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oct22lecture_1.pptxTheological Anthropology
What does it mean to be human?
Theological anthropology, as with all theological discussions, should be viewed as a conversation that began before we entered the room.
Theological Anthropology is a conversation about the human person.
“anthropology” comes from the Greek word anthropos, meaning human.
Theological anthropology is different from modern academic anthropology in that theological anthropology is interested in the relationship between the human person and God.
Introduction
1. Questions about humans and the universe
2. Questions about the makeup of the human person
3. Questions about human motivation
4. Questions about the task of the person
5. Questions about human activity
6. Questions about time and history
7. Questions about God, which are posed by questions about the human person
Questions Theological Anthropology Asks (See page 108)
1. The person as image of God.
2. The person as sinner and saved.
3. The person as a self before God.
4. The person as social.
4 motifs about the person necessary for Christian Theology
Then God said: “Let us make humanity in our own image and likeness to rule the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all wild animals, and all reptiles that crawl upon the earth” (Gen 1:26-27)
“Image of God” or imago Dei comes from the Hebrew scriptures.
“Theology is often countercultural. ‘Image of God’ is a good example.” (109)
In what ways is a theology of Image of God countercultural?
The person as Image of God
Typically the creation of the world and the person was portrayed in pagan myths as a capricious act that resulted from conflict among various deities.
Enuma Elish vs. Genesis creation story #1
In Enuma Elish the world was inherently chaotic or unstable because of the fighting between evil and good.
There is a natural order in Genesis (see Psalm 8 on pg. 110)
Image of God
Many early Church theologians used the Christian doctrine of Image of God to help combat dualistic gnostic ideas (body and matter is bad and in conflict with the mind)
“That humans are made according to the image of God…means that only a human being, above all other living beings on earth, endowed with reason, is merciful and capable of acquiring every type of virtue. He also possesses the power over all things on earth according to the image of God by which he has been fashioned.” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, 5th c)
Cyril singles out reason as the specific human faculty or power that enables humans to be like God (merciful and good)
What makes humans different from animals?
Image of God
Cyril also says that only Christ (Jesus) is an “image of natural identity by reason of exactly the same properties.”
This means that humans are created images of God who participate in the Christ-activity of ruling their world. (Different from the dualism of the gnostics who think that there are 2 gods, who believe in determinism (all things are predetermined), and a dualism between good and evil)
See quote on page 111
Image of God
Difference between human freedom and divine freedom.
God exists independently of all else and didn’t have to create (aseity)
God created humans to govern themselves, but who are never outside God.
Images of God because of the ability to govern (reason)
It is with the doctrine of the general bodily resurrection that Christianity ultimately defeats both ancient and modern modes of thought that trivialize, abuse, or discount the human body.
Image of God
How is the doctrine of Image of God relevant today?
Presumption of the dignity and absolute value of human life and of the body.
The importance of freedom from coercion.
Respect for reason as the basis for the social and natural orders.
Preference for ideas which endure.
Image of God
Each religion confronts the question of suffering.
Buddha: while still a young prince and not yet the Enlightened one encountered a very old man, a sick person, a corpse, and a beggar. These sights inspired him to probe the source of suffering and led him to the fundamental Buddhist insight: suffering is produced by clinging, by wanting to possess something, whether it be wealth, health, life, or the self itself. These things are really “non-things.” Having these things cannot cause suffering to the enlightened person who is free of clinging to them. (114)
Sinner and Saved
Christianity is profoundly different than Buddhism with regard to how to deal with suffering:
For Christians, evil is a historical reality which confronts each person and causes suffering no matter what the inner depositions of the person may be. (Yes, even the best of people suffer…)
Christian reflection on the effort to purify the self of unruly desires and personal complicity in evil reaches the conclusion: the impulse to do evil may be overcome only by the saving power of God and not by learning or discipline. (Overcoming evil cannot be achieved alone)
Sinner and Saved
From the beginning Christians understood resurrection as a reversal of the twin evils of suffering and death. (called the “divine reversal” in theology)
Christian theology about suffering (theodicy) understands suffering and death as extra-personal realities. (extra-personal = outside of the person)
External evils and the inner state of the human person are connected (sins and original sin)
Sinner and Saved
Sin is a disordering or a disruption of right relationship.
