scholarly journals Evolutionary theory, human uniqueness and the image of God

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gijsbert Van den Brink
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian View ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
The Image Of God

In this article, I examined what might be called the evolutionary argument against human uniqueness and human dignity. After having rehearsed briefly the roots of the classical Judeo- Christian view on human uniqueness and human dignity in the first chapters of Genesis, I went on to explore and delineate the nature of the evolutionary argument against this view. Next, I examined whether Christian theology might widen the concept of imago Dei so as to include other beings as well as humans, thus giving up the idea of human uniqueness. I concluded, however, that this move is deeply problematic. Therefore, I turned to a discussion of some recent attempts to define both human uniqueness and the image of God in theological rather than empirical terms. One of these, which is based on the concept of incarnation, is found wanting, but another one is construed in such a way that it enables us to reconcile the idea of human uniqueness as encapsulated in the doctrine of the imago Dei with contemporary evolutionary theory. Thus, this article can be seen as an exercise in bringing classical Christian theology to terms with evolution, further highlighting this theology’s ongoing vitality.Evolusieteorie, menslike uniekheid and die beeld van God. In hierdie artikel ondersoek ek die sogenaamde evolusionêre argument teen menslike uniekheid en menswaardigheid. Na ‘n kort oorsig oor die oorsprong van die klassieke Joods-Christelike siening van menslike uniekheid en menswaardigheid soos uit die eerste vyf hoofstukke van Genesis blyk, ondersoek en beeld ek die aard van die evolusionêre argument hierteenoor uit. Vervolgens word die vraag ondersoek of die Christelike teologie die konsep van imago Dei sodanig kan verbreed dat dit ook ander wesens behalwe mense kan insluit, waardeur die idee van menslike uniekheid dus prysgegee word. Ek kom egter tot die slotsom dat hierdie skuif hoogs problematies is. Daarom wend ek my tot ’n bespreking van onlangse pogings om menslike uniekheid en die beeld van God eerder in teologiese as empiriese terme te definieer. Een hiervan, gebaseer op die konsep van inkarnasie, is te lig bevind. ‘n Ander poging is egter sodanig vertolk dat dit ons in staat stel om die idee van menslike uniekheid, soos ingesluit in die leerstelling van die imago Dei, met die hedendaagse evolusieteorie te versoen. Hierdie artikel kan dus gesien word as ‘n poging om die klassieke Christelike teologie in ooreenstemming te bring met evolusie en om hierdie teologie se voortgaande lewenskragtigheid te beklemtoon.

scholarly journals Imago Dei og kroppsliggjort væren: En funksjonshemmingsteologi i lys av Thomas Aquinas

2020 ◽  
pp. 269-286
Author(s):  
Therese Marie Ignacio Bjørnaas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
God's Image ◽  
God's Grace ◽  
The Image Of God

Theologians and philosophers have historically privileged the faculty of rationality in their exegesis of what it means to be created in the image of God. They have argued that we were made in God’s image when we were endowed with a rational soul. This argument is contested by contemporary disability theologians. They argue that by equating the imago Dei with the faculty of rationality Christian theology effectively strips people with cognitive disabilities of their human rights. It justifies elevating the cognitively able over the cognitively disabled in the same way that it justifies elevating the human species over other species. In this article, I will first show that the contemporary Western conviction that ability and independence are normal while disability and dependence are deviant owes much to definitions of the human first proposed by Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant. I will then propose that Aquinas himself offers us a way out of these destructive binarisms. He defines the imago Dei as an embodied soul, an imperfectly intelligent substance that can fulfill its destiny only if it receives the support of society and the intervention of God’s grace. Aquinas’s theology of embodiment does not merely expose false assumptions about ability and disability; it compels us to appreciate the radical dependency and vulnerability of human nature.

scholarly journals Are we special? A critique of imago Dei

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessel Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
The Image Of God

‘Are we special?’ In response to this question, Christian theology has traditionally sought comfort in the notion that humanity is created in the image of God. In light of modern scientificknowledge, is this self-understanding still feasible? Are there different ways in which imago Dei can be understood? Is it possible for imago Dei to be both grounded in its Christian heritage,while also being helpful in the science and religion conversation? This article criticallyexamines the notion of  imago Dei and proposes an interpretation that could be credible andacceptable to both science and Christian anthropology.

