The Unity of Theology: The Contribution of Wolfhart Pannenberg

by Theodore James Whapham

In the writings of Gehlen, whose work Pannenberg describes as the classical expression of philosophical anthropology, the notion of openness to the world is broadened to include the idea that human beings display an inhibition of evolution. Because humans are able to distance themselves from a situation (exocentricity) and suppress their instinctual responses in favor of multiple interpretations of a situation (openness), Gehlen describes humans as “deficient beings” who do not act directly on their senses.[17] In his view, the basic task of humans is thus to compensate for this deficiency, which is done primarily through the development of language and culture.[18] Human beings are active creatures who turn their evolutionary disadvantage of distance from instinctual drives to an advantage through the development of culture and a process of self-creation through self-directed activity at both the individual and social levels.