When people talk of Boston Personalism, the names generally associated with it are Borden Parker Bowne, Edgar Sheffield Brightman, Albert Knudson, Francis McConnell, and L. Harold DeWolf to name a few. The most famous of the Boston Personalists though is Martin Luther King, Jr. Rufus Burrow Jr., however, is typically overlooked when discussing Boston Personalism and its influence in the 21st century. Burrow’s contribution is grounded in the classical principles of Bowne and Brightman, as well as his teachers Peter Bertocci and Watler Muelder. He was a theological social ethicist and King scholar who sought to move Personalism beyond metaphysical principles to ethical applications relevant to contemporary social issues.
This presentation will focus on the contributions of Rufus Burrow Jr. as a Boston Personalist. Furthermore, it will show how Burrow’s principles are applicable for addressing the fragmentation, acts of dehumanization, and contentious atmosphere that pervade of societies. This will be especially demonstrated through explication of Burrow’s framing of ethical prophecy. For example, Burrow resists the tendency of early Personalists who maintained that because reality has an intrinsic developmental character, it is okay for significant social change to come slowly. Ethical prophecy demands immediate change of dehumanizing conditions and/or actions that violate the dignity of human beings. Also, the sanctity of the body helps us to address brutality, abuse, etc. Burrow extends his focus to non-human forms of life and speaks of our responsibility to the larger environment, particularly efforts to alleviate the effects of climate change.
Burrow makes several direct contributions to the Personalist tradition: Militant Personalism, Afrikan and Afrikan American Personalism, and most importantly, Ethical Prophecy. Militant personalism aims to be more inclusive of marginalized voices and experiences. Afrikan and Afrikan American Personalism is the intentional incorporation of the experiences of African Americans into the Personalism tradition itself in order to expand the boundaries and foci of Personalism, i.e., not simply focusing on theoretical ethical principles but demonstrating the ways personalism can be fleshed out in real life circumstances. Burrow cited King as the ultimate example of personalism personified in real life conditions during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, ethical prophecy is a direct result of Bowne’s theistic Personalism and the core Personalist ethic of dignity. For Burrow, ethical prophecy is a concrete expression of Personalistic ethics. Ethical prophecy is grounded in the “conviction that God is characterized and motivated by love,” God’s infinite love and concern for all persons, and the idea of the absolute sacredness of persons-in-community.
The contribution of this presentation will be the beginning of filling a gap in the research and ideas within the Boston Personalism tradition.
This presentation will focus on the contributions of Rufus Burrow Jr. as a Boston Personalist. Furthermore, it will show how Burrow’s principles are applicable for addressing the fragmentation, acts of dehumanization, and contentious atmosphere that pervade of societies. This will be especially demonstrated through explication of Burrow’s framing of ethical prophecy.