{"id":5555,"date":"2023-08-25T11:26:22","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T17:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2023-08-25T11:26:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T17:26:22","slug":"the-dignity-of-every-human-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dignity of Every Human Being"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical revision.\u00a0 Breaking with the conciliar caution of centuries gone by, a political mindset now dominates: Seize control of the national apparatus and compel everyone to think what the winners think.\u00a0 That mindset is strengthened by the presumption that those of us who are now alive represent the pinnacle of theological development.\u00a0 Everyone who preceded us is just a bit \u2013 or a lot \u2013 less enlightened.<\/p>\n

This leads to a second assumption: That we should be constantly revising the language that we use in the liturgy.\u00a0 On this reading of things the liturgy is not a prayer, lifted by centuries of Christians, but a political manifesto that is in constant need of revision.<\/p>\n

And, both the first and second conviction leads to the conclusion that we are without an obligation to the past or the \u201cfaith once delivered\u201d.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, those who argue that the process is simply a matter of more accessible language, a bit like the transition from Kings James English to contemporary language.\u00a0 And that is fair enough.\u00a0 But even in that case, the argument for changing the language of the Prayerbook can be over-drawn.\u00a0 Witness the persistent popularity of the BCP\u2019s Rite One, even among younger Christians.<\/p>\n

When the day comes for Prayerbook revision, however, I hope that the architects of that process will change this bit of the baptismal covenant:<\/p>\n

Will you strive for justice and peace among all
\npeople, and respect the dignity of every human
\nbeing?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The way it should read (and, hopefully, will read one day) is \u201crespect the image of God in every human being\u201d.<\/p>\n

Why should we eventually change it?\u00a0 Well, for one thing, when dignity is defined in theological categories it is always described as an implication of the conviction that we are made in the image of God.\u00a0 Take this explanation, for example, from Caritas Australia<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Human dignity originates from God and is of God because we are made in God\u2019s own image and likeness (Gn 1:26-27<\/b>). Human life is sacred because the human person is the most central and clearest reflection of God among us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In short, when there is a biblical or a theological turn of phrase in the tradition that works, we should use it.<\/p>\n

For another: The word, dignity, is just too slippery a word.\u00a0 It can mean something profound, if it is grounded in the kind of conviction expressed in Genesis.\u00a0 But it can also mean a number of\u00a0 other things, none of which have anything to do with that conviction.\u00a0 Dignity can conjure up notions of autonomy and control, style and elegance, or some more subjective notions about the value of human life.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the other problem: Grounded in the categories used in Genesis, to be made in the image of God is to be invested with a quality that is transcendent.\u00a0 As such, that conviction about our neighbors makes a claim upon us that we cannot escape.\u00a0 Not so with the notion of human dignity, which is a \u201chorizontal\u201d, not a transcendent category.\u00a0 We can claim that human beings possess dignity or that we ought to treat other human beings with dignity but it is subject to challenges, based upon race, class, ethnicity, and a host of other categories.<\/p>\n

Our baptismal vows should clearly suggest that it is not this conviction is not up for debate.<\/p>\n

Photo by Mario Purisic<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical revision.\u00a0 Breaking with the conciliar caution of centuries gone by, a political mindset now dominates: Seize control of the national apparatus and compel everyone to think what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":5570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4442,4436,4433,4439,2698],"tags":[4445,4448,4451,4454],"class_list":["post-5555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baptismal-vows","category-dignity-of-all-human-beings","category-human-dignity","category-image-of-god","category-prayerbook-revision","tag-baptismal-vows","tag-dignity","tag-dignity-of-all-human-geings","tag-image-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Dignity of Every Human Being<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical\" \/>\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\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Dignity of Every Human Being\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/174\/2023\/08\/mario-purisic-jG1z5o7NCq4-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/\",\"name\":\"The Dignity of Every Human Being\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Dignity of Every Human Being\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. They have four children and eight grandchildren.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/author\/fredschmidt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Dignity of Every Human Being","description":"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical","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\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Dignity of Every Human Being","og_description":"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/","og_site_name":"What God Wants for Your Life","article_published_time":"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/174\/2023\/08\/mario-purisic-jG1z5o7NCq4-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Frederick Schmidt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Frederick Schmidt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/","name":"The Dignity of Every Human Being","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-25T17:26:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21"},"description":"I am not a big fan of Prayerbook revision.\u00a0 And for a variety of reasons. One, I think that the modern church is addicted to theological and liturgical","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/08\/the-dignity-of-every-human-being\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Dignity of Every Human Being"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/","name":"What God Wants for Your Life","description":"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21","name":"Frederick Schmidt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Frederick Schmidt"},"description":"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. They have four children and eight grandchildren.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/author\/fredschmidt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}