Eventually sin began to be judged juridically, which is why we tend to think of sin today in legal terms (breaking laws).
The typical Western reading of Augustine and Aquinas is that Adam and Eve intentionally disobeyed God and thus brought sin into the world, which is passed from generation to generation.
This is a bit oversimplified, and we should be aware of our dependence on John Milton’s Paradise Lost for our understanding of the creation account.
Sinner and Saved
In the east (Eastern Orthodox, Coptic) original sin is understood differently.
Irenaeus of Lyon (late 2nd century) argues that to be made in the Image of God is to be created immature. (Garden of Eden is like a Kindergarten).
Human persons must be capable of growing in perfection, because only the uncreated God is unchangingly perfect and complete. Therefore, some falling into disobedience is to be expected and can even be educational.
Sinner and Saved
Augustine/Aquinas’ theological anthropology prevailed in the West (Roman Catholicism and later Protestantism)
Irenaeus’ theological anthropology prevailed in the East (Eastern Orthodox and Coptic).
Augustine: arguing against Manicheans that evil is not a force equal to good, but is rather the absence of good. This is because God is not capable of creating evil, only good.
Sinner and Saved
Evil is caused by humans, specifically human freedom that is operating improperly in choosing the evil.
Freedom does this because the intellect makes mistakes in distinguishing good from evil or higher goods from lesser goods.
Freedom is hampered when the intellect has properly discerned the good but passions prevent the will from choosing it.
Augustine’s main image of Christ is that of a physician, who mediates grace to the soul. Irenaus’ is that of a teacher.
Sinner and Saved
When we talk about the self, we enter an involved conversation about 3 closely related terms, which are commonly used interchangeably:
1. The person
2. The individual
3. The self
The Self before God
The Person and individual:
Refers to those common qualities which each individual possessed by virtue of being a member of the human species.
In the Middle Ages, Boethius and later Aquinas spoke of humans as individual substances of a rational nature.
Rational nature is what makes a human a human, but humans are separate individuals
Self before God
Self:
Designates the individual with qualities and traits which distinguish it from other members of the human race.
The self is achieved personhood or selfhood, which develops as we act, reflect, remember, and as we integrate our experiences into patterns and develop our character.
Self is understood by philosophers as the subject which acts…
Self before God
Vatican II both affirms and rejects modern ideas about the self.
It affirms the curiosity and accomplishments of human creativity.
It affirms the dignity of the individual human conscience and human love.
It rejects ideas about the self and person which eliminates God as a constituent element in a definition of the person.
“The Catholic tradition does not think the self can be described adequately without reference to God.”
Self before God
“Catholicism prefers an anthropology which affirms the individual self while at the same time affirming the common elements of personhood, elements such as intellect, soul, and a relationship with a God who addresses all persons everywhere.” (pg. 122)
Self before God
“What must be aimed at is complete humanism. And what is that if not the fully rounded development of the whole man and of all men?...There can be no progress towards the complete development of man without the simultaneous development of humanity in the spirit of solidarity.” (Paul VI, On the Development of Peoples)
Humans are connected by the very virtue that we are all humans.
Can you describe ways in which we are socially connected?
Person as Social
Participate in society in our “states of life.” (married, vowed, single, rich, rulers, etc.
Sacramental system is necessarily social.
Praying is necessarily social.
Social is not necessarily an action only, it’s a state of being that we all share. (Think, you cannot come into the world alone…)
We have an obligation to participate in society and to transform society.
Person as Social
The call to transform the social order, entailed in an an understanding of the social nature of the person, is an important new theme of Catholic anthropology.
Has potential to bring together Catholics and people of other traditions who also want to resolve social problems (hunger, homelessness, ecological disasters, war, etc.)
World is regarded as positive.
Persons as Social
