Preaching: The challenge of a Christ-centered and holistic view of humanity

We often say things about people, even from the pulpit, without seriously considering the assumptions of our statements. Doing this often proves counterproductive and even disastrous for our preaching.

In this article different ways of viewing people will be analyzed and a few of the consequences of these beliefs will be exposed. An appeal will be made for a holistic Christ-centered anthropology, one which focuses upon every basic aspect of the person's being addressed in our preaching. This all-around approach to preaching will be seen to be vital to the task of preaching.

Literature on preaching often addresses only the so-called form and contents of preaching; how and what to preach. It leaves out a most determinative factor: the preacher's basic assumptions. The preacher's convictions and even feelings about people, or about anthropology, may be regarded as one such a basic assumption. These assumptions may challenge the congregation to social activism or to pietistic passivity. Pietism in this article indicates the pretension of a holy life without pious deeds, which spells emptiness and meaninglessness.

A liberation theological anthropology

Some preachers, proclaiming their anthropological convictions from the pulpit, are to a large extent influenced by the school of thought known as Liberation Theology.

Liberation Theology regards the poor as champions of a new humanity. The liberation of human beings from pain, suffering, exploitation, and discrimination is seen as the true liberation of the human being. Consequently, people are not viewed as a means to an end, but they are seen as an end in themselves. Human dignity is regarded as the highest value. This theme, stated as a preferential option for the poor, runs through the entire script of Liberation Theology. It is not seen so much as a particular kind of theology as much as it is seen as a manifestation of the being and mission of the worldwide church.

It assumes that the gospel needs to be proclaimed within an active solidarity with the numerous struggles of the poor, and exploited. To situate oneself in this locus, the preacher needs to be converted to another world; a new way of understanding and of reformulating the gospel message. Only when Christians work toward abolishing injustice is authenticity possible. We are participants in God's redemptive acts because we play a part in God's creative acts.

Sin is seen as a refusal to love others and therefore a refusal to love God. Although people must be freed from personal individual sins, Liberation/Theology stresses the social aspect of sin. People become truly human by the creation of a new social reality. Personal and structural changes establish people in a new humanity. Liberation and salvation are not regarded as identical, but liberation anticipates salvation.

Preaching that springs from this kind of pietistic anthropology takes serious cognizance of the socio-political messages of the Bible. According to Liberation Theology, Luke's version of the beatitudes, (6:20-26, NIV), e.g., "Blessed are you who are poor," does not speak of the spiritually poor and hungry, but of the financially poor people of the world. The gospel messages are not to be spiritualized and thus robbed of their literal liberating power.

A social anthropology

Social anthropology and the preaching that springs from its presuppositions, regards life on the earth as one of our greatest gifts. This means that the pursuit of life is not attainable in isolation, without being involved with our fellow human beings. In all of life's pursuits, it is said, we should strive to maintain a dynamic relationship with our extended family, tribe, ancestors, as well as with God and nature. We are expected to engage ourselves in activities that will promote the total welfare of the whole of our community. A fulfilled Christian life cannot be experienced in isolation from others. Human beings are seen to be human only because of others, with others, and for others.

According to this approach, Christian preaching, as influenced by the Augustine, Luther, and Calvin tradition, has focused too much on the problem of death, forgiveness, and individual salvation. It has thus tended to spiritualize the gospel and to draw a sharp dividing line between the spiritual and physical needs of people. Western theologians are being accused of falling prey to Calvinism and the "separation" it effects between God and human beings.

A liberal anthropology

Liberal Anthropology has three main features as points of departure:

Individualism portrays the heart of liberalism. The individual is seen as more "real" and fundamental than society is. Preaching from this ground will ascribe a high degree of completeness and self-sufficiency to the individual. A more important moral value will be attached to the individual than to society or to groups of people.

Seen from this perspective, the world as a whole is seen without significant moral dimensions, and thus individuals must choose their own values and construct their own morality in a rational manner. To a large extent the autonomy and self-sufficiency of the individual rests upon the belief that one's experience is the touchstone of truth. Truth being offered from "the outside" can no longer be relied upon. One should have a "healthy" skepticism of traditional wisdom and accepted truths. The liberal notion of the autonomy of the individual also contains the idea of "self-possession." Individuals are seen as "masters" of themselves.

