This article develops some of Albert Deblaere's insights (see Journal for the Study of Christian Culture 12 [2004] 43 - 69) and presents how Jan van Ruusbroec (1293 - 1381), a major medieval spiritual author of Christianity, interprets the human person. Ruusbroec distinguishes four aspects of the human person: (1) the ethical life, (2) the spiritual dimension, (3) the mystical experience, i.e. the experience of immediate contact with God, and (4) the transformation by God, which results in a "flowing out" towards others and the whole creation. The four aspects are not mutually exclusive. Each aspect contains the previous one. What is crucial for Ruusbroec is that the human person, in the final analysis, is not a closed entity (an "individual") as in nominalism. In his view, the ultimate foundation of the human person is a transcendent relationship, and this constitutes the unique value of every human being. Jan van Ruusbroec relies on an older Christian tradition, which can be found for instance in Origen or in the 13th century mystical movement. This tradition has its roots in the Christian hermeneutics of the Trinity, and more specifically of the person of Christ, who is a "person" and not an "individual", Further, Ruusbroec can be seen as a forerunner of the Christian humanism of someone like Michelangelo. Christian humanism should be seen as a development of the mystical tradition and not in opposition to it. Moreover, Christian humanism is fundamentally different from the egalitarianism of secular humanism in which eventually the human person is seen as an "individual", i.e. a small replaceable entity in the larger socio-economic matrix. It is argued that it. is precisely this theocentric view of man, which unleashed the creative power' that transformed the culture of Europe. Therefore, the mystical tradition should not be seen as hostile towards the human reality. To the contrary, it is eminently favourable.
