"...In every case, however, the necessary presupposition is that the community is experienced by its members as meaningful and its claims on the individual as justified. Only if this supposition is verified can the family become, not only for the children but also for the married couple and the parents themselves, the place where human beings undergo a 'second birth' as 'sociocultural personalities.' When this presupposed priority of the community over the individual is no longer acknowledged, the individuals involved will experience the claims of marital and familial obligations as a suppression of their freedom, and not least of their sexual freedom, and they will seek emancipation from these fetters. But the priority of the community over the individual is not self-evidently valid. It requires a justification and legitimation which in the final analysis can only be found in religion. Crises affecting the structure of authority in marriage and family will therefore always be religious crises as well..."
- Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Anthropology in Theological Perspective. Translated by Matthew J. O'Connell. London: T & T Clark, 2004, 437.
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3 comments:
"It requires a justification and legitimation which in the final analysis can only be found in religion."
This bit is somewhat curious.
See contrast:
Aristotle - Politics 1253a 19-30
Aquinas - I.II Q90, a3, ad3, a2
Let's talk
Sorry to say, I don't have time to look up the quotes just now (writing 2 papers), but I will say it's not surprising to me that Pannenberg would go a different direction than Aristotle & Aquinas!
Yes, it is surprising. He is a bit Barthian here. Of course, I'm not certain what he means by "religion." He could be defining that loosely.
Good luck with the papers.
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