What is "Personalism"?

Vine & Fig Tree defends personalism.

In the chapter on "God's Eternal Decree," the Westminster Confession of Faith declares that

1. God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
. . .
6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto.
Human beings have value because human beings are created in the Image of God, the God who creates their environment and oversees every molecule of their existence, the God Who is there and Who is not silent, and the God Who is Love. The anti-Christian, evolutionary perspective holds that the universe is ultimately meaningless (the only "meaning" coming from the mind of man), and is the impersonal product of time + random chance. Human beings are the chemical product of mindless mutations.

In both views, man is the product of his environment; man is determined by his environment. One view is personalist, the other impersonalist.

The Prophet Micah says "it shall come to pass." Swords shall be beaten into plowshares. It is inevitable. It is predestined.

But not just the end, the means to the end, have also been predestined.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
We are the means to God's end. We are the vehicle for God's glory. The Reconciliation of the world takes place as persons excercise dominion and obey Christ's commands.

Personalism means that I must take personal responsibility.

Personalism also means that people count more than patriotism. Our goal is to bring about the Kingdom of God, not the prosperity of any nation-state. The Kingdom of God is extended as the Image of God is restored in people, one person at a time.

Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, stressed "personalism" as a component of his plan for the "Reconstruction" of a Christian society. He was influenced in this regard by Emmanuel Mounier. Personalism is opposed to hyper-Calvinism, without affirming Arminianism. It stresses in a practical way the reality of "secondary causes." Thus, while God has predestined the triumph of His Kingdom, it is vitally important for human beings created in His Image to act. The "elect" must assume their roles as priests and kings, and put God's Commands into practice. Personal Responsibility is the by-word.

An Introduction to Personalism can be found at the Lord Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.