What does it mean to be human (with Anne Snyder Brooks)?
Curtis tackles this epoch defining question with Comment Editor in Chief, Anne Snyder Brooks. Together they explore the distinctive vision Christians have to offer a world beset by dehumanizing forces. This wide ranging exploration includes both the big ideas and stakes involved in this question, as well as practical steps each one of us can take to embody (in the words of Irenaeus) “the glory of God in a human being fully alive.”
Resources mentioned by Anne:
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Comment magazine’s discussion of Christian humanism via an interview between David Brooks and Luke Bretherton (a colleague of Curtis at Duke Divinity School).
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The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining a Future Without Us by Adam Kirsch
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The Congregation in a Secular Age: Keeping Sacred Time against the Speed of Modern Life by Andrew Root.
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I want to push back a bit Anne’s criticism of Reformed theology as someone who is a part of that tradition. If you read the Westminster Confession of Faith or the three forms of unity I think you’d get a pretty clear sense that human agency is taken seriously and that a lot of care is given to how embodied people are treated. We’re definitely not Gnostics. I don’t know if she had specific people in mind with her comments, but her criticism definitely didn’t ring true to my experience.
That said, I’m pretty uncomfortable with the idea of watching a show where Christ is portrayed by another person. If there’s some other resource she’d suggest she thinks would dissuade me from my soteriology I’m happy to engage. I just don’t think I could watch the Chosen without feeling as though I’ve violated the second commandment.