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On Humanism
###########
:date: 2021-03-07T22:00:24
:category: faith
:tags: christianity,
I have heard today yet another sermon where the preacher fought
against the great evil of humanism (fortunately, this was
a tangential comment, the main point of sermon was something else
and it was very good). It irked me again as it does anytime (most
often) American protestant pastor fights against the evils of
humanism. Two reasons:
1. Calling humanism evil is just using wrong label, the label
which means a lot of very good things. Humanism_ was very
strange combination of things which very good and some which
were very bad, but making it sound all bad is just great
disservice to many things which I hold dear. Humanism means
the beginning of the rationalist tradition of modern Europe,
it means great movement *ad fontes* which gave us the modern
translations of Bible, modern Biblical hermeneutics,
Reformation, revival of the doctrine of the Incarnation, sons
of humanism were all great Reformers of the sixteenth century,
Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Czech brethren, Jan Ámos Komenský.
Yes, it also meant an unsuccessful Florentine revival of the
Greek paganism, first weak attempts of atheism, but still
I don’t think it was that unequivocally bad.
Even if the author of such claim admits that it was just
a sloppy using of the term humanism for just its modern
version, still I am not persuaded I can take this modern
humanism as unequivocally evil. I gave today to my Mum as
a gift a book “Skoro modlitby” (Almost prayers), a collection
of quotations from the books of Karel Čapek, who is one of the
most fundamental representative of the Czech humanist
tradition (together with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, our first
President, whose one of the most fundamental books is “Ideály
humanitní” (Ideals of humanity)). Again, I am not completely
persuaded about this tradition, there is a lot in it, which is
not great, but older I am getting more I am returning to some
of its aspects: stress on “práce drobná” (small acts of work,
which is usually more important than a great showy
accomplishment), humility, patience with us and with others.
Again, I cannot say this humanism is the root of all evil of
the modern world.
2. And yet, if we even mention that it is just a wrong label for
something which is truly evil, I still don’t know what we are
talking about. Whenever I ask what actually is that humanism,
which is so evil, I am pointed towards anthropocentrism and
statement by the ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher
Protagoras that “Man is the measure of all things”. Wikipedia
claims that Plato interpreted it (in the Socratic dialogue
named after Protagoras himself) as there is no objective
truth.
First, I have no idea what does it have to do with Erasmus of
Rotterdam, Lorenzo Valla, or Karel Čapek.
Second, and what’s much more important, I still don’t
understand how the obscure Socratic dialogue has anything to
do with the pains of the current world, and especially what
should I do to overcome its ultra-evil influence. The word
“humanism” is so incredibly vague, that I really don’t know
what specifically I should be worried about, what should
I avoid. The term sounds more than useful label for something
specific as a shibolet, public declaration of membership in
the community, with no meaning whatsoever. “I am a good guy,
because I declare my opposition to humanism, whatever it
means”.
What exactly I am supposed to do, or not to do? Would that
preacher take the time and make one sermon specifically
explaining what exactly he/she means under this term?
.. _Humanism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_humanism
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