Image Of God In Man Research Articles

Единство мировоззрения Исаака Ньютона: антропологический аспект

The problem of the unity of Newton's worldview has a three-century-long history. Newton himself claimed that the creation of the «Principia» was motivated by theological considerations, and he believed that the figure of God the Almighty, acting in the world, was necessary for a correct doctrine of nature. However, his legacy was perceived in a different light; for example, J.-B. Biot believed that Newton's occupation with theology was the result of a decline in his mental powers. However, Biot did not have access to Sir Isaac's private theological manuscripts. 20th-century researchers gained access to them, and the trend changed, giving rise to the thesis that theology is an integral element of Newton’s thought, unifying it at the paradigmatical, conceptual, and methodological levels. However, this thesis has not been fully proven, as researchers have not fully understood the soteriological significance of theology—and, as a consequence, that Christian theology speaks not simply of God but of His relationship with man. If Newton’s thought is unified, and this unity is provided by theology, then it must be based on a certain understanding of the relationship between God and man. This raises the question of Newton's anthropology and the role it plays in his theology and natural philosophy. The reconstruction of Newton's anthropology shows that one of the cornerstones of his thought is the functional-relational understanding of the Image of God in man. Being understood in this way, the image implies the impossibility of any interiority in cognition and its limitation to the sphere of the phenomenal. Attempts to move along the interior path turn out to be idolatry for Newton, stemming from the uncontrolled ability of the imagination, which forces man to retreat from the divine will; one such retreat is the philosophical hypotheses arising from the same ability. A correctly constructed natural philosophy, according to Newton, turns out to be a form of religion since it has soteriological significance, clarifying the paths of salvation for mankind.

Conceptualism Philosophy of the “Biblical Time” in the Works of Jacob Druskin

In the article the author analyzes the time ontology as noumenal relation, developed in the treatises of Ja.S. Druskin and genetically associated with the “leap” to biblical thinking implemented by L.I. Shestov. It is shown that the path of “conversion” of consciousness described by Ja.S. Druskin has the character of “inner mystery” of the soul, ascending to the counter gifts of the Spirit. This is a kind of “inner ritual” that the soul performs in every momentary effort to stand before the Creator and Judge, seeking reciprocal grace. Methodologically Ja.S. Druskin radicalizes the way of overcoming the “natural attitude” of consciousness, started by E. Husserl, and characterizes it as “philosophical paganism”, which can be overcome only by the biblical attitude of consciousness. The latter is a relation that transcends any ontology of the created world and carries out the act of returning the created “I” to its uncreated image, which is assumed as a relation to the absolute “Thou” of the Creator. This is the “personal eternity” that opens not as a logical timelessness, but as a special vision – as being in the Face of God. Exploring the architectonics of the noumenal “I – You” relationship, Ja.S. Druskin develops the philosophy of dialogue as new Philosophia prima, which includes the whole gamut of the traditional metaphysical problematics in the context of the primary absolute “I – Thou” relationship, including rethinking the category of time. In this context, the category of time acquires new eschatological meaning, since it is fi lled not with just simple duration, but with the process of human transformation – the transition from the “shadow of death” into eternity, from the state of immanent lies to the recovery of the gift of grace and the rediscovery of the image of God in man.

Eksposisi Gambar Allah Menurut Penciptaan Manusia Berdasarkan Kejadian 1:26-28

The purpose of human creation based on the context of Genesis 1:26-28 is that humans were created to relate to other creatures and also to fellow human beings where God wants humans to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth. Allah created man to fulfill His plan and all His creations belong to Him. The image of God in man reflects the personality of God before man fell into sin. And humans who were created in God's image have the responsibility to subdue all of His creation as a responsibility for God's sovereignty as His representative on earth.

