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The creation of humanity (Gn 1:26–2:25) marks the climatic point of the creation process because after it, God is said to have rested. A clear marker that humans are the epitome of creation is the fact that they were created in God’s image (Gn 1:26). Unlike animals, humans have the capacity to think, act with free will, exert self-control and also have a conscience. These distinctive characteristics earn humanity not only dominion over creation (Gn 1:28), but also the care towards the created order. The fact of having been created in God’s image, imago Dei, or to be godlike, is therefore associated with certain rights and responsibilities over creation. Further, being created in God’s image implies that human life itself is sacred and thus should not be terminated in any way, either by the individual themself or by any other person(s) (Gn 9:6). Given that human life is so sacred, such a rationale is invoked in the absolute prohibition on murder. Above all, being created in God’s image connotes gender equality – ‘male and female he created them’ (Gn 1:27b). In view of the land reform exercise in Zimbabwe, so much has happened, but the big question which remains is whether women have received a fair share in the land redistribution exercise. Making a womanist contextual reading of Genesis 1:26, this article seeks to reflect on the Zimbabwean land reform exercise, challenging the lack of gender inclusion in the redistribution exercise. Contribution: Given that women theology is that of liberation, empowerment and affirmation, this research makes a unique contribution to women theologies as it pushes for women’s empowerment through fair land redistribution. By tapping into the implications of having been created in God’s image, the research has successfully argued that the current situation, whereby gender gaps in land ownership are still quite large, needs to be addressed as stewardship over creation was given to both men and women.

In the biblical perspective, stories about the creation of the world in Gen 1–2 remain to be the basis to a discussion about human creativity. The premise of the text – creation of man “in the image of God” – makes us assume that, according to the Bible, creativity of man is to be the image of God’s creativity. Verification of this thesis goes from presenting history of interpretation of the biblical idea, namely crea­tion of man “in the image of God,” then points to the need of analyzing the narrative of this phrase. Since the image of God presented in Gen 1 is not descriptive, the second part of the paper examines the way God reveals himself in this text through his creative action. The key to God’s creativity is his word of creation which he uses to differentiate created beings and establish relationships among them in order to build harmony in the newly founded world. The final part of the paper focuses on the analysis of verbs which in Gen 1–2 refer to human creativity; those verbs also point to their possible association with words as instru­ments for creating, organizing and arranging reality shaped by man. Following that comes the conclusion that God’s creativity is extended into creativity of man who was made “in the image of God.”

This paper applies the transdisciplinary methodology to knowing God by introducing the synergisticgenerative knowledge, real, reality, perception and hidden third, in the interpersonal dialogue I-Thou. The first part of the paper explores the revealing dialog between Deus and Imago Dei who travel together an epistemic path in which the dialectic of transcendence and immanence, the knowable and the unknowable, progressively and dynamically change their boundaries communicating generatively-synergistically through the transdisciplinary window of knowledge. From this perspective, the idea of levels of reality is essentially structuring in transdisciplinarity because it presupposes a different logic and conceptual framework depending on the specific way of being of each level. The transdisciplinary approach uses the concept of "epistemic window" to explain how knowledge and communication become possible when we operate with ontologically different reality levels. The last part of the paper illustrates from some Biblical records the way in which this epistemic approach connects the transdisciplinary triade, real, reality, and perception to the semiotic triade sign, signifier and significant through the hidden third, thus opening the window for a seminal dialog between science and religion. Such an approach enhances knowledge and integrative education specific to a knowledge based-society. In conclusion, the semiophysical seven pillars model of knowledge, real, reality, perception, sign, signifier, signifcant and the hidden third, opens the window for a dynamic dialog between science and religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Kaşgarlı Mahmud's idea of nation and, consequently, the meanings of "self" and "other" in 11th century Turkish culture are explored via the lens of Dîvânu Lugâti't-Türk. Along with the Turkish perception seen in the Dîvânu Lugâti't-Türk, this framework has taken into account how language, religion, and geography issues are handled in defining the self and the other. Our research also focuses on how Turkish and Islam are perceived, as well as how the "other" is defined along this axis in how one views oneself, where the Turk is at the center but the boundaries are occasionally hazy. qualities that Kaşgarlı Mahmud desires. Given the data, it has been determined that the definition of "self" in the work and the Turks' comprehension of world-wide politics are closely related. Additionally, because it is an Arabic-Turkish