September 28, 2005
Created in the Image of God:
Human Uniqueness in Theology and Science
Dr. Wentzel van Huyssteen
Professor of Theology & Science, Princeton Theological Seminary
Minutes of the Third Meeting of the 64th Year
President William Haynes called the meeting to order at 10:12 AM. 90 persons were present. John Mark, in full baritone, led the invocation. The minutes of the previous meeting will be distributed by e-mail. Ken Gould introduced his guest Alvin Gordon. Jim Deneen introduced his guest Carmen Catanese, and Adrian Lincoln introduced a visitor whom he had known for 80 years, namely his twin brother.
Thomas Gillespie introduced Professor Wenzel van Huyssteen, the speaker for the day. Dr. van Huyssteen is the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary, the first such chair in the world devoted to this dialogue, Gillespie believes. He is South African by birth, earned a doctorate at the Free University of Amsterdam, has been a Gifford lecturer in Scotland, and is editor of a dictionary of theology and science, now in preparation.
Dr. van Huyssteen's subject was, "Created in the Image of God: Human Uniqueness in Theology and Science." His partners in this dialogue were theology and paleo anthropology. What makes us unique as human beings? What constitutes, in theological terms, the image of God in which we are created? The Bible offers many suggestions but does not define it. For centuries it was identified with human reason. But men defined rationality; what about women? Stewardship of the resources of the earth was another suggestion; what we can do through science and technology, not just what we think. But ecologists have raised questions about this as well. Are we really managing like God? Karl Barth in the 20th century has suggested relationship as the imago dei, reflecting the triune God and first expressed in the created relation of man and woman. To all of this Jewish philosophers, from Maimonides to Abraham Heschel, have also made important contributions.
How unique are we really? Paleoanthropologists agree that, in contrast to two million years ago, there is only one species of hominid on earth today, homo sapiens. They have made many discoveries about the life and distribution of this species through artifacts and bones. The problem they face however, is that the less material aspects of humanity -language, memory, imagination, self-awareness, guilt, pride, and sense of meaning - do not fossilize. We must extrapolate them from material remains.
With this, the speaker led us, through word and picture, into the caves of southern France and northern Spain, where prehistoric paintings, 32,000 to 12,000 years old, are I preserved. They seem to imply, he said, a shamanistic form of religion: an entry into altered states of consciousness which engage all the senses, in which humans may experience being changed into animals, but where also awareness of a spiritual world becomes real. Hand prints on the pictures reach for this world. Animals floating in space embody it. The cave of Lescaux, whose art we saw, has been described as a cathedral this religion, and its paintings as a form of worship.
What does all this imply for the dialogue between theology and anthropology, about the uniqueness of' humanity? Theology, the speaker suggests, might learn to explore the Biblical material with a broader imagination, learning more from it about the depth, the scope, and the universality of human religious expression. Who were Adam and Eve? Perhaps the first of these early human who sat somewhere in a cave or under a tree, and worshipped. Anthropologists might be invited to go beyond the fossilized evidence and to incorporate it into the drama of human history and the dimension of good and evil, with which theology deals.
Among the questions were:
1. What is shamanism? Reply: a religion of prehistoric origin in which shamans lead followers into altered states of consciousness. It is in various forms a universal human experience.
2. What does all this have to do with the theory of intelligent design? Reply: I don't think is a helpful way of discerning God's action and presence in the world. It implies discovering the nature of God from the design we see in the world. What kind of a God would that be? It is better to explore the meaning of God's providence.
3. Does all that you have described support a theory of evolution, as part of God's plan? Reply: emphatically yes.
4, Are the handprints in the Lescaux paintings found elsewhere? Reply: They are almost universal in prehistoric art all over the world.
5. Can science find a place in the brain where a sense of God is located? Reply: Studies on Buddhist monks and Franciscan nuns have shown that one can discover reflections in the brain of particular forms of religious meditation.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles C. West
Thomas Gillespie introduced Professor Wenzel van Huyssteen, the speaker for the day. Dr. van Huyssteen is the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary, the first such chair in the world devoted to this dialogue, Gillespie believes. He is South African by birth, earned a doctorate at the Free University of Amsterdam, has been a Gifford lecturer in Scotland, and is editor of a dictionary of theology and science, now in preparation.
Dr. van Huyssteen's subject was, "Created in the Image of God: Human Uniqueness in Theology and Science." His partners in this dialogue were theology and paleo anthropology. What makes us unique as human beings? What constitutes, in theological terms, the image of God in which we are created? The Bible offers many suggestions but does not define it. For centuries it was identified with human reason. But men defined rationality; what about women? Stewardship of the resources of the earth was another suggestion; what we can do through science and technology, not just what we think. But ecologists have raised questions about this as well. Are we really managing like God? Karl Barth in the 20th century has suggested relationship as the imago dei, reflecting the triune God and first expressed in the created relation of man and woman. To all of this Jewish philosophers, from Maimonides to Abraham Heschel, have also made important contributions.
How unique are we really? Paleoanthropologists agree that, in contrast to two million years ago, there is only one species of hominid on earth today, homo sapiens. They have made many discoveries about the life and distribution of this species through artifacts and bones. The problem they face however, is that the less material aspects of humanity -language, memory, imagination, self-awareness, guilt, pride, and sense of meaning - do not fossilize. We must extrapolate them from material remains.
With this, the speaker led us, through word and picture, into the caves of southern France and northern Spain, where prehistoric paintings, 32,000 to 12,000 years old, are I preserved. They seem to imply, he said, a shamanistic form of religion: an entry into altered states of consciousness which engage all the senses, in which humans may experience being changed into animals, but where also awareness of a spiritual world becomes real. Hand prints on the pictures reach for this world. Animals floating in space embody it. The cave of Lescaux, whose art we saw, has been described as a cathedral this religion, and its paintings as a form of worship.
What does all this imply for the dialogue between theology and anthropology, about the uniqueness of' humanity? Theology, the speaker suggests, might learn to explore the Biblical material with a broader imagination, learning more from it about the depth, the scope, and the universality of human religious expression. Who were Adam and Eve? Perhaps the first of these early human who sat somewhere in a cave or under a tree, and worshipped. Anthropologists might be invited to go beyond the fossilized evidence and to incorporate it into the drama of human history and the dimension of good and evil, with which theology deals.
Among the questions were:
1. What is shamanism? Reply: a religion of prehistoric origin in which shamans lead followers into altered states of consciousness. It is in various forms a universal human experience.
2. What does all this have to do with the theory of intelligent design? Reply: I don't think is a helpful way of discerning God's action and presence in the world. It implies discovering the nature of God from the design we see in the world. What kind of a God would that be? It is better to explore the meaning of God's providence.
3. Does all that you have described support a theory of evolution, as part of God's plan? Reply: emphatically yes.
4, Are the handprints in the Lescaux paintings found elsewhere? Reply: They are almost universal in prehistoric art all over the world.
5. Can science find a place in the brain where a sense of God is located? Reply: Studies on Buddhist monks and Franciscan nuns have shown that one can discover reflections in the brain of particular forms of religious meditation.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles C. West