St Augustine’s Teaching on the Image of God in Man in the Mystery of Creation

ree comments on the Book of Genesis and the treatise On the Trinity enabledus to become acquainted with the Augustinian teaching on the image of Godin man in the mystery of Creation. anks to such a narrowing of the source material,we could more carefully and with greater prudence analyze the thoughtsof the Bishop of Hippo. We hope that in this way we managed to avoid the riskof superficiality and we took into account all the statements of Saint Augustineregarding the problem posed. Unfortunately, L. Krupa did not prevent himself from committing this mistakeN8. He did not take up the subject of human natureas an image of God, and completely passed over in silence the polemics of theBishop of Hippo with Gnostics, who regarded the human family as the imageof the Holy Trinity. Based on the analysis carried out, we could see that accordingto Saint Augustine’s image of God in man is to be sought in his soul, andin the strict sense, in this “part” of him, which is focused on the contemplationof eternal ideas. e essence of the image of God is expressed in the ability of thesoul to participate in God’s life. All this reflects, as Saint Augustine states, thetrue honour and dignity which man owes to his Creator. A characteristic featureof God’s image, even a basic one – in view of the Augustinian approach – is itstrinitarian character.Saint Augustine tried to seek the traces of the Holy Trinity everywhere.is significant task was the passion of his life. Finally, he has found the imageof the Holy Trinity in man. He tried to provide his readers with an insight intothis reality through the trinitarian analogies, the source of which he discoveredin the structure of the human soul. Considering the entirety of St. Augustine’steaching on the image of God in man in the mystery of Creation, the analogousimages of the Holy Trinity in the soul seem to be the most interesting for us.On the other hand, like Saint Augustine, however, we are aware of their greatlimitations. For what is created, even in its most beautiful representation, in comparisonwith the Creator will always be in a vulnerable and poor condition.

Социальные аспекты богообразности человека в православной богословской антропологии XX-XXI вв

В статье выделены и рассмотрены пять ключевых принципов совершенного общения человеческих личностей по образу божественных лиц. Согласно принципу единства в различии, каждая человеческая личность, пребывая в полноте общения с другими личностями, в то же время пребывает и в личностной уникальности. возможность приближения к такому совершенному общению открывается для человека при реализации принципа личностной конституированности, состоящего в том, что по образу монархии отца человеческое сообщество возглавляется личностью, способной преодолеть трагические установки и на индивидуалистическое обособление, и на нивелирующее подавление. в качестве третьего богословского принципа совершенного общения представлен принцип тройственной личностной соотнесенности, предполагающий преодоление диадической замкнутости и в вертикальном измерении, то есть в отношениях с богом, и в горизонтальном измерении, то есть в отношениях между людьми. Далее, совершенное общение отвечает принципу всеохватности, означающему, что в состоянии богоподобного совершенства каждая человеческая личность в общении с отцом, Сыном и Святым Духом воспринимает божественные энергии, а в общении с людьми - охватывает всю общечеловеческую природу. наконец, в соответствии с принципом свободного дарения, по образу распространения нетварных божественных энергий отцом через Сына в Святом Духе вне божественной неприступной сущности, различные составляющие полноты бытия, обретаемой в межчеловеческом общении, передаются его участниками всем окружающим, в конечном счете - всему сотворенному миру. The article highlights and considers five key principles of perfect communion of human persons in the image of Divine Persons. According to the principle of unity in difference, while existing in the fullness of communion with other persons, each human person at the same time gains his or her personal uniqueness. The possibility of approaching such perfect communion opens up for a person while realizing the principle of personal constitution, which involves that, in the image of the monarchy of the Father, the human community is headed by a person who is able to overcome the tragic attitudes of both individualistic isolation and leveling suppression. As the third theological principle of perfect communion, the principle of triple personal relatedness is presented, which implies the overcoming of dyadic restraint both in the vertical dimension, that is, in relations with God, and in the horizontal dimension, that is, in relations between people. Further, perfect communion meets the principle of personal all-embracing, meaning that in the state of God-like perfection, each human person perceives the Divine energies in communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as embraces all human nature in communion with people. Finally, in accordance with the principle of free giving, in the image of spreading of uncreated Divine energies by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit outside the Divine inaccessible essence, the various components of the fullness of being obtained in interpersonal communion are transmitted by its participants to everyone around, and ultimately to the whole created world.

Hierarchy and Likeness – Ways to Union with God in Pseudo-Dionysius and Aquinas

The influence of Pseudo-Dionysius’ apophatic theology, especially of his treatise On the Divine Names, is well documented. My aim is to explore a different theme of his work, of which an echo could possibly be found in later authors including Aquinas. One of the key elements in the oeuvre of the Areopagite is his idea of relationship between the earthly and heavenly, between the celestial and ecclesial – as if one was mirroring the other.The idea of the Image of God in Man is nothing new; the Fathers have been commenting on Gn 1:26 and developing this theme from the earliest centuries. It could be argued that the Image is not something “static” so to speak but has a dynamic aspect – of procession from the original and return back to the original, of exitus and reditus. This notion of exitus and reditus is very deeply interwoven in the whole of Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae and may allow one of many possible approaches to thinking about Man and his return to God.In this paper I will try to argue that Dionysius’ notion of hierarchies is very closely connected with Aquinas’ use of the terms imago and similitudo and I will attempt to trace possible influences of Dionysius in this aspect of anthropology of the Angelic Doctor.

