Editor's note. Father's article is challenging but well worth reading. When I read a challenging article I ask the Holy Spirit for understanding. I've highlighted some of the unfamiliar terms Father uses and linked them to definitions. May we all grow in wisdom by immersing ourselves in the truths of the faith. A big thank you to Fr. Collins for his articles. Because of it's length, I've divided this post into two.
Part I
THE ORIGINAL BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN GENESIS AS THE BASIS FOR DECLARING THE DOCTRINE OF MARY AS CO-REDEMPTRIX
By Fr. Tom Collins
1) Only Jesus is God incarnate - both as Person and Mystery.
2) Being and action are the same in God. He does not just love, He is love. Therefore Jesus' saving act is His saving being. Covenant is not only what Christ does, it is also intrinsically Who He is.
3) Salvation is ontological, not merely psychological. Thus, salvation from the dis-integrating power of sin must be real, and not merely imputed, since sin, by its very nature, involves a free choice to invest one's self into a dynamic that distorts one's perspective, attitudes, actions and character (i.e., drawing one into an ever deepening alienation from the integrity of truth).
4) Salvation involves all of one’s person and relationships – what is not shared is not redeemed.
5) Man is made in the image and likeness of God, as both a personal and a covenantal being ("male and female, not "male or female" Gen 1:27, 5:1-2). The more a human is God-like, the more integral is his humanity. The more the human community conforms itself to the integrity of God's commandments, the more integral will be its development and fruitfulness.
6) Man is the only creature God loves for his own sake. His love for humanity mediates His love for all other creatures. Thus, while we respectfully use things, we are to reverently love each human being and respect his freedom by promoting the integrity of his conscience.
7) God is the Holy Trinity, not just a monadic person. In the dynamic life of the Holy Trinity, obedience is an integral dimension of the God's Being- Father (Jn 15:16), Son (Jn 6:38), Holy Spirit (Jn 16:13).
8) Grace (i.e., participation in Divine graciousness) is primarily realized as a living communion with God, and secondarily as the wisdom and strength that flow from this communion.
9) Jesus’ Paschal sacrifice was essential for our salvation (Lk 24:26, Heb 5:8-10), not just a matter of demonstrating how deeply God loves us.
10) Evangelization is essential for one's full participation in the grace of salvation, since what is not shared is not redeemed.
11) The paradigm for spiritual growth is primarily one of communion-transformation, rather than one of cause-effect (Eucharist, as Holy Communion, is the source, sustinance and summit of the Church's life).
12) Salvation from the dis-integrating and alienating infection of sin must be real, not just imputed.
13) Sin, by its very nature, involves a free decision to enter into a communion with desecrating evil spirits, who draw us into a dynamic that distorts our perspective, so as to distort our attitudes and actions, pervert our character, and ultimately destroy our ability to live in a holy communion with God.
14) What is not shared is not redeemed. Even salvation itself is not authentic unless it is shared in grateful and gracious love with others. Thus one fulfills the new and normative commandment given by Christ, "Love one another, as I have loved you," (Jn 15:12) by embracing the lost and the alienated into the communion of divine love with one's self. Thus we are to give as a gift, what we are receiving as a gift.
15) Our true life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3, Gal 2:19-20)
16) Covenantal actions involve a mutuality/complementarity of ministry. In this context, joy is discovered in gratitude for the sacred privilege of participating in this sacred dynamic, rather than in an alienating pride, whereby a person imposes himself and his agenda on others, rather than share himself and his insights in a spirit of reverence for the whole truth of God.
17) Co-redemption takes place through the mystery of the Incarnation – God the Son, in obedience to the Father and by the gracious fidelity of the Holy Spirit, took to Himself a full and authentically covenantal human nature (not our fallen and sinfully perverted human nature), into which He was to integrate repentant sinners by the gracious fidelity of the Holy Spirit ministered through the sacraments of the Church.
18) Full redemption is possible only if one's soul and relationships can be perfectly redeemed.
19) Without a clear vision of what is authentically human, we tend to perish in the alienation of sin
20) God’s ways do not conform to the distorted expectations of sinful humanity.
