Category: Series: Imago Dei & the Material World
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Imago Dei and the Material World (Part 4)
I closed my last post with the question, "How then does our work in this time of the Kingdom "already but not yet" have an eschatological impact?" The first way our work has an eschatological impact is through our daily work. Through our work, we are formed and transformed. We come into the world with…
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Imago Dei and the Material World (Part 3)
Throughout most of history, the Church has taken an instrumental view of human work and economic activity. There is no question that work has such value. Through our labors, we provide food, clothing, and shelter. Work sustains us so we can do those distinctly human activities like worship God, meditate on who God is, educate…
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Imago Dei and the Material World (Part 2)
Yesterday I presented the "spirit/mind versus material world" dualism within Christianity. I showed how it impacts our understanding of the imago Dei, the image of God. This dualism is not a recent development. It extends back to the beginning of the Church. The Hebrew world knew little of these dualisms, but once the Church entered…
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Imago Dei and the Material World (Part 1)
What are we to make of the world we live in? What is our relationship to the created order? Many Christians in recent years have reevaluated the significance of the material world in light of the biblical narrative. Recovery of eschatological and teleological frameworks has become central to this renewed interest. Until recently, most mainline…