What's the Good of Humanity?

From a Christian perspective, it could well be said that humanity, a good gift of God, is being undermined by the technology and thought-patterns and practices of contemporary Western culture. In response to what is seen as an attack, many books have been written on the harm of these technologically driven practices. These articles and books focus on what is wrong: with euthanasia, with surrogate motherhood, with the denial of the male-female difference, and so forth.

Yet to make a compelling cultural witness, it is more important for Christians to know what is right, and essential that they be able to articulate the positive. Why do babies matter? What is the goodness embedded in being made male and female? How can one approach death in a godly manner? We need, in other words, to be able to give an account of God’s “Yes” (2 Cor 1:20), the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15).

In this collection of essays, an ecumenical group of scholars, of diverse perspectives, discuss these and other important questions, in order to help discern what is good for humanity.

In this volume theologians and pastors from varying Christian traditions, who are rooted in the church and share appreciation for the Christian theological tradition, grapple with the mixed blessings of their respective theological inheritances. Phillip Cary writes on Augustine, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt on Aquinas, Amy C. Schifrin on Luther, Carolyn A. Chau on Balthasar, and David Luy on Pannenberg--each identifying where they see their theologian coming up short, but in light of what they got right. To conclude the volume, Chad Raith II unpacks how his own convictions changed regarding infant baptism. This collection of essays is a testament to the importance of ecumenical, church-based, critical yet appreciative receptive theology.



JOEL C. DANIELS is an Episcopal priest at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Mind and Culture.