The Mimetic Way

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-113
Author(s):  
Rhys S. Bezzant
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Beatific Vision ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Constant Feature ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Present Life

Edwards’s chief theological justification for mentoring arises from the doctrine of the beatific vision, or the significance for our present life, ministry, and spirituality of meeting Christ face to face at the end of the age. Visual imagery is a constant feature of Edwards’s teaching, which is here combined with his approach to the image of God in human beings, the Christological nature of imitation, and the pressure points of modernity. The first things, near things, and last things are signposts to Edwards’s understanding of the power of mentoring in human experience. We see how integrative the mentoring project is for him, in as far as it obviates the fragmenting narrative of the Enlightenment. Edwards’s theological and cultural reflex is both to resist and appropriate modern categories of thought.

scholarly journals Karl Barth’s male-female order: A kingpin of dogmatic disparity

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Gender Perspectives ◽  
The Image Of God

Karl Barth’s gender perspective is often analysed with reference to his so-called “theoethics” or “creational theology”. This perspective perpetuates an asymmetry in gender relations that was prevalent in Biblical times, throughout Christianity and to some extent still is visible today. He based his view on the subordination of women on an exegesis of Genesis 1:27 as “intertext” of Ephesians 5:22-23. Barth’s asymmetrical gender perspective is a product of his embedment in Western Christian tradition which in turn, is rooted in early Christian patriarchal theology. The aim of this article is to focus on Barth’s ontological reframing of the traditional understanding of the Biblical notion of human beings as created in the “image of God”. The article consists of four sections: (a) Luther’s and Calvin’s gender perspectives; (b) the Enlightenment failure to achieve emancipation; (c) gender disparity in Reformed theology; and (d) a feminist alternative.

scholarly journals Technocentrism, Disembodied Relationship, and Sabbath

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marissa Papula
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Image Of God

As developments in technology present us with new opportunities for efficiency and connection, digital communication and our growing dependence on the internet are increasingly blurring boundaries between work and rest, between “real life” and the “lives” we share on social media platforms. Our text messages substitute for time together. Our best news is shared via email or in photos posted for all to see, rather than embraces and champagne toasts. Our deepest secrets are poured anonymously onto the Internet for others’ consumption. We text, email, scroll, and post our way through meetings, meals and milestones, multitasking, somehow creating more time and yet realizing our opportunities for refreshment and authentic relationship are shrinking as our expectations for productivity are ever expanding. We are privy to the life events of our high school teammates, but are unable to verbalize our suffering in the presence of another, face to face, sans a keyboard. My writings critique this growing phenomena through a lens of theological anthropology. Our technocentrism is deeply contouring how we live, how we relate to one another, and how we engage in work and leisure, and prompts us to ponder what our dependence on technology means for us as human beings. Through a theological exploration of human relationship and Sabbath, I will explore how technocentrism is thwarting our theosis, both individually and societally, and offer suggestions for how we can best appropriate technological advances in communication toward better bearing the image of God in our familial, social, and professional lives.

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

Gandhian Method of Conflict Resolution: Perception of Educated Youths

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. P. K. Kar
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Negative Concept

Gandhiji’s method of conflict resolution was based on truth and non-violence. Truth was for him the image of God. He did not believe in personal God. For Gandhi truth is God and God is truth. Life is a laboratory where experiments are carried on. That is why he named his autobiography “My Experiment with Truth”, without these experiments truth cannot be achieved. According to Gandhi, the sayings of a pure soul which possesses nonviolence, non-stealing, true speech, celibacy and non-possession is truth. The truth of Gandhiji was not confined to any country or community. In other words , his religion had no geographical limits. His patriotism was not different from the service of human beings but was its part and parcel(Mishra:102). Gandhiji developed an integral approach and perspective to the concept of life itself on the basis of experience and experiments. His ideas ,which came to be known to be his philosophy, were a part of his relentless search for truth(Iyer:270). The realization of this truth is possible only with the help of non-violence The negative concept of Ahimsa presupposes the absence of selfishness, jealousy and anger, but the positive conception of ahimsa demands the qualities of love ,liberalism, patience, resistance of injustice, and brutal force.

scholarly journals Response to Melissa Raphael

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-25
Author(s):  
Ruth Illman
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Jewish Art ◽  
Contemporary Issue ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Ethical Demand

A response to Melissa Raphael’s article ‘The creation of beauty by its destruction: the idoloclastic aesthetic in modern and contemporary Jewish art’. Key themes discussed include the notion of human beings as created in the image of God, Levinas’s understanding of the face and its ethical demand as well as the contemporary issue of the commodification of the human face in digital media.

‘What Am I in a Boundless Creation?’

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-50
Author(s):  
Hilary Marlow
Keyword(s):  
Life Forms ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Ecological Perspective ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Image Of God

Drawing on insights from the field of ‘ecocriticism’ within literary studies, this article examines the creation poem of Ben Sira (16.26-17.14) from an ecological perspective. The text is significant for such a purpose because of its reuse of the Genesis creation accounts, in particular the notion of human beings as the image of God and with dominion over creation, which has caused some critics to label the biblical accounts as exploitatively anthropocentric. Preceding sections of Sirach include discussion of human significance ‘in a boundless creation’ and human free will and moral responsibility, and these themes are developed in the poem itself. The poem’s description of the creation of humankind suggests both human finitude, a characteristic shared with other life forms, and the uniqueness of the divine image in human beings. These characteristics are set within the context of the cosmos as a stable and ordered whole, obedient to God, and of the responsibilities stipulated in the Torah to deal rightly with one’s neighbour. Reading this text from an ecological perspective invites recognition of the ambiguity of human place in the world, transient yet earth-changing, and of the ethical challenges in caring for global neighbours in the face of growing environmental pressures.


