Verbum Imaginis Dei

Abstract

Abstract After the Enlightenment turn to the subject, various problems concerning the nature of theological articulation on the one hand and the grounds for divine revelation on the other have come to the forefront, often gravitating toward questions concerning language itself. These questions tend to revolve around the nature of God’s infinite qualitative difference, noting difficulties concerning both the capacity of finite language to express the infinite, as well as the claim that the immaterial and transcendent God ‘speaks’. It will be the contention of this article that Augustine’s theology of speech can address these debates in a unique way, establishing a primarily theological model where human language itself is related to the Triune God via the imago Dei. This article will analyze Augustine’s designative theory in balance with his theological anthropology and theology of language, synthesizing them to respond to the philosophical questions of theological and divine speech. It will be posited that an Augustinian approach allocates primacy to the Trinitarian relationship between Word and word in the human person as imago Dei, which redefines both the nature and telos of language itself as a theological and truth-bearing reality. The article will conclude with an example from Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck, who implemented this Augustinian approach in the context of modern philosophy and theology.