Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 75 No. 2, 2005.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Self-Transcending: The Starting Point for a Theological Anthropology
Marko Pranjić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7072-0300
; Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Contemporary theological thought deals intensively with anthropological issues forming its insights systematically and occupying a respectable position within theological disciplines. The topic at hand is theological anthropology. From the perspective of the »subject under scrutiny«, it is not a question of something particularly new but considering the approach and its attempt at scientific systematisation, it is a very clear turning point. Whilst familiar with discoveries from other anthropological disciplines such as biology, psychology, medicine, biomedicine, pedagogy, sociology, cultural studies and philosophy, theological anthropology offers a new vision of man, based on revelation but open to the challenges and signs of the times, prompting a need for reflection on the human being who reasons, logically justifies and complies with the sciences, that have until recently remained outside of theological interest. Contemporary anthropology has summed man's complexity, richness, untouchability, and the freedom to question all that has been as well as that what is to follow, into a concept of this constant self-transcending (samonadilaženje), his continual openness to the higher, to the other, to the different, to the other sidedness of reality. The question put forward concerns the driving force of this constant focus on what is new and as yet unexperienced. Long has the idea been that man is continually pressured by instinctive forces. The primeval human force focuses on what is undetermined and known. It comes about because our endeavours have not achieved their final goal. They are manifested in man in a specific manner, like a game and a risk, pursuing him into the open, and at first it seems into aimlessness. Hence, A. Gehlen speaks of the »imprecise responsibility« causing boiling blood to drive man to the other side of any realised existential realities, and here lies the domain where the roots of a religious life should be sought. This should in no way mean that man is the one who fabricates his own religion since he offers this impulse a certain form. Something else comes before any creative activity informing religion, making religion altogether different from simple human production. It is not possible for man under the inclinations of his instincts to create an imaginary object of his personal seeking that could transcend a whole worldly existence. On the contrary, in his unlimited directedness (upućenost) he essentially presumes the Other, the Other Sidedness of Reality, even when he does not know what to correctly call it. This is the essence of man's unlimited directedness. Since he is in an unlimited way directed and since he, in his unlimitedness and limitedness, continually presumes the Other and that which is different, only on what already exists and not created by him, can man using his imagination build presumptions. For him there is a definite term in languageterms. He is called God. The use of this term makes sense only if it is understood as man's unlimited directedness. On the contrary, it would represent a void word. Man's directedness towards the Unknown has established itself as the crux of what we call openness, self-transcending. This is not a proof of God's existence. Instead, man in his life presumes Someone towards whom he is directed in an unlimited way, whether he knows it or not. As we have hinted, this Someone is unknown. It is still not exactly clear, namely, who or what is the One whom man focuses on. The unlimitedness of man's directedness (upućenost) towards God comprises of what people do not fathom in its entirety, but must additionally seek. Man is directed towards the very seeking of God if there even exists the possibility of finding him at all. Religious messages should be verified as to whether they cover in their entirety the unlimited human openness or does it leave it understated and unanswered. Self-transcending, or in other words man's openness, definitely presumes his directedness towards the Other and the Different, identified in language terms as God. When not mentioned directly, this central concept remains unclear and it is as if man is tied to the world with an umbilical cord even though he is in a state of asking himself what the world, or what he treats as his own world, significantly transcends.
Ključne riječi
anthropology; theological anthropology; continual openness; self-transcending (samonadilaženje); man; trust; God
Hrčak ID:
24587
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.12.2005.
Posjeta: 2.374 *