Christian Humanism at the Understory Festival

From 28–30 May, more than 1,000 delegates gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, for the inaugural Understory Festival, a major convening hosted by Comment magazine. Bringing together scholars, artists, church leaders, social entrepreneurs, and community organisers, the festival explored how Christianity can contribute to the renewal of culture and public life. Its name derives from the “understory” of a forest, using it as an analogy for the often unseen yet vital layer of relationships, practices, and institutions that sustain flourishing communities.

The central theme of the festival was Christian humanism. At a time marked by rapid technological change, social fragmentation, declining trust in institutions, and growing political polarisation, speakers returned repeatedly to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human? Through talks, art, musical performances, and workshops, participants explored how Christian traditions can help recover a vision of human dignity, agency, creativity, and shared responsibility capable of sustaining both personal and civic life in a moment that so often seems set against these.

The McDonald Centre’s Director, Luke Bretherton, delivered the Friday plenary lecture, setting out a capacious and compelling vision of Christian humanism. In her introduction, the festival organiser, Anne Snyder noted the centrality of Bretherton’s work on Christian humanism to the Festival’s focus.

In his talk, Bretherton set out how contemporary society faces twin crises of agency and institutional imagination. Against both technocratic reductionism and forms of political and cultural dehumanisation, he presented Christian humanism as a rich theological tradition grounded in the conviction that every person bears the image of God and that our humanity is most fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

Drawing on figures ranging from Gregory of Nyssa, Gauman Poma, Olaudah Equiano to Jacques Maritain, alongside contemporary social movements and experiments in institutional renewal, Bretherton explored how Christian humanism is not merely an intellectual project but also a practical forms of social therapy that generates institution-building, democratic participation, and neighbourly solidarity capable of renewing both persons and the common life they share.

Click here to listen to the plenary session on Spotify