HUMANALITY
I hereby officially affirm and engage a fresh term (at least to me, and not one that has much usage that I can find elsewhere) that I will use, and would like to inject especially into the Church conversation, often noted as a typo for another word, but having its own uniqueness:
Humanality: The degree to which an idea, action or experience edifies the human soul and restores the quality, dignity and vitality of personhood.
Based on the origins narrative of the Hebrew book of Genesis, specifically the concept of the imago Dei, unique in content to the biblical origins narrative, humanality is a word aiding qualitative analysis (perhaps quantitative as well, if someone can convince me) of the activities of culture today in relation to their service to human dignity.
At the Institute, we talk about renewing worship forms that “re-humanize” people in the face of a “dehumanizing” culture (and sometimes, in the face of what can be, unchecked, a dehumanizing Church sub-culture).
3 Comments
Not to be a pain in the butt, bum, whatever, but my past as an anthropologist wannabe is provoked by the term. Can I humbly suggest you consider ‘cultural humanality’, particularly in the context of worship forms and the church sub-culture. What brings freedom, inspiration and comfort in one culture brings fear, confusion and dis-ease in another. Just a thought. You look nice today, by the way.
We share the anthropologist wannabe syndrome.
I understand the clarification, but I’m not sure that it’s necessary. What is high in “humanality” in one culture may be low in another, you’re saying. Can you give examples? I understand what you’re saying, but I’m not sure another adjective fixes it – application and context fixes it.
Then again, convince me.
We’re talking about the dignity of personhood; i.e. all acts in all cultures will not have the same humanizing effect – but all acts that dignify will. I’m not interested in saying that “the humanality of giving large amounts of cash to people is high,” but rather that “forgiveness is an act with great humanality.”
love it … dignity is a word that has come alive to me in the past couple of years. humanality is a great fit too … wonder if i can wrap my tongue around it enough to incorporate it into my verbiage.
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