Personhood is both sui generis and interpersonally co-constituted: A Schelerian conundrum, and ecumenical teaching on Christ’s condescension

Abstract

Twentieth-century phenomenologist Max Scheler makes two observations about human personhood that appear to contradict each other. Namely, that personhood is both sui generis and interpersonally co-constituted. In this article, I reconcile his claims in two steps. The first step regresses the problem to one of genesis, and then the second resolves it through the lens of ecumenical Christian teaching. The first step requires demonstrating that Scheler’s claims do not violate the law of non-contradiction. Reconciling the claims reveals a more vexing cosmological issue, however: Where do these features of personhood come from? The second step is an exploration of ecumenical understandings of the Trinity, Christology, and the Incarnation, which reveals that traditional Christian teaching anticipates these features of human personhood. Many throughout church history have claimed that divine and human personhood are analogous, not the same, but I argue that the assignation of personhood can be applied to both divine and human persons in the same sense. The article explores interpersonal constitution within the Trinity and to what extent, if any, divine personhood can be phenomenologically co-constituted by human persons. Thereafter, by placing hermeneutic phenomenology and ecumenical Christian doctrine in a conciliatory dialectic, the article highlights implications of Christ’s incarnation that enrich the understanding of both fields.