Key Passages:
- Genesis 1:26-31; 2:18-25
Key questions:
According to Genesis, the first humans were made by God in or into the image of God.
- What capacities are included within “the image of God?” What expectations and responsibilities are implied?
- How much of this original likeness to God remains after thousands of years of sin?
- How do humans differ from God, if they are created in his image?
- How do humans differ from other created organisms? Primates, for example?
- What rights do humans have that transcend the rights of the rest of created organisms?
- Some environmentalists have pointed to Godís command to the first humans to “subdue the earth” (Gen. 1:26) as a cause for the environmental crisis. What kind of authority over nature does the Creation story give to humans? How are we called to exercise it?
- How can educators and parents assist our students and children to develop their potential as persons created “in the image of God?” On what powers or aptitudes ought we to be focused on during the early years? The teenage years? The collegiate years?
