To be Human is to be Response-Able

Last updated on: November 7, 2013 at 3:34 pm by Dr. Steven Garber

To be Human is to be Response-Able 2013-11-07T15:34:43-04:00 Dr. Steven Garber

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Seems a long time ago now, but I once found a Narnia board game and excitedly brought it home for my children. We sat down to play, and I was devastated. It was all chance, a roll of the dice, a flick of the spinner. No decisions, no choices, no responsibility.

The antithesis of the Narnian world and worldview.

I have come to see that we are at heart “choosers.” We choose first, and then we construct worlds that we will live in. As Havel has said so importantly, so insightfully, “The secret of man is the secret of his responsibility.” At the very heart of our humanness is our responsibility, our ability to respond. Response-Able.

the axe We are very complex as people, sons of Adam and daughters of Eve– glorious ruins, so full of wonder and glory, and shame and sorrow. Why and how we see God, ourselves and the worl as we do is very complex too. Ideas and beliefs are part of it, but not the whole. Mentors and teachers are also part of the equation, critically so because they show ideas in practice. But we are also born into circumstances that are unique to us, and so biology and chemistry, psychology and sociology, are inextricably written into each life. We are very complex.

I thought of all this again reading the first of “The Master of Hestviken,” the tetralogy (four books) by Sigrid Undset, a Nobel Prize winner for her novels. Having read her “Kristin Lavransdatter” years ago, and concluded that the trilogy was one of the best stories I had ever read, a year ago I begin buying the books of the Hestviken story. This weekend I finished the first, “The Axe.” Set in Norway in the medieval Catholicism of the 13th-century, it is a masterful account of Olav Audunsson a son of Adam who is also the son of Audun, as well as a son of Scandinavia. And not surprisingly, he too is a glorious ruin who makes decisions, and choices, with responsibility threaded through his life from beginning to end.

These words have rumbled around in my mind for a week now. They are from a priest to Olav, coming at a time when Olav has made choices that have consequences. The priest wants him to understand that at the heart of his life is his responsibility, not only for his past but for his future.

“Tis an easy matter, Olav, to be a good Christian so long as God asks no more of you than to hear sweet singing in church, and to yield Him obedience while He caresses you with the hand of a father. But a man’s faith is put to the test on the day God’s will is not his. But now I tell you what Bishop Torfinn said to me one day—it was of you and your suit we were speaking. ‘God grant,’ he said, ‘that he may learn to understand in time that whoso is minded to do as he himself wills will soon enough see the day when he has done that which he had never willed.’”

Sort of sober, but profoundly true.

The Narnia game was not true to Narnia, but even more so, was not true to the reality of our humanity. We are choosers because responsibility is the heart of our humanity, it is the secret of being human.

Image by Doug Wheler. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr.

This post was originally written for The Washington Institute’s Commons blog.

arts and entertainment

Previous Post

October 15, 2013

What do Christians need most concerning politics?

Next Post

December 27, 2013 "How Do We Know Our Calling in the Workplace?" - J. B. Wood

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category arts and entertainment audio/video bible / theology business church college community culture education faith family government/politics leadership media medicine podcast science & tech social sector tech Uncategorized work and calling

Select a Month November 2025 May 2025 October 2024 September 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 July 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 July 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group reads the Book of Mormon?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Latter-day Saints Baptists Pentecostals