<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>One of the less well-researched areas in the recent renaissance of the study of Reformed orthodoxy is anthropology. In this contribution, we investigate a core topic of Reformed orthodox theological anthropology, viz. its treatment of the human being as created in the image of God. First, we analyze the locus of the <italic>imago Dei</italic> in the Leiden <italic>Synopsis Purioris Theologiae</italic> (1625). Second, we highlight some shifts of emphasis in Reformed orthodox treatments of this topic in response to the budding Cartesianism. In particular, the close proximity of the unfallen human being and God was carefully delineated as a result of Descartes’s positing of a univocal correspondence between God and man; and the Cartesian suggestion that original righteousness functioned as a barrier for certain natural impulses, was rejected. Third, we show how, in response to the denial of this connection, the image of God was explicitly related to the concept of natural law. Tying in with similar findings on other <italic>loci</italic>, we conclude that Reformed orthodox thought on the <italic>imago Dei</italic> exhibits a variegated pattern of extensions, qualifications, and adjustments of earlier accounts within a clearly discernable overall continuity.</p></abstract>

One of the less well-researched areas in the recent renaissance of the study of Reformed orthodoxy is anthropology. In this contribution, we investigate a core topic of Reformed orthodox theological anthropology, viz. its treatment of the human being as created in the image of God. First, we analyze the locus of the imago Dei in the Leiden Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625). Second, we highlight some shifts of emphasis in Reformed orthodox treatments of this topic in response to the budding Cartesianism. In particular, the close proximity of the unfallen human being and God was carefully delineated as a result of Descartes’s positing of a univocal correspondence between God and man; and the Cartesian suggestion that original righteousness functioned as a barrier for certain natural impulses, was rejected. Third, we show how, in response to the denial of this connection, the image of God was explicitly related to the concept of natural law. Tying in with similar findings on other loci, we conclude that Reformed orthodox thought on the imago Dei exhibits a variegated pattern of extensions, qualifications, and adjustments of earlier accounts within a clearly discernable overall continuity.

The Image of God in Reformed Orthodoxy. Soundings in the Development of an Anthropological Key Concept

Perichoresis

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

One of the less well-researched areas in the recent renaissance of the study of Reformed orthodoxy is anthropology. In this contribution, we investigate a core...

The Image of God in Reformed Orthodoxy. Soundings in the Development of an Anthropological Key Concept

Published Online: Oct 21, 2016

Page range: 81 - 96

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/perc-2016-0017

Keywords
Reformed orthodoxy, Cartesianism, theological anthropology, natural law

© 2016 Gijsbert van den Brink et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Image of God in Reformed Orthodoxy. Soundings in the Development of an Anthropological Key Concept

Published Online: Oct 21, 2016

Page range: 81 - 96

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/perc-2016-0017

KeywordsReformed orthodoxy, Cartesianism, theological anthropology, natural law

© 2016 Gijsbert van den Brink et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Reformed orthodoxy, Cartesianism, theological anthropology, natural law