Worthwhile interview with Theologian Juan Luis Lorda, author of Christian Anthropology: From the Second Vatican Council to John Paul II.
Q: Why is Christian anthropology one of the strong points of evangelization?
Lorda: Because it discovers how man is and what his most profound aspirations are. The center of Christian evangelization is God: to lead modern man to discover that God loves us because he is our Father. This is the heart of Jesus Christ's message.
But that path is made easier when a person discovers how he is, and that his most profound aspirations are directed to God. The Church has a wisdom about man, a Christian humanism, which is a cultural treasure of the first order, because it gives meaning to life, it leads one to live with dignity, and makes people happy. It is a marvelous light in the world.
Many of our contemporaries, when they think of themselves, think they are the blind result of material forces, a protozoan evolved by chance. We know that we are children of God, that we have a Father who loves us, that we are brothers and that a destiny of love awaits us which we can already live.
We understand the meaning of intelligence and freedom, of love and family. This is beauty. The other is darkness and degradation. Dostoyevsky said it: "Only beauty will save the world."