I BAPTIZED YOU

WHAT DO
YOU THINK IS
THIS TELLING
ABOUT US
AND OUR
HUMANITY ?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
 I BAPTIZED YOU

1. Understand the role of theology in knowing the human person;

2. Recognize the Adam/Christ polarity in understanding the
human structure; and
3. Appropriate Psalm 8.
 THE SCIENCE THAT STUDIES AND CONSIDERS THE
HUMAN PERSON. IT SPRINGS FORTH FROM THE GREEK
ROOT WORD ANTHROPOS, WHICH MEANS ‘HUMAN’.

Humanology Personology

Anthroposology Anthropology
STUDY OF LIVING THINGS AND THEIR VITAL PROCESSES
THAT DEALS WITH ALL THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL ASPECTS
OF LIFE.

Biology physiology

Biotic physicochemicalogy
THE SCIENCE THAT STUDIES THE STRUCTURE OF THE
BODY.

Anatomy Analogy

Physics Biochemistry
 THE SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR AND MIND, INCLUDING
CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS PHENOMENA, AS WELL
AS FEELING AND THOUGHT.

Mindtology Phenomenatology

Behaviorism Psychology
WHAT IS IT REALLY TO BE HUMAN?
FOR THE QUESTION OF THE HUMAN PERSON CANNOT
ONLY BE ACADEMIC, THE QUESTION OF THE REALITY OF
BEING HUMAN IS LIVED REALITY.
 THERE IS SOMETHING PECULIAR TO THE REALITY OF THE
HUMAN BEING. THIS UNIQUENESS C ANNOT BE FULLY
COVERED BY A SUBJECT THAT IS PREDETERMINED IN ITS
METHOD AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. THERE IS
INDETERMINACY OR SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS IN THE HUMAN
PERSON THAT HER REALITY AND HER EXISTENCE WILL ALWAYS
AND ALMOST DEFINITIVELY ESC APE A PURE AC ADEMIC STUDY.
THERE IS MYSTERY IN THE TRUTH THAT SHE IS A HUMAN BEING
BEC AUSE SHE LIVES A HUMAN LIFE! AND LIVING THIS HUMAN
LIFE IS A QUESTION UNTO ITSELF; FROM HENCE SPRINGS
FORTH THE OPENNESS AND THE MYSTERY; THAT IS, AS LONG AS
SHE LIVES THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING NEW TO LEARN.
ONE C AN EVEN SAY THAT WHAT WE KNOW OF A PERSON
WILL ALWAYS BE TENTATIVE AND ONGOING IN AS MUCH AS
WE HOLD HER LIFE WITH RESPECT AND REVERENCE.
 THEOLOGY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

•The human person remains to be a

question unto himself or herself. It is
something we pursue and try to
understand in our every day lives; we are
an ongoing mystery. Each day is an
openness for her that calls on her decision
and action.
 THEOLOGY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

•What shall I wear today?

•Who are my friends?
•Who shall I listen to?
•Who am I?
•Who do I want to be?
•How can I get there?
WHO AM I?
 THEOLOGY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

