About the Book
What does it mean to be human and to be made in the image of God? What is a human being? Theologians have always been interested in the key issues surrounding the nature of the person. Christian thinkers have always tried to answer anthropological questions: the body-soul relationship, gender, free will, the purpose of human life, and the relationship of the person to the rest of creation.
This reader guides the students through this difficult topic and the seven chapters each represent an in-depth treatment of a sub-topic within theological anthropology. The book starts with an overview and specific methods for this subject and the overall discussion starts with the exegetical-theological problem of the imago dei. The following chapters offer examination of topics such as:
· human ontology
· freedom & limit
· gender & sexuality
· personhood & identity
· worship & desire
Within each topic, the editors include texts from the patristic, medieval, Reformation and modern eras and also provide a blend of bible commentary, theological discourse and philosophy. The texts used for this study include thinkers such as Gregory of Nyssa, Kathryn Tanner, Karl Barth, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Paul II, Sarah Coakley and David Kelsey, to name just a few. Each chapter contains an introduction, research/discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.
Table of Contents:
1.Introduction
Overview and methods in theological anthropology
2.The Image of God
Introduction
Augustine, "The Literal Meaning of Genesis"
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, III/1, 183-207
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ia. 93
John Calvin, "Commentary Upon Genesis" 1:26-28
Colin Gunton, "The Human Creation: Towards a Renewal of the Doctrine of the Imago Dei"
Mary McClintock Fulkerson, "The Imago Dei and a Reformed Logic for Feminist/Womanist Critique"
Michael Horton, "Image and Office: Human Personhood and the Covenant"
3. Human Ontology
Introduction
Hans Walter Wolff, "'Nephesh'"
Tertullian, from A Treatise On the Soul
Francois Turrettini, from Institutes of Elenctic Theology. 1, 477-88
Nancey C Murphy, "Physicalism without Reductionism: Toward a Scientifically, Philosophically, and Theologically Sound Portrait of Human Nature"
Wolfhart Pannenberg, from Systematic Theology, vol. II, pp. 181-201 20pp
4. Freedom & Limit
Introduction
Gregory of Nyssa, 'Sermon on the 6th Beatitude'
Augustine, 'On Grace and Free Will'
Anselm, 'On Free Will'
Erasmus, from 'On The Freedom of the Will'
Martin Luther, from 'On the Bondage of the Will'
William GT Shedd, from Dogmatic Theology, pp. 509-27
Sally K Severino, "Free Will According to John Duns Scotus and Neuroscience"
Peter G. H Clarke, "Determinism, Brain Function and Free Will"
5. Gender & Sexuality
Introduction
Augustine, from Commentary on Genesis
Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis 2:22ff
John Calvin, "Sermon on Titus 2:3-5"
John Paul II, from Man and Woman He Created Them - A Theology of the Body, pp. 156-61
Luce Irigaray,'Sexual Difference'
Sarah Coakley, "The Eschatological Body: Gender, Transformation and God"
6. Personhood & Identity
Introduction
Harriet A. Harris, "Should We Say That Personhood Is Relational?"
John Zizioulas,"Human Capacity and Human Incapacity: A Theological Exploration of Personhood"
Robert Spaemann, 'Why we speak of persons' in Persons : The Difference between 'Someone' and 'Something'
Robert Jenson, from Systematic Theoloy, vol II, pp. 95 - 111
David Kelsey, from Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology
7. Worship & Desire
Introduction
Augustine, De Trinitate Book XIV
Bernard of Clairvaux, 'On Loving God'
John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, I.xi.8
William James, From The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
Fergus Kerr, from Immortal Longings:Versions of Transcending Humanity
Uffe Schjoedt, "The Religious Brain: A General Introduction to the Experimental Neuroscience of Religion"
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Marc Cortez is Assistant Professor of Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Michael P. Jensen lectures in Doctrine at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.
