THE ENLIGHTENMENT
557
To seek to put the world in order, so that we and our neighbor can
live in it more humanly- this task of enlightenment is one of the
ways in which we can follow Christ : in brotherly love, we here give
one another what, among other things, we need (bread, support,
order, security, peace); but to follow Christ means to go to meet
him.
In other words: That report concerning the true reality, which
the Christian accepts in faith, seeks to be increasingly translated into
sober knowledge and reasonable action. The mystery of the In–
carnation is continued in this movement. It is one of the trends of
Christian history. The Christian becomes more human in this
endeavor. This enlightenment from faith does not lead out of faith
but deeper into its fundamental mystery, the Incarnation; this Chris–
tian progress is a stage on the road toward coming Salvation. Inas–
much as it leads into the mystery, it leads into the genuine and final
enlightenment, into life in truth. Christianity is not romantic. It
waits for full light and goes toward it. It enlightens.
(Translated from the German by Willard R. Trask)
