Existentialism-What It Means to Be

The basic idea of existentialism according to the North American Encarta Dictionary is: a philosophical movement that denies that the universe has any intrinsic meaning or purpose. It requires people to take responsibility for their own actions and shape their own destinies.

In layman's terms, what it means to be existential is to be increasingly concerned with what it means to be human, how to respond morally and ethically as a human with respect to the rest of the world, and to be aware of one's personal philosophy, that is, a person's self-chosen mode of existence as it relates to the world around them.

Well, maybe that wasn't exactly layman's terms, but you get the point. In my view, much of what is preached in the Protestant African-American tradition is existential. Not from the perspective of shaping our own destiny, but the African-American experience in this country has continually been the struggle to identify and distinguish ourselves as human beings. That type of preaching has been dubbed as "liberation theology." Its basic attempt is to somehow unshackle the psychological bondage brought on by physical enslavement. Read Carter G. Woodson's, "The Miseducation of the Negro."



This distinction can also be seen in the constant modification of the labeling of our ethnic group; -African-negro-nigger-black-African American-and even now on some employment applications "black" and "African-American" have been omitted and replaced by, "Not of Hispanic descent."



Ultimately, we find who are from God's Word, but we are still human and sometimes it helps to view this from an existentialist perspective as we seek to define where we are, who we are, and sometimes even why we are (for the deep Christians) and how we respond to the external surroundings.


I want to make it clear that I am not an existentialist as it relates to self-creation, external happiness absolute freedom, et al. I am simply looking at it from the point of view of human nature (which we know is depraved), however it is interesting to ponder.


I'll write more on this soon. Your comments are welcome.