Part II
THE COVENANTAL NATURE OF MAN:
REFLECTION ON THE NATURE OF MARY'S MINISTRY AS CO-REDEMPTRIX
The underlying basis for this reflection is the fact that our culture needs to seriously re-examine its understanding of the nature of man in the light of Divine Revelation. By using the conventional term "man", I wish to indicate both the individual human person and the collectivity of human society. A major problem that Western anthropology has with regard to man is that it tends to see each human person as a unique monadic individual, with the social bonds that form relationships as merely structures for the orderly development of human life and societies. Although this may be helpful in philosophical and legal deliberations, it does tend to follow a distorted image of integral humanity by viewing the human person's being as somewhat alienated from an intrinsic investment into the human family (Note, for example, the popular assertion that the ability to choose evil is to be ratified as a right to choose). The individual is seen as contributing to society and benefiting from the contributions of others in a somewhat healthy symbiotic relationship. Such a functional perspective of man, however, tends to overlook a more profound ontological perspective of man presented in the first chapters of Genesis, a perspective which presumes that man's relationships are not merely a mode of his functioning in the world, but rather an integral aspect of his very being. The following reflections will seek to show that in the first chapters of Genesis, human nature is seen as being essentially a covenantal relationship.
In order to appreciate this perspective, it is important to note that Scriptural portrayals of integral humanity are only given in the first two chapters of Genesis, in some of the wisdom writings and in the Gospel accounts of Christ and His ministry (In the Gospel accounts, however, it should be noted that the integral humanity is not in the Sabbath rest of a completed creation, but rather is profoundly engaged and disfigured in a struggle against the power of evil, whereby humanity is being re-created in the image and likeness of God). All other accounts of human life and endeavor in the Scriptures portray individuals and societies that are caught up in the power of sin and struggling to come to terms with the call and grace offered to them by God.
We see that God originally intended man to be dramatized in the very beginning of the Torah. This follows a basic wisdom, which affirms that, in any discourse, one should clearly define the meaning of terms in order to ensure that no misunderstandings develop in the sharing of ideas and perspectives. And so it is that, in Genesis 1:26-27 and again in Genesis 5:2 (cf. also Mal. 1: 14-15), "man" is defined as being God's image and likeness precisely in being "male and female". The intriguing thing about this is to be seen in light of the fact that the Mosaic Law was very insistent on the fact that there is only one God. In light of the prevalent pagan religions of Israel's neighbors, especially the cults of the god, Baal, and of the goddess, Astarte, it is difficult, at first, to reconcile the strict monotheism of Israel with the idea that God's image and likeness is male and female. The sacred author is definitely not trying to affirm that there are two varieties of God.
The only way this dilemma can be reconciled is by a deepening appreciation of the covenant theology, which is so central to Israel's spirituality. Since God's image and likeness is not "male or female", but "male and female", the image and likeness of God is not proclaimed to be found in some sort of rugged individualist, nor is it manifested in a glorified version of the turf battles between the sexes, but rather in the covenant relationship, into which individuals invest themselves in obedience to God's call. By way of analogy, we should keep in mind the fact that the sacred quasi-covenant relationship we allude to under the title, the Holy Trinity, is not merely a functional relationship of the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is God, and each distinct Person in the Godhead is God. Likewise, in the original plan for both creation and redemption, God's image and likeness is also to be one humanity, in which many individual human beings share through their communion with Christ in the Holy Spirit.
It should also be noted here that, in the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, the sacred author repeatedly refers to God saying, “Let there be ….”, as He creates each new dimension of the material universe. But when He creates man, he portrays God as saying, “Let Us make man in our image and likeness.” This indicates an intimate investment of Himself into the creation of man. It also indicates an ongoing dynamic, whereby humanity is formed more deeply into an intimate communion with God, whereby the whole of Creation is to be enhanced and brought to perfection.
