The Image of God and Human Dignity: A Complex Conversation

Despite a limited number of Scriptural texts describing human beings as made in the "image" and "likeness" of God, such language has been widely invoked in both classical and current theology and ethics. In this essay, I first discuss the variety of ways that theological voices have developed this theme. I then consider the possible implications of different understandings of image/likeness for Christian living and normative practice, because different interpretations offer useful examples of how fundamental theological themes play out in the moral life, both methodologically and substantively. Finally, I analyze the links often drawn between image/likeness language and appeals to "human dignity," a term widely invoked in both religious and secular debates. In addressing that linkage, I consider whether faith-based claims about human dignity based on image/likeness language function independently, that is, without further specification in terms of other, perhaps more determinative, principles and norms. I also consider whether such religious understandings of the image/likeness theme, as the basis for dignity-claims, provide additions to, or correctives of, secular accounts of dignity.