dictionary, the Arab culture's position has been taken into account. It is evident that Persian culture is frequently discussed in Dîvânu Lugâti't-Türk on the occasions of the Oghuzes and the Karakhanids. One of the topics that the Divan focuses on is the Turkish description, which includes the Through language-based concepts like "Tat," this sign contributed to the definition of Kaşgarlı Mahmud's "national" and "nonnational" status. Some conceptual misunderstandings in our study had to be clarified because Persian concepts--many of which express the other--were occasionally applied to other ethnic groups. One of the issues that this study attempts to address both in Dîvânu Lugâti't-Türk and Turkish history is the notion that Turks are a nation blessed by God, as determined in the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "The Animal World in the Tradition of the Old Testament" highlights the importance of animals in the biblical sources of the Old Testament. Animals frequently appear in different textual genres and reflect the relationship between humans, animals, and divinity. In ancient Israelite culture, domestic animals were part of everyday life and were cared for by families and clans. Additionally, wild animals were also present in people's lives and were observed with admiration. The consumption of meat in ancient Israel was linked to ritual acts of sacrifice. Some animals had symbolic or mythical meanings, and there was a division between clean and unclean animals in terms of food. The relationship between animals and humans in antiquity differs from the present. The text analyzes the relationship between humans and animals in the tradition of the Old Testament. It emphasizes that although humans have the responsibility to rule over and dominate animals, this does not imply arbitrary authority, but rather a paternal and responsible governance. It is mentioned that animals are created as companions for humans, but they are not sufficient to dispel their loneliness. Furthermore, it is highlighted that humans are similar to God and have the right to use animal products and strength, but they also have the responsibility to care for and protect animals. The article discusses the tradition of the Old Testament in relation to the animal world. The importance of respecting animals is emphasized, and the regulations that attempt to curb cruelty towards them are mentioned. Additionally, it is mentioned that animals have the ability to know God and that their relationship with Him is less concealed than that of humans. The question of how Christians address the anthropocentrism of biblical texts and what rights and duties derive from the image of God attributed to humans is raised. [Extracted from the article]

This article brings time and theology together constructively in response to a pressing problem for the doctrine of personal salvation. The problem arises within the physics and metaphysics of time, as these support a so‐called temporal B‐theory in which time does not pass and reality is comprised of a block universe. Within this static temporal metaphysic, objective change is highly problematized. Yet salvation requires an objective change from fallenness to redemption. So, how can we understand a salvation‐transformation in the block universe? In other words, can sinners really change? I argue that on a B‐theory of time, a salvation‐transformation is best understood as a form of qualitative, phenomenological, and subjective change, rather than a robust ontological change. I conclude that the individual's transformation from fallen to saved is one of mind‐dependent becoming. So, sinners can change. But, in this lifetime, that change can only be subjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender transition may be figured as part of a broader creaturely process of being partners in our own becoming. Gender transition is explored through the lenses of transformation (including comparisons with theosis and with religious conversion) and neurodiversity. Humans are transformative creatures; trans and gender‐variant people, like others, have the power to curate their own identities and are on a journey toward perfection. Our nature as humans, including our sexed and gendered nature, is not over‐and‐done‐with. In this sense, our active building and shaping of our identities and body‐stories is not a rejection of a divine blueprint for human existence, nor an exercise of illegitimate human hubris, but rather a licit creaturely form of generativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assertion that Christ is truly and fully human supports using Christology as a starting point to frame discussions surrounding humanity. This article focuses on the Christological distinction between personhood and nature that is made in the Chalcedonian Definition and argues that it could reframe current discussions in the science–theology discourse on humanity identity. As discussions of human identity often center around issues such as personhood, consciousness, and the soul, taking this Christological perspective into account means that scholars must consider whether scientific contributions are engaging with characteristics of human nature or personhood, and recognize the theological distinction. To address some of the troubling implications of this reframing, this article proposes a vision of humanity as natural energies expressing an unrepeatable personhood, based largely on the work of the Eastern Orthodox theologian Christos Yannaras. This proposal takes traditional Christology seriously in its relevance to discussions on human identity, while possibly enabling even more productive engagement with scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Science