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11 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What types of anthropology are there? |
Empirical (what is man?): investigates the nature of humans through observation (biology, psychology, sociology, etc.).
Philosophical (who is man?): investigates the nature of humans through self-understanding, in light of what it is to be a human.
Theological (who is man?): investigates the nature of humans in relationship to God. Has two subjections: man in the image of God, and man as sinner. Integrative: investigates the nature of man using insights from all approaches. |
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What is the imago dei? |
Image of God.
Gen 1:26 - 'image' and 'likeness' - synonymous terms which describe the resemblance/relation of man to God.
Humans are special in that they are singled out as being created in God's image, unlike the rest of the biosphere.
There is no indication that this likeness is lost through sin (Gen 9:6).
Col 1:15 - In a special sense, Christ is the image of God.
Rom 8:29 - man, in Christ, is destined for conformity with Christ's image.
2 Cor 3:18 - man is sanctified and brought into the likeness of Christ.
Eph 4:24 - there is a kind of likeness to Christ to which believers are destined and progressing. This suggests that those in a corrupted state are not yet in that image, so it is different to being created originally in God's image.
So the biblical data is man is created in God's image, Christ as God's image, and man in Christ has been brought into conformity with the image of Christ. |
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What are the real and relational understandings of the imago dei? |
Real: the imago dei is an ontological feature of human nature (e.g., rationality, free will).
Relational: the imago dei is a functional feature of human nature (e.g., man functions as a co-regent over the earth and its creatures, our moral accountability to God).
To function as God's representative, man must have certain ontological faculties. This necessitates that man is a personal being, like unto to God and different to everything else in creation. So, man is like God in that he too is personal. The reason that man can function as the image of God/serve as God's representative is because of certain ontological properties/being a person. The ontology is the basis of the function.
Man has essential attributes of personhood to a finite degree (same kind, different degree), enabling man to function in certain ways in relation to God.
Rationality, self-consciousness and freedom of the will are necessary and sufficient conditions of personhood. |
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What does it mean that Christ is the image of God? |
Though the same word, 'image,' is the same, it is not the same discussion as what it means for man to be in God's image.
That Christ is the visible exemplification of the invisible God.
Being conformed to the image of Christ is an ethical or spiritual concern - man is being conformed to the character of Christ (bearing the fruits of the spirit) through the work of the HS - this is about sanctification. |
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What is the nature of man? |
The Bible teaches a duality of an immaterial and immortal part of man and a material and mortal part of man (2 Cor 4:16-5:10, which contemplates the existence of a soul in a disembodied condition). Paul's view is that when a Christian dies, their soul goes to be with Christ until the second coming. When Christ returns, the remains of the body (if any) will be transformed to an immortal, spirit-filled resurrection body, which the soul will simultaneously be united with. Those who are alive will simply be transformed to their resurrection bodies. |
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Which theory of man's nature best represents the biblical view? |
Dualism interactionism - humans are body and soul/spirit composites, and these interact with each other.
The Bible suggests an ontological dualism of soul and body: 1 Thes 4:14-17, Paul, Luke 16:19 and following (Jesus assumes that when someone dies the souls of the evil and righteous are separated, that there is a continued conscious existence in that state, and that a person doesn't cease to exist when dead and buried, also like in 1 Pet 3:18-20, where both evil dead and Jesus exist in an intermediate state). |
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What are the three competing views on the constitution/nature of human beings? |
Unitary/monistic nature: humans are simply material bodies.
Dichotomous nature: humans are body-soul/spirit composites.
Trichotomous nature: human beings are body, soul, and spirit composites. |
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Why is a dichotomous nature more plausible than a trichotomous nature? |
A trichotomous nature is not adequately supported 1. theologically or 2. philosophically.
1. There isn’t a consistent distinction in Scripture between the soul and spirit, since it also speaks of things like the 'heart,' 'mind,' and 'inner man.'
To take each as distinct just multiplies entities unnecessarily. It is simpler to see them functional differences. This immaterial entity can be called "the spirit" insofar as it relates to God, and "the soul" insofar as it acts rationally.
2. Difficult to understand how the spirit could be different from the soul.
1. Either the spirit would be a self-conscious entity, like the soul, or it would not. i. If it would, then it would be a different person to the person that is the soul. ii. If it would not, then it is not something that could relate to God. 2. Neither conclusion is acceptable. 3. The spirit is not different to the soul. 1. Doesn't involve the unnecessary proliferation of entities in human beings. 2. It seems unintelligible as to what the spirit could be in distinction from the soul. |
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What is a person? |
A being that possesses faculties sufficient for personhood: intellectual attributes, emotional attributes, and volitional attributes (freedom of the will). |
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Doesn't it make sense to say that to be created in God's image we must be composites of three parts because God Himself is Triune? |
The problem with that is it would entail a heretical understanding of the Trinity called modalism, where God is not three distinct persons as we believe, but three manifestations of the same person.
Being made in God's image is simply to say that, like God, we are persons. |
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Doesn't the Bible speak of the spirit being taken away from man and causing him to die and become dust? |
The problem would be that if God withdrew the spirit from someone and yet the soul remained in them then they should still be alive. Lacking the spirit, they would just be an animal soul, so they wouldn’t be dead. So, what is being called the spirit just is that immaterial part of us that makes us a living as opposed to dead or inanimate. https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChBrgbTMR0X/ |
