Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-97
Author(s):  
Yannick Imbert

RÉSUMÉL’auteur livre dans cet ouvrage une réflexion sociologique et théologique sur les selfies. Il les considère comme participant à une recherche de Dieu via l’image de Dieu. L’accent sur l’écoute et la compréhension, ainsi que l’approche sociologique et historique constituent deux points forts du livre. Il faut malheureusement déplorer certaines faiblesses méthodologiques qui affectent sa réflexion théologique. L’ouvrage reste néanmoins utile par l’apport d’une réflexion sérieuse sur une pratique qui est désormais devenue une manière naturelle d’habiter le monde.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGCraig Detweiler bietet hier seine soziologischen und theologischen Betrachtungen über Selfies. Sein Ansatz sieht Selfies als Teil einer Suche nach Gott durch die Suche nach Gottes Ebenbild. Die zwei Stärken des Buches bestehen in der Fähigkeit, zuzuhören und zu verstehen, sowie in seinem soziologischen und historischen Ansatz. Leider schwächelt die Methode zuweilen, was die theologische Tiefe des Buches beeinträchtigt. Dennoch liegt der Wert von Detweilers Buch in seiner ernsthaften Reflektion über eine Praxis, die zu einem selbstverständlichen Teil unseres täglichen Lebens geworden ist.SUMMARYCraig Detweiler gives his sociological and theological reflections on selfies. He approaches selfies as part of a search for God via God’s image. Two strengths of this book are the focus on listening and understanding, as well as its sociological and historical approach. Unfortunately, the method is at times weak and affects the theological depth of the book. Nevertheless, Detweiler’s work is valuable as a serious reflection on a practice that has now become a natural way of inhabiting the world.

2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Decock

Images of war and creation, violence and non-violence in the Revelation of John Much of the violent imagery of Revelation can be seen as inspired by the image of God as the Divine Warrior who will overcome the chaotic forces threatening creation and who will bring creation to its fulfillment. This violence is reserved for God and the exalted Jesus although the prophetic ministry of churches shares to some extent in this divine power and even in its violence (11:5-6). However, human victory is won through worship of God instead of worship of Satan and the Beast, and through prophetic witness unto death in order to bring the inhabitants of the world to repentance and so to overcome sin that destroys creation. This human victory is made possible by the “blood of Jesus” and requires that his followers persevere in the works of Jesus to the end (2:26) in order to share in the new creation of which Jesus is God’s agent from the beginning (3:14).


1965 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Evdokimov

The biblical narrative describes the progressive course of creation ending with man. Man appears as its culmination, as a centre on which all the planes of the world converge, a ‘microcosm’. But, ‘created in the image of God’ he is also, according to the Fathers, a ‘microtheos’. This central position of man explains the normative subjection of nature to man as to its cosmic logos, as to one of its multiple hypostases. Man ‘cultivates’ nature, gives a name to creatures and things, ‘humanises’ them. His direct relation with the Creator is constitutive of his being.


2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Stephen Edmondson

ABSTRACTThis article explores Coleridge's understanding of imagination, Scripture, the spirituality of the world, and our reality as the image of God. I begin with Coleridge's understanding of the inspiration of Scripture and the interpretive process. By locating the imagination in this interaction among writer, reader, and God, I surface Coleridge's more significant description of imaginative thinking as a spiritual act that calls us into the truth of our being and of the world's reality. Implicit in Coleridge's vision is a correlation between human imaginative creativity and the creative being of God as a dimension of our reality as the image of God. Thus, I claim that imaginative preaching, when seen through Coleridge's lens, renews that image within us, awakening us to our reality as spiritual, free beings, but only when we enact our freedom within the context of God's freedom and action which we know through our reading of Scripture.


Author(s):  
Megan Stueve

A thorough examination of the various theological interpretations of imago Dei shows that Homo sapiens are not the only species to be created in the image of God.  While maintaining their uniqueness in the eyes of the Lord, Homo sapiens also share this gift with another species, Homo neanderthalensis.  The archaeological record proves that Neanderthals qualify for imago Dei under each of the four main interpretations of the biblical term.   Based on their rationality and adaptive nature, their compassion through use of medicine, their social networking and their symbolic use of art, it can be concluded that Neanderthals were also created in God’s image. 