• Given the openness of the situation that we are

immersed in, there is a limitation in what we can
decide and will for ourselves; we can inquire and
decide as to who we want and can be. While the
ultimate foundation of our lives are inescapable to
us, we are nonetheless responsible for what we
make of our selves and of our lives; we cannot
simply be a victim of our contextualities. Given
that we are gifted with and given life
HOW C AN I GET THERE?
GOD CAN ONLY BE THE ONE
WHO IS BEYOND--THE
ULTIMATE GIVER OF LIFE AND
EXISTENCE--TO WHOM WE
RESPOND TO IN GRATITUDE.
 “HE WHO GIVES TO EVERYONE LIFE, BREATH AND
EVERYTHING. HE MADE FROM ONE THE WHOLE HUMAN
RACE TO DWELL ON THE ENTIRE SURFACE OF THE EARTH,
AND HE FIXED AND ORDERED SEASONS AND THE
BOUNDARIES OF THEIR REGIONS, SO THAT PEOPLE MIGHT
SEEK GOD, EVEN PERHAPS GROPE FOR HIM AND FIND
HIM, THOUGH INDEED HE IS NOT FAR FROM ANY ONE OF
US. FOR IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR
BEING,” [ACTS 17, 25-28].
“BEC AUSE GOD CREATED IT TO BE SO”
 THEOLOGY IS WHERE WE HEAR EXPLANATIONS
THAT DEEPLY MATTER TO LIFE, MEANING AND
PURPOSE OF EVERYTHING THAT WE ARE AND
EVERYTHING THAT IS AROUND US. PROPERLY
SPEAKING, THEOLOGY IS ABOUT GOD; THIS IS
WHAT THE ETYMOLOGY THEO AND LOGOS TELLS US.
MORE SPECIFICALLY, THEOLOGY IS ABOUT GOD’S
REVELATION OF HIMSELF AND HIS HEART TO US.
“BELIEVE SO THAT YOU MAY UNDERSTAND”
SAINT AUGUSTINE
 GOD AND THE HUMAN PERSON

• universities even have a School of Humanities or College

of Liberal Arts that simply focuses on various aspects of
humanity: such as, persons and their achievements,
cultures and languages, histories and laws, economies and
psychologies, criminology and philosophy. These fields are
valid expressions and different aspects of what it means
to be human.
 GOD AND THE HUMAN PERSON

•God is the ultimate foundation of all reality for

us, has God said anything about us that is
important? Does God need to say something
about the human person? Will this be relevant
for the human persons to know?
 GOD AND THE HUMAN PERSON

• all of creation are symbols that make God present

for us. In reality they make Him present as the cause,
foundation, and source; God is Origin and Creator of
everything. Recognizing God as the only Creator is
closely tied to seeing all of creation as His effects or
creation.
 THE RECORD OF
GOD’S
REVELATION TO
HUMANITY
ACCORDING TO
OUR CHRISTIAN
FAITH, IS GIVEN TO
US IN THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES OF
THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENTS,
AND IN THE MANY
CHURCH
DOCUMENTS.
 ADAM AND CHRIST

• “Therefore just as through Adam sin entered the world, and

through sin death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all
sinned for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though
sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from
Adam to Moses even over those who did not sin after the
trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.
But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by Adam’s
transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of
God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow
for many” [Romans 5, 12-15]
 ADAM AND CHRIST

• two extreme poles in the story of our salvation. We are

referring to the first person at the beginning of the Bible, who
is “Adam” and to the last person who reveals us to ourselves,
who is “Christ.” By contrasting these two poles, we are able
to look, on the one hand, at “Adam” and recognize our
primary and initial relationship with God. While looking into
“Christ,” on the other hand, we are able to see closely our
lasting and final relationship with God.
IN THIS BOOK , “ A DA M ” (IN HEBREW)
IS NOT ONLY THE FIRS T HU MA N
PERS ON, HIS NA ME THAT IS DERIVED
FROM THE NOU N WORD “ AD AMAH ”
TELLS U S OF HIS RELATIONS HIP TO
THE WORLD, “ EA RTH” A ND HIS
BEING THE REPRES ENTATIVE OF
HU MA NITY.

