HUMAN DIGNITY Discourses on Universality and Inalienability One World Theology (Volume 8) HUMAN DIGNITY Discourses on Universality and Inalienability 8 Edited by Klaus Krämer and Klaus Vellguth CLARETIAN COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION, INC. HUMAN DIGNITY Discourses on Universality and Inalienability Contents (One World Theology, Volume 8) Copyright © 2017 by Verlag Herder GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau Published by Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman 1101 Quezon City, Philippines Preface ......................................................................................... ix Tel.: (02) 921-3984 • Fax: (02) 921-6205 [email protected] www.claretianpublications.ph Anthropological Remarks on Human Dignity Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) is a pastoral endeavor of the Human Dignity in the Light of Anthropology ....................... 3 Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all and the History of Ideas walks of life. It aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges Josef Schuster of the Church today. Reaffirming the Theology of Human Dignity in Africa .......... 17 CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Critical challenges and salient hopes in Tanzania Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Macau, Madrid, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw and Aidan G. Msafiri Yaoundè. Anthropological Annotations on Human Dignity from an Asian Perspective ............................................................... 27 Francis-Vincent Anthony Discussion Forum as the Survival Strategy ........................ 37 of a Kaqchikel Community in Guatemala Andreas Koechert Roots of Human Dignity in the Specific Context An Historical Perspective on Violations of Dignity .............. 49 Daniel Legutke The Roots of Human Dignity in the Specific ......................... 61 Geographical and Cultural Context An African Perspective Joseph Komakoma Cover design by Jayson Elvin E. Guevara The Roots of Human Dignity in a Southeast ...................... 71 Layout design by Ma. Myreen Q. Gayos Asian Context Sharon A. Bong All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without written permission from the publisher. ISBN: 978-621-8009-85-1 v vi Human Dignity Contents vii The Fundamentals of Human Rights .................................. 79 Universality of Human Dignity in the Context of Latin America Inviolable Human Dignity as a Global Challenge ................ 211 Víctor Codina Sascha Müller History of Human Dignity in the Specific Context Human Dignity in an African Context .................................. 219 The History of Human Dignity and its Brutal Disregard. ..... 95 Richard N. Rwiza Comments on Human Dignity in the History of Ideas and the Experience of Disregard for Human Dignity in Germany Human Dignity – An Islamic Perspective ............................. 233 Klaus Vellguth Muhammad Sammak Human Dignity and Church Teachings ............................... 115 Memory, Subjectivity and Human Dignity ............................ 249 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Antonio Sidekum and Jorge Miranda de Almeida Rigobert Minani Bihuzo Appendix Human Dignity in the Historical Religious Discourses ........ 129 Index of Authors ................................................................... 269 of Asia Ali Al-Nisani Index of Translators ............................................................. 275 From ‘Image and Likeness’ to ‘Human Dignity’: .................. 137 The social relevance of a religious doctrine to secular life in Mexico Mauricio Urrea Carrillo Violation of Human Dignity as a Foundational Basis for the Postulation of Human Dignity Disregard for Human Dignity as a Key Experience ............. 149 Peter G. Kirchschläger Human Dignity: .................................................................... 161 A Normative Foundation for Human Rights Ganoune Diop Oscar Romero – Martyr of Human Dignity ........................... 187 Martha Zechmeister Issues in Defining and Measuring Violation ........................ 197 of Postulated Human Dignity Peter Jacob Preface The concept of dignity originates in Roman antiquity. Dignity initially described a prominent position in the life of society which was associated with individual achievements or public offices. The concept of dignity lost its elitist connotation in the wake of Stoic philosophy and came to be understood as a common human characteristic. Human dignity now put all human beings on par by virtue of the fact that they were endowed with reason and were not at the mercy of their passions or instincts. In patrology this notion of a universal human dignity blended with the theological construct of man’s creation in the image of God. This embodiment of the idea of human dignity in Christian anthropology poses a number of problems, however, since it lacks plausibility in non-Christian cultural contexts. Making the situation more complicated is the fact that the concept of human dignity forms the basis not just for human rights, but also for the understanding of religious freedom. Like its predecessors, this volume in the One World Theology series is intended as a forum for an exchange of views within the universal Church in which theologians and philosophers from various countries have been invited to present their views on the concept and interpretation of human dignity from their own regional perspective. This juxtaposition of contributions from different regional contexts makes it clear that contextual references have an influence on the understanding of human dignity. This is readily apparent in the articles which address human dignity from an anthropological standpoint and approach an understanding of human dignity from within the authors’ own cultural contexts. The contributions in the last two chapters of the volume, which deal with the violation of human dignity as a foundational basis for the postulation of human dignity or address the universal nature of human dignity, pave the way for an understanding of human dignity that gives universality an inter-cultural and inter- contextual dimension. ix x Human Dignity Preface xi In the first chapter Josef Schuster discusses aspects of human the immanence/cosmos, or of the unique place he occupies between dignity relating to anthropology and the history of ideas. He begins the divine/transcendence and the cosmos. The responsibilities that with theological anthropology and the concept of man’s creation in the follow from such self-understanding indicate how man can progress image of God and continues by examining the conception of (human) towards self-realization through self-giving. In other words, human dignity among the Greek Stoics and in the works of Cicero. He then dignity is bound to man’s self-understanding and self-realization investigates the Christian understanding of the Church Fathers and in through self-giving.” the Middle Ages before exploring the concept of dignity developed by In ‘Discussion Forum as the Strategy for Survival of a Kaqchikel Immanuel Kant, a major milestone in the intellectual history of human Community in Guatemala’ Andreas Koechert looks at repression, dignity. Summing up, he notes that human beings are distinguished violence, murder and massacres in that country. He describes the from all other living beings by their moral capacity: “They alone alliance between the Acción Católica Rural (ACR), the Cofradías and can set themselves objectives and coordinate them with others. As the Costumbristas which succeeded in transcending religions and beings with a moral capacity, human beings have personhood and cultures. By overcoming their religious differences and collectively are, therefore, an end in themselves. Nevertheless, it is possible for agreeing to form a community that reached beyond their specific human beings to abuse their freedom and to degenerate to a greater cultural and social identities they ‘revitalised Kaqchikel identity and extent than any other living being ever could be. They can attain a the knowledge of how to preserve human dignity and human rights in level of bestiality exceeding that of any animal. Nonetheless, human line with Indian values’. beings do not lose their dignity, even if they deform themselves and forfeit their worthiness. Dignity cannot, therefore, be lost. What can be In the second chapter of this volume the authors discuss the extent lost, however, is the ability to exercise this dignity. One of the aims of to which the concept of human dignity is rooted in their own cultural human rights is to prevent this happening.” contexts. Taking the history of freedom in Europe as an example, Daniel Legutke shows that instances of the violation of dignity were In his article entitled ‘Reaffirming the Theology of Human Dignity often of secondary importance if rights to freedom were articulated by in Africa’ Aidan G. Msafiri looks at the biggest threats to human dignity social movements engaged in political struggle. He draws attention, and human rights in present-day Tanzania: female genital mutilation, firstly, to the freedom movements of the peasants at the time of the gender-based violence, the deadly consequences of ‘Operation Peasants’ Wars and the Reformation and, secondly, to developments