{"id":3734,"date":"2016-08-08T14:51:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T19:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/?p=3734"},"modified":"2016-09-08T11:49:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T16:49:23","slug":"the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"40874887$ <\/a>The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful.<\/p>\n

Genesis tells us that<\/p>\n

God created humankind in his image,
\nin the image of God he created them;
\nmale and female he created them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why does this matter?<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\n<p>In the ancient world it was thought that the only people created in the image of God were political leaders \u2013 kings and pharaohs, for example. They were the only ones who held this sanctity of life, power, and authority.<\/p>\n<p>The ancient writers of the Bible hijacked the phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d to say that everyone is created in the divine image. So, if you want to see God in the world, look to your fellow human beings, particularly those on the margins.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone from every nation shares in the divine image. You can\u2019t grasp for it, nor you can\u2019t take it away from someone. Everyone shares in God\u2019s image.<\/p>\n<p>This idea is summed up by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, when we claimed<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">[1]<\/a> \u2013<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>What do I see when I see a man? I see him first as one other specimen of the human species. Then as a specific, particular individual who can be named or identified. But then he stands before me as the only entity in nature with which sanctity is associated. All other sacred objects in space are made holy by man. Human life is the only type of being we consider intrinsically sacred. The only type of being that we regard as supremely valuable. The particular individual may not be dear to me. In fact, I may even dislike him, but he is dear to someone else. To his mother, for example. Although that, too, is not the reason for his eminence. For even if nobody cares for him, he is still a human being.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, the people who wrote the Bible didn\u2019t always live into this principle. They divided the world into \u201cus and them,\u201d but we moderns do the same thing. And when we do, Genesis 1 calls us back to remember that all people, especially those on the margins of culture, are created in the image of God, worthy of care and love.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">[1]<\/a> Please forgive Heschel\u2019s mid-20<sup>th<\/sup> century gender language. We would be right to critique his male dominant language, but when he writes \u201cman,\u201d he means \u201chuman.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Image: Copyright: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.123rf.com\/profile_donot6\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">donot6 \/ 123RF Stock Photo<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Stay in the loop! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeachingNonviolentAtonement\/?fref=ts\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Like Teaching Nonviolent Atonement on Facebook!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For more in this series:<\/em><br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/video-the-bible-explained-part-1-creation\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 1: Creation is No Myth<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \u201cImage of God\u201d<br>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-is-progressive-the-bible-explained-part-3\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 3: The Bible is Progressive<br>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-apocalypse-revealed-the-bible-explained-part-4\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 4: The Apocalypse Revealed<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-key-to-biblical-violence-the-bible-explained-part-5\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 5: The Key to Biblical Violence<br>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/09\/adam-eve-and-the-mimetics-of-being-human-the-bible-explained-part-6\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 6: Adam, Eve, and the Mimetics of Being Human<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Why does this matter? In the ancient world it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1651,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1986],"tags":[494,27,1967,391,1966,1968],"class_list":["post-3734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-bible-explained","tag-abraham-joshua-heschel","tag-bible","tag-divine-image","tag-genesis","tag-image-of-god","tag-sanctity-of-life"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the "Image of God"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the "Image of God"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Teaching Nonviolent Atonement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeachingNonviolentAtonement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-08T19:51:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-08T16:49:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/files\/2016\/08\/image-of-god-pic.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Ericksen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Ericksen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\",\"name\":\"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \\\"Image of God\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-08T19:51:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-08T16:49:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/7b3f1c992213be30d5ec5a8a782d4660\"},\"description\":\"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/\",\"name\":\"Teaching Nonviolent Atonement\",\"description\":\"Mimetic Theory\u2019s Wisdom for Building Cultures of Peace\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/7b3f1c992213be30d5ec5a8a782d4660\",\"name\":\"Adam Ericksen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/326c886bfd0b48a1f87d52c89bfbb724?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/326c886bfd0b48a1f87d52c89bfbb724?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adam Ericksen\"},\"description\":\"Adam Ericksen is the Education Director for The Raven Foundation. He writes blogs and films vlogs at Teaching Nonviolent Atonement and the Raven Foundation website that explore the intersections of mimetic theory, the news, religion, and popular culture.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.ravenfoundation.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/author\/adamericksen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \"Image of God\"","description":"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \"Image of God\"","og_description":"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/","og_site_name":"Teaching Nonviolent Atonement","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeachingNonviolentAtonement","article_published_time":"2016-08-08T19:51:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-08T16:49:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/files\/2016\/08\/image-of-god-pic.jpg"}],"author":"Adam Ericksen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adam Ericksen","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/","name":"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \"Image of God\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-08T19:51:40+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-08T16:49:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/7b3f1c992213be30d5ec5a8a782d4660"},"description":"The phrase \u201cimage of God\u201d has become a bit clich\u00e9, but if we understand its original intent, the phrase becomes more powerful. Genesis tells us that God","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Bible Explained Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/","name":"Teaching Nonviolent Atonement","description":"Mimetic Theory\u2019s Wisdom for Building Cultures of Peace","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/7b3f1c992213be30d5ec5a8a782d4660","name":"Adam Ericksen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/326c886bfd0b48a1f87d52c89bfbb724?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/326c886bfd0b48a1f87d52c89bfbb724?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adam Ericksen"},"description":"Adam Ericksen is the Education Director for The Raven Foundation. He writes blogs and films vlogs at Teaching Nonviolent Atonement and the Raven Foundation website that explore the intersections of mimetic theory, the news, religion, and popular culture.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ravenfoundation.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/author\/adamericksen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}