and Religion Forum promotes discussion on issues at the interface of science and religion. The forum membership is diverse including professionals, academics, clergy, and interested lay people and each year it holds a conference to encourage discussion and exploration of issues that arise at the interface of science and religion. This article provides an overview of the online conference that took place in May 2021 and introduces this thematic section that includes six articles from the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opening chapter of Genesis makes a lofty claim about the human condition: that humans are created in the image of God. But why can humans image God? This article examines four different interpretations of humans as interpretive animals. Following Martin Heidegger's account of Dasein, I argue that humans are interpretive animals, and as such, are suitable creatures to bear God's image. Humans as interpretive animals function as the image of God, not because of divine fiat; instead, humans in their capacities are open to being the image. My argument is not that the image of God is identifiable as particular human features. Instead, it is the fact that humans have specific capacities that make them interpretive animals (e.g., radical openness, thrownness, malleability) and that these traits are constitutive for what it means to be human. Alongside Heidegger, I draw on the works of Charles Taylor, Claudia Welz, and Kathryn Tanner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holistic perception is an antidote to the subject–object divide, a divide that leads to a mechanistic understanding of the world and can see human beings only in terms of parts, without a robust articulation of wholeness. In this piece, I argue that philosopher of science Henri Bortoft offers an empirically grounded theory, based on consciousness studies, which recasts the problem of the many and the one, offering insight into just such a holistic perception. I further argue that Samuel Taylor Coleridge's philosophy of unity and multiplicity agrees in many respects with that of Bortoft. However, Coleridge draws further implications of his philosophy for Trinitarian theology. I will argue, in line with Bortoft and Coleridge, that perception is a hinge point in this discussion, allowing the move between the discussion of wholeness, subjectivity, and identity. I conclude that a holistic perceptual shift reconstitutes the human person in a way that is theologically significant, especially with respect to Christian Trinitarian doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a historical overview of the role played by neurology patients and clinicians in the development of understanding brain–behavior relationships and argues that, even with the advent of sophisticated functional brain imaging techniques, this clinical approach remains valuable. It is particularly important in the biological study of religion, where there is a danger that piecemeal and reductionist approaches will come to dominate. It is argued that religion is a socially located, multifaceted, and embodied phenomenon that occurs not in the brain but in the lives of human persons. Insights drawn from people living with conditions affecting the brain are thus vital for a full understanding of human identity, spirituality, and religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay contends that God created humanity as His co-creators to bring Him glory with one's entire being, including imagination and creativity. Throughout Scripture, YHWH is depicted as the artistic Creator of all that is beautiful, true, and transcendent. The Bible attests the creation of humanity in the imago Dei--sharing God's innate creativity--and divine gifting of Spirit-inspired artisans utilizing their talents for God's glory. Yet, over the centuries, "art" was oft misunderstood and grossly neglected in Christ's church. Philip Ryken explains how medieval skeptics began removing and destroying art believed to violate the Decalogue. Imbalanced suspicions toward art in Christendom still persist, despite the positive, inspirational effects of icons in Catholic and Orthodox traditions and scientific research that shows the therapeutic value of art across a broad spectrum of mental and physical challenges, including isolation and depression. Makoto Fujimura posits that Christian creatives possess a common faith as "border-walkers," and can affect phoenix-like positive cultural and ecclesial change by reintroducing beauty as a visible "sermon" into a fragmented, post-pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I argue that the graphic images of the gods in the divinatory codices are composed of signs of different semantic values which encode particular properties. All of them contribute to creating the identity of the god. However, these graphic elements are not only shared by different deities, but even differ between representations of the same god. Analyzing the graphic images of Xipe Totec, one of the best-studied deities and one of the oldest in Mesoamerica, I elaborate a hypothesis that the images of the gods in the divinatory codices were perceived by their authors as a mosaic of different properties, which at the same time were dynamic. Consequently, there was not even one "prototypical" representation of a single god, since possibly the identity of a god was defined precisely when composing his/her image with particular graphic signs, thus crystallizing some of his/her multiple properties, important at this precise moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaphysical notion of God as the foundation of being, and as the supreme principle of order and harmony (which was