Analysis Of Heschel's, Christianity And The Survival Of Nature

The claim Heschel makes in his work, who is man, directly corresponds to Berry’s work, christianity and the survival of creation because the individual is responsible for the survival of Christianity and the natural world. Heschel stresses the idea that in a free society, not all are guilty but all are responsible. This philosophy places responsibility on the individual rather then society as a whole. Berry states how the individual is responsible for the destruction of nature and how man is the only one who can change this trend. I agree with Berry on this, but I would argue that the individual can only control what is within reason and the evils that exist in nature and christianity can be fixed, but not solved by man. Man is a category of

Berry believes that humans posse intrinsic values and everything we do is through and for God. He states “We will discover that the Creation is not in any sense independent of the creator, the result of a primal creative act long over and done with, but is the continuous, constant participation of all creatures in the being of God.”(97) Heschel on the other hand talks about how to be human is to have problems. He recognizes the imperfections of man and talks about how anyone who says they do not have problems is an “idiot”. Heschel appeals to the human sense in his argument and unlike Berry it does not directly reference a higher power. I side with Heschel because he stresses the imperfections of man and through this morality man shows his true being. Mortality is at the core of being human because even though we come from a mortal being that does not make us mortal. As humans we were born with imperfections and Heschel accepts that and embraces it in his definition of what it means to be human. Once we understand both Heschel and Berry’s definition of what it means to be human, we can begin to dive into why both place great emphasis on man in the destruction of christianity and