CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF THE HUMAN PERSON 1) Image of God - God created man in His image, in the divine image

He created male and female. (Gen 1:27) - By being created in the very image of God, a person s very activity of thinking and loving, in fact his or her very being, reflects the beauty, the wisdom, the love of the Creator. 2) Open and Relational - No man is an island. We grow into our full selves as persons only in relating to others. - Being a person means : being by others (our conception, birth, upbringing) being with others (our family, friends) being for others (love, sharing, service) 3) Conscious Beings - Aware of ourselves in our acts - We possess this self-awareness through our knowing and free willing. Thus we image in our small way the Creator s infinite knowing and loving. This is the basis for our moral life. 4) Embodied Spirits - Stresses the unity between body and soul - Christian faith regards the body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the Last day. -God the Son dignified the body through His incarnation- the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. -St. Paul admonishes us: You must know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 6:19-20) 5) Historical - We are pilgrims-on-the-way who gradually through time become our full selves. -In exercising freedom we decide for ourselves and form ourselves. Salvation history recounts how God progressively brought his chosen people to a clearer understanding and higher moral vision, of their own being and of God himself. (1Cor

6) Unique Yet Fundamentally Equal - Despite physical, intellectual, and moral power differences, we instinctively realize as persons that we are all equal. -All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God s image, they have the same nature and origin, and being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality of all men (GS 29) - Each of us is called to image God in a unique way. 7) God s Partner - God blessed them, saying: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. (Gen 1:28) - We are co-creators with God; to share in the development of the world. -We are to cooperate in the divine plan by developing, expanding and properly using the goods of the earth.