an aspect that brought together Greek philosophy and Christianity, and set a cultural standard in the Western civilization) underwent a crisis in the 19th century, together with the disruption of the traditional social order and the onto-theological “image of the world” under the blows of science and philosophical criticism. God is dead, an­nounced the philosopher, and religion seemed to inexorably dissolve on the road to secularisation. God, however, was not extinguished: he has returned powerfully in the anti-metaphysical figure of a historical God, who manifests himself to man in contingency, as a principle of disorder and disarray, trauma and estrangement. Various authors (namely J. Ashbery, F. Dostoyevsky, P. Pasolini, T. Mendonça) are called upon to illustrate this image of God as "the great disorganiser", but also the possible fiasco of this clash with the transcendent, which implodes in “silence”, in the non-reception by the contemporary mass-man. The failure of the sacred, and its eventual banalization through repression and spectacularisa­tion, are represented in a comic register by artists such as F. Kafka, S. Beckett, F. Fellini, J.-L. Godard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image of the suffering Christ raises many intriguing questions about humanity, the human body, and what it means to be "made" in imago Dei, the image of God. It also broaches the subjects of bodily difference and impairment. High and late medieval devotion was rooted in the image of the bleeding Christ in bodily pain. Yet while pious Christians glorified and imitated Christ's human suffering, individuals with impairments who may have experienced their own bodily pain remained passive "objects" of miraculous cure, charity, or fear rather than active spiritual "subjects" in eleventh- to fourteenth-century Latin Christian European religious discourse. This essay explores this paradox, proposing five religio-cultural obstacles that the Church would have faced in transforming its discourse on impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourses in theological anthropology ought to begin by centering the human condition in all its multiple expressions. Experiences of marginalized women of color do not always make it to the forefront of such discourses. What does it mean to be a woman of color in God's imagination? How can we speak of the human person as a rainbow reality of diverse narratives and experiences? This work attempts to address these questions by appropriating a critical hermeneutic that allows for a polyphonic discourse on what it means to be human. In doing this, this work articulates arguments for a polyphonic anthropology. It critiques the traditional understanding of human as imago Dei. It opens up a new horizon for conceiving of the human person through the multiple experiences of humans, especially women of color, who, traditionally, have not always been acknowledged to be truly human in a world defined by narratives of erasure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an age of "Big Data" the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponentially increasing quantity and range of data and scholarly interpretation. For the student and scholar alike, new tools that allow for efficient and accurate inquiry are a necessity. Here, the open-access and digital Database of Religious History (DRH) is presented as one such tool that addresses this need and is well suited for use in the classroom. In this article, we present the basic structure of the database along with a demonstration of its potential use. Following a thematic inquiry into questions concerning "high gods", individual disciplinary-specific case studies examine applications to particular contexts across time and space. These case studies demonstrate the ways in which the DRH can test and disrupt ontologies through its ability to efficiently cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Vaccines represent one of the best ways to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy among the population limits the effectiveness of vaccines. Recent research has explored the role of religion in vaccine hesitancy, but in doing so has encountered a "black box" problem. There is a relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy, but the explanation for why remains unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy. We propose that how an individual conceptualizes God/a higher power is associated with getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Methods: We use data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults, collected using the Amerispeak® probability-based panel via the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. We examine the association between individuals' views of God/a higher power as both a supervisory and an intervening figure on vaccine uptake and likelihood of getting vaccinated through logistic regressions. Results: We find that belief in God's/a higher power's supervision is not significantly associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake or vaccination intent. However, belief in God's/a higher power's ability to intervene in the world is significantly and negatively associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake and the odds of having received or planning to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, in models where belief in the ability of God/a higher power to intervene are included, Christian nationalism ceases to have a statistically significant association with intent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions and implications: These findings suggest that how individuals conceptualize God/a higher power is associated with their willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Given this, those who see God/a higher power as more involved in the world may contribute to delays in achieving herd immunity. This information benefits those working on vaccination campaigns in understanding the beliefs of some of those who are most hesitant to get vaccinated. In addition, this intervention mechanism could also mediate other negative relationships between religion and other science and health-related concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This essay is a response to Adam Pryor’s Russell Family Fellowship Paper from the 2020 RFF Conference at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences of the Graduate Theological Union. It engages with Pyror’s argument, critiquing his view of planetarity as too large. Planetarity is also too small to be limited to a planet, because a planet or a moon that can sustain life, at least life as currently understood, requires an energy source, in this case of Earth, the sun. This means that the planet is intra-acting with the sun in terms of defining habitability. Turning to Pryor’s discussion of Imago Dei, I argue that his understanding of refracting the creative power of divine requires humans to move from nonmaleficence to beneficence in terms of human obligations to the development of life in the universe [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents problems that the concepts of God's immutability, impassibility, and simplicity pose for Christian theism. Through the critical analysis, the author indicates the roots of these ideas (mostly, but not only, in ancient Greek philosophy) and the consequences of absolutizing them for the image of God and His relationship to the world. The more general purpose of the paper is to highlight the danger of the strong dependence of religious depictions on philosophical grounds. As concluded in the article, it is a mistake to absolutize the particular solutions that appeared at the junction of fides et ratio at one of the historical stages. The awareness of this becomes extremely important when reflecting on the divine immutability, impassibility, and simplicity. The author shows some proposals to reformulate their understanding in light of contemporary analytic philosophy. Partial reinterpretation in this regard may help to rethink the concept of the Creator's interaction with creation and to reconcile the biblical image of God with the philosophical one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores diversity in higher education institutions, particularly seminaries. In recent years, colleges and universities have grappled with ethnic make-up among faculty and staff. In many cases, a color-blind approach is adopted that focuses on demographic composition. This article argues for institutions to adopt a color-conscious approach that seeks to embrace a diverse ethos that informs decision-making, curricula choices, and faculty voices. This paper specifically focuses on Christian institutions. A biblical, theological, and sociological exploration of ethnicity is presented. Implications for institutions of higher education are provided. These implications have specific importance for seminaries who train ministry leaders to lead in an increasingly global world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary Research title: The origins of interpretation according to Al-Hasan Al-Basri through his interpretation of the Qur’an: an original study. Parts of the research: The research included an introduction, a preface, two chapters, a conclusion and indexes, and its details are as follows: Introduction: It includes the importance of choosing the research, the reasons for choosing it, stating its problem, its objectives, and mentioning previous studies, with an explanation of the research writing methodology. The preamble: It included the definition of the principles of interpretation, and the difference between it and the interpretation, with an explanation of the subject of the principles of interpretation. The first topic: the definition of the life of Al-Hasan Al-Basri, and its origins in interpretation. The second topic: - The heart of the study - the origins of interpretation accordi ng to Al-Hasan Al-Basri, and it included its origins in interpretation: namely, his interpretation of the Qur’an with the Qu r’an, the Sunnah, the sayings of the Companions, and the Arabic language, and what the People of the Book came from the Israelites, and with understanding and diligence. Conclusion: It included the most important results reached through the research, and the most important recommendations. Indexes: It contains indexes of verses, hadiths, sources, references and topics. Research Methodology: The research relied on the inductive method in extracting the origins of interpretation according to Al-Hasan Al-Basri, and on the descriptive analytical method through Al-Hassan's sayings transmitted in the books of interpretation. The most prominent results and recommendations: that Al-Hasan Al-Basri is a diligent imam who excelled in his diligence; So it deserved study in the origins of his interpretation, and he has narrations in interpretation that he mentions with his diligence in interpreting the verse and he often mentions it with his chain of transmission to the Messenger (or the Companions - may God be pleased with them, and we recommend the specialists to highlight the role of scholars and interpreters; favorite pods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a comparative reading of the two "Meribah narratives" of the Pentateuch is made, analysing the specificities of each one and the different theological claims made by these two episodes, one in Exod 17, 1-7, the