Josiah Royce on the Christian Community

Josiah Royce on the Christian Community

       Philosopher Josiah Royce (1855 – 1916) saw the credibility of Christianity to lie beyond the historical and accidental features that it acquired during two thousand years. He said that if the Church could speak she would say “Create me.” He means that the Church exists as an ideal but an ideal that remains unrealized. He argues that although Christians believe in the words of “The Founder,” Jesus, the beliefs and theology of Christianity stem from the interpretation of The Founder that were made by the early Christian community.

     The most essential belief is that the community, the Body of Christ, subsists as a reality that transcends the collection of the individuals who compose the community. Further, the individuals find their salvation only in their membership in the community. Royce argues that the experiential discovery of the early Christians constitutes a universal human need. The need is for individuals to realize that their lives are meaningless as long as they remain separated, and that they find their meaning and salvation, only in community.

     The communities themselves, however, might be separated from each other leading to strife and disintegration. Therefore the ultimate goal of individuals as well as their communities consists in moving toward a universal community.

      Some readers of Royce have been repulsed by this idea thinking it means universal conformism, or worse, totalitarian authoritarianism.  However, although both of these evils have a long and prominent history, especially in the twentieth century, they do not constitute what Royce means by a universal community. Rather than conformity in the sense of sameness, the community requires and fosters individual uniqueness. An analogy can help. If bricks are stacked in a pile, each one is essentially like the others. But when they constitute an architectural work of beauty, each one has an absolutely unique place, similar to others, but not the same. So in our communities, each of us has a set of relations and a role to play that is unique to each individual. Others may replace us in performing tasks, but they will not duplicate the place that we have in relation to others.
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      In an authentic community as opposed to a mere collective, each individual takes on a supreme value precisely as a member of the community. A tyrant who imposes a total control, ignores the uniqueness and freedom of the individual and thereby cripples or kills the development of community. This holds true whether the tyranny be in government, religion, business, education, or any other field of human activity.