Adoption and the Image of God

1992 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-260
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Nydam
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Heinz Kohut ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
God Representations ◽  
Ontological Foundation ◽  
The Image Of God

Presents some of the basic struggles that may surround extrafamilial adoption. Examines both psychologically and theologically the possible effects of the process on a child's view of God. Draws on the works of Ana-Maria Rizzuto and Heinz Kohut to offer a way of understanding the God-representations that adopted children may employ. Presents Paul Tillich's existential-theological perspective as an ontological foundation for the various conceptions of God of adoptees. Suggests that adoption, as one of many human dilemmas, may deeply influence both psychological and spiritual development.

The Sovereign’s Beatitude

2021 ◽  
pp. 009059172110420
Author(s):  
Zoltan Balazs
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Treatment ◽  
Divine Sovereignty ◽  
Conceptual Coherence ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Image Of God

Though it may sound awkward to ask whether the political sovereign is happy or unhappy, the question is relevant to political theory, especially within a political theological perspective. Because man was created in the image of God, human happiness needs to be a reflection of divine beatitude, and as divine sovereignty is, at least analogically, related to political sovereignty, the conceptual coherence is secured. The main argument is, however, that the analogy does not hold. I shall show how St Thomas Aquinas’s short treatment of God’s beatitude may mislead us about power, fame, riches, and dignity being essential to happiness, based on an analysis of Franz Kafka’s major novel, The Castle, and a few other writings by him. I shall argue that our tradition of political thinking and behavior remains ambivalent on this issue. The political sovereign is born out of our unhappy condition, yet its power, fame, riches, and glory suggests to us that it has appropriated our happiness. But for this very reason it cannot be happy, and it therefore suggests a false analogy between the divine and the political sovereign. It is fundamentally at variance with our happiness, which incites us to abandon, reject, and eventually, kill it.

scholarly journals Fantastic theology of Robert Sheckley: A pseudo-secular world

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
S.V. Ryazanova
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Formal Similarity ◽  
Value System ◽  
Fantastic Literature ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Religious Systems ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

The article considers one of the views on God existing within the modern Western literary tradition and out-side of religious systems. The image of God was chosen as a cultural phenomenon relevant for interpretation, which exists both in religious and secular discourse. The research involved the creative heritage of Robert Sheck-ley – one of the most popular authors of fantastic literature in the mid-20th century. The analysis was based on fantastic tales, since they provide the opportunity to prove all strategies for social behaviour, as well as different views on life. The image of God created by Sheckley was reconstructed using intertextual analysis, which helps identify original mythological and religious narratives and individual allusions. This provides the opportunity to define the features of Sheckley's individual fantastic theology and find the reasons for using the image of God in secular literature. The analysis revealed that the used religious names, denominations and plots bear only formal similarity with the traditional ones. They are used and interpreted arbitrarily. God is interpreted as being anthro-pomorphic, pragmatic, partial and not interested in the fate of his creation. Communication with God is described as commercialised and is built on the model of the consumer society. The works of Sheckley indicate the possibil-ity and necessity of contact between the man and God with the obligatory personal participation of the individual. The American writer creates texts that are modernised in terms of the plot using traditional Christian ideas about the spiritual development of people and the need to preserve the Christian value system as a universal one. In this connection, Sheckley offers possible behavioural models for the created image of God.

scholarly journals The theological ethics of human enhancement: Genetic engineering, robotics and nanotechnology

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manitza Kotze
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The Image Of God

The recent advances made by biotechnology have been swift and sundry. Technological developments seem to happen sooner than they can be ethically reflected upon. One such trend is the endeavours launched to try and enhance human beings and what it means to be human with movements such as transhumanism, advocating strongly that we should overcome our natural limitations by any means available. With both critics and advocates utilising the expression ‘playing God’, the question of human enhancement is one in which the interplay between church and society comes compellingly to the fore. In this contribution, I wish to examine the bioethical challenges that technologies such as genetic engineering, robotics and nanotechnology raise, specifically from a theological perspective on human enhancement and indicating some paths that future research might take. Christian anthropological views on what it means to be human, especially to be created imago Dei [to the image of God] will provide the doctrinal and theological support to this contemplation.