THE NA ME “ A DA M ” IS THE HEBREW

WORD FOR THE HU MA N PERS ON,
A ND NOT S IMPLY OF MA N ( IS H ) A S
OPPOS ED TO WOMA N ( IS H S H AH );
THIS IS THE S A ME A S THE GREEK
AN TH RO P O S , THE LATIN HOMO, THE
GERMAN MEN CH , A ND THE FILIPINO
TAO .
 ADAM AND CHRIST

• Christ, the Son of man, is the last Adam. In this case,

Christ stands as the person of the resurrection and is
the terminus ad quem of any theology of the human
person. With Christ, the destiny and final relationship
of the human person with God is that of adoption as
His very child--a sharing and participation in the divine
nature of God (2 Pet 1:4).
 ADAM AND CHRIST

• We are a creature of God and as such, like

everything else in the universe, we have a destiny.
While we remain to be the crown of creation,
created to be its steward, lord, and master, we
need to be reminded that we are created for a
goal, a telos, a purpose.
 ADAM AND CHRIST

•Adam and Christ are the

two poles in understanding
the human person.
 UNDERSTANDING PSALM 8

• Psalm 8 is a fitting introduction to God’s revelation

about the human person. On the one hand, it refers
back to the creation of the human person, Adam, but
the fullness of its interpretation is found in the New
Testament as the newness of the human person in the
God-made-man and God-for-us, none other than
Jesus Christ.
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
Or the Son of Man that you care for him?
You have made him a little lower than
angels,
You crowned him with glory and honor.
subjecting all things under his feet,
In subjecting all things to him, he left
nothing not subject to him.
Yet at present we do not see all things
subject to him
But we do see Jesus ‘crowned with glory
and honor’
because he suffered death,
he who for a little while was made lower
than the angels
that by the grace of God he might taste
death for everyone”
[Hebrews 2:6-9].
“‘for he subjected everything under his feet’
but when it says that everything has been
subjected,
it is clear that it excludes the one who
subjected everything to him.
When everything is subjected to him,
then the son of man will also be subjected
to the one who subjected everything to him,
so that God may be all in all”
[1 Corinthians 15:27-28].
 “and he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the Church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every
way”
[Ephesians 1:22-23].
 CHAPTER 8: IMAGO DEI

Learning Outcomes:
1.Understand the theological concept of
why the human person is the ‘image of
God.’
2.Recognize the Church’s teaching on the
Filial Image;
3.And appropriate the Augustinian
argument on the Trinitarian Image.
 INTRODUCTION

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image,

according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fish of the sea, and over the birds
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the
earth.” So God created them. God blessed them, and God said
to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue
it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the
earth” (Gen 1:26-28)
 A. IMAGE OF GOD

St. Paul does not develop the concept of the

image of God at all, he merely focuses on
CHRIST; he argues that Christ is this man
and this man alone is the image of God. This
means that Jesus Christ is God’s
representative in the cosmos and He alone
can exercise God’s authority and dominion.
( cf. Mt 28:18); He alone then is God’s
perfectly representative image (Jn14:9)
 B. CHRIST AS FILIAL IMAGE

Conforming to the mind of Christ means

imitating Christ. We are all called to model
ourselves on Christ, to try and think and act as
He would have done in our place, because He is
the perfect and complete image of Christ. This
also presupposes the loving of Christ, since we
can mimic but we will never be able to imitate a
person we do not love.
 C. TRINITARIAN IMAGE

A better theology of the image can be found in St.

Augustine while affirming that it is by imitating Christ
that we actualize the potential divine image in us.
Context of St. Augustine’s understanding of the human
person as in God’s image is his exploration of the
mystery of the Trinity. His main purpose is to seek, to
understand, and to investigate the mystery of the Trinity
itself.
Augustine seeks the image of God not in the soul, but in
the mind. He proposed the Trinitarian Image.
C . TRINITARIAN IMAGE

• While St. Thomas Aquinas did not accept this understanding in

its entirety and without qualifications.
• The authentic Christian doctrine of the human person as an
image and likeness of God, whether we refer to it as a filial
image or as a Trinitarian image with St. Augustine, is a
doctrine that presents us with a program for Christian living;
it is a challenge for us to embark on the search for perfection,
which is identical with the search for God. “Be perfect,
therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
Teleios that is translated as perfect in this scripture passage
simply means to be mature. It is not only the search for self
actualization.