“26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” Genesis 1:26a, 1:27
The stories which humans tell about their origins are always cherished and held in high regard. In fact, no culture has existed which has not created or attempted to create some story of origins. Every culture has had some means in which to say this is where we came from. Especially in cultures where religion found itself prevalent, the mythology of origins became not only a status or anthropology but also a theology. In which case, we find that Christianity is not alone in this struggle, though our struggle may be unique in kind. For our case, we find that the foundation of theology, specifically practical theology, finds its basis in our story of creation and origination. “One of the central affirmations of the Christian faith is the claim that human beings are created in the image of God.” Because the creation story, as cited above, claims that humanity was made in the image or likeness of God, and we affirm that the Bible is the witness to Christ, who being in human form was also made in the image of God, then it is logical to conclude that the theology of human nature rests on this imago dei and therefore the discussion of Karl Barth’s relational view of imago is critical to dissect in order for a reasonable theology to be constructed.
Humans are not by nature meant to be unsociable or alone. Rather, “being truly human and living in community are inseparable.” The very essence of human existence relies upon the communal rather than the individualistic. For humans, the only way that a person can become a complet...
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...nald, Nathan. "The imago Dei and election: reading Genesis 1:26-28 and Old Testament scholarship with Karl Barth." International Journal of Systematic Theology 10, no. 3 (July 1, 2008): 303-327. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 25, 2011).
Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology. 2 ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2004.
Nengean, Isaiah Gesa. "The imago Dei as the imago Trinitatis: an analysis of Jürgen Moltmann's doctrine of the image of God." Westminster Theological Journal 71, no. 2 (September 1, 2009): 490-318. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 25, 2011).
Sands, Paul Francis. "The imago Dei as vocation." Evangelical Quarterly 82, no. 1 (January 1, 2010): 28-41. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 25, 2011).
Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
In today’s society, there are two topics of conversation that most people shy away from discussing in order to avoid the endless debates and pointless agreements these topics can evoke with a mere mention of them; debates which educate no one on a different point of view but only cause people to fight with relentless passion to defend their own view. These two hot button topics are religion and politics. Even though the touchy nature of these topics is widely known, Thomas Mardik decided to disregard this notion and discuss his religious beliefs in the semi public manner by making them the topic of his “This I Believe” essay. The main belief he discussed was a basic one and is fairly common; millions of others all over the world hold this same belief to be true. This belief is the belief in God. The purpose of his paper was to inform his audience of his belief and to explain aspects of his belief, events that have strengthened his belief, and ways his belief is part of his life. Thomas’s essay is a semi success mostly due the ways he tries to appeal to his audience in the three different areas. These three areas of appeal are logos, ethos, and pathos. Today I will be analysis how Thomas used logos ethos and pathos in his essay.
On a scale from one to ten, how suitable would it be to furbish one’s residence with a picture frame without displaying a photograph inside of it? Such is the relationship between the Christian and Platonic social imaginaries. The Platonic social imaginary can compatibly frame the picture of Christian faith and open up the possibility of deism. However, the frame simply gives emphasis and prominence to the picture; the two essences are not compatible enough to function interchangeably. Perhaps we must adapt a Catholic social imaginary in order to look past how the Platonic views work as an icon to point towards a higher deism. Through examining figures such as St. Augustine and Anselm, Plato, and the way that these social imaginaries interlace
Marthaler, Berard L. “The Creed: The Apostolic Faith in Contemporary Theology”. 3rd ed. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2010. Print.
... of the Christian faith front and center by uniting two camps of believers in one reading; a starting point. As illustrated by the authors, “Though we have not, of course, reached agreement, we are satisfied that we have eliminated misunderstandings, that is, that neither of us has misrepresented the other. We offer the result to the reader as a celebration of shared friendship, faith, and scholarship” (xi).
On the surface, pagan culture and Christianity would appear to have very little in common. Traditionally, the Hellenistic pagan cultures worshipped multiple deities; the central of which were the twelve Olympians of the Greek Pantheon. Lesser divine beings and demi-humans also played a significant role in the Hellenistic culture. The worship of these deities was the mainstream of religion during the Hellenistic period until the rise of the great philosophers.
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
Unlike the Eastern Orthodox Church, the “truly Trinitarian framework [of] our worship and life has rarely been found” in the Western Church (pg. 6). Possibly due to the early church’s Hellenistic influence, emphasis has always been placed on worshiping the ONE high God. So much focus on one God created an irrelevance to the requirement of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Similarly, when the doctrine was attacked by reason in the enlightenment period, Christians st...
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago: Moody, 1996, 1991. Print.
A Christian apologetic method is a verbal defense of the biblical worldview. A proof is giving a reason for why we believe. This paper will address the philosophical question of God’s existence from the moral argument. The presuppositional apologetic method of Reformed thinkers Cornelius Van Til and John Frame will be the framework. Topics covered here could undoubtedly be developed in more depth, but that would be getting ahead, here is the big picture.
Boyd, Gregory A., and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
Kerr, H. (1990). Readings in christian thought (2nd ed.). H. T. Kerr (Ed.). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Irenaeus’ Against the Heresies contains a profound exposition of Gnosticism and other heresies. In refuting heterodox systems he gives important testimony regarding the common beliefs of the early Christian Church. He writes: “The Church, though dispersed through the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the Apostles and their disciples this faith…” He then records Catholic belief in the genuineness of the Gospels, in the Real Presence, and in a certain pre-eminence of the Church of Rome, the precise nature of which can be determined only from the whole context of Irenaeus’ writings.