The Perennial Question: “Who Is Man?”, by John M. Grondelski

By John M. Grondelski, The Catholic Thing, May 22, 2026

John Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is a former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. All views herein are exclusively his.

Note: Probably the deepest challenge of our time, as our columnist demonstrates today, is the defense of the human person, as we’ve always understood persons in the Christian tradition. AI is the most evident coming challenge (next week we’ll bring you commentary on Pope Leo’s first encyclical that’s on this whole subject). But there are also many deeper questions that have long troubled our times – we can’t even say who is a man or a woman. At TCT, we’re committed to battling for truth despite the immediate challenges like AI as well as the long-term cultural trends.  If you understand what’s at stake – and I’m sure you do – please, join us in this work. The harvest could be great but the laborers fewer than we need. Help us make the Catholic case even stronger. Support TCT today.– Robert Royal

Modern philosophy flatters itself by claiming it was responsible for the “turn to the subject,” i.e., the human (and, usually, a very subjective understanding of the human).  But focus on the human is hardly a modern discovery.  

St. Irenaeus, a second-century bishop-theologian, is noted for his line gloria Dei vivens homo – “the glory of God is man fully alive.” Nor did the bishop of Lyons pluck that thread out of nowhere: the Psalmist praises the Creator for making man “a little less than the angels.” (Psalm 8:5)  Eastern Christianity long recognized that God’s work of salvation was really deification: of bringing the full image and likeness of God in man to flower. (Genesis 1:27)  ….