The biblical perspective of the human person

Abstract

Anthropology as a humanistic science had its beginnings in the 19'h century: 1860-1890, to be more precise. Its roots, though, can be traced as far back as Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( 484- 420 B.c.), Thucydides (465-395 n.c.), Xenophontes (430-355 n.c.), Tacitus (55-120 n.c.), and Suetonius (69-125 B.c.). These are only a few Greek and Latin historians, who are considered as the forefathers and precursors of Western anthropology. The science of anthropology does not limit itself to studying humanity only as a physical being, but has as well its existential environment as focus of analysis: history, culture, civilization ... In sum, the science of anthropology has as its object of study the age-old but unavoidable question: "What is mankind?" [Excerpt]