In the spring of 1989, Ivan Illich stood before a convocation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and pronounced a solemn curse on 'life.' In many contemporary discourses, he said, 'life' has taken on a shadowy substance and become, in effect, the ultimate economic resource. "'A life,'" he went on, "is amenable to management, to improvement, and to evaluation in terms of available resources in a way which is unthinkable when we speak of 'a person.'"
Life in this substantive sense, he told the Lutherans, is the most powerful idol that the church has had to face in the course of its history.
Narration based on the text found in Part IV of the book, "In the Mirror of the Past: Lectures and Addresses (1978-1990)"
15 сен 2024