Edwards the Mentor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhys S. Bezzant
Keyword(s):  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Metropolitan Cities ◽  
The One

Among his many accolades, Jonathan Edwards was an effective mentor who trained many leaders for the church. Though his pastoral work is often overlooked, this book investigates the background, method, theological rationale, and legacy of his mentoring ministry. He does what mentors normally do—meeting with individuals to discuss ideas and grow in skills—but undertakes these activities in a distinctly modern or affective key. His correspondence is composed in an informal style, his understanding of friendship and conversation takes up the conventions of the great metropolitan cities of Europe of his day, his pedagogical commitments are surprisingly progressive, and his aspirations for those he mentors are bold and subversive. The practice of mentoring is presented in this book as the exchange between authority and agency, in which the more experienced person in the mentoring relationship empowers the one in the position of a learner, whose own character and competencies are nurtured. When Edwards explains his mentoring practice theologically, he expounds the theme of seeing God face to face, which recognizes that human beings learn through the example of friends as well as the exposition of propositions. The book is a case study in cultural engagement, for Edwards deliberately takes up certain features of the modern world in his mentoring and yet resists other pressures that the Enlightenment generated. If his world witnessed the philosophical evacuation of God from the created order, Edwards’s mentoring is designed to draw God back into an intimate connection with human experience.

scholarly journals The use of Imago Dei as a pastoral healing vision against women killings in the South African context

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah M. Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Images Of God ◽  
The Status ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Image Of God

The exploitation and killings of women in South Africa are a concern not only for the government, but also for pastoral caregivers as well. Although the government has introduced institutions like the Commission for Gender Equality with responsibilities to ensure that there is equality between genders, it seems that the supposed patriarchal masculine superiority continues to demonstrate its dominance through the abuse, as well as the killings of women. Assigning women to the status of secondary citizens who are tortured and exposed to gender-based violence is not only unconstitutional, but also biblically wrong, as we can see from the biblical message of the creation of human beings. The goal of this article is to use the premise of �the image of God� to argue that women also are created in the image of God and hence they are worthy to be treated as such, from sexual harassment, sexual abuse and violence to murder. This is my personal observation as women of this country are being killed by their husbands and boyfriends. This article will use case studies to argue that women (just like men) deserve, as images of God, to live freely without fear of being killed by their husbands and boyfriends for whatever wrongdoing.

scholarly journals REACHING OF JESUS VIS-À-VIS LASSWELIAN THEORYG

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Charles NDHLOVU ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Person ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Beatific Vision ◽  
Daily Experiences ◽  
The World ◽  
Present Life

Mediation is generally a terrestrial element. In heaven, we will see God face to face through the beatific vision. There will be no mediation because we will be there face to face with God. However, in our present life, it has pleased God to reveal himself to us in a mediated way. He has done this through different means which we call medium of God’s communication to the human person. This mediation happens in the context of the world – in the existential categories of life. Mediation takes place in this world – in our daily experiences. This agrees very much with the existentialism of Heidegger but without neglecting the transcendental categories of Kant.

scholarly journals Synthetic biology ethically evaluated: The creating God and co-creating human

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riaan Rheeder
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Absolute Value ◽  
God's Image ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Image Of God

God did not create once and then put an end to it. Testimony from Scripture shows that God continuously establishes or creates new things. Humans can therefore expect to always see and experience new things in creation. With this pattern of reasoning, one can anticipate that the human being as image of God will continuously establish new things in history. Although nature has value, it does not have absolute value and therefore it can be synthesised responsibly. The thought that humans are stewards of God is no longer adequate to, theologically put into words, the relationship human beings have with nature. New biotechnological developments ask for different answers from Scripture. Several ethicists are of the opinion that the theological construction of humans and created co-creators can help found the relationship of the human being to nature. Humans developed as God’s image evolutionary. On the one hand, this means humans themselves are a product of nature. On the other hand, the fact that humans are the image of God is also an ethical call that humans, like God, have to develop and create new things throughout history. Synthetic biology can be evaluated as technology that is possible, because humans are the image of God. However, it should, without a doubt, be executed responsibly.Sintetiese biologie eties geëvalueer: Die skeppende God en medeskeppende mens. God het nie net eenmaal geskep en daar gestop nie. Uit Skrifgetuienisse kan afgelei word dat God voortdurend nuwe dinge tot stand bring of skep. Daarom kan die mens verwag om gedurig nuwe dinge in die skepping te sien en te beleef. Hiermee saam kan verwag word dat die mens as beeld van God voortdurend nuwe dinge in die geskiedenis tot stand sal bring. Alhoewel die natuur waarde het, het dit nie absolute waarde nie en kan dus verantwoordelik gesintetiseer word. Die gedagte dat die mens rentmeester van God is, is nie meer voldoende om die mens se verhouding tot die natuur teologies te verwoord nie. Nuwe biotegnologiese ontwikkelinge vra na ander antwoorde vanuit die Skrif. Verskeie etici is van mening dat die teologiese konstruksie van die mens as geskepte medeskepper kan help om die mens se verhouding tot die natuur te begrond. Die mens het deur ’n evolusionêre proses tot God se beeld ontwikkel. Aan die een kant beteken dit dat die mens self ’n produk van die natuur is. Aan die ander kant is beeldskap ook ’n etiese oproep dat die mens, soos God, nuwe dinge in die geskiedenis moet ontwikkel en skep. Sintetiese biologie kan gesien word as tegnologie wat moontlik is omdat die mens na die beeld van God geskape is. Sonder twyfel moet sintetiese biologie egter verantwoordelik beoefen word.

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