Chalcedonian Personalism: Rethinking the Human

402 Pages·2016·1.797 MB·English

by  Colin Patterson

Chalcedonian Personalism
Rethinking the Human
Colin Patterson
Peter Lang
We all have a sense of what it means to be a person, but how
do we conceptualize that intuition? What is the connection
between a person and their human nature? Where does
mind fit in to the picture? This book draws upon the work of
Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar, both of whom
developed a perspective on these questions that is grounded
in the early Church’s teaching on Christ and the Trinity. The
possibilities of that teaching for understanding human per-
sonhood were generally lost for about fifteen centuries, but
Ratzinger, in a bold assertion, believes that its retrieval has the
power to challenge and reshape the whole of human thought.
The first part of the book offers an account of how von Balthasar
and Ratzinger arrived at their theological understanding of
personhood, paying particular attention to nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century personalist thought. The second part
draws out a number of the implications of this work and, in
doing so, makes use of recent psychological theory. Finally, as
a means of bringing into the picture the related philosophical
notions of self, freedom and the soul, the book introduces and
explores the concept of a “semblant”.
Colin Patterson teaches at the John Paul II Institute for
Marriage and Family, Melbourne. His work covers the areas
of moral theology and theological anthropology, with a fo-
cus on the intersection of theology with psychology. His
doctoral studies, carried out in Rome, examined the work of
Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas. Since then he has
published on bioethics and the science/theology interface.
Prior to being received into the Catholic Church in 2004 and
the commencement of his academic work, he worked as a
psychologist and as an ordained minister of the Uniting Church
in Australia.
www.peterlang.com
Chalcedonian Personalism

Chalcedonian Personalism
Rethinking the Human
Colin Patterson
PETER LANG
Oxford (cid:116) Bern (cid:116) Berlin (cid:116) Bruxelles (cid:116) Frankfurt am Main (cid:116) New York (cid:116) Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942657
Cover image: Ecce Homo, Caravaggio (c.1605). Available at https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Ecce_Homo-Caravaggio_(c._1605).jpg
ISBN 978-1-906165-73-4 (cid:9)(cid:81)(cid:83)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:10)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:114)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:52)(cid:35)(cid:47)(cid:1)978-1-78707-017-2 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-78707-018-9 (mobi)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:114)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:52)(cid:35)(cid:47)(cid:1)978-3-0353-0838-9 (ePDF)
© Peter Lang AG 2016
Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,
52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
[email protected], www.peterlang.com
Colin Patterson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as Author of this Work
All rights reserved.
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This publication has been peer reviewed.
Printed in Germany
To Carol

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introducing the Theme xiii
Part I: Chalcedonian Personalism 1
Chapter 1
Personhood: Beginning with Christ 3
Chapter 2
Sources of Contemporary Personalism 31
Chapter 3
Key Expressions of Personalist Thought in the
Twentieth Century 61
Chapter 4
Chalcedonian Personalism: Its Emergence and Shape 95
Part II: Chalcedonian Anthropology 131
Chapter 5
The Anthropology of Personhood: An Introduction
and Overview 133
Chapter 6
Human Nature: The Foundations 167
Chapter 7
Human Nature: Its Motivational Structure 195
Chapter 8
Semblants, Nature and Persons 225
Chapter 9
Case Study I: Free Will 253
Chapter 10
Case Study II: The Soul 287
Chapter 11
The Scriptures through the Lens of Chalcedonian
Anthropology 309
Conclusion 337
Bibliography 351
Index 371