How Will We Manage Diversity?: A Response to Jean Bethke Elshtain
In basic agreement with Elshtain's suspicion of a rationalist basis for defining human nature and ethics, this response underscores the importance of story, history, and collective experience for our achieving of such definitions. At stake in the debate are two vital anthropological questions:...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publ.
2001
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| In: |
Theology today
Year: 2001, Volume: 58, Issue: 1, Pages: 20-27 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In basic agreement with Elshtain's suspicion of a rationalist basis for defining human nature and ethics, this response underscores the importance of story, history, and collective experience for our achieving of such definitions. At stake in the debate are two vital anthropological questions: (1) Who are we that we should value each other and ascribe rights to each other? The “thin” rationalist answer to this question is that we just believe in the value of humanity, simpliciter. The Christian answer, that God created and loves us, seems much more solid, especially in face of the propensities of twentieth-century humans for killing each other. (2) In an increasingly global human society, how do we Christians negotiate with our neighbors concerning our different answers to the first question? We do it by speaking about our histories to each other; and, on the grounds of our own faith, we never desert the global conversation. |
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| ISSN: | 2044-2556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology today
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/004057360105800104 |