HUMANKIND AS BEING CREATED IN THE "IMAGE OF GOD" IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE THEOLOGICAL DEBATE ON HUMAN DIGNITY
Abstract
This contribution provides a survey of existing scholarship on the nature and extent of the image of God/imago Dei' according to the Old Testament. Some of the aspects that will be discussed are: Image in the physical sense with the focus on selem in Genesis 1 - humankind as representing the divine.Image in a spiritualized sense with the focus on demut in Genesis 1 - humankind as resembling the divine.Image as attribute or relationship - in conversation with Barth and Bonhoeffer.A few concluding remarks will be made about human dignity and Old Testament anthropology as a theological synthesis between the Egyptian emphasis on humankind as a royal being and the Mesopotamian (Assyrian and Babylonian) view of humankind as a slave to do the most menial of work.Downloads
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