An Anthropology of Dependence?

Try to track down Vigen Guroian's essay, "Family Offices:  Teaching Children to Love Being Sons and Daughters," in the July / August issue of Touchstone Magazine.  (Unfortunately, I do not have a link to the essay).  Like everything of Guroian's I've ever read, the essay features beautiful prose and style.  It also -- in the course of suggesting that we ought to teach our children not to despise childhood and dependence, but rather to accept and love them -- has some very provocative and, I think, instructive things to say about Catholic Legal Theory.  After all, as we've discussed often at MOJ, many of our legal doctrines, cultural values, and political premises reflect an anthropology of autonomy, of the "mystery passage," etc.  Guroian explores, in one particular context, the implications of a Christian anthropology that emphasizes both dignity and dependence.

Rick