other in Num 20,1-13. For achieving this goal, narrative criticism is a useful tool, particularly the categories of "plot" and "theme". A thorough comparison between these two miraculous episodes, in which Moses provides water to the thirsty Israelites from a rock in the wilderness, will show that the theological issues of the presence of God between his people and the unveiling of His holiness are the key points in each of these episodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article includes translation of a "new" Vision of Daniel as it survived, albeit incomplete. It reflects a "meeting point" between three monotheistic religions in the ninth and tenth centuries CE. A comparative study of the work enables the reconstruction of its missing parts. The Vision may have been composed in the area where al-Muʿtaṣim battled Theophilos in the 830s CE, namely, northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia. An "updated" appendix was added around 1000 CE. Towards the end of the Vision, exact times are replaced with "flexible times," a moderate expression of the cosmic changes found in similar eschatological works. The two anti-messiahs described, constructed as integrations of Jewish-Christian-Muslim traditions of the apocalyptical devils, reflect the shifting identities of messianic figures, who will reveal themselves once again (Parousia), albeit as demonic antichrists. One of the two is an inversion of the Christian image of Moses/Jesus, whereas the second is Armilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article recognises the suspicion and tension between theology and modern science as two distinct areas of discipline. In this instance, the contributions of J. Wentzel van Huyssteen are taken seriously, in order to illustrate how a bridge has been constructed instead of a separating wall between these disciplines. Van Huyssteen spent his life in the pursuit of the love of life and the uniqueness of being human in the world. He used an interdisciplinary approach to stimulate the interface between theology and modern science. Van Huyssteen's life and work have revolutionised the discussion on human life, the origin of religion, the quest for religion, and the constructive sense of rationality and spirituality as important ways of understanding the meaning and function of human uniqueness in terms of the reality of the image of God (imago Dei) in human beings. This article was initially meant to celebrate Prof. van Huyssteen's 80th birthday on 29 April 2022. Now it remains a token of appreciation in memory of his admirable life and lasting legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores and defines trauma and several patterns of adaptive responses within a self-care system partially using the framework of Donald Kalsched. It examines two ancient myths: one, the myth of Lilith and Inanna; and two, the myth of Lilith, Adam, and God. The first myth is set within a matriarchal culture and the second myth within a patriarchal culture. These stories are analyzed through the lens of trauma, the emotional textures of affect, and the development of consciousness. Analyzing these myths facilitates the contextualization of irrational behavioral responses as trauma responses and identifies several typical patterns of traumatic response. This can reveal the personal context of traumatization and relevant archetypal energies. This can help bridge one's personal psychology to a mythic or transpersonal reality, which, in turn, helps the development of the ego in relation to the Self, and connects one to a more transpersonal dimension of reality. This can lead—within the safety of the analytical relationship—toward possible paths of psychic reintegration and the healing of split-off psychic parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his new book, Introducing Christian Ethics: Core Convictions for Christians Today, Gushee revisits theological positions he and Glen H. Stassen originally articulated in Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Correlated with Gushee’s move toward a post-evangelical perspective, the new publication reframes his earlier evangelical positions and proposes post-evangelical positions for conversation by the church. This article offers an appreciative yet critical response to Gushee’s evolving understanding of sacredness of life and justice ethics, in light of selected traditional evangelical and Baptist core convictions and justice concerns. Three specific areas of conversational concern are highlighted. First, the implications of Gushee’s rejection of capacity to frame a definition of the image of God in human beings and replacement of it with an allegiance to God’s command. Second, the article considers Gushee’s concept of the moral status of human worth and introduces the theme of personality into the discussion of imago Dei. Third, that sacredness of life convictions inevitably influence justice ethics. Gushee’s earlier work centred on Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust. The article considers how personality as an integral aspect of imago Dei impacts the ethical discussion of Christian justice concerns in relation to the Holocaust and racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the subject “Introduction to Sociology and Sociology of Religion”, we encounter the term conversions in religion. In this paper, author presents and goes deeper into the conversion in religion as the experience of believers. As an example, author uses the conversions of the apostles Paul and Primoz Trubar, and their impact on society. In the second part of the paper, author uses the empirical research method, an anonymous survey in a group of Pentecostal Christians of the Pentecostal Church Murska Sobota in Slovenia. The main research questions for the group are: how did they turn, who told them about God, what image of God do believers have, and do they actively participate in the church? