The freedom of the individual is a freedom guaranteed by their individuality. It is not a freedom guaranteed by any political or socio-economic system; rather, the ‘system’ serves the freedom of the individual insofar as the system creates the environment whereby the individual person can come to the fullness of their humanity. Any system of government, any system of government, including those that purport to guarantee such freedoms, which prevents the human person coming to the fullness of their dignity precisely as a human person must be resolutely opposed with every means at our disposal except violence. For those of us who are Christian, we oppose those systems and structures that deny the fundamental basics of the dignity of the human person not with guns, bombs, bullets, but with the values of the Gospel. The values of the gospel, in essence, are not just the values of ‘turning the other cheek’ [a grossly misunderstood text!], or allowing anyone to ‘walk all over us’, the values of the gospel are justice, peace and love and it is these which lead to the conditions for the authentic experience of being human.
And the authentic experience of being human is that authenticity which comes not just from our common nature as human persons, [and being a Scotist, of course, I would introduce the univocal concept of being here] but more importantly from our belief that we are from the hand of God him/her/itself. All are created equal but equality does not mean the same, the Persons of the Trinity are equal but they are not the same! Our freedom is the freedom to be the individual person that we most truly are in equality with others [yet not the same in our individuality] and what we are called to become as that unique individual person: the glory of God. And the glory of God is a human person fully alive and fully active.
Systems of government or socio-economics that exploit, deny, prevent or fail to provide the environment whereby the human person can come to the fullness of their growth are barriers to the kingdom being established. For the kingdom to be established, it requires that there be a just an ordered society. Jesus ensured that when he preached the imminence of the kingdom he created an ordered society in the confines of his own ministry and mission: he drove out ‘demons’, cured illness etc. [have another look at the cure of the Leper in Mk. 1.40ff] in other words, he tackled head-on the destructive chaos that ravaged the dignity of the human person to be that which God had created them to be. Such a just and ordered society is required today if the kingdom, in which we are all unique individuals, respected regardless of race, creed, colour or religion, is to be established. To lay the foundations for this kind of society requires a univocal understanding of being, an understanding of our principle of individuation, and an understanding that the Word became flesh [and the author of the Fourth Gospel has a very particular way of understanding ‘flesh’].
We may espouse our own particular political or socio-economic system that we feel will better improve the condition of the poor and marginalised, but ultimately, a human person fully alive and fully active can only be the glory of God if they have the freedom to be their unique selves. This is not a matter of politics, economics etc. per se, it is a matter of acknowledging the fundamental unity and right of every person [and as a Franciscan, I would add every living thing] to be the unique being that they are in this present moment and not simply created to be at some distant moment in a utopian future. The kingdom of God, in which we are all equal, unique citizens, is for now and not some bright brand new tomorrow. And for we of faith, no matter how small the ember burns in our hearts, the values of the gospel cannot be valued because they are priceless and non-negotiable when the dignity of every utterly absolute, unique individual existent thing is at stake. The Word is not simply a Hellenistic metaphysical understanding of Logos [another misunderstood text] it is the unique historical person of Jesus of Nazareth: who was, is and ever will be the template for uniqueness, dignity and the glory of God in a human person fully alive and fully active.
