Philanthropia

Philanthropos

What do we call that selfless thing we all do?

Humanitarianism. Missions. Philanthropy. Servanthood. Non-profit work. What is it?

What is the name we should give to the work that is being done in Haiti? What do we call it when one person has served another selflessly? At those moments in all of our lives when compassion strikes us, and we move to donate or give a ride to a stranger; what do we call that?

I have struggled with this many times. When people ask me the real quick “hey, what do you do”, I have fumbled for how to answer.

The Options

The stigma that goes with the word ‘missions’ is enough to bar me from using it. It creates a negative image of fundraising state-side to pay for an indefinite vacation abroad.

There are MANY examples of powerful missionaries doing compassionate and significant things. The Eplins in Estonia, Brother Yun in China, and, friends of CPI, Kent Annan and John Engle in Haiti, are all examples of great missionaries doing great work.

However, the word itself has been watered down for me.

Humanitarianism sounds too academic. The word feels like it flew from the text book in a sociology class as theoretical and landed on the ears of a young activits enamored with the visage of Peace Corps work in a foreign land.

Non-profit work is a limiting phrase. What if working with the poor led us to doing micro-lending, a profitable venture? Or, what if, as a ‘non-profit’, we began to create information products to underwrite the mission? Is it non-profit anymore? I believe this word is out-dated.

The Second-Closest Word

In short, I have chosen a slightly different word. I have chosen philanthropia.

Yes, it is very close to philanthropy. Philanthropy has become the activity of well-to-do socialites who are permanently retired looking to ‘give back’ of their blessings.

This is good, but it does not communicate the original meaning well. Using the word philanthropia causes a reader or listener to recognize something different. This will, hopefully, cause the reader or listener to proactively seek to understand what it means.

What Philanthropia Means

Simply, philanthropy as it started came from the 2 ancient Greek words; phileo and anthropos. Credited to the Greek play, ‘Prometheus Bound’, scholars believe that when describing Prometheus’ was referred to as philanthropia tropos, the author was describing Prometheus’ human-loving nature.

If you know that anthropology refers to the studies of men, then you can guess that anthropos was the ancient greek word for men, or mankind.

Likewise, but a little stretch of the imagination, phileo can be understood by knowing that Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love. Phileo was the word used to describe a compassion, a brotherly love for a person. (It was used for both men and women.)

So, simply mash up the meanings and philanthropy meant an act of service in compassion for fellow man. Further, in the Greek context, it implied when mankind is acting in its highest state of human-ness. It is when we have become fully human.

Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on philanthropy, in the section on Etymology. I highly recommend reading the entire thing.

The Greeks adopted the “love of humanity” as an educational ideal, whose goal was excellence (areté)—the fullest development of body, mind and spirit, which is the essence of liberal education. The Platonic Academy‘s philosophical dictionary defined Philanthropia as: “A state of well-educated habits stemming from love of humanity. A state of being productive of benefit to humans.”

Philanthropia was later translated by the Romans into Latin as, simply, humanitas—humane-ness. And because Prometheus’ human-empowering gifts rebelled against Zeus’ tyranny, philanthropia was also associated with freedom and democracy. Both Socrates and the laws of Athens were described as “philanthropic and democratic”—a common expression, the idea being that philanthropic humans are reliably capable of self-government.

We know these things intellectually. However, philanthropy has come be a meaningless word that refers to the work of elderly people and senior citizens giving money to charity in their waning years.

To recapture the heart, the spirit of serving mankind, I have chosen philanthropia, and the people who embody it philanthropos. It gets the attention of the hearer, and begs inquiry into the intended meaning.

Philanthropia is that selfless thing we do. It is the work of compassion we do for those in Haiti through CPI. It is the attempt of local non-profits, churches, and missions, and the spirit of true service that permeates the lives of philanthropos every day and every night. More than that, it is the attempt of every person trying to live fully human, fully alive, fully loving.

This is the word I choose to use now when asked what we do. As an example of usage in a sentence:

What we do in Haiti is help the poorest demographics become fully human and experience full human-ness. We perform philanthropia.

What component of your life embodies philanthropia? Let me know and comment below!

Tagged as: ancient greek, anthropos, compassion, fully human, greek, Haiti, human, Missions, permethus bound, philanthropia, philanthropos, philanthropy, phileo