Вестник Свято-Филаретовского института (Aug 2022)
A New Christian Anthropology: “Horizontal” and “Vertical” Dimensions of the Human Person
Abstract
The article briefly systematizes the main anthropological concepts of the past and present. In particular, dichotomous and trichotomous notions of the human constitution, characteristic of both antiquity and the Patristic era, are analyzed in detail. The author requalifies the triad of spirit — soul — body, which within Christian Anthropology is generally recognized as a vertical hierarchy, calling the triad instead the “horizontal” dimension of the human person. He also builds a “vertical” dimension, largely linked to Christian revelation, which he argues has been previously much undervalued, in this respect. The grounding of the “horizontal” dimension of the human person is based on the experience of philosophers, and Church fathers — theologians, liturgists and ascetics. The construction of the author’s hierarchical vertical line is based on the experience of Christian mystics, anthropologists and existentialists, and above all on the thought of N. A. Berdyaev. The “vertical” dimension implies a relationship between individuality, man’s ontological “face” (hypostasis) and Person (lichnost). The correlation of the two triads: 1) individuality — ontological ‘face’ — Person, and 2) spirit — soul — body, makes it possible to construct a three-dimensional representation generating a whole system of matrices that provide us with the opportunity to see the human person and human communities from various different angles. The approach presented here may serve as a basis for further theological and interdisciplinary anthropological research.
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