Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

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f) Even if Scripture does recognize the importance and dignity of the state, it points out with great earnestness that the state can degenerate into an ungodly power. At the end of time, the „false prophet,“ the „beast come up out of the earth,“ will abuse political power for the purpose of terror: „It forced all men, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to accept a stamped image on their right hand or their forehead. Moreover, it did not allow a man to buy or sell anything unless he was first marked with the name of the beast or with the number that stood for its name“ (Rev l3:l6-l7). The idolization of the state is a real possibility in the absolute state; its biblical attribute is the „mouth for uttering proud boasts and blasphemies“ (Rev l3:5). Protestant social teaching, which, in contradistinction to the Catholic conception, understands itself exclusively as social theology and therefore rejects social philosophy, has in the course of history been very full of tensions and non-uniform in its statements. This fact is explained by the differences in starting point: Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms, Calvin’s Christocracy, the old-Lutheran doctrine of government, the doctrine of the orders of preservation, and so on. Whereas Protestant social ethics today sees a temporally conditioned expedient in Luther’s doctrine of the supreme ecclesiastical authority of the regional sovereign, which must be considered antiquated in modern secularized society, it recognizes two things in Luther’s doctrine of the state that are still important for our times: first, the interpretation of the state as a divine order of preservation („to work for your good“ [Rom l3:4]); second, the doctrine that state authorities are „officials of God“ and „masks of God“ behind which „God secretly rules the world.“ By asserting these doctrines, Protestants do not overlook, however, that the governmental authority can become an accessory to evil instead of preventing evil. 2. The Socio-Philosophical Interpretation From a socio-philosophical point of view, the state is the highest social form of a people, grounded in natural law, serving the perfection of its earthly well-being, and resting on might and right. For a more detailed interpretation of this statement, Christian social teaching sets out from the following considerations: a) By his own power, man cannot „fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator“ (Quadragesimo anno, ll8). And since it is not self-sufficient, the family can in no way master all the necessities of life either. Numerous other communities are also necessary. We are therefore faced with a sheerly incalculable number of closely connected individuals - families, communities, companies, cultural institutions, and so on - whose multiple relations must be permeated by law, order, and security. For the fulfillment of this task, there is required at the top a secular social structure which, based on might and right, guarantees earthly well-being as the supreme expression and highest guardian of the common good in the best possible way. As this supreme social structure, the state should create the totality of presuppositions for a fruitful development of the individual, of smaller social circles, and of the entire society. State and society are thus not separate, but distinct. The dualism of state and society guarantees the freedom of man and the development of cultural domains. It protects us from the totalitarian power of the collective. b) As soon as the consciousness of political solidarity unites the people living in a given area (for instance, in a newly settled country), they form the corpus mysticum of the state, whereas an unordered mass of people „without physical and moral unity“ is not yet a corpus politicum. 7 This consciousness of solidarity is indeed a spiritual and not a blind biological drive, but does not presuppose an explicit contract in order for the state to emerge. In this sense, the state is not a „human work,“ but „nature.“ 8 It is here that the essential difference between the 7 F. Suarez, De Legibus, III, c. 2, n. 4. 8 F. de Vitoria, De potestate civili (Getino), II:179 134
Christian philosophy of the state, as presented particularly by the great Spanish theologians of the sixteenth century, and the individualist contract theory of a Hobbes or Rousseau shows itself. c) When a social structure fulfils the conditions that must be set for a supreme guardian of the common good, this will depend to a large extent on the prevailing social, political, and economic conditions. The mere name does not constitute a state. In ancient Greece, the polis may have been a ‘state’ in the full sense. Today it is a legitimate question whether the traditional national states of Europe are still able to exercise the functions of the supreme guarantor of the common good by their own power. Economically, politically, and militarily, these states are so dependent on each other, not least as the result of technological and worldpolitical developments, that the highest and most vitally important matters of the common good can only be dealt with in common. The decisive question is which spiritual forces will determine the face of a federally united Europe. A purely technocratic Europe would have no permanence. The culture of Europe, into which Greek, Roman, Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic elements have been integrated through Christianity, is grounded in respect for the dignity of man as well as in the recognition of personal freedom of decision and creation. Christianity must remain the soul of Europe in the future also. d) Citizens are, on the one hand, bearers of the life of the state and, on the other hand, ‘subjects’. As a consequence of the high population figure and the great population density, and as a consequence of the growing social intertwining this produces, institutionalization is expanding more and more in large modern states, so that many people experience the state almost exclusively as an institution and power association, but hardly at all as an association of persons. Christian social teaching emphasizes both features of the state, but lays decisive weight upon the citizens’ consciousness of responsibility. e) Since the state has its foundation in human nature, it ultimately has its origin in God, the creator of nature: „That which unites men so that they live in society is the law of nature, or more correctly, the Will of God, the author of nature“ 9 . CHAPTER TWO: GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY § 1 The Natural-Law Character of Governmental Authority l. According to the Christian understanding, governmental authority accompanies the state by nature „even against the will of the citizens.