Зодягнені у світло – антропологічні аспекти сирійського богослов’я

In the article the author analyzes the key aspects of Antiochene anthropology on the basis of the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia. She considers the peculiarities of Theodore’s anthropological doctrine, distinguishing him from other Antiochene authors, in particular, his teaching on some aspects of the image of God in man, mortality and immortality, woman as the image of God. The author traces the influence of Theolodre’s anthropology on the East Syrian tradition represented by Narsai. In conclusion, she tries to synthesize some aspects of Antiochene and Alexandrian anthropology.

Anthony Hoekema on the understanding of the Image of God

This study aims to identify the understanding of Anthony Hoekema on the image of God.Anthony Hoekema’s theology as a whole is a Reformed theology. The core and the veryfoundation of the Reformed theology is the sovereignty of God. Hoekema saw that thecreation of man in God’s image is “the most distinctive feature of biblical understanding ofman” (Hoekema 1988). This was why he understood that “the concept of the image of God isthe heart of Christian anthropology” (Hoekema 1988). Hoekema’s concept of the image ofGod in man is examined in this paper, which is divided into the following five parts: themeaning of being created in the image of God, the structural and functional aspects of God’simage, Jesus as the true image of God, the image of God in man’s threefold relationship, andthe image of God in four different stages. Hoekema maintained that the image of God in manmust contain both structural and functional aspects, for “the image of God includes the wholeperson” (Hoekema 1987). The structural aspect means “what kind of being man is”(Hoekema 1976, while functional aspect means “what man does.” For Hoekema, these twoaspects of God’s image in man are inseparable, for “one cannot function without a certainstructure” (Hoekema 1989). Hoekema asserted that “there is no better way of seeing theimage of God than to look at Jesus Christ” (Hoekema 1987), for he believes, based onColossians 1:15, that He is the “image of the invisible God” (Hoekema 1988). In Christ, whois God incarnated, one sees “clearly what is hidden in Genesis 1: namely, what man as theperfect image of God should be like” (Hoekema 1976). In other words, Hoekema understoodthat the perfect image of God that man possessed at creation, is found in the the life of humanJesus.

Archmandrite Sophrony Sakharov’s Anthropology and Theology of Light

In this article we analyze some aspects of the teachings of the prominent hesychast and theologian, disciple of St. Siluan of Athos,’ archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) in regards to the human personality and the perception of the human hypostasis in the Uncreated Light. Fr. Sophrony’s personalistic theology is based on the Sinai Revelation ‘I AM THAT I AM’ (Exodus 3:14), which indicates that personality is a universal, full-scale principle of the actualization of the image of God in man. Considering the human person as the image and likeness of the Hypostatic God, the elder Sophrony endows him with a dynamic component that can take both a positive and a negative direction. He is sure that man’s existential development should strive for the infinite completeness of deification — the maximal actualization of the personal principle in unity with God via hypostasization of the Creator’s uncreated energies. The human person is seen by Fr. Sophrony as having ‘two natures’ through perichoresis of the Divine and human natures. The dynamic quality of personal being is intertwined with its other characteristics — unity with other persons and apophaticity. In addition, the theologian, emphasizing the existence of the irreducible ontological distance between God and man, puts a bold sign of equality between God and man in terms of the mode of being as a result of assimilation of uncreated energies by the latter one.

Lica sa mentalnim smetnjama u svetlu odnosa pojedinca i zajednice - psihološko-sociološki i eklisiološki kontekst

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights arises in the context of the need to protect human rights from the tyranny of collectivist ideologies, primarily socialism and nazism. The emphasizing of these rights was necessary. At the present time, a need to defend the subject of human rights such as to be seen from the perspective of theology of the image of God in man. A new challenge is the egoism that a modern man strives for. The theme of duty or responsibility for the community is shown to be very important. That is where the search for answers to the question of the relationship between the individual and the community is open. In this case, the subject of our attention are mentally ill and their interaction with the environment, in the psychological, sociological and ecclesiological context.