Animality and Identity: Human Nature and the Image of God

2018 ◽  
pp. 89-117
Author(s):  
Eric Daryl Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Book Of Daniel ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter works to refigure humanity’s place in creation, shifting from accounts centered in the imago dei that inculcate a sovereign anthropological exceptionalism and toward an account in which human beings find themselves personally and spiritually constituted by relations with nonhuman creatures. To that end, the chapter balances conventional emphasis on Genesis 1 with a reading of Nebuchadnezzar’s character arc in the book of Daniel, which configures sovereignty and human uniqueness in a very different way. Moving to the New Testament Gospels, the chapter suggests that one’s identity in the Realm of God is always determined from the perspective of the oppressed. Following this insight through, the chapter imagines who human beings might be in the eyes of various nonhuman neighbors, from pets to animals confined in factory farms.

scholarly journals Alone in the world? Imago Dei from theological anthropology to Christology

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Marais
Keyword(s):  
Theological Anthropology ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects ◽  
The Image Of God

In Princeton theologian Van Huyssteen’s (2006) major interdisciplinary work, Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology, human uniqueness is rhetorically coupled with human aloneness. A comparison with a contemporary theological anthropology, namely Yale theologian Kelsey’s (2009) Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology, shows an alternative approach to the notion or concept of the imago Dei, namely a theological shift from viewing human beings as image(s) of God, to viewing human beings as images of Christ, or images of the image of God. This contribution responds to the invitation implied in Van Huyssteen’s book title – are we alone in the world? – by exploring some of the rhetorical implications of a Christological interpretation of the imago Dei. One such implication may imply a different answer to Van Huyssteen’s question – are we alone in the world?; not yes, but no. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of Christ’s promeity illustrates how the rhetorical dynamics behind such a move in response – from yes to no – may potentially look, and that a rearticulation of human uniqueness could have direct consequences for how we imagine our human aloneness in the world.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article contributes to a specifically intradisciplinary conversation in Systematic Theology, on reading and interpreting the notion or theological idea of human beings being created in the image of God. This article does this through a close reading and comparison of two interdisciplinary projects on what it means to be human, namely Van Huyssteen’s Alone in the World? and Kelsey’s Eccentric Existence.

The Image of God and Moral Action: Challenging the Practicality of the Imago Dei

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Petrusek
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Action ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
The Image Of God

This article poses a challenge to the assumption that all conceptions of the imago Dei are practical, meaning that they can coherently provide a guide for human action. The article identifies three criteria for practicality and applies them to two accounts of the imago, one in the thought of the twentieth-century theologian Helmut Thielicke, the other in the Roman Catholic tradition. It argues that Thielicke’s account of the imago, which forms the basis for what he calls ‘alien dignity’, fails to meet the criteria of practicality, and thus cannot serve as an adequate guide for action. In contrast, the account of the imago and human dignity in the Roman Catholic tradition does meet the criteria. This comparison, the article concludes, ultimately helps provide a means of assessing diverse theological interpretations of the imago and their value for supporting a morally useful conception of human worth.

scholarly journals A Functionalist Account of Human Uniqueness

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-344
Author(s):  
Anthony Bolos ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Biology I ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Functionalist Account ◽  
The Image Of God

I challenge the assumption that human uniqueness of the sort motivated by the doctrine of the imago Dei is incompatible with contemporary views in evolutionary biology. I first develop a functionalist account of the image of God and then argue that image bearing is a contingently imposed function. Humans, chosen by God to bear his image, are unique in that they alone possess an ideal range of image bearing capacities. This ideal range makes humans well-suited for the role of image bearing.

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.

Known by God: C. S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2005 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-352
Author(s):  
Brian S. Rosner
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Relationship ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Introductory Essay ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Pastoral Value ◽  
The Image Of God

Whereas knowing God is central to every version of Christian theology, little attention has been paid to the other side of the divine-human relationship. This introductory essay approaches the subject via the brief but poignant remarks of two twentieth-century authors appearing in a work of fiction and in a poem. If C. S. Lewis recognizes the primacy of being known by God, Dietrich Bonhoeffer helps define it and underscores its pastoral value. Both authors accurately reflect the main contours of the Bible’s own treatment. Calvin’s view of the image of God, which T. F. Torrance defines as ‘God’s gracious beholding of man as his child,’ may be of assistance in defining what it means to be known by God.

Oerknal en Schepping: Reflecties over de Theologische: Ambiguïteit van Natuurwetenschappelijke Theorieën

2006 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-298
Author(s):  
T.A. Smedes
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Image Of God

The Big Bang theory is, in contrast to evolutionary theory, relatively uncontroversial among Christian believers. But does this imply that the Big Bang is consonant with the Christian doctrine of creation? This article presents some reflections on the relation between the doctrine of creation, the image of God, and scientific theories, such as the Big Bang theory. It is argued that scientific theories are ‘theologically ambiguous’, which results from a difference in approach between the natural sciences and religion. This theological ambiguity should make theologians cautious about identifying scientific theories and theological doctrines.

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