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Timaná Kure, Book Review  95 

Book Review 

 

Integral Human Development. Challenges to 

Sustainability and Democracy 
By Jacquineau Azetsop SJ (Editor) 

 
Reviewed by Carlos Timaná Kure 

 
 

 
 

Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019. $29.00 

 

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever 

you did for one of the least of these brothers 

and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 

25: 40) 

 

How do Christians, when undertaking any social 

initiative, ensure that they do the most possible good for 

others? Such an ethical question, one that embraces the 

practical behavior of any follower of Jesus Christ, 

requires deep reflection, based partly on one’s own 

tradition and personal experiences, but also on the 

contributions from other religious and thought 

traditions. For example, there is much similarity in 

Abraham Kuyper’s argument for ”Soevereiniteit in 

eigen kring” (sphere sovereignty), as formulated in 1880 

in his speech at the opening of the Free University of 

Amsterdam and the papal encyclical, Laudato Si, 

written by Pope Francis in 2015. Both traditions, 

Reformed and Roman Catholic, argue for social 

engagement and human development. 

Integral Human Development is rooted in the 

Roman Catholic tradition and asks: what is integral 

human development and how can we achieve it in this 

third decade of the 21st century? That is the main 

question Editor Jacquineau Azétsop, SJ seeks to 

address in its twelve chapters, most of which address 

some key aspect of Catholic Social Teaching. Each 

chapter has a different author, while Azétsop, SJ, Dean 

of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Pontifical 

Gregorian University, writes the introduction. 

Chapters are organized into three main sections, 

the first providing an anthropological framework for 

integral human development in light of the most 

relevant challenges of our time. The second section 

focuses on the problems of integral human 

development with respect to democracy and 

governance.  And the third section emphasizes the 

social, political, and cultural issues that make 

sustainability so difficult.   

The impetus behind the book is to celebrate the 

fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Saint Paul VI’s 

encyclical Populurum Progressio (On the 

Development of Peoples) in 1967. This seminal 

encyclical introduced the concept of development in 

the magisterium of the Catholic Church with the well-

known formula “of each person and of the whole 

person” (14).  The book revisits many of integral 

human development’s key themes as they develop over 

time, up until the publication of Pope Francis’ 

encyclical Laudato Si (Praise be to you). This most 

recent contribution to Catholic Social Thought’s 

thinking on development argues for the inclusion of an 

integral ecology that invites everyone to a lifestyle that 

sustainable with the entirety of God’s creation. 

One of the most important elements the book 

addresses is the diversity of contexts in which integral 

human development can take place and the challenges 

it faces in each one of them. For example, considering 

some different national contexts, Silvana Sciarra 

addresses the relationship between governance and 

democracy in a sustainable European Union, Ludovic 

Lado, SJ presents an historical and conceptual analysis 

of governance, leadership, and social justice in Africa, 

and Anthony Dias, SJ wrestles with India´s cultural 

diversity and the principal issues that affect political 

culture on the subcontinent. 

Taking a more historical approach, Simona 

Beretta shows how the idea of development has 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 2(2),  Winter 2021 

Timaná Kure, Book Review  96 

changed from the end of the Second World War up 

through the millennium’s second decade.  Fausto 

Gianfreda, SJ offers a conceptual analysis of how 

integral human development relates to integral ecology, 

focusing especially on the relationship between 

governance and sustainability. Jeffrey Sachs, Professor 

and Director of the Center for Sustainable 

Development at Columbia University, presents linkages 

between the Sustainable Development Goals and 

integral human development. And Monica Romano 

builds off of previous fieldwork experiences to illustrate 

how rural poverty can be reduced and integral human 

development promoted through bottom-up efforts and 

grassroots institutions-building initiatives.  

The most interesting contribution is by Stefano 

Zamagni, professor of Ethics and Markets at the 

University of Bologna. In his chapter on “The ethical 

challenge of convergent technologies,” he argues for a 

model of integral human development based in a 

multiplicative relation rather than an additive one. For 

three key dimensions of integral human development, 

economic, socio-relational, and spiritual well-being, if 

one dimension comes to zero, the whole result comes 

to zero.  

Zamagni also points to different kinds of new 

challenges for integral human development in the 

present and in the near future as the fourth Industrial 

Revolution unfolds. These challenges include 

transhumanism, the gradual transformation of the 

educator into the reduced role of a facilitator or 

mediator in self-learning processes, the transition from 

an “internet of things” to an “internet of beings,” and 

cyber-physical systems, among others. 

Overall, the book is provocative for those who 

want to delve into a Christian anthropology for the 21st 

century. This book will be a valuable contribution for 

those seeking to respond to various challenges in a 

society that is constantly changing and always demands 

thoughtful engagement illuminated by the gospel. 

 
 

 

Carlos Timaná Kure is MSc. in Government and public 

policy from Universidad Externado de Colombia 

and University of Columbia. He is also Director of 

Center of Government José Luis Bustamante y 

Rivero at Universidad Católica San Pablo 

(Arequipa – Peru). 

 

Author email:  ctimana@ucsp.edu.pe  
 

 


