religions Article
Collective and Substantial: Human Dignity beyond Individualism Justin Conway Theology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA; conwayju@bc.edu
Abstract: This paper uses Pope Francis’s Fratelli Tutti to develop traditional Catholic depictions of human dignity in both theory and practice. Black sociopolitical thought and social movement organizing are brought into conversation with theologies and philosophies that reflect on what gives life integrity. I posit that the substantialist (ontological) interpretation of human dignity logically extends from individuals to collectives. Further, I suggest religious leaders in the United States should emphasize this collective form of substantialism alongside the relational (Trinitarian) and functional (creative) interpretations of human dignity, thus identifying collectives as thematizing divine likeness and separating the notion of human dignity from individualism. Keywords: human dignity; individualism; Fratelli Tutti; Black natural law; collectivity
Citation: Conway, Justin. 2024. Collective and Substantial: Human Dignity beyond Individualism. Religions 15: 639. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rel15060639 Academic Editor: SimonMary Asese A. Aihiokhai Received: 11 March 2024 Revised: 21 May 2024 Accepted: 21 May 2024 Published: 23 May 2024
Copyright: © 2024 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
Pope Francis’s Fratelli Tutti (FT) extends an invitation to dialogue with all people of goodwill about the meaning and scope of fraternal love, regardless of religious commitment. This paper responds to Francis’s offer and the need for Catholic theology to engage Black social and political thought through an interdisciplinary examination of human dignity, one of the most important theological concepts for building a consistent ethic of life. In the seminars I have taken examining race and racism theologically, most readings and discussions pertained to liberation theologies. The leading perspectives center on Christian critiques of unjust social structures—undoubtedly an important project that should continue evolving. But while these intersectional liberationist movements further develop the preferential option for marginalized populations, making theologies that address theories about race and racism inseparable from liberationist discourses relegates their use to the applied rather than the fundamental. The distinction between applied and fundamental theology requires some explanation. Fundamental does not mean more important or significant, but rather more foundational. As an applied discourse, liberation theologies can be distinguished from the foundational concepts they draw from and build upon, such as human dignity, natural law, and grace. Problems arise when fundamental theological concepts go unchallenged by critical race studies, which risks centering historically dominant perspectives about human nature and salvation without sufficiently incorporating other worldviews and experiences. Such is the case when insights about race and racism, while often appearing in theologies of liberation, are not included in other doctrinal discourses. In FT, Francis strives to foster a culture beyond “vague ideals” and refers to the act of valuing something in speech without accompanying practice as the sin of doublespeak (Francis 2020, Nos. 109–10). A consistent ethic of life demands matching ideals with behaviors, and a religion that fails to live according to its belief in the dignity of all people renders the concept of dignity itself meaningless. Hence, Francis claims that equality will only be achieved by consciously and carefully cultivating association, not by abstractly proclaiming that “all men and women are equal” (Francis 2020, No. 104). Throughout FT, while remaining deferential to the innate dignity of individuals, Francis works from a social vision of dignity which accounts for ways in which the image of God is both relationally and functionally active. I will argue that emphasizing human dignity as constitutively
Religions 2024, 15, 639. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060639
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions