Christian Social Doctrine: Early Message & Principles
Social Dimension of Early Christian Message
The social doctrine of the Church is closely related to the history of salvation.
Mission of Jesus
The Gospel shows how Jesus was not indifferent to the needs of the weakest and the victims of injustice. Jesus fought against hypocrisy, abuse of power, and the desire for rich profit. He denounced indifference to the suffering of the oppressed and reminded that all will be accountable when a judge overturns the world.
Jesus proclaimed an essential equality in dignity among all human beings, men and women.
In the message of Jesus is the conception of the person as a social being who must relate to others in justice and charity.
In the Gospel, values are referred to the origin and nature of authority, which must be exercised as a service to the common good.
Church Mission
The Church, which continues the mission begun by Jesus, applies and develops the principles contained in the Gospels. Moving within the structures of civil society, it works to humanize society with a spirit of justice and charity.
The Fathers of the Church not only defended the poor, but also promoted social institutions such as hospitals, orphanages, hospices, and schools at a time when civil institutions did not adequately care for these needs. Thanks to the work of the Church, customs that threatened the dignity of the person have been abolished, such as the disregard for the right to life, slavery, or the denial of the dignity of women.
Foundational Principles of Social Doctrine
The dignity and social dimension of the human being are two fundamental values. From these, other principles are derived that govern the coexistence between people and peoples.
1. Human Dignity
Scripture teaches that man is created in the image of God, capable of knowing and loving his Creator, Lord of all creatures to govern and make use of them, giving glory to God.
God created man not only as an individual but also “created them male and female,” making this partnership the first form of communion between persons. Man by nature is a social being, and without connection to others, he cannot fully develop his own qualities.
From the dignity of persons derive rights. These belong to any person simply by virtue of being human.
2. The Person as a Social Being
The person is a social being by nature. This human sociality is the foundation of all forms of society and the ethical requirements inherent in it.
In principle, the subject and the object of all social institutions is and should be the person.
Undoubtedly, the progress of social relationships brings many benefits and opportunities. It enables many individual rights to be better met, especially the so-called economic-social rights, which basically conform to the requirements of human life: health care, more profound and extensive basic education, more complete professional training, housing, work, rest, and suitable and honest recreation.
But simultaneously, with the multiplication and the almost daily development of these new forms of association, it happens in many sectors of human life that there is increasingly detailed regulation and legal definition of various social relations. Accordingly, the range of individual freedom is reduced. It is extremely difficult to think for oneself, regardless of outside influences, to act on one’s own initiative, to take personal responsibility, and to adequately assert and consolidate the richness of human spiritual fullness.