CHRISTIAN ANTROPOLOGY
Adam created in the likeness of God
Protagoras confidently claimed that
"man is the measure of all things."
Reinhold Niebuhr assessed in his work, Nature and Destiny of
Man, said "man has always been his own most vexing
problem."'Who are we; What is our purpose here; what is life
about?
[Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man (New York: Scribner's
Sons, 1964), I, p. 1.]
Who is this creature who struggles constantly to
understand himself, who stands in the midst of
myriads of triumphs in medicine, engineering
ascience with such things like splitting the atom and
yet is afraid of his own shadow, as it were, because he
is reluctant to peer within himself?
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS
• Idealistic (Hume, Kant, Jefferson, Emerson, Whitehead, Dewey)
maintain faith the light of reason which will in time enable man to
emerge from the innocence of nature to a fuller, more mature
knowledge, understanding, and virtue. The concept of sin has no place
in this thinking, except perhaps as a kind of negative inertia.
•
Evolutionary (Huxley, Teilhard de Chardin, and the host of
evolutionists) views man as a more highly developed animal. Infinite
progress in the future is man's hope. Increase of knowledge will enable
him, as the most highly cultured animal, to effect increasing
harmonization of the now seemingly hostile forces around him.
•
A-moralistic naturalism admits nothing like sin, recognizing only that
man is influenced and shaped by forces within (heredity) and without (nature),
over which he needs to triumph.
• Romanticism represents a reaction against rationalism. In the vein of
Whitman, it is highly ego-centric. Man is sinless, something divine. Evil is a
minus quality, a mere negation, an unreality. Man is inherently good and needs
only to let the power of good come to expression through his own inner
mystical resources.
• Modern psychology pictures man as caught up in his efforts to try to deal with his
predicaments through various mechanisms: withdrawal, activism, or placebos of various
kinds by which to tranquilize his fears. Freud's answer was to rid the self of repression, to
deny guilt feelings. Others, like Jung and later contemporaries, urge man's need for
confession, to "let it all out," for truth's sake, not for the sake of forgiveness, unless it be
forgiving oneself in a kind of self-justification.
• Existentialism (Sartre, for example, rather than Kierkegaard) paints a gloomy picture
for man, holding out no hope really, other than that of using his freedom to act. For Sarte
“hell is other people” and he rejects a God that “spies on him”; Camus finds meaning in
life through rebellion – not accepting the status quo but challenging it; Unamuno gains
meaning in commitment and Marcel through unconditional relationships..
• Marxist socialism preaches that man is not inherently
evil. The only evil is estrangement from nature, self, or
others. The sources of this alienation is especially money,
with its corrupting greed impulse, and self-aggrandizement
through the accumulation of wealth.
• The goal for man is the non-acquisitive life in which workers,
so goes the Marxist theory, enjoy work again, gain control
over nature, and disclaim all class distinctions, political
competition, and strife. Each worker seeks the good of the
state according to the Marxist "gospel."
The view of Literature
Literature is a good way of evaluating how people see who they
are and their role in the world. A writer takes a slice through
society and exposes a cross section of humanity with their
insight into the psyche of individuals. The classic novel reveal
much about the human psyche. Shakespeare one of the great
writers observerd that we all have a “fatal flaw” – an
imperfection that is our downfall. Many other writers have
espoused in their works. A notable author is Graham Green
whose classic is the “whiskey priest” in the Power and The
Glory.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW
Revelations about God and humanity
If we ask the Bible the question of what is a human being, the answer comes
through loud and clear. Both testaments, Old and New, key in on God, He is
the first consideration not man. The person is the secondary concern of
Scripture's revelation; God is first and primary. Thus Holy Scripture, the
inspired Word of God, focuses attention on man vis-a -vis God. There is no
puzzle here about human nature and meaning. The human is the
background and foil against which we see God's creation, plan, activity.
God, the source of life, is wondrously concerned about humans and their
relationship to the Creator. Walther Eichrodt , " History is a movement
effected by God, which challenges man and gives him his destiny and his
task." [Walter Eichrodt, Man in the Old Testament (Chicago: Henry Regner,
1951), p. 27.]
God's concern for the human is present from the beginning and continues
after the fall and this care and concern for us climaxes with the Incarnation.
