Humanism, An Augustinian Mind, & Christ the Truth

Humanism was a real historical movement, but it was never a philosophy or a religion. It belongs to the sphere of education, not to that of theology or metaphysics. No doubt it involved certain moral values, but so does any educational tradition. Therefore it is wiser not to define humanism in terms of philosophical theories or even of moral doctrines, but to limit ourselves to the proposition that humanism is a tradition of culture and founded on the study of humane letters.

A “Christian humanist,” he shared his contemporary Tolkien’s love of dreams and the imagination, and his hatred of fascism, communism, and ideology. He took an Augustinian view of western civilization that found God’s purpose visible in history, and pursued with indefatigable energy the mission of restoring Christendom amidst the failures of modernity.

 

In this Christ there came to men, at the time which He knew to be most fitting and which He had determined before the world began, the teaching and the help necessary to the obtaining of eternal salvation. Teaching came by Him that those truths which to men’s advantage had been spoken before that time, not only by the prophets (all whose words were true) but also by philosophers and even poets and authors in all branches of letters (for who will deny that they mixed much truth with what was false?), presented by His authority in the flesh, might be confirmed as true for the sake of those who could not perceive and distinguish them in the light of essential Truth, which Truth was, even before He took upon Himself human nature, present to all who were capable of receiving truth.