

The “spirituality” of the human person

􀂄 Critical activities manifesting our human nature
􀂄 Judging what is true
􀂄 Loving or willing what is good
􀂄 The soul - the secret of human personhood
􀂄 non-material (i.e. spiritual) principle
􀂄 embodied in the actual bodily life and activity of a
human being
􀂄 “spiritual key” to the person I am
􀂄 the key to my continuing to be after I die.

Person and nature

􀂄 Modern view
􀂄 emphasis on subjective experience – consciousness
and rational agency
􀂄 a quality that beings may possess or not, or possess in
varying degrees
􀂄 Catholic view
􀂄 cannot separate personhood and human nature
􀂄 being a fellow human being does not come in degrees
􀂄 human beings are to be respected as persons from the
beginning of their existence
The human destiny
􀂄 Persons created “in the image of God”
􀂄 for his or her own sake
􀂄 to know and love God for all eternity
􀂄 A drive within us towards the infinite
􀂄 prayer, fasting and almsgiving open a person to
relationship with God
􀂄 We are made for relationship, above all with God,
who is relational in the trinity of persons.


Chapter 3. Free and Responsible

We are moral beings commanded to love God
and neighbour, and thereby to acknowledge
and pursue the truth about what is good.
The mystery of sin
􀂄 The being of sin in a world in which God is
the source of all being.
􀂄 Sin can only be an absence of being, a
failure to choose the right good
􀂄 Moral evil is the absence of the good that
ought to be present, or ought to be realised
in our actions

Conscience

􀂄 Each person is responsible for his own moral
decisions, guided by his best judgment,
discerning the good to be done and the evil to
avoided in a particular situation
􀂄 a person’s own conscience judgments do not
create moral truth
􀂄 Obligation to form one’s conscience, to know
what conduct is required in a given situation

Formation of Conscience

􀂄 Involves openness to the truth and a
willingness to embrace the truth
􀂄 For Catholics openness means doing one’s
best to think with the Church and to make
its teachings one’s own.
􀂄 The moral tradition of the Church is more
extensive than our own reasoning capacity
The agent perspective
􀂄 Ethical reasoning should be conducted from the
first-person perspective of the moral agent – what
should I do?
􀂄 Persons become themselves through their free
and deliberate actions (Veritatis Splendour)
􀂄 Our understanding of human dignity and true
human fulfilment is crucial because it provides
the basis for what we understand to be right and
wrong human choices



Chapter 4. Individual and Social

We are social beings called to establish and
maintain just and faithful relationships with
all other members of the human family.
Respect for other persons
􀂄 Justice: to render whatever is rightly due to
others as fellow human beings
􀂄 The proper exercise of my freedom requires
me to respect the freedom of others and,
indeed, to respect the rights of others and
their conscientious judgments even if I
believe them to be mistaken

Individual and society

􀂄 A second duality
􀂄 self-responsible individuals
􀂄 social beings
􀂄 Dependence on one another
􀂄 Dependence on God
􀂄 Highest personal act – gift of oneself to
another – “unless a grain of wheat
dies…does it yield a rich harvest”

The common good

􀂄 Balanced relationship between individual and
society
􀂄 An ideal for the sake of which an individual
should, when appropriate, be willing to
subordinate his or her own particular goods
􀂄 Our society – individualism, consumerism and
“market forces” – tends to exaggerate the
individual and his/her rights



Chapter 5. Male and Female

We are sexual beings whose fulfilment lies in
the gift of oneself to another. Genital sexuality
finds its true expression in the commitment of
marriage and the procreation of new human life.

Concept of gender

􀂄 factual difference of male and female is
embodied in cultural differences
􀂄 western culture – greater fluidity in gender
roles
􀂄 corrective to forms of unjust discrimination
Catholic understanding will address
recent cultural changes
􀂄 polarity between male and female is a key feature
of the way God has ordered both human nature
and much of the natural world
􀂄 we are men and women, not simply persons who
happen to have a male or female body, thus in the
normal course of psychosexual development,
one’s sex shapes one’s personal identity and
becomes essential to who one is

From sexual difference to “the
nuptial meaning” of the human body

􀂄 Longing for wholeness and completion
􀂄 The Man and The Woman, in the very structure
of their bodies and personalities, are destined for
a reciprocal relationship of love and fidelity, a
union of faithful loving that is ordered to the
procreation of new life
􀂄 A communion that is impossible to either alone
From sexual difference to “the nuptial
meaning” of the human body - 2
􀂄 Does not imply that men and women can
only become complete and worthwhile
persons in marriage
􀂄 True completion (i.e. fulfilment) for every
human being fundamentally consists in the
gift of oneself in love to others and to God