Christian in search of freedom: history and present

Being as it is - the eternal request of the human spirit. Responding to this request, humanity has formed a number of ideological paradigms that acquire new shades according to a certain era in the range between idealism and materialism, given about two and a half thousand years ago. The problem of interpreting the surrounding reality only appears, at first glance, as something of a minority for an ordinary citizen, as the prerogative of the mysterious philosophy inherent in individuals. At the same time, understanding and interpretation of being is the core of personality, since it is an expression of a human's outlook. As you know, the prevailing outlook determines the attitude of man to the world and to himself. He asks a certain direction as self-development of the individual, and its implementation in society. Humanity has won the right to free choice and free affirmation of philosophical paradigms step by step in recent centuries and often in a rigid controversy with Church Christian fundamentalism. Freedom in Christianity is a key characteristic of the theological understanding of man, since it is one of the fundamental components of understanding the image of God in man.

Przebóstwienie człowieka w pismach Jana Kasjana

One of the principal ideas in oriental anthropology is that of the divinization of man. The author studies this idea in John Cassian and draws the conclusion that not only was it known to Cassian, but indeed it is the filter through which he views the question of grace. The author arrives at this conclusion, above all, by underlin­ing oriental monasticism as the original context of the theology of divinization. Cassian was trained as a theologian and monk in this very ambience. All of the elements of the concept of divinization are present in the writings of Cassian and the two biblical models for the qšwsij of man – its creation of man in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1: 26-27) and the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Mt 17: 1-8; Mc 9: 2-8; Lc 9: 28-36) – are widely commented on by Cassian and form the basis of his theological and ascetical teaching. Cassian’s doctrine on grace, which is deeply penetrated by the concept of divinization, propounds the idea that, after original sin, the likeness of God in man is destroyed, but the image of God in man – reason, free will, and conscience – remains. The grace of God, perceived through the prism of divinization, in Cassian implies not a “resurrection” of the dead nature of man, but a strengthening of his relationship with God, a passage from the condition of “slave” to that of “friend”. This teaching, characterized as it is by a salvific optimism which is typically oriental, according to the author, should no longer be regarded as a form of semipelagianism. Rather, but with due qualification, it should be regarded as a valid and interesting way of speaking on the perennially difficult quaestio of the relationship between grace and free will.

Antropologia trychotomiczna Orygenesa

Origen was one of the greatest biblical scholars of the early Church, having written commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. He recognized great au­thority of the scripture. In anthropology he gave attention to the text of saint Paul: “May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being – spirit, soul, and body – free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Thess 5:23). According to this text Origen recognized in hu­man being three elements. He tried to unite trichotomy with a concept of division of human being into two parts: interior and exterior man. Spirit in this concept is soul’s teacher and a special form of participation in the divine being. In a sense spirit is ontological image of God in man and for man it is impossible to lose it. Soul is the center of man in which he makes decisions. Soul was originally cre­ated in close proximity to God, with the intention that it should explore the divine mysteries in a state of endless contemplation. The body unites man with the whole created world and gives him material aspect. Origen’s anthropology is very com­plicated but more dynamic then static division on body and soul. If the soul is go­ing to spirit, it become more spiritual, otherwise if the soul is close to the body, it become more materialistic. In this view without any doubt the human soul is posed between spirit and body and is able to acquiesce the desires of spirit but is able to let itself to be led by carnal desires, too. According to Origen man is body, because is creature, which dies, but through the body is able to communicate with mate­rial world. Man is soul because lives and is able to choose. Man is spirit because is open to God and is able to recognize and love God. Trichotomic anthropology shows that ontological and moral aspects of human being permeate each other and it demonstrates the interior drama and struggle, which always exists in man.

Materialno-biologiczny wymiar obrazu Bożego w człowieku

Material-biological dimension of the image of God in man The article presents the theology of imago Dei in perspective of scientific vision of human being. Today such vision is determined in the very special way by increasing influence of neurology and cognitive sciences. They claim that rationality and freedom of human being is grounded in the specific biological structures and can be explained by it. From such perspective imago Dei, which was defined by theological tradition as linked to human rationality and freedom, should not be understood as a merely spiritual dimension. New approaches and data of sciences introduce the necessity of rethinking traditional idea of the image toward broader articulation of its material character and nature. Human being, as a corporeal being, is the image of God. Such statement does not imply any kind of inappropriate reductionism or ontological monism and cannot be taken as an intellectual justification of radical naturalism. The article shows how this claim can be proved from the point of view of classical Christian doctrine of creation.

