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Document Details : Title: The Evolution of the Messianic Age Subtitle: The Metamorphosis from Competitive Selfishness to Selfless, Altruistic, Cooperative Love Author(s): MALDARI, Donald C. Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Date: 2012 Pages: 372-396 DOI: 10.2143/LS.36.4.3019242 Abstract : Human culture is the means by which humanity consciously participates in the process of neo-Darwinian evolution. Western culture, especially after the Enlightenment, invalidly attempted to isolate one part of human culture that purportedly concerned itself with an optional faith relationship between people and transcendent ideals; this has been labeled religion. The replacement of the category religion with that of culture animated by faith acknowledges the unity and comprehensive character of human culture that is universally shaped by faith in transcendent ideals. It furthermore allows a more comprehensive dialogue among different cultures that are shaped by different faiths to promote their mutual complementarity. Revelation discloses that Christ is the canon by which to evaluate the value of cultures’ ideals and practices in promoting or hindering human evolution. The inherited instinct of selfishness has rendered homo sapiens exceptionally successful in natural selection that determines progress in evolution. Selfishness assumes moral value when recognized as deleterious to the vocation to universal communion revealed in the Son, who is knowable by all. Competition among people present in all cultures is the result of selfishness. Its benefits are necessarily exclusive and ephemeral. For humanity to respond fully to the divine vocation to universal communion it must eliminate competition from its culture in favor of catholic cooperation through the metamorphosis effected through participation in the Paschal mystery. |
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