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Human Resources

What is a human being?

The Psalmist, addressing his Creator, poses the same question:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
at the moon and the stars you have set in place,
what is a frail mortal, that you should be mindful of him,
a human being, that you should take notice of him?

Psalm 8.3 4 R.E.B.)

Biology competently answers the question. We are bipedal primates. We belong to the mammalian species Homo sapiens, and to the family of Hominids. Our highly developed brain gives us the capacity for sophisticated communication, logical reasoning and profound self-reflection.

Whilst acknowledging the truth of these descriptions, theology would want to add that we are also formed in the image of God (Genesis 1.26 27 R.E.B.). Thus, in a special and mysterious sense, human beings are like God.

Anything which undermines our nature, which literally dehumanises us, should be resisted. Paths of dehumanisation tend to lead in two directions – attitudes and/or actions which reduce us to:
1. Animals or
2. Machines

It is not easy being human.

17 March 2008

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