Imago Dei: Man/Woman Created in the Image of God. George Hobson

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Imago Dei: Man/Woman Created in the Image of God - George Hobson

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      Imago Dei: Man/Woman Created in the Image of God

      Implications for Theology, Pastoral Care, Eucharist, Apologetics, Aesthetics

      George Hobson

      Foreword by William Edgar

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      Imago Dei: Man/Woman Created in the Image of God

      Implications for Theology, Pastoral Care, Eucharist, Apologetics, Aesthetics

      Copyright © 2019 George Hobson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave. , Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Wipf & Stock

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave. , Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www. wipfandstock. com

      paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-8998-7

      hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-8999-4

      ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-9000-6

      Manufactured in the U. S. A. October 29, 2019

      Foreword

      I was in a clothing store, waiting for my wife to try on some shoes. To distract the consumer, the waiting room had a large bound copy of the New York Times with headlines and editorials dating back to the 1930s. I opened the volume at random and there, prominently displayed, was an op-ed article by the American theologian J. Gresham Machen. Whatever the merits of the particular article, it was clear that theological opinion was taken seriously by readers of this influential newspaper. Today believers still write for the Times, but more often than not the reader identifies, not a view that thought leaders need to reckon with as to how to change the world, but fascination, often condescending, with figuring out which tribe the author belongs to and moving on with life.

      Coming from many corners, there is a nearly universal sense that the voice of Christian theology in public life is muted at best, harmful at worst. Standard reflections on secularization have measured the receding influence of religion in public and private life. Like the Cheshire Cat, less and less remains, until the only imprint is an enigmatic smile. The older, “standard” sociological model predicted (and often prescribed) the waning of Christian influence in decision-making. Not so long ago, political policy was filled with references to Reinhold Niebuhr’s thoughts on sin, or Karl Barth’s critique of statist idolatry, or even J. G. Machen’s libertarian views. No longer.

      What is to be done? Retreat into a Benedict Option until the storm passes? Lash out with resentment? Is there a silver bullet? No, certainly not. The essays you hold in your hands by George Hobson are hopeful beyond many measures. The reason? They center, directly or indirectly, on one of the most needed doctrines for our times: mankind made in the image of God. The shorthand, imago Dei, is not only elegant and meaningful, but tells us that it has been believed from ancient times. The fundamental nature of human beings is a nonnegotiable answer to many of the challenges of our day. Hobson has written before on the dangers, as well as the opportunities, afforded by technology. As social media seeps in by osmosis, molding us into information-based machines, doomed to lose the control that is promised, the imago tells us not to look across, but to look upward. We have our primary identity in God himself, who conferred our nature on us.

      The doctrine does far more. Instead of acrimonious denunciations of therapeutic abortions, it reminds us of the grandeur of even the most vulnerable human being. Instead of caving in to pragmatism, it reminds us we are capable of beauty from the ashes. Instead of empty defenses of the propositional value of the Bible (a value which it has, of course), it makes us ask why God revealed himself to a lost people and how it was possible for him to do so. Though it is not because the image makes us deserve him, when he does redeem us he restores us to a fuller image than we had even before. Instead of the rhetoric, “I have a plan, ” often heard from political candidates, it provides us with “I have a great God who leads us beyond plans into the house of the Lord forever, where goodness and love will follow us all the days of our lives” (Ps 23:6).

      One of my mentors, the late Hans Rookmaaker, reveled in provocative statements. One of them was, “Christ did not come to make us more Christian, but more human.” He knew, of course, that the statement was a redundancy. But his hope was to awaken his audience to what everyone today is talking about, but floundering to accomplish: human flourishing.

      I don’t think we are on the brink of a revival. Although these pages contain the marvelous answer of the gospel for our times, they risk being lost in the maelstrom of “le cercle des bavards, ” lost in the chatter, but for two things. First, the prose here is crystal clear, compellingly lucid, and deeply persuasive. Hobson is a considerable poet, and his gifts for lyrics serve him admirably here. Thus, his great learning, far from making him mad (Acts 26:24), is translated into language we can all understand. This is a rarity. We need to listen, and then move into action. And second, most of these lectures, if not the three long essays, were delivered in local parishes. Here is Jesus’s front line. Without denying the Kuyperian point that he is Lord in every sphere, there is something unique—dare I say, sacramental—about communicating directly with a church audience.

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