Where Christian Humanism Begins
An an exposition of Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome
The “prince of humanists,” Desiderius Erasmus, penned the following insight in his seminal work, The Antibarbarians: “Everything in the Pagan world that was valiantly done, brilliantly said, ingeniously thought, diligently transmitted, had been prepared by Christ for his society.”1
Erasmus’s mantra represents a significant aspect of what scholars call Christian humanism. Of course, for many readers these two words don’t belong together. They ring something of an oxymoron, like “sweet sorrow,” “cruel kindness,” or “military intelligence.” Yet, this popular assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
Widespread conceptions of Christianity tend toward notions of anti-intellectual fundamentalism. Whereas the common understanding of humanists are that of “enlightened,” anti-religious priests of secularism. In popular lore, these visions of life are mutually exclusive and fundamentally at odds with one another.
But as I explain in my Very Short Explanation of Christian Humanism,
Christian Humanism predates secular, atheistic humanism which has borrowed the term and some of its effects, cut-flower. Further, Christian humanism is not man-centered; it’s incarnationally centered. That is, the Incarnation affirms the dignity of humanity and God’s lovingkindness toward him. Finally, Christian humanism acknowledges that Christ is the ideal human, and in him, we recover the fullness of our humanity. Therefore, Christian humanism seeks to recover and restore a vision of human flourishing under the lordship of Christ, integrating faith, reason, and the moral imagination.
Christian humanism is rooted in the tradition of men and women like St. Augustine, Boethius, Dante, Erasmus, Dorothy Sayers, Flannery O’Connor, and C. S. Lewis—thinkers who saw that truth, goodness, and beauty are coherent in Christ and accessible through a disciplined and grace-informed intellect. Perhaps J. Gresham Machen captures the concept best in his classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, where he writes,
The trouble with the paganism of ancient Greece, as with the paganism of modern times, was not in the superstructure, which was glorious, but in the foundation, which was rotten. There was always something to be covered up; the enthusiasm of the architect was maintained only by ignoring the disturbing fact of sin. In Christianity, on the other hand, nothing needs to be covered up. The fact of sin is faced squarely once for all, and is dealt with by the grace of God. But then, after sin has been removed by the grace of God, the Christian can proceed to develop joyously every faculty that God has given him. Such is the higher Christian humanism - a humanism founded not upon human pride but upon divine grace.2
When humanists think that they can promote and cultivate an educated class of flourishing human beings by erasing religion and setting man up as the measure of all things, his project will crumble because it’s rotten at the foundation. Humanity is fallen; men and women are sinners. On the flipside, when Christians think pious religion is the continual beating of the breast and crying, “Woe is me!” and “man will never be anything more than a worm,” they fall into the other ditch, something Machen calls “the religion of the broken hearted.”
Christian humanism affirms the efficacy of the gospel. And the gospel’s transformative power has, in large part, been the impetus for Christian thinkers, writers, and educators since John the Evangelist and the Apostle Paul. The written testimonies of those who witnessed the Incarnation claim Christianity is the ultimate (and arguably first) humanism because while Christianity is interested in the glory of God and transcendent matters of the human soul, it is also deeply concerned with texts, human flourishing, and society’s common good. These focal points of Christianity are not bifurcations of priorities. They are interdependent and consistent with Jesus’s mission. As the Church Father Irenaeus made abundantly clear in his work Against Heresies, “the glory of God is a living man.”3
Christian humanists believe everything that is good, true, and beautiful belongs to and comes from God. Even the good works of Pagan and pre-Christian cultures were inspired by the Holy Spirit for his own purposes (i.e., philosophy, art, poetry, rhetoric, politics, etc.). It’s up to Christians to harvest the pollen from their flowers and make good honey.
The reason I publish BOOKS AND LETTERS is to promote Christian humanism and provide humane reflections on literature, culture, and education in an age dominated by fleeting trends and digital noise.
And because authentic humanism can only flourish under the lordship of Christ, my first book, Beloved of God and Called to be Saints, is an exposition of St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome, where he offers his longest and most sustained theological explanation of the gospel. This is where he unpacks the gospel’s power to save the unrighteous and establish a flourishing humanity in the new age of Spirit-led liberty, a humanity that is united in and by Jesus Christ for the glory of God the Father.
If you’re interested in exploring Christian humanism, let me invite you to subscribe to BOOKS AND LETTERS.
Then grab my 378-page book with 267 daily reflections (i.e., theological crumbs) on Paul’s letter to the Romans. It’s not a sentimental devotional; it’s a humble invitation to those who want to see more clearly. Shipping is FREE through the end of January.
Erasmus, The Antibarbarians, 60.
J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, (Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2009), 57.
By “living” he means a redeemed and flourishing man. Irenaeus, Against Heresies (4.20.7) in Alexander Roberts et al., The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325 (Edinburgh, Grand Rapids, Mich: T. & T Clark ; Eerdmans, 1989), 490.
Thanks @Jacob Allee!