The freedom of the individual is regarded as the highest value in Liberal Anthropology. Freedom is described as "freedom to." Individuals are seen to be free so that no one or nothing interferes with their activity. In this line of presupposition, the lives of individuals are supposed to belong to themselves. Further, the concept of Equality is emphasized. All human beings are regarded as equal and should there fore be equally subjected to the law, but also equally protected by the law. Here there is no birth or title privilege. Only merit is to be rewarded.

So much emphasis is laid on the individual in this approach that vital group loyalties are overlooked. With this approach, preaching does not seriously address the freedom to serve God and our fellow human beings.

A "low" anthropology

A biblical anthropology with a "low" view of people is to a large extent based upon an emphasis of the fall of humanity into sin. Under this presupposition, people were created in the image of God, but this was considered as almost completely invalidated or cancelled out by the original sin.

People are considered sinful creatures, inclined to everything that is wrong and evil, and consequently, little should be expected from them. The result is that all optimistic views of humanity are shunned.

A "low" anthropology is not with out biblical support and finds some expression in passages such as Psalms 22, 51, as well as Romans 3. Although this way of thinking accepts the basic equality of people, its emphasis is not on justice as a sign of equality, but on the universal need for salvation. According to this view, we should focus more on the next world, where as the present world should only be endured. Lategan is convinced that a "low" anthropology not only inhibits change, but that it prevents the development of a positive self-image.¹ The notion of a "low" anthropology tends to refuse to accept the concept of human rights.

Some scholars believe that this view has actually been more influenced by the Augustinian and Neoplatonic view of humanity and not so much by biblical thinking. In it evil is seen as a self-contained, preexistent and "supernatural" entity that has been incarnated and embodied in human beings.

A "high" anthropology

The Imago Dei, the "image of God" motif of the Creation story, exemplifies a "high" anthropology, in contrast with a "low" approach. Scriptures that may be seen to "prove" it's validity, are exemplified by passages such as Psalm 8:4-8.

Much of American pastoral theology, in particular, seems to have been influenced by this "high" anthropology and the liberal view of people. Boison, regarded as the father of the Clinical Pastoral Education Movement, believed that theologians and pastors should study "human documents," (that is; "people in distress"), as well as the relevant biblical passages that deal with these questions.

A new model or view of the nature of humanity developed within the Clinical Pastoral Education Movement. People were believed to be dynamic and to be capable of development and change. While human relations were regarded as of the highest importance, the relationship with God was certainly not ignored.

Carl Rogers, a prominent humanist psychologist, maintained certain notions about human beings that were, for various reasons, attractive to preachers who upheld a "high" view of humanity. Some of these ideas contain these elements:

• People are motivated by "one basic tendency and striving to actualize, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism." People are seen to have an inner potential that preaching can help to unlock and release.

• Human brokenness or neurosis is seen as primarily a matter of "incongruence" between the self and the "experiencing organism."

• Human fulfillment is understood in "process" terms. The actualization of one's potentialities for growth is seen as an ongoing process.

Preachers, following these assumptions, believe that the synthesis between Rogerian psychology and Christian theology provide a more positive image of human beings. They believe that the so-called high view of human beings made a lasting contribution when it uncovered that which lies beneath the surface within people: innate human dignity.

Others, however, believe that this approach has several limitations:

• It tends to "romanticize" the feelings of people. This synthesis equates the image of God in human beings with the principle of "biological actualization" and undercuts the importance of such elements as symbolic identity with a tradition and a history, and with human reason and moral sensitivity.

• It disparages the rational and moral dimensions of human beings. The "actualization tendency" does not fully account for important dimensions of rational and moral life.

• There is an over-identification, even an equation, of salvation with "health." Christian living is far more than the fulfillment of one's individual potentiality. Christian life also has moral dimensions and includes aspects of self-transcendence and self-giving love.