Grzech pierworodny a obraz Boży w człowieku

Adresatami tekstów biblijnych mówiących o grzechu Adama i jego skutkach dla całej ludzkości są ludzie żyjący już pod jego wpływem. Od początku objawienie wyznacza perspektywę odkupienia dla człowieka dotkniętego grzechem pierworodnym. Właśnie ta perspektywa jest kluczem interpretacyjnym objawionej rzeczywistości. Perspektywa odkupienia prowadzi do Chrystusa. Przez grzech Adama ludzka natura została pozbawiona łaski uświęcającej oraz pewnych darów wiążących się ze stanem pierwotnym. Człowiek wciąż jest obrazem Boga i jest do Niego podobny, ale grzech pierworodny ogranicza wyrazistość tej fundamentalnej właściwości ludzkości stworzone przez Boga, a człowieka stawia na drodze oczekiwania na przyjście jego Odkupiciela. Chrześcijańska koncepcja śmierci nie ogranicza się jedynie do jej nieuchronności i powszechności oraz ścisłego związku z grzechem i nieposłuszeństwem. Chrystus rzucił nowe światło na jej tajemnicę. W świetle tym śmierć jawi się jako narzędzie zbawienia, a oddanie życia jako wykonanie Bożej woli w imię posłuszeństwa. Natura człowieka jest wyznacznikiem „porządku stworzenia” i tworzy ścisły związek z rzeczywistością Bożego obrazu. Z jego „trynitarnym rozumieniem” wiąże się kategoria daru, poprzez który mężczyzna i kobieta w communio personarum stają się jednością. Grzech pierworodny nie zniszczył tego układu. Historia mężczyzny i kobiety jest zapisem zbawczego dopełniania się „oblubieńczego” znaczenia ludzkiego ciała. Podstawą tego zapisu jest obraz Boży w człowieku, a jego głębia dotyka tajników ludzkiego serca.

:Theological Commonplaces: On Creation and Angels, On Providence, On Election and Reprobation, On the Image of God in Man Before the Fall

:<i>Theological Commonplaces: On Creation and Angels, On Providence, On Election and Reprobation, On the Image of God in Man Before the Fall</i>

THE SPECIFICITY OF FREEDOM AND CREATIVITY ETHICS IN N. BERDYAEV’S PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

The specificity of N. Berdyaev’s freedom and creativity ethics reflects its implicit pedagogical potential, consisting in original religious and philosophical treatment of education. The source of education is the image of God in man, the way of education is a free communion with the truth, the sense of education is restoring God’s image of man through free creative response to God’s call. N. Berdyaev marks out a special educational role of Christianity in the world history, which is seen as a global educational process of spiritual and moral education of the whole mankind. The ethical and pedagogical teaching of N. Berdyaev is not teleological, but a spiritual and energetical one. In fact, it denies single-sided dominance of ends over means, considers them to be the inseparable unity in order to avoid ideal objectification. In this respect, the way of education is not less important than its ends, and education itself appears to be not the means of living but the sense, contents and way of “the life of spirit”. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-4-12

&lt;i&gt;Imago et similitudo Dei&lt;/i&gt;: op soek na die betekenis van die mens as beeld en gelykenis van God vanuit ’n Christelikfilosofiese hoek

Imago et similitudo Dei: the meaning of humans being God’s image and likeness investigated from a Christianphilosophical perspective This investigation is an effort to determine the meaning of the Biblical revelation that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God and to do so from a Christian-philosophical perspective. The following steps are taken: The introduction is a reminder that one’s view of reality (ontology) and of being human (anthropology) is decisive in terms of how one will understand the meaning of “imago Dei”. It is illustrated, firstly in the older essentialistic (or ontological) viewpoints, which explained the image of God in man analogically, in other words as similarity and difference between the divine and human natures. Next, it is indicated that the more recent relational viewpoints on the image of God also cannot really indicate its full richness. The next section provides an exposition of how a few reformational philosophers understood this mysterious Biblical expression about the human being. It is indicated how their viewpoint about human beings can solve many misconceptions connected with the “imago et similitudo Dei” and also open new, wider perspectives. The concluding part will summarise the results of the investigation.