This covenantal nature of man is reaffirmed in the second chapter of Genesis, in which God, after forming Adam from the dust of the earth and breathing His own life breath into him, declares, "It is not good for the man to be alone.” God finally forms the woman from a rib taken from Adam's side. Note, however, that He does not breathe life into woman, the life breath is already in her as she is being formed from the rib. Thus, the life she has is a life she shares with the man - a self-emptying (kenosis) covenantal life. The two become one flesh, not in a Platonic sense, in which the soul is divorced from the flesh, but in a way that enables the whole being of each to be perfect gift to the other and, with the other, to God.
The account of the Fall in Genesis 3 also echoes the covenantal nature of authentic humanity. God had warned the man in Genesis 2:17 that at the very moment he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die, with this warning being acknowledged by his wife in Gen 3:3. (As an aside, it should be noted that "the knowledge of good and evil" is a Hebrew idiom for "everything", similar to the English idiom "young and old" indicates "everyone". Thus it indicates an absolute degree of "certitude", which is both prone to manipulative relationships and alienated from the faith and trust required for authentic covenantal communion. Such certitude leads to a perspective, which views Creation and others through a paradigm of possession and control, rather than one of entrustment and communion).
However, when the woman and the man ate of this fruit, they did not drop dead on the spot. But their beautiful covenant relationship of love, respect, trust and mutual support did die as they realized they were naked, as they hid from God in a spirit of alienation, and as the man blamed the woman and God, Who had given her to him, for his sin. (As an aside, it is worth noting that sin is portrayed as a perverted covenant relationship with the evil one by God’s question, “Who told you that you were naked?”, not “How did you realize you were naked?” Likewise, note how the woman was seduced into seeking to possess wisdom in alienation from God, rather than to be humbly, gratefully and intimately guided by God in the ways of covenantal wisdom. Thus the passage indicates how the decision to pervert one's premises, perspectives, paradigms and priorities precedes the perversion of one's practices). This alienation from the covenant relationship is the death that took place as a consequence of their sin. Biological death was merely a delayed effect of this consequence, in a manner analogous to the delayed demise of bodily organs after the heart stops beating and the brain dies.
The distortion of perspective spawned by sin was further indicated by their perception of themselves, of each other and of God Himself. Alienated from their covenantal communion with each other, they no longer reverently viewed and appreciated each other as intrinsically sacred and graciously sanctifying, but as alienated from and hostile to each other. Likewise, they no longer reverenced and appreciated God as pure graciousness, love and mercy, but as alienated from and hostile to them. Thus, when God comes into the Garden, instead of humbly offering Him the hospitality of sincere and contrite repentance (in contrast to the exhortation given in Rev 3:20), they arrogantly and anxiously seek justification for themselves through perverted and vapid excuses and resentments.
We thus can see here the beginnings of a distorted, individualistic symbiotic, but non-covenantal, understanding of human nature succinctly dramatized. The man and woman are no longer united in a sacred covenant of mutual reverence, respect and love. Instead, the woman will long for her husband, but he will no longer be her partner, but her master.
Note also the degenerative desecrating vicious cycle initiated by sin. The serpent (Satan) will eat dirt. The woman will have pain in delivering a baby, yet she will long for her husband, who will be her master, rather than her partner. And the man, aside from living in frustration by the sweat of his brow, will return to dirt, and thus be the food of the serpent (Satan). Thus the man, "consumed" and mastered by spirits of pride, lust, greed, anger, glutony, envy and sloth will be the master over the woman. Most women would find it a joy to submit to a man of integrity, graciousness, humility and virtue. But having a man, who is dominated by vice and a spirit of manipulation, as her husband would be a living hell. Ironically, in a desperate "sour grapes" attempt to ratify the meaning of life in terms of the domination, manipulation and exploitation that sin has brought into their relationship, the man names his wife "Eve" (i.e., the mother of all those "living"), thus ratifying this condition of perverted and perverting relationships as both normal and normative.. Likewise, as indicated above, even fallen humanity's understanding of the nature of repentance was perverted. Rather than being based on a humble and reverent appreciation of God's gracious mercy, it became rooted in the experiences of guilt, disgust, anxiety and depression spawned by sin, and thus prone to seek salvation through excuses and resentments rather thant through the a contrite and reverent appreciation of God's gracious mercy and compassion.
