The search for human values /
by Cornelius J. van der Poel.
- New York, Newman Press [1971]
- viii, 186 pages ; 22 cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Changing Perspectives in Responsible Human Attitudes -- Do We Need God To Live a Good Human Life? -- Performing the Human Task in Human Way -- Values and Norms in Human Self-Realization -- Personal Conscience: The Ultimate Norm for Human Responsibility -- Successes and Failures in Human Self-Fulfillment
What is the role of moral theology in a world where God is no longer a static ruler of men? -- Instead of becomes a search for human fulfillment, a process that can take place only if man responds constructively to others and allows them to respond to him. This view of morality, which borrows heavily from psychological and evolutionary insights, brings us one step beyond the "new morality" of the 1960's. It recognizes the multiplicity of human situations; but beyond that it champions a dynamic understanding of human existence, refusing to identify God with any material object or to enslave God within rigid conceptual structures. The task of man, says the author, is to develop his own humanity. This cannot be done in the abstract. Self-creation occurs only in space and time and through the bodily dimensions of people. Ideals are interwoven with human limitations, sometimes with human limitations, sometimes with elements that are destructive. From all of this emerges real humanity, man as he is, flawed but whole. Because of its starting point, this book offers fresh insights into authority, sin, conscience, and natural law. It weight human success and human failure on the same scale, seeing both of them as parts of human condition. And in the end it suggests that traditional concepts of "right" and "wrong"may have little meaning for contemporary man: "Human and Christian perfection,"says the author, "...is not situated in the performance of good actions and in the avoidance of sin. Human and Christian perfection is to become the living expression of God's presence in humanity. This self-becoming of man is a slow process of growth in which he must feel his way. Formulated laws, structures and organization are indispensable aids, but ultimately it is man himself who through stumbling and failing must give his human response to God's invitation."