Can We Create Ourselves?

“Humanist and Christian Theologies of the Body”

By Benedict M. Ashley, O.P.

1985

Part I: Science, the Body and the Humanist Theology

Chapter 1: Can We Create Ourselves?

i: We Are Bodies

ii: Can We Create Ourselves? - 6:05

iii: The Body and Ethics - 14:19

iv: A Hermeneutical Method - 17:19

1) The Interpretative Dilemma

2) An Expanding Horizon

Chapter 2: What Does Science Say We Are? - 38:22

i: We are Thinking Bodies

1) The Scientific Vision

2) We are Communicators

3) We are Self-Aware

ii: Our Bodies Serve Our Brains - 47:59

1) We are Brains

2) We are Homeostatic Systems

3) We are Genetic Codes

iii: We are Matter-Energy - 1:17:49

1) We are Matter

2) We are Energy

iv: We Have Evolved and Will Perish in the Cosmic Epoch - 1:39:02

1) We Have a Cosmic History

2) We are Upstream Swimmers

v: A Scientific Definition of the Human Person - 1:57:45

Chapter 3: Humanist Theologies of the Body (1700-2000) - 2:01:03

i: The World-View of Humanism

1) The Humanist Interpretation of Science

2) Contemporary Humanism and the Human Body

3) What Separated Humanism from Christianity?

ii: The Empiricist Development of the Humanist World-View - 2:36:50

1) The Newtonian World-View and Deism

2) Darwin and the Evolutionary View of Nature

3) Einstein and the Relativistic World-View

iii: The Idealist Critique of the Empiricist Interpretation of Humanism - 3:01:29

1) The Kantian Epistemological Revolution

2) Idealism and Historicity

3) Humanism, Phenomenology, and Hermeneutic Philosophy

4) The Human Body in Art and Literature

iv: Resolution of the Inner Contradictions of Humanism - 3:55:33

1) The Marxist Critique

2) Process Philosophy as a Revision of Humanism

3) The Strength of Humanism

v: Conclusion of Part I - 4:16:51