Author(s):  
Sayan Chattopadhyay

This study explores the “Sublime” and aims at clarifying the very ‘understood’ as well as ‘misunderstood’ figure or image of God(s) and showing how the established and vivid definitions of the Almighty can be discarded with the help of certain ‘Infinist’ concepts and the ‘De-Humanization’ of God. It also aims at presenting a new perspective towards the understanding of the ‘humanization’ that happened and shows the loop-holes in its definition i.e. given to date all around the world. This paper focuses upon searching the acceptability and validity of Rene Descartes’ Ontological Argument, through which I examine the image of God as I find the image of God being repeated  and, therefore, I would also raise the understandings from the Ontological Argument which is later debated through the concept of “theodicy” by Leibniz and which is altered and given an altered definition by H.P Lovecraft in the era of modernization. There has been a repeatation in the understanding of God and it’s Image. Infinism supports my statement, as it speaks of this Literature loop which is present and misunderstood very commonly as something new. A comparative methodology has been used in order to study the various theories upon God or Sublime from different ages, in order to study the changing images of God and the reasons behind it. The article presents my unique understanding of God that is different from the romantic understanding and the concept propogated in Monotheism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2084-2089
Author(s):  
Reymand Hutabarat ◽  
Franklin Hutabarat ◽  
Deanna Beryl Majilang

Introduction : Anthony Hoekema was active in his works as a preacher, teacher, and writer.[1] He is one of the most outstanding reformed theologians which authored several books such as Created in God’s Image, The Four Major Cults, What About Tongue-Speaking? The Bible and the Future, and Saved By Grace.   Method : Hoekema’s theology as a whole is a reformed theology. The core and the very foundation of reformed theology is the sovereignty of God. Hoekema sees that the creation of man in God’s image is “the most distinctive feature of a biblical understanding of man.” This is why he understands that “the concept of the image of God is the heart of Christian anthropology.”   Result & Discussion : His concept of the image of God in man is examined in this section, which is divided into the following five parts: the meaning of being created in the image of God, the structural and functional aspects of God’s image, Jesus as the true image of God, the image of God in man’s threefold relationship, and the image of God in four different stages.    


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riaan Rheeder

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.


Author(s):  
Ashley M. Purpura

Although Maximus hardly ever invokes the word “hierarchy” directly, he adopts the Dionysian concept of hierarchy as a theological given and draws on it to facilitate his own theological maneuvering of ecclesial authority. Maximus links the Dionysian ideal of hierarchy to a specifically orthodox confession of faith and adopts it as the foundation for his naming of that which renders both lay and ordained humanity divinized and God manifest. Maximus uses this concept to affirm the importance of order, unity, particularity, and liturgical hierarchy, even while the historical (and hagiographical) evidence of his life displays a discontinuity with what one might otherwise identify as ecclesiastical hierarchy. Maximus is an example of Dionysius’s hierarchic legacy existing beyond the mere adoption of a term as a way to name the boundaries of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, legitimate and illegitimate positions of authority, and the image of God in the world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-96
Author(s):  
Yannick Imbert

SUMMARYWhat does it mean for Christians to live in a highly technologised world? In this book, Jacob Shatzer searches for an answer. First, Christians have to answer these crucial questions: What is technology? What is its impact on our lives and on the world? Second, Shatzer gives some key indicators and guiding principles, framed in terms of Christian discipleship. This is a clear and useful book.RÉSUMÉQu’implique pour les chrétiens de vivre dans un monde où la technologie est omniprésente ? Jacob Shatzer tente de répondre à cette question. Tout d’abord, les chrétiens doivent s’interroger sur la nature de la technologie et sur l’impact des produits des techniques sur notre vie et sur le monde. Puis il propose des indicateurs clés et des principes directeurs, en vue d’une vie de disciple chrétien.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGWas bedeutet es für Christen, in einer hoch technologisierten Welt zu leben? In diesem Buch sucht Jacob Shatzer nach einer Antwort. Zuerst müssen Christen diese wichtigen Fragen beantworten: Was ist Technologie? Was macht ihren Einfluss auf unser Leben und unsere Welt aus? Zweitens gibt der Autor einige Schlüsselindikatoren und Richtlinien im Rahmen christlicher Jüngerschaft. Dies stellt ein klares und hilfreiches Book dar.


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