(As an aside, it is worth noting that this renaming of the woman by Adam is reflected in the way so many have eagerly embraced the paradigm of evolution, which views the impersonal and manipulative dynamics of power and domination [i.e., the survival of the fittest] as guiding human development. This is in direct opposition to the covenantal appreciation of humanity, which can be called evocation. Evocation accentuates the fact that authentic human development is not realized by becoming more adept at adapting to and adopting the standards of the dominating power of this age, but rather by faithful docility to the gracious and regenerative call of God to a more profound and authentic intimacy with His mercy, love and truth. Thus it is that martyrs valued integrity over expediency by their witness to our accountability to the call of God to share more deeply in His mercy, integrity truth and love.)
Likewise, God, by clothing them in animal skins, reveals that, because of their rejection of a covenantal humanity, they have fallen into a condition analogous to the man's situation when he was frustrated in his quest for a helpmate by his finding merely a functional relationship with the animals. But, to emphasize again that the original and normative nature of man is still covenantal, Genesis 5:2 again points out that God Himself named the male-and-female covenantal being "man".
In essence, then, the ever-metastacizing, multi-dimensional mystery of evil, which is manifested in sin, did not only degrade and desecrate our humanity, it also degraded and desecrated all the premises, perspectives and priorities, whereby we understand ourselves and our purpose in life. In essence, the concupisence caused by Original Sin trapped humanity in a distorted and perverted anthropology, from which it was impossible for us, on our own, to extricate ourselves.
From this point on, salvation history entails God's fidelity in bringing to realization His original word of consecrated covenantal commitment to form man in His image and likeness, as was so beautifully indicated in Isaiah 55:10-11. In the face of human pride, sin, perversion, stubbornness, cruelty and blindness, God faithfully reaches out to, wrestles with and forms a people, which is to image the reality of a covenantal life to the rest of fallen humanity. (It is intriguing to note here that the covenantal and dialogical nature of man, in opposition to an individualistic interpretation of salvation history, is indicated in Exodus 32:15-16, where the commandments of the covenant are described as being inscribed by God on both sides of the tablets given to Moses. Thus the commandments could not be seen at any moment by one person alone. A communal activity was required to come to a proper appreciation of the full truth of God's covenant with Israel.) Detailed exegesis of other Scriptural passages which point to this renewal of a covenantal humanity is impossible in the space of this short article. Suffice it to say, however, that outside such a covenantal life, hope is quickly suffocated by the anxieties stirred up by preoccupations with the world, the flesh and the devil. As Genesis 3:14 and 19 point out, man will ultimately return to being the “dust” that will be the food/prey of the serpent. Likewise, all human efforts to form community will degenerate into a form of complicity, wherein certain moral evils will be embraced as both normal and normative by the group.
The above considerations are important in that they emphasize that God's original creation of man was the creation of a covenantal being, not the creation of a loose-knit group of individuals, who relate to one another merely out of an enlightened self-interest. In line with this, we can see that each person is created as a gift to grace the lives of others (note that for Adam, the woman was not just his wife, but also was the rest of humanity at that time, and vice versa), so as to image that Love, which is the very Life and Being of God Himself. These considerations also help to clarify the fact that human dignity is to be found not in a superficial self-centered spiritual stagnation, but rather in one's being more purely and perfectly gift to God and neighbor. Thirdly, they point out that alienated humanity is desperately in need of God's gracious Self-Revelation and Covenant grace in order to come to a truly integral life (We are not able to pull ourselves out of the quagmire of sin by our proverbial bootstraps). Finally, since sin is a choice to distort one's perspective before it is a distortion of actions and relationships, salvation from sin requires that man, by God's grace, be willing to embrace a persevering obedience of faith in the truths and disciplines revealed by God, even when those truths do not conform to the perspective of the predominant culture of his age.
I'm breaking Father's article here because of length. Don't miss Part B here.
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