There is a constant cacophony of voices telling us who we are, how to live and what will lead to a better life. Each of these voices tells a story about what it means to be human: what’s true, what’s real, what’s wrong, what will make you happy, and how to get it.
In different ways and at different moments, we all ask life’s big questions about what it means to be human. But in our fast-paced, rapidly changing and often exhausting world, our cultural stories struggle to provide us with good answers. Whether on issues of gender identity or AI, climate change or racial injustice, our individual solutions to life’s big challenges can often end in deep division and hurt relationships.
Being Human offers a new lens as an innovative way to engage with our cultural conversations using four key aspects of humanity: significance, connection, presence and participation.
Digging into the foundations of our cultural stories, authors Jo Frost and Peter Lynas expose the cracks in our culture’s understanding of what it means to be human. From what the media communicates about our self-worth, to how institutions prize some voices over others, we can see the impact of our culture’s shallow stories all around us, as they fail to help us live our lives to the full.
By contrasting our cultural narratives with the story of the Bible, we can see how cultural truths have been fractured and isolated from the fullness and richness of who God is and who God created us to be. The lens helps us understand what it means for every human being to bear God’s image and find their full humanity in Jesus, rooted in the family of God.
Ultimately, we recognise that only in Jesus can we live truly fully human lives.