• "Adam, where art thou?" sounds the voice of God in the garden (Gen. 3:9).
• "Where is Abel thy brother?" God asks the angered murderer Cain, who had spilled
his brother's blood (Gen. 4:9).
•
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?" is God's question out of the
whirlwind to Job (38:4).
• "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" A Psalm
in praise of God's all-seeing providence (Ps. 139:7).
•
"Where? "and "Whither?" echo again and again through Holy Scripture.
So we have scripture to provide the map to answering those
perennial questions that have plagued the generations. The
map starts and ends with God - all of creation revolves around
the Creating, Redeeming God and our answers stem from our
relation with this God. But man's greatness and his Angst stem
from God's intentions and vigilance concerning humanity, from
the person’s accountability before God, and not vice versa.
This is a vital point.
We have the road map but it has not helped. Why? As Voltaire
testified “ God created man and man repaid the compliment”.
Because we continually make God in our image we negate the
road map of scripture and feel that God is accountable to us.
In the secular world humans ask about themselves. The reference point is
themselves.
In the Bible the reference point of who we are is made in reference to the Ceating,
Redeeming God
The answer to the question of who he is, or what he is, is not in what the human
thinks or knows about himself, but in what he is in relation to God.
Self-understanding is thus embraced in the understanding of God, God's intent and
purpose for the person. Though of lowly origin, dust and clay (Gen. 2:7; Job 4: 19),
and, despite the fall, the person is still the most elevated part of God's creation,
fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139: 14- 18) in the image and likeness of his
Creator, with dominion over the created realm (Gen. 1:26,27; Ps. 82:6). How different
is this view from person-oriented anthropocentric investigations.
It is a paradox that we increases in knowledge of and power over nature, yet
advance not an inch in knowledge of self.
Whence humanity
The question of our origin is answered by the Bible on its very first pages, though not exclusively
there.
What then is a human being?
A human being is one who is created out of clay (Gen 2:7) and that clay is animated by the breath of
God breathe into it; a composite of clay and God’s life.
How could the gift of life be more powerfully taught? Physically tied to the ground or to matter around
him, by the creative power of God we become living, beautiful persons who throbs with the life of
God (Ps.139: 13- 16).
Biologically like the animals, psychologically or personally like the God who made us, humanity
stands in a unique place between the Creator and in the created realm.
A sharp line is drawn between his coming into being and that of all other animal life. The human is
not just one in the multitude of animal forms, but a very special creation. The animals were created in
groups; not so Adam. The creation of humans in the image of God was a special, distinct act .
Humans were made to commune with God. Our whole nature, is different
from the other creatures because we were made for communication.
The animals have various attributes but only the person is equipped to
be a communicating being, with soul and mind, and not just brain and
body.
Woman ( another special creation) was placed at Adam’s side by God as
a helpmeet, with whom he might communicate; and both were made for
communion with their Creator in a manner totally unique among all
creatures. Even after the fall God still has graciously revealed Himself to
humans.
Other unique features of humanity is the ability to
Reflect,
Communicate meaningfully
and
laugh
Of all creation only the human can laugh a truly unique human quality.
Our ability for meaningful co-operation makes for a garrulous life of
co-operation and collaboration. We are made for group living which
communes with God to achieve his purpose.
What above all else makes us special?
We are spiritual Beings; we possess the “breath” of God which in the
Hebrew mind means the life of god himself.
We are not just empirical organic animals but spiritual beings with
the ability to do what God does in a limited way; we can love, be
conscious, be creative, appreciate and create art, music etc. We truly
are a special species of creation
WE ARE SOMA-PNEUMENA – A BODY/SPIRIT FUSED INTO ONE ENTITY
Thus, man's body is no mere "prison house of the soul," as the Greeks taught,
and as dualistic philosophy, within or outside of Christian theology, has held.
Body and soul (or spirit) are we; both are vitally tied to his person. Yet each is
distinct, with its own properties; so while it is within the property of the body to
be mortal, it is not the property of the soul to die; the soul detaches from the
body at death and enters eternity.
We were intended by God to be a holy, spiritual creature with perception and
understanding, fit for rule over this created realm, a noble creature, whose body
throbbed not only with life but with a living soul, or spirit, capable of fulfilling
every function as God's trusted steward over the created realm.
That’s all folks