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the feast of St. Francis of Assisi in 2020, Pope Francis published his social encyclical Fratelli tutti on universal human brotherhood and social friendship, inspired precisely by the Saint’s experience as brothers and sisters not only of sun, sea and wind, but in a special way of those who are flesh and blood, regardless of differences in origin, nationality, skin color and religion. Such love of St. Francis’s devotion to his brothers and sisters is proportional to his devotion to God. The reason for this lies in the biblical and anthropological truth that man was created in the image of God (Gen 1, 26). From this fact emerges the existential communion of every man with God, on the basis of which he inherits the inviolability of his own dignity and thus discovers the logical call of universal brotherhood. It is about living in primordial harmony with everyone, which belongs to the essence of human reality. The book of Genesis speaks of the original harmony disturbed by the first sin. This is precisely why it was necessary for the fullness of man’s primordial and eschatological brotherly reality to be revealed in Jesus Christ, God and man, the new Adam, who is not ashamed to call all men his brothers (cf. Heb 2:11). Christ is the ultimate image of the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15), equal to man in everything except sin (cf. Heb 4:15). Such a revelation about God and brother man in the incarnate Word not only restores man’s primordial identity and his dignity, but connects every man with filial bonds of God’s family and proclaims the truth of eschatological brotherhood. It is about agreeing with the natural announcement, announced already in the act of creation. In this sense, universal brotherhood stands against the experience of sin, which is manifested today in contemporary attempts to isolate, reject and ignore others, but painful relativization of human identity in gender ideology. This is exactly why Pope Francis necessarily and justifiably talks about humanity as a unique human family, considering all people, with their own characteristics, brothers and sisters, fellow travelers who share the same body, that is, children of the same country that is their common home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the process that took place in the interior life of Ignatius during his conversion, particularly on the transformation of God's images within his psyche. It interprets the metaphor of the soul as a room with painted walls to be something related to the inner life reflected in external behavior. It discusses the purification of images within Ignatius concerning his relationship with God and his engagement with gambling, women and arms.

Enveloped in mystery and provoking imagination, the world of sleep and dreams has been a rich source of inspiration for artists since the earliest times. The cornerstones of the secular iconography of sleep in Western art were laid by classical Greek and Roman culture. In the course of centuries, quite a few adventures of gods, goddesses and heroes described in classical myths and other works of literature of that time inspired many artworks interpreting the mythological heritage, which were in some way related to rest or dreams. There is an example of such work in Lithuania as well – the collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (hereinafter referred to as LNMA) boasts an image of the sleeping mythical god of love Amor, created by an unknown artist after the 1729 painting by the French painter François Lemoyne (1688–1737) possibly in the 18th century or the first half of the 19th century, and the search for the history and meaning of the iconography of this work is the main subject of this article. Amor (vel Cupid vel Eros) is mostly seen in artworks as an adorable naughty winged boy armed with his traditional attributes – a bow and arrows. However, since the times of classical antiquity, this vivacious god of contradictory character acting in various plots was often represented in deep sleep. In the art world of the Early Modern Period, it was Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Caravaggio (1571–1610) who adopted this iconographical variation from the surviving classical examples and popularized it in their sculptures and paintings. The works created by these artists and their followers, along with their classical prototypes, encouraged various interpretations of the meanings of the motif. The sleeping Amor was associated both with the direct mythological personification of the ancient Greek god of sleep Hypnos, and with eternal sleep – the so-called memento mori. The motifs of death and resurrection that were prominent in this iconography influenced religious art as well – in works by late Renaissance and Baroque artists, the sleeping winged child morphed into the Infant Jesus of the Passion lying on the cross and symbolizing the allegory of Christ’s suffering. However, it would seem that both Caravaggio and Michelangelo, as well as later artists who represented the theme of the sleeping Amor in the 16th–19th century (the visualisation of this iconographic motif reached its peak in the 16th–17th century), Lemoyne and the creator of LNMA’s Amor among them, followed another interpretational line of iconography, which reflected the realm of the heart and passionate feelings rather than that of death or religion. Already Renaissance humanists often symbolically associated sleep and dreams with the