Christian Humanism -- By: Charles M. Horne

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 14:3 (Summer 1971)
Article: Christian Humanism
Author: Charles M. Horne


Christian Humanism

Charles M. Horne*

Introduction

Definition of Terms

In this paper by humanism we mean an appreciation for the dignity of man as originally created and as subsequently restored by God. It is a humanism which regards man as unique in all of creation: he is not a stone, an animal, or even an angel but a man. By Christian we mean to develop that type of humanism which recognizes the necessity for seeing the restoration of man’s true greatness as achieved only through the redemptive work of Christ in history.

Among the representatives of a Christo-centric humanism we note the names of Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Francis Sehaeffer.

Karl Barth

By the grace of God, therefore, man is not nothing. He is God’s man. He is accepted by God … We cannot say and demand and expect too much or too great things of man when we see him as He really is in virtue of the giving of the Son of God, of the fact that God has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ.1

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to make something of oneself (a sinner, a penitent, or a saint) on the basis of some method or other, but to be a man—not a type of man, but the man that Christ creates in us. It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.2

Francis Schaeffer

I am convinced that one of the great weaknesses in evangelical preaching in the last few years is that we have lost sight of the biblical fact that man is wonderful. We have seen the unbiblical humanism which surrounded us, and to resist this in our emphasis on man’s lostness, we have tended to reduce man to a zero. Man is indeed lost, but that does not mean he

*Associate Professor of Theology, Wheaton College Graduate School.

is nothing. We must resist humanism, but to make man a zero is neither the right way nor the best way to resist it. You can emphasize that man is totally lost and still have the biblical answer that man is really great. In fact, only the biblical position produces a real and proper humanism.3

The Essentials Of A Christian Humanism

A Recognition of God’s Original Design for Man

“The true dignity of man is taught nowhere as effectively as in the Scriptures.”4 According to the Genesis accounts of c...

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