Almost every novel, song, poem, artwork, joke and story ask the same question: what does it mean to be human?

In it there are all sorts of issues about identity, consciousness, free-will, maturity, memory, and experience. And it is amongst these questions that Rowan Williams has written a guide to help you think about what it means to be a human being. This not so much an easy-come-easy-go buffet of answers, but rather a guide to help you in your exploration of what being human means.

Written with grace and poignant, each chapter of the book explores different aspects of human existence. From consciousness to relationships to faith and science, this book is the perfect philosophical primer for anyone struggling with the big questions. In a similar manner to Alain de Botton, whose own philosophical musings are made to be applicable to everyday life, Rowan Williams ends each chapter of the book with discussion questions that readers of all kinds will find enlightening and fruitful.

And at the end of it all, the book asks what it means to be human in the light of Christ, who became one of us, embracing the troubles and vulnerabilities of human life, and then ascended back to divinity.

For anyone wanting help thinking about the big questions, or just wanting a different way of looking at life, Being Human is a beautifully-written guide to human maturity and meaning.

Contents

1. What is consciousness?

2. What is a person?

3. Bodies, minds and thoughts

4. Faith and human flourishing

5. Silence and human maturity

   Epilogue: Humanity transfigured