Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2012

Outline of talks developed by Heath at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, where he was invited for a term as a guest of the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Edward McCrady.  

 

Original is missing.

 

 

THE

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

OF MAN

 

Six Talks and Discussions

by

SPENCER HEATH, LL.M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY FOUNDATION, INC.

1502 Montgomery Road

Baltimore 27, Maryland

U.S. A.

 

 

 

 

 

SIX TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF MAN

By Spencer Heath, LL. M.

1.  THE FREE COMMUNITY

And Its Transcendent Function.

Under this head is set out the difference in organization between the nomadic and the settled community forms of life. Stress is laid upon the new kind of relationship uniting the community members whereby they are able to practice a creative dominion over their environment as no other form of life can.

II.        PROPERTY AND ITS PRODUCTIVE ADMINISTRATION
Servant of the Creative Spirit in Man.

In this, the nature of property in Society, as the uncontested authority to make voluntary contracts with respect to it as their subject-matter, is contrasted with the primitive or political practice of excluding others or subordinating them. The thought is developed (or elaborated) that under the Golden Rule of each doing with his property unto others as he would have others do unto him, the spirit of man becomes creative upon his world which otherwise he despoils and destroys.

III.       CITADEL, MARKET AND ALTAR

Coercion, Co-operation, Consecration.

Here the free community is symbolized in terms of the three kinds of activities engaged in by its inhabitants: 1. The practice of self-defense by coercion or restraints upon those persons who infringe the freedom or the property of others. 2. The providing of material abundance by the free co-operation of the inhabitants with respect to properties or services capable of being distributed by the process of free contract and exchange. 3. The devotion of its members to such spontaneous activities, arts and creations as constitute the cultural achievements of the Society.

 

 

IV.      SOCIETY THE CROWN OF CREATION

Here the progression of life in its human manifestation, from destructive, through preservative and into creative relationships — the dominion of Man over nature — is reviewed, and its full consummation in the adult organic Society foreseen.

 

V.      THE INSPIRATION OF BEAUTY

This traces to its source under its designation as Beauty that el­ement or aspect of the Cosmos that invites esthetic response and excites to creative activity the else-unawakened potentialities — intellectual, artistic and religious — with which human nature from its origin has been essen­tially endowed. The lure of the unknown, creating the dream, seeking the unutterable, the drive to solve the enigma, create the melody, capture the ineffable dream — all these attest the unseen Beauty that inspires and motivates the lives of men.

VI.      THE HIDDEN CHRIST IN THE ORGANIC COMMUNITY

Here we discover the Word become flesh, the Creative Spirit manifested in the body of men practicing objectively the Golden Rule of recip­rocal services, which is reciprocal love, impersonal and thereby universal, hence truly divine. Thus does the spirit of Christ, all unperceived and unknown, unite the members in a creative relationship, a Kingdom that is divine, so far as His Golden Rule has grown into their manner of providing for separate and individual needs, — as yet it must enter into and glorify the field of their common and public affairs.

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For information regarding the presentation of this series of talks and discussions, contact

THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY FOUNDATION, INC.,

a non-profit organization dedicated to knowledge of the voluntary institutions of mankind.