Abstract
This article is about the biblical motif of the human being as an image of God. The investigation focuses on the dialectics of visibility and invisibility in regard to the human being: What does it mean to be an image of the invisible? The article identifies four models of understanding the imago Dei motif, namely (1) the functional model emphasizing representation – a model which is supported by exegetical findings concerning Genesis 1:26-27, (2) the mimetic model emphasizing resemblance (Augustine, Luther, Bonhoeffer), (3) the relational model emphasizing the event of being addressed (Thielicke, Barth, Ebeling), and (4) the dynamic model emphasizing (con)formation (Pico della Mirandola, Meister Eckhart, Kierkegaard). In a fifth and final step, the notion of the image is reconsidered from the perspective of Bildwissenschaft, i.e., from a new discipline that originates at the intersection of semiotics and visual studies. The article suggests understanding the imago Dei as a complex sign that is at once iconic, indexical, and symbolic, signifying through deixis and thereby pointing beyond itself.
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