GENESIS OF OLD BELIEVERS ANTHROPOLOGY

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-57
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Parilov ◽  
Lev E. Shaposhnikov
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Original Works ◽  
Game Simulation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

Introduction. The modern globalized postmodern consumer society, total game simulation, colossal disconnection is extremely destructive for the individual. The Old Believer outlook, which affirms the soborn-person, attached to the fundamental foundations of the national religious culture, the bearer of higher transcendent meanings, acquires a particular urgency today. Accounting for both positive and negative experience of Old Believer anthropology will allow to determine the ideal of an integral convinced person who overcomes the extremes of conformism and fanaticism. Materials and Methods. The article is prepared on the basis of the original works of the Old Believer authors; pre-revolutionary, Soviet, modern Russian and foreign studies of Russian culture and the Old Believer worldview. The methodological basis was: a civilizational approach to history, methods of hermeneutics, comparative-historical, the unity of historical and logical, analysis, synthesis, analogy. Results of the study. The article deals with socio-cultural, spiritual factors of the borderline era of the 17th century, under the influence of which a unique Old Believer anthropology is formed, reflecting the worldview characteristics of the Russian Middle Ages and Russia of the new time. The dynamics of Old Believers’ views on man during the XVII–XX centuries is investigated; revealed spiritual, historical reasons for the transformation of the anthropological views of the Old Believers. Discussion and Conclusion. It is established that the early Old Believers, as representatives of the medieval people’s Orthodox consciousness, affirm a person of a sacral, conciliar, but individually immature. However, under the influence of modern trends, Old Believer gives rise to the idea of the charismatic personality of the Old Believer apostle. For the Old Believers of modern times, anthropocentric tendencies, significant existential interest, exaltation of man as the Image of God, especially his reasonable abilities, are characteristic. But due to the self-consciousness of the last defenders of Holy Russia, the guardianship, the Old Believers miss the fact of the damage to human nature, underestimate the need for spiritual development.

scholarly journals PATH OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF THE UKRAINIAN MIDDLE AGES AND THE EARLY MODERNISM REPRESENTATIVES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DOCTRINE OF THEOSIS

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-127
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Divine Grace ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Image Of God

In the article the author tries to analyze the vision of the path of spiritual formation in the philosophical and religious views of the Ukrainian Middle Ages and the early modernism representatives in the context of the doctrine of theosis. It is noted that the doctrine of deification is considered fundamental to the theology of holiness. Theosis, the idea of which is to renew the image and the likeness of God in a person, is the main goal of life from the standpoint of the Eastern Church. After all, the combination of the Divine and human natures opens the way to God for a person. As a state of subjective experience of a human person, theosis is considered in hesychasm, which interprets it as synergy - an interacting combination of energies of man and God. The path to the development of knowledge about God is connected with the ascetic rejection from the worldly life, and the path to the union with Him is connected with the union of the Divine and human natures in a person. Followers of hesychasm believe that theosis is the practice of the subjective experience of a human person; synergy is the interacting combination of the energy of man and God. The main task of austerity is the attainment of divine grace. It dissolves the will of man in the process of a human being transformation. The doctrine of theosis had an impact on the formation of the theocratic idea in the culture of Kiev Rus, in which love of wisdom played an important role in human understanding themselves as the image of God. Analyzing the views of the Ukrainian Middle Ages and early modernism representatives on the path of spiritual development of man, the author concludes that they were characterized by the vision of deification as a person’s approach to God through self-exploration and moral improvement. Theosis is the final result on the path of spiritual growth for the representatives of the Middle Ages and early modernism philosophical conception, who attached great importance to gaining inner mystical experience and sought to experience spiritual ecstasy as the ultimate goal in the mystical path to deification.

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.

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