Imago dei Archives - Bob on Books

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes (foreword by J. Richard Middleton). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.

Summary: A study of what it means to be God’s images as representative rulers in God’s good creation, what was lost in the fall, how we might live well in a good but fallen world, and how we see in Christ’s coming the fulfillment of God’s image in humans and of God’s purposes for the creation.

One of the fundamental assertions of the first chapter of Genesis is that when God created human beings, he made them in (or as Imes contends as) his image. In this book, Carmen Joy Imes explores what this means for what it means to be human.

She begins with creation noting the pattern of the first three days that established domains and the second three that filled them with their residents. She explores biblical cosmology and the idea that creation is God’s cosmic temple. Humans, who rule under the divine King follow his pattern in work of six days working and sabbath. Humans then are God’s embodied, royal family representing God and exercising responsible rulership stewarding the creation. All humans, regardless of sex are the image of God. What Imes establishes in these chapters is the integral relationship between our embodied life as God’s image and our engagement with God’s creation of the earth. Our work is how we participate in this rule. It doesn’t define us but brings satisfaction.

What was lost in the fall was not the imago dei but rather rebellion, distrust, and fear replaced love and trust in our relationship with God, and this affected both our human relationships and that with the creation, which was marked by thorns and thistles and toilsome work. The endurance of the imago dei means that all must be treated with dignity. The rebellion was costly and eventuated in violence beginning with Cain. It led to the flood, an act of un-creation to afford a chance for a fresh start (Imes includes a wonderful chart of the chiasm of the flood account that centers in God’s remembrance of Noah). God continued to resist the violence of militaristic power at Babel, that prevented nations and cultures from flourish and filling the earth.

Before moving to Christ’s fulfillment of our failed call and restorative work, Imes explores what it means to live wisely and well in a fallen world. It means heeding the wisdom of the Word and the world. She particularly explores living well as sexual creatures and trenchantly points the way to sexual fulfillment, and in a sidebar article, explores the pervasive and problematic character of pornography. Looking at Ecclesiastes and Job, she explores living with joy amid the fleeting character of our lives and what it is to trust God when we feel we are unfairly suffering.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, revealing what it means not only to be true God but truly human in bodily form. Although male, he honors women in being born of Mary, and able to represent all humanity. He participates in every aspect of human culture, often prophetically and restoratively, ultimately dying, taking on himself the consequences of our rebellion. In his bodily resurrection, he affirms God’s ongoing purposes for embodied humans. Imes proposes that the scars of the risen Lord point to their being continuity in our resurrected bodies while our mortality points toward the restoration of all things. Meanwhile, Jesus ascended empowers his people to carry on and multiply his work, even as we learn from him what it means to be in his image.

One manifestation of that work is the healing of human relationships in the beloved community of God’s people, undivided by gender, race, or any other factor that divides humans. Jesus intent is that we work this out in physical presence, not in some virtual or ideal world. All this anticipates the return of Jesus. Imes challenges views of the rapture in a sidebar and the idea of God’s people being removed from an earth that will be burned up. She argues from study of the passages that “the taken” are those taken in judgment, that the fire cleanses, and that Jesus will rule a renewed creation in which the bodily resurrected rule with him, fulfilling their calling as people ruling in his image, restoring creation.

The book includes a number of informative sidebars, for example comparing the creation accounts to other ancient accounts. Each chapter includes summaries and further resources including QR code links to further resources from the Bible Project as well as other written resources. For group study, a discussion guide is offered.

Imes makes a powerful statement for our embodied lives and work both now and in the new creation as the imago dei. She also speaks compellingly that the imago dei, in creation and redemption transcends all distinctions between human beings. The book complements her earlier Bearing God’s Name (review), on our calling, in addressing our identity as an embodied royal family representing our great King as we rule over and care for his creation–forever.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Finding Ourselves After Darwin, Stanley P. Rosenberg ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.

Summary: This book presents and discusses multiple approaches to thinking about the image of God, original sin, and the problem of evil in light of biological evolution.

This collection of essays is one result of a research project at Oxford University which “assembled scholarship presenting different approaches and methods and insights, introducing a variety of models that may be considered . . .” (p. 8). The individual authors are primarily theologians and biblical scholars, some with a science background.

As the title implies, biological evolution is presupposed, and the issue is how to think about the image of God, original sin, and the problem of evil in the light of biological evolution. The book is divided into three parts, one for each topic. Each part includes a brief introduction, a discussion of the questions, challenges, and concerns for the topic, several essays offering different approaches, and a conclusion and further reading list.

Part 1 deals with why the image of God is important in the theology-evolutionary science dialogue. It begins with a discussion of what constitutes human distinctiveness. After four essays offering different views of the image of God in the light of recent developments in evolutionary science, Michael Burdett concludes by suggesting that “it is entirely possible that each of these models could be combined in interesting ways such that hybrid models could be constructed that rely on aspects from each one outlined here.” (p. 109)

Part 2 deals with original sin. The opening essay by Gijsbert van den Brink suggests that biological evolution does not require a radical abandonment of the doctrine of original sin, but rather a recontextualization within an evolutionary framework. After essays on Augustinian, Irenaean, federal headship, and cultural approaches, Christopher M. Hays presents a compelling account of the ways in which evolutionary theory aids our understanding of the universality of sin without appealing to an Adamic fall. In his conclusion, Benno van den Toren suggests that “Insights from different theories might well be combined for a new theological synthesis to arise out of this fermentation process. (p. 206)

Part 3 deals with the problem of evil by presenting a variety of approaches. Essayists discuss Augustinian, Irenaeasn, fall-of-the-angels, free process, only way, and non-identity theodicy and how they relate to evolution. The concluding essay by Michael Lloyd suggests that, despite their differences, the contributors to this part seem to believe the following: (1) the current state of evolutionary biology and modern genetics leaves plenty of room in which to do theodicy, (2) the seriousness of the problem of evil in relation to the evolutionary processes, (3) this volume falls far short of a full theodical narrative, and (4) their positions still have challenges to face and work to do.

The three Further Reading lists, the 26-page Bibliography, and the numerous informative footnotes provide a wealth of opportunities to pursue specific topics of personal interest.

It would help to have some familiarity with the issues before tackling this book, but it does succeed in bringing together multiple approaches to dealing with the image of God, original sin, and the problem of evil in light of evolution. I can recommend it to anyone interested in this topic. Three other helpful essay collections on the same topic are “Perspectives on an Evolving Creation”, “Theology After Darwin,” and “Darwin, Creation and the Fall.”

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This guest review was contributed by Paul Bruggink, a retired technical specialist whose review interest is in the area of science and faith.