Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 08/09/2005 12:35, Kevin Graham wrote:

> ...
>
> == Thus when Genesis 1:26-7 mentions that man was made "in the image 
> of God", Hellenists look for physical attributes,
>
> Which is belied by all the evidence (unless you're relying strictly on 
> story of Mt. Olympus) as I indicated above. The Platonic tendency was 
> to striop God of any anthropomorphic attribute. ...


I suspect that the point here is something like this: Hellenists were 
familiar with the old myths of the Olympian gods with all kinds of 
physical attributes and passions. They rejected these myths in favour of 
a concept of a formless God. When they came to read the Hebrew Bible, 
they understood (misunderstood, in my opinion) references to God's eyes, 
face etc not as metaphorical extended senses but as literal - and 
rejected them. Meanwhile the less Hellenised Jews continued to 
understand these references according to their proper Hebrew meaning.

> ...
> == how man acts like God while fulfilling his role as God's 
> representative as a created being in charge of the created universe.
>
> It is true that as the image of God, man serves as God's 
> representative, having dominion over the earth. But scholars are 
> generally in agreement over the fact that dominion is merely a 
> consequence of the image, not its defining element.


Kevin, please stop saying things like "scholars are generally in 
agreement", and come up with some good arguments against this rather 
obvious point that the meaning and purpose of the image of God in 
Genesis 1:26 is explicitly stated in that same verse, that humanity will 
have dominion. Dominion was God's purpose in creating humanity, and this 
was possible because the image of God distinguished them from the 
animals etc. While I would not claim that this is all there is to the 
image, the link in this verse is so close that "defining element" seems 
to me exactly how it should be described.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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