Description

In Personalist Papers, John F. Crosby continues the discussion of Christian personalism begun in his highly acclaimed book, The Selfhood of the Human Person. Trained in phenomenology, Crosby stays close to our experience of persons, so that what he says finds a deep resonance in the personal existence of the reader. In his exceptionally clear style, he explores the unrepeatability of persons, drawing out the unique worth and dignity of each individual person. Crosby also explores interpersonal relation, giving an original account of how persons can achieve empathic understanding of others, and where the limit of empathy is reached. He sketches out a personalist philosophy of religion, defending against Freud the encounter with God that occurs in conscience when we acknowledge some serious obligation and awaken in our personal existence. Crosby discusses as well the embodiment of persons, sharply criticizing the dualism of person and body that is found in much personalist thought. And he discusses the place of consciousness in the makeup of the human person, showing against Locke and others that, fundamental as consciousness is for personal existence, there is more to a person than consciousness. Crosby also discusses the solidarity in which all persons are established, the fundamental freedom of persons, giving and receiving personal influence, and the man-woman difference. In these investigations Crosby draws especially on the work of Max Scheler, Dietrich von Hildebrand, John Henry Newman, and Karol Wojtyla. What emerges is an enhanced understanding of, and reverence for, the mystery of the human person.