Interpretation Of Imago Dei Research Articles

Human Beings as Imago Dei and Homo Sapiens: Assessing the Substantive Interpretation of Imago Dei

Traditionally, in Christian theology, human beings have been regarded to be images of God (imago Dei). Often, the divine image has been understood to be located in a supernatural soul separate from the body. In this paper, I examine the credibility of this so-called substantive view of Imago Dei in the light of contemporary science.

Image of God and Image of Human Being: A Philosophical Investigation of the God-Human and Human-Machine Relationships

One of the answers to the question of the human nature was provided by the mystical philosophers such as Ibn ‘Arabī through the theory of divine form of human being. This theory in Judeo-Christian tradition is known as imago Dei. It means God created human being in His image/form. The main effort of the scholars in both Judeo-Christian and Islamic tradition has been to interpret the imago Dei and to find an explanation for man-God relationship. The present paper indicated that the meaning and functions of the theory could be understood in the light of philosophical investigations on the artificial intelligence. The paper outlined the wish of God to be seen outside of His Essence in His ‘image’ (human) based on Ibn‘Arabī’s interpretation. Then, we indicated that human being similarly tries to find the ‘other’ outside of his being, AI-based machines, to see his potentialities in his form (machines). Man can know himself through other (machine) which has similarities with him. We argued that this investigation helps to understand more explicit meaning of the theory and the goal of creation of the human being based on the interpretation of imago Dei in Ibn‘Arabī’s perspective. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensible meaning of imago Dei based on Ibn ‘Arabī’s interpretation regarding the philosophical bases of the need for AI-based machines. The method that used for this investigation is the conceptual analysis; also, we considered pluridisciplinary which opens new possibilities of understanding of the meanings in art and philosophy.

Deep Incarnation: Why Evolutionary Continuity Matters in Christology

Abstract: This article presents the idea of deep incarnation in outline. In dialogue with Wentzel van Huyssteen's interpretation of imago Dei and Christology on the one hand and with Arne Næss's notion of deep ecology on the other hand, it is claimed that evolutionary continuity is as important for Christology as is the evolutionary distinctiveness of the human species. Without a strong continuity between the historical figure of Jesus and the cosmos at large, we end up in a culturally confined Christology. But without referring to the unique human identity of Jesus Christ, we would speak of a Logos principle thinly spread over the universe rather than of Jesus Christ as the living divine bond in and between everything that exists. Incarnation is “deep” both in contradistinction to a purely anthropocentric Christology and as opposed to more shallow proposals of a universalist Christology.

RE‐ASSESSING THE MEANING OF THOUGHT: HANS URS VON BALTHASAR'S RETRIEVAL OF GREGORY OF NYSSA

[In order to counter the dominance of subjectivity in modern German philosophy since Kant, the young Hans Urs von Balthasar appealed to the theocentric epistemology of Gregory of Nyssa. By means of a study of Balthasar's Présence et Pensée: Essai sur la philosophie religieuse de Grégoire de Nysse, the purpose of this essay will be to elucidate Balthasar's interpretation of the meaning and orientation of thought according to Gregory of Nyssa's epistemology. After an initial presentation of Balthasar's contention that for Gregory of Nyssa God qua Being (to einai) serves as the constitutive source of thought and, therefore, the necessary orientation for any philosophical reckoning of the meaning of thought, the following issues are addressed: 1.) The meaning of thought as erotic and egressive, 2.) the interpretation of imago dei in relation to thought, 3.) the Incarnation and the ultimate horizon of thought.]