expression of platonic love. It was this approach which appeared in the cultural context of that time that most likely helped to link the image of the sleeping god of love to the concepts of abstention, chastity and loyalty. In other words, it is not until the naughty Amor shooting the arrows of love and plotting intrigues of the heart sinks into the kingdom of sleep that we can feel completely immune to an onslaught of unexpected feelings. Not less eloquent than the condition of sleep in the iconography of this plot is the position of the god’s “dangerous” attributes – a bow and a quiver with arrows. In quite several works, Amor’s bow or its string is broken, and the arrows with the quiver are thrown away or pushed aside. Having tossed his bow next to him and having placed the quiver under his head, the hero of the LNMA’s painting is sleeping as well – sleep overcame his eagerness to hunt for hearts. Incidentally, in art this mischievous child was “tamed” by other means as well. The image of Venus tying or even trimming his wings, or Amor with his hands tied are equally popular iconographic motifs. Going back to the work inspired by François Lemoyne in the LNMA’s collection, it is difficult to say how the painting was perceived by its owners whose names did not survive. Perhaps they interpreted Amor as a moral, philosophical-allegorical commentary and an indirect criticism of human passions, or perhaps it only served as a decorative and playful aesthetical element enlivening the interior. However, not less important is the relation of the painting with today’s viewer. It is through early artworks on the themes of classical mythology held in Lithuania’s memory institutions that we can revisit the mythological plots that once had much greater significance in daily cultural circulation and today are becoming more difficult to decipher. LNMA’s Amor is precisely this kind of informative and intriguing picture, harmoniously fitting in the rich context of the iconography of the sleeping god of love, which has deep roots in early European art and is represented in the works by prominent artists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the classic tools in Christian theological anthropology for dealing with the intricacies of human identity is the Imago Dei concept. Approaching the concept holistically, by exploring the structural, behavioral, teleological, communal, and hospitality perspectives, this article asserts that at the very core of Imago Dei is a relational design that the Creator God had in mind for humanity – his opera Magna. Theological insights drawn from the relational doctrine of Trinity, as revealed in the comprehension of J. Moltmann, W. Pannenberg, J. Zizioulas, M. Volf, and D. Augustine, are applied to the anthropological dimension of existence, unveiling what it means to be a human being made in the image of God. In the end, Imago Dei is perceived to have not only a developmental but also a fundamentally transformative function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written about Ambiguum 41 and Saint Maximus the Confessor’s perspective on gender. This article revisits this Ambiguum and shows how Saint Maximus’ perspective is interpreted and applied in Christian experience through various narratives of the lives of saints. Reading Saint Maximus holistically, it is clear that the saint speaks about gender not being abolished, but transfigured, when humans reach the summit of dispassion in divine virtue, leading to the perfection of love. The Confessor’s perspective opens the eye to understand saintly models–male or female, in marriage or in celibacy–that have reflected throughout the centuries the beauty of God’s image. The epiclesis of the Holy Spirit, in fervent harmony with humanity, continues to transfigure both man and woman, rendering them earthly angels without losing their natural gender identity. This study reveals how all this divine economy opens the way for humanity to a great mystery: the mystical marriage with Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A literary criticism on book "Divine Sufi Poems" by Syed Liaqath Peeran, an Indo-English poet, is presented. Topics discussed include used of the word ‘divine' before ‘Sufi' by poet when Sufism is already a personal experience with God, poets understanding of crisis in life and its correlation with rewards, and revelation of divine truth through mysteries.

Copyright of Soter: Journal of Religious Science / Religijos Mokslo Žurnalas is the property of Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Theology-Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Soter: Journal of Religious Science / Religijos Mokslo Žurnalas is the property of Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Theology-Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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"And God said, Let us make man in our image ... (Gen 1:26). One assumes that this meaningful phrase has left many traces in the New Testament. But if one looks at the occurrence of the word ... it becomes quite clear that it has a special theological meaning only for Paul. For him, the word expresses the extraordinary dignity of the human being. In my article I would like to explore this theme and compare Paul's thoughts on ElKWV with Philo's concept of ... In my article I would like to discuss the topic in three points. First, we will briefly look at the ... motif in Genesis. Then we will see how Philo understood the image of God. And at the end we will arrive to Paul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Church in the World / Crkva u Svijetu is the property of University of Split, Catholic Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)