Patristic Divergences about the Image of God in Man

The pathologically pious heresy-hunter Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis from 365 to 403, might be reckoned a champion of uniformity in the Church. Notoriously he promoted the campaign against Origen in Palestine, and in his Panarion attacks Origen’s theology at length. Never the brightest of the Fathers, he was confused by the question of the image of God in man. He comes to it when considering the sect of Audians, who were anthropomorphites; that is, they held God to have a bodily form which the human body replicates. According to Genesis 1: 26–7, God made man, male and female, in (after, according to) the image and likeness of God When Epiphanius gets to the detail of the Audian argument, it is plain that they argued from the use in Scripture of bodily language about God’s eyes, hand, feet, and other organs, and from the Lord’s appearances to Moses and the prophets, to demonstrate his bodily shape. Epiphanius can refute this in detail, but is aware of other suggestions about wherein what is ‘in the image’ consists, and regards none as wholly coherent with orthodox faith and Scripture. He mentions the theories that it is the soul that is in the image, or that it is virtue, or that it is the grace received in baptism, or that it applied to Adam only before his sin.

Om forholdet mellem skabelse og syndefald hos Grundtvig og Luther

Om forholdet mellem skabelse og syndefald hos Grundtvig og Luther[Grundtvig and Luther: on the Relationship Between Creation and Fall]By Anja StokholmTheologically speaking, two circumstances determine human life: on the one side, Creation and the creativity of God, on the other the Fall of Man and human sinfulness. Because God’s good creation is continuous, a positive understanding of the status and existence of natural Man is possible; but because Man is fallen and sin destroys creation, a negative perception of human life must also be acknowledged. Useful comparison may be made between the ideas of Grundtvig and Luther on this ambiguous relationship. One may ask of each: was the image of God in Man destroyed at the Fall or does the likeness of God remain a reality even in the fallen human being? Is it possible for natural Man to understand the Gospel and the Christian life? Can the understanding of the Gospels only have a negative character because it is reached from out of consciousness of sin; or can this understanding have a positive character because, sin notwithstanding, momentary experiencing of the truth of the Gospels may be granted? Are the views of Grundtvig and Luther too divergent to be reconciled?Regin Prenter maintained that their two positions closely corresponded, arguing that Grundtvig consistently developed Luther’s reformatory principles rejecting the possibility of human beings gaining justice or salvation by their own merit, and thereby also accepted that only in consciousness of the fallen condition of the world, the subverted nature of humanity, and sin, could the Gospel’s promises be received. Prenter’s harmonisation of Grundtvig and Luther, however, gives insufficient weight to the differences. Luther contends that the image of God in Man is lost, that Man is wholly sinful and unjustified; that just as inward spirit and outward flesh are discrete and cannot mix so are the justified and the unjustified states; and it follows that the unjustified human being is to be perceived a flesh alone. In so far as continuous creation, and manifestations of the positive such as the human capacity to recognise and comply with the demands of the law, are to be found in the world, these arise not from the inner resources of human beings but from the unmerited gift of God.Grundtvig too emphasises the seriousness and destructive nature of sin; but he insists that a remnant of the image of God persists in humanity - for instance in Man’s capacity to live in faith, hope and love, and to nurture the Word (that is, speech); and that its manifestation is a token of God’s continuing, and good, creation. Crucially important is Grundtvig’s conception that the image of God is located in the human heart, for this implies that goodness and the positive phenomena of creation express human life and nature in their true and proper form, and thus Grundtvig is able to identify natural human life, governed by the heart, as a positive context within which the word of the Gospel is indeed comprehensible. In differentiation, then, from Luther, Grundtvig maintains that natural Man also has a spirit and can be the agent of love and of goodness.Is this position incompatible with Luther’s doctrine on justification? Does the notion of goodness imply that Man can and must contribute to his own salvation? Grundtvig is careful to maintain that positive qualities such as love and goodness are a creation of God in Man, not an autonomous human achievement; and that the grace of God’s continuing creation in Man does not render salvation unnecessary. Man still needs the redeeming creation of Christ.Thus there are considerable differences between Grundtvig and Luther; but Grundtvig’s ideas are to be seen as a renewal and an independent continuation of Luther’s principal doctrine: that God alone can accomplish salvation. Yet acknowledgement and awareness of the differences, which arise in part through the different times and circumstances in which these independent thinkers worked, is conducive to a productive dialogue between the two.