Este texto es el prólogo de Habib Malik al libro: "The Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar: Redeeming the Soul, Redeeming the Mind". En este prólogo habla de su padre, Charles Malik, destacando por encima de todas las cosas la profundidad con que vivía la fe en Cristo uno de los redactores de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos; diplomático y hombre comprometido con su tiempo y con sus raíces. En defintiva, un gran hombre con una gran vivencia de la fe.
FOREWORD
My late father, Charles Malik, would have been very comfortable among evangelicals. In fact, he was totally in his element spiritually among and within all the great traditions of Christianity—Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. He would have thanked the Lord Jesus for each of these groups, the true salt of the earth. Born February 11, 1906, in a remote village in an obscure corner of the then Ottoman Empire, a place that was to eventually emerge as the tiny Republic of Lebanon, Charles Malik went on to leave his mark on the world’s stage in more than one field:
• His early studies in natural science and mathematics in which he excelled and which provided him with a grounding that served him well throughout his life.
• His later lifelong concentration on philosophy, after studying under both Alfred North Whitehead and Martin Heidegger, arguably the two philosophical giants of the twentieth century.
• The contributions he made in the areas of human rights, international diplomacy, Christian ecumenism, academia, the cause of a free Lebanon, U.S.-Lebanese relations, and much more.
But surely the most important and abiding feature of the man, the real clue by his own admission to his success and his positive influence, was the strong faith in Jesus Christ that he received at an early age as a gift from God through his grandmother in whose bed he slept every night for twelve years as a youngster. He lived this faith through the feasts and festivals of the Orthodox church in his home village in north Lebanon where he assisted at Mass as an altar boy every Sunday throughout those formative years. And this is also the most precious gift that he and my late mother have passed on to me—the gift of faith in the Lord Jesus.
For those who knew him personally, Charles Malik’s physical appearance, his height, the large distinctive head (one friend once likened it to that of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, as if he had ever seen Jeremiah!), and the unmistakably deep and resounding voice—all left a lasting impression on anyone who met him. He exuded a powerful charisma through an imposing presence, and at the same time he could be jovial, gentle, pleasant, and humble. Many, like Eleanor Roosevelt who worked closely with him at different stages of his public career at the United Nations, found they could rely on his judgment and wisdom as well as his persuasive powers of argumentation. Others were profoundly inspired by his spiritual depth and sincerity. On September 19, 2006, before the United Nation’s General Assembly, President George W. Bush found it appropriate to mention him twice at the outset of his speech and in the context of human rights: “The principles of this world beyond terror can be found in the very first sentence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document declares that the ‘equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom and justice and peace in the world.’ One of the authors of this document was a Lebanese diplomat named Charles Malik, who would go on to become President of this Assembly. Mr. Malik insisted that these principles apply equally to all people, of all regions, of all religions, including the men and women of the Arab world that was his home.”
Whether in the way he lived and spoke or in his writings on Christian themes, Charles Malik’s first and foremost love was what he called the life of the mind and the spirit—hence the two tasks that preoccupied him so much. All his life he wrestled with the need to enrich this rigorous intellectual existence through immersion in the practical day-to-day challenges of the world of politics and diplomacy, while he simultaneously sought to shield the mind and the spirit from the many distractions that come with the responsibilities imposed by constant involvement in the concrete affairs of the world.
His reluctant entry—and it was reluctant—into politics, locally in Lebanon and then on the world’s stage at the United Nations and in Washington, and the deflection that that represented from the quiet contemplative and scholarly life of sheltered academia is something he agonized over repeatedly in his letters to close friends, in the privacy of his personal diaries, and of course, with my mother on a continuous basis. Eventually, he learned to harmonize both worlds (as much as possible), and what is more significant, to remain faithful to Christ in both capacities. No small feat!
As Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School puts it in a poignant tribute entitled “The Layperson in the Public Square: Lessons from the Life of Charles Malik,” his life as a Christian in the public sphere embodied three distinct lessons: (1) God’s plan for your vocation may be different from yours; (2) finding your vocation does not mean you will find comfort; and (3) we may never see the most important fruits of our vocations in our sojourn here on earth.
On this third lesson that Mary Ann Glendon mentions, Charles Malik was the tenacious warrior against communism for over forty years and the one who almost single-handedly took on the powerful ideology of the mighty Soviet Union, both at the United Nations and in speech after speech everywhere he went, predicting confidently the sure demise of such an empty and inhuman system. Yet Charles Malik passed away at the tail end of 1987, just short of seeing his predictions fulfilled at the collapse in 1989 of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent unraveling of communism. So the third lesson is of course true.
Perhaps Malik’s contributions to the ecumenical rapprochement of the Orthodox, Catholic, and mainline Protestant churches will stand out in the future as one of his greatest legacies. He himself embodied this ecumenism. He was at the same time Greek Orthodox to the marrow of his bones and loved the rich liturgy of that church; he also steeped himself in the medieval scholastic Roman Catholic theologians and thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and others; and he had a very special, life-long, intimate relationship with the Bible, which he read daily according to a rigorous schedule, a practice that endeared him to Protestants.
In our family, thanks to him, we lived a very openly inclusive and accepting form of ecumenism among all three Christian traditions. Two of his brothers (my uncles) became Roman Catholic priests—one a Jesuit and one a Dominican—and my mother’s side of the family is largely Protestant Congregationalist. People ask me, what was it like growing up the son of a great man? My answer is, it was great! But only so because Charles Malik never let greatness detract from fatherhood. I learned from him so many things: my faith in Christ, a certain discipline in life, seriousness in ultimate matters, a love for the life of the mind, important basic distinctions, proper prioritizing, and the ability to recognize the devil’s work when confronted with it. I say I learned these things, but I continue to make mistakes in all of them. I know, however, where I learned them from. I also learned much more, including how to be a loving and tender father to my own three children, Eva, Charles, and William, and a dedicated husband to my wonderful wife, Hiba.
Above all, for me Charles Malik was that wonderful and loving father. Who could ask for more? I feel very blessed, and I thank the Lord constantly for this gift that remains undeserved. The time with him on this earth was too short, and he and my mother never saw my three children. But of course as Christians we live in the Christ-given hope of the eternal reencounter with our loved ones who have gone to him before us.
(…)
The Malik family will always be grateful for this tribute in the form of a festschrift of love and appreciation compiled by fellow Christian believers who were touched by Charles Malik in their thoughts and lives.
Habib C. Malik, PhD
Associate Professor of History and Cultural Studies
Lebanese American University (Byblos campus)
November 13, 2006