The Christ-centric anthropology

This view of people points to the fact that the text of Hebrews 2, for example, integrates both aspects of the "low" and the "high" anthropology. Hebrews 2:5-18 is regarded as a Christ-centric reinterpretation of Psalm 8.

According to these texts little or nothing of the high expectations for human beings has been fulfilled: "Now we still do not see that every thing has been subjected to him" (Heb. 2:8b refers to the soul of the human being). The author of Hebrews sees this to mean that even Christians have not reached their full potential.

What was described in Psalm 8 as a "high" anthropology is now used as the attribute of a "low" anthropology. For a little while, Jesus is made less than the angels, and the "little less than the angels" becomes "a short while lower than the angels." It serves to indicate the humiliation of Jesus. This humiliation, however, has a peculiar purpose. Through His suffering Jesus is crowned with honor and glory, and as a result, He opens the way for people to reach their full potential and "high" calling.

Humiliation is thus not the permanent status of Jesus, but it becomes the functional way by which the fulfillment of humanity, according to Psalm 8, is reached. The life of Jesus is both an ironic commentary on the failure of humans and, at the same time, a miraculous demonstration of how failure is to be overcome. Jesus leads many to glory, (Heb. 2:10) and restores them to full humanity (Heb. 2:14-18).

A Christ-centric view of humans is seen as a refusal to accept the destructive effects of sin as a permanent state. On the other hand, however, it also refuses to be an open-ended optimistic anthropology.

A holistic anthropology?

Is a holistic view of people actually possible? In our preaching and teaching, is it possible to avoid the pitfalls and reduction of some of the anthropologies, delineated above, and to construct an anthropology that addresses human beings as whole beings?

According to holistic assumptions, the Bible knows only the "total" human being and not the different parts that some have defined or separated out in dualistic ways. Human beings do not only have bodies, but in the holistic sense, they are also their bodies. Accordingly, to state that "I am my body," is saying too much, but to say that "I have a body," is saying too little.

Sermons challenging only the so-called spiritual side of people, without addressing their physical and social existence, may be nothing more than pointing to "a pie in the sky, by and by."

Sometimes we may be tempted to overlook the importance of people as socio-political beings and forget that all people can only worship God within a particular culture and from within a specific social context. If we really want them to hear and under stand the "whole" good news of the gospel and its implications, and not only the text of the Bible, then it is also important to make known "the text" of the human being.

In changed social situations the oppressed have often become the new oppressors.

Theologians who operate with binary oppositions, that is those who see reality merely in terms of good/bad, white/black, spirit/flesh and truth/untruth, are often tempted to be, on the one hand, totally against any idea of wholeness, and on the other, they may have fallen prey to perfectionism. They tend to be extremely one-sided. On the one hand, a statement like, "Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness godlikeness is the goal to be reached," should never be understood apart from Christ's redemption and re-creation.²

On the other hand, in our preaching we should not emphasize the hopelessness of God's people in a mechanical and unthinking way, or minimize the potential of people who have been recreated by Christ. Although Paul emphatically states that we are all under the power of sin and there is nothing good in people, our preaching should always also forcefully proclaim the fact that we are new creatures in Christ. We are not only always capable of sinning, but we are also able to be a new humanity in Christ.

It is important that we realize that we are free people in Christ. Many preachers emphasize the hopeless condition of our humanity, not because it is a biblical truth, but because people love to be "comforted" with this kind of preaching: The worse they feel about themselves, the "better" they feel.

Conclusion: Preaching to the whole human being

Amid all the ideas, conceptions, and presuppositions about people that are behind our preaching, there is the critical need for us to begin to pray and think and work toward a Christ-centered anthropology. After all the horrors of the previous century and following the terrors that seem to multiply among us these days, it is impossible for us not to acknowledge the worldwide disastrous effects of our sin.

It is even more important, however, for us to proclaim a triumphant living Christ, who has been crucified and who works through the Holy Spirit toward our healing and wholeness. In our sinful world we cannot afford to be without an intentionally holistic anthropology, one that undergirds everything that comes from us and from our pulpits from week to week.