“ 10 Without a centralized state authority ordering things towards the common good, the realization of the end of the state is impossible, „since individuals always pursue their own private advantage, which often stands in contradiction to the common good.“ 11 2. Since the state is the highest guardian of the common good, its authority must be centralized, comprehensive, sovereign, and coercive. It is, of course, contradictory to Christian thought to see in the state a power that is fully unlimited both intrinsically and extrinsically and even illimitable. According to the Christian understanding, there is - outside Hell - no ‘totally closed’ society. The state may not fall prey to that intolerant exclusivity leading to terror and war which knows neither God, nor neighbor, nor human dignity. It must rather be 9 Leo XIII, Diuturnum illud 10 Francisco de Vitoria, op. cit. (Getino), II:188 11 Francisco Suárez, De Legibus, III, c. 3, n. 4. 135
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Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN
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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLIS
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2. The Family in the Service of Spi
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e) Competition is what steers the o
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e) The Ethos of Advertising .......
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3. The Contribution of the Church .
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on the basis of the classical socia
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INTRODUCTION § 1 The Concerns and
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powerful grace of Christ“ that ma
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5. In this outline, the presentatio
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ern society considers everything
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human sociality.“ 3 In the prayer
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CHAPTER TWO: COMMUNITY, SOCIETY, LO
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a) The flight into the impersonal
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difficult to comprise Christian soc
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intended; it is the totality of ins
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ure and, above all, to the misuse o
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tional economic co-operation (Gaudi
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tive law, and that, on the other ha
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In view of this sharp rejection of
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„justice“ according to this law
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1. When the legal partners encounte
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new formal object is exhibited here
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PART TWO: THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL O
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wished to have the feminine princip
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to be emphasized that, precisely be
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than an enchantment (fascination),
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trivialize the serious problem of '
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tion towards a decrease in the divo
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Christian marriage and family are d
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the family. Its origin is not of th
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speaks of a new „metropolitan mat
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schooling for conjugal love. It is
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a) In primitive social relations, f
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family“ is false. „While it mus
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Abstracting from so-called 'asocial
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the doing, separates work from play
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great thing if I could make shoes.
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§ 3 Work and Leisure 1. The Proble
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ings, fields and work sites. In a s
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the wage system bear inspection by
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Page 89 and 90: place here: the price of raw materi
Page 91 and 92: economic realm; integration in the
Page 93 and 94: ody. For that reason, if man wishes
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Page 125 and 126: a) No Objection to Pioneer Profits
Page 127 and 128: 3. Critical Evaluation Christian so
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Page 133: an agreement; every lawful power is
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Page 139 and 140: § 3 Rights and Duties of Governmen
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Page 145 and 146: d). Ten Guiding Principles The Firs
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Page 153 and 154: constitution. Pressure groups disti
Page 155 and 156: a) Church and state go back „to t
Page 157 and 158: their faith, as it were, in the pol
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