Circe’s Beasts and the Image of God: More’s Creative Appropriation of Pico’s Humanist Spirituality

Moreana ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (Number 179- (1-2) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Joseph W. Koterski
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Spiritual Warfare ◽  
General Question ◽  
The Image Of God

In More’s preface to the first of the letters of Pico that he translated for inclusion in his Life of Pico, he explains Pico’s account of the beasts into which Circe changes various men. To what he finds in Pico, More adds his own comments about possible deformations of the image of God within us. This paper reviews relevant portions of More’s Life of Pico and of Pico’s letters in light of the general question of Pico’s grounds for the dignity of human nature and argues that More has provided a kind of friendly amendment to the views of Pico on the ultimate grounds for human dignity, not only in the preface to the letters but also in his way of handling Pico’s three sets of rules for spiritual warfare.

In the Image of God

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Kent
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Latin West ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Middle Ages

Christian writings from late antiquity through the Middle Ages have much to say about the dignity of various beings but little to say about the dignity that all humans have simply because they are human. Few authors of the Latin West used the biblical account of creation to argue for the kind of human dignity we often hear about today. Why? This chapter argues that two factors do much to explain their silence. First, patristic and medieval authors believed that God made angels as well as humans in his image, so that humans were not the sole creatures endowed with understanding, will, and free choice. Second, most authors thought that human nature was badly deformed by the Fall and needed to be reformed in the likeness of Christ. They focused less on creation than salvation, an end they believed attainable only through the grace of baptism and God-given virtues.

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.

scholarly journals Church and state in South Africa and human rights

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
World War ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Second World

After the Second World War, there was a universal rise and greater acknowledgement of human rights, which entered churches and ecumenical organisations’ way of thinking. Human rights influenced the church’s understanding of justice and human dignity both internally and externally. The concept of human dignity came from the biblical believe that man is created in the image of God. In South Africa human rights were also increasingly recognised and respected. A charter of human rights was included as chapter 2 of the 1996 Constitution and churches regard human dignity as a central tenet of their approach to members and non-members. Differences between church and state on the issue have arisen as the result of differences on the freedom of religion. Church and state in South Africa can complement each other in the promotion of human dignity.Opsomming: Kerk en staat in Suid-Afrika en menseregte. Na die Tweede Wêreldoorlog is menseregte wêreldwyd erken en aanvaar. Dit was ook die geval in kerke en ekumeniese organisasies. Menseregte het kerke se siening van geregtigheid en menswaardigheid in hulle interne sowel as eksterne optrede beïnvloed. Die begrip menswaardigheid het ontstaan uit die bybelse oortuiging dat die mens na die beeld van God geskape is. In Suid-Afrika is menseregte ook toenemend erken en aanvaar. ’n Verklaring van menseregte is as hoofstuk 2 in die 1996-grondwet ingesluit en kerke beskou menswaardigheid as toonaangewend in hulle benadering van mense binne en buite die kerk. Verskille tussen die kerk en die staat in Suid-Afrika oor menseregte het ontstaan as gevolg van verskille oor die inhoud van die vryheid van godsdiens. Teen hierdie agtergrond kan kerk en staat mekaar egter aanvul in die bevordering van menseregte.

scholarly journals MAN AND HIS QUALITY AS AN IMAGE OF GOD IN PATRISTIC THINKING

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
Edvica POPA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Patristic Literature ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

The notion of divine image is generously described by the patristic literature, each of the authors trying to identify the content of this special characteristic of human being, considered (in different positions) the defining element of the created rational being, indicating the possibility of opening to God not through something external, but from the inside of the human being. Since when they speak of God, the Church Fathers do not consider the reality of the one being, but that of the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as when the question of the image of God is raised, they emphasize that this the image by which human nature is conformed is the image of the Son, or the image of the Word. In this article I set out to draw some points on this patristic feature of the Eastern Fathers.

Persons in the Image of God

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Made In

Using the motif of the image of God as an organizing principle, this chapter shows how Jewish sources address such issues as mind/body dualism, body and soul, the relation of human nature to animal nature, sexuality, birth and death, vulnerability and dependence, and violence and evil as well as selfhood and the relations among rationality, emotion, desire, and imagination. Classical Jewish thought assumes and propagates dichotomies: human beings are bodies and souls, male and female; a little lower than the angels, but not much higher than the animals; descended from a common father and mother, yet divided into nations and races; biologically the same, though unique in their individuality; and a part of nature, yet possessing a power to remake both nature and themselves. Underlying the dichotomies is a basic Jewish commitment. Human beings are made in the image of God, and therefore possess intrinsic and undeniable worth. The idea of an image of God has an ethical function. It integrates human nature into personhood and gives persons an ethical orientation.

Racism as a challenge for church and society in democratic South Africa: Human dignity perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leepo J. Modise
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Relationship ◽  
Physical Organic ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Image Of God

The image of God has been vandalised by racism in South Africa, which it is argued is a sin. It is an ecclesiological responsibility to address the vandalised image of God in South Africa. The author will argue from the human relationship as a build-up to the Theanthropocosmic principle. This principle denotes the relationship between God (theos) the human being (anthropos) and the physical-organic environment (cosmos). For addressing this responsibility, the grounds of internal racism are exposed using a philosophical interpretation. According to the author, there is a correlation between sin and racism. The latter is viewed as multidimensional from a Theanthropocosmic perspective.The theoretical framework will be within hamartiology and soteriology. The philosophical interpretation will be utilised to broaden the understanding of the theological problem of the vandalised image of God.

The Struggle for Human Dignity in a Consumer-Oriented Culture

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-123
Author(s):  
Beverly Eileen Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Economic Injustice ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
The Image Of God

This article addresses the need to ground our discussions and advocacy to rectify economic injustice in the basic affirmation that the most vulnerable victims of injustice are above all full human beings created in the image of God and that their humanness is therefore inscribed with a dignity which we are bound to respect. There are three areas in which we need to be more attentive to the ways in which our discourse and assistance unwittingly reinforce patterns of defacement even as we seek to address economic injustice: (1) addressing our biases and negative feelings about the materially disadvantaged; (2) clarifying who the materially disadvantaged are; and (3) enlisting the aid of the impoverished in seeking the solutions to economic injustice.

THE FIRST WORD: TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE FREE

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desmond M. Tutu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
The Image Of God

AbstractIn this essay, Archbishop Tutu explains how Christianity understands the inherent freedom, dignity, and human rights of each person to be a consequence of being created in the image of God. This idea contains radical liberative potential to challenge oppression and create structures for human flourishing. While Christianity has not always lived up to the liberative potential of its teachings, and too often has contributed to hatred, oppression, and violence, Archbishop Tutu argues, the power of religious voices remains essential in the struggle against oppression and for the protection of human dignity.

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