The Essence of Catholicism

Abstract

<p>Enlightenment critics of religion were like those zealous gardeners who prune trees to stumps. My title references thzeal of Immanuel Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason, and of Ludwig Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity. Avoiding these excesses, I seek the synthesis of Catholicism and the Enlightenment, arguing for Generic, or as I now prefer to call it, Essential Catholicism. This case is within the scope of reason, that is normal human reasoning. More controversially, it is also within the scope of humanism, by which I mean an appreciation of the actual or potential grandeur of human beings, who are endowed with reason and free will. Humanity and divinity are two species of the same genus. To be sure, we are much less powerful and knowledgeable, but neither power nor knowledge confer greater worth. What does show God to be greater than us is our moral failure, both individually and collectively: there is much human goodness but also much human depravity. The most significant difference between myself and God is that God is holy, I am not. The most significant difference between ourselves collectively and God is that God is holy, we are not.</p>