The Word in Focus with Dr Larry Taylor

What does it mean to be human? In what sense are humans unique? We are not unique biologically. We humans share approximately 98.8% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living relatives. We are not unique because we think, reason, or communicate. 

Historically, that question has been answered in ways that have required continuous revision. To be human, we thought, meant that we use tools. So do crows. To be human meant we have speech to communicate with one another. Dolphins, whales, apes, and even trees communicate. René Descartes defined humanness as the ability to reason. Cogito ergo sum (L); je pense, donc je suis (Fr). Artificial Intelligence can reason. 

It is argued that humans are unique in that we have self-consciousness. It is speculated that we are the only animals who can examine themselves introspectively. How do we know other creatures don’t?

Jews and the Christians maintain that what makes us human is the fact that we are created in the image of God. What does that mean? Certainly not that we look like God, nor that we alone in all creation can think or communicate. Not even that we can love. Other primates and dogs appear to love. Those traditional capacities simply no longer work. 

The over-arching theme of Scripture is about the creation of a perfect world overlapping heaven where angels, people, animals, plants, and God live in harmony. In the creation stories, God warns the humans not to try to figure out all of life on their own. Humans need wisdom and guidance. The relationship is vital. Humans need communion, interaction, dialogue with the Divine. YHWH Elohim walked in the garden at the time of the evening breeze (Genesis 3:8). The sacred myth depicts the humans as deciding to go it on their own without God’s guidance and wisdom. Disaster results. Chaos rushes back in; the humans find themselves east of Eden where life is hard and violence rules the day.

The story continues. God selects a couple, Abraham, and Sarah, and from them raises up a nation that is to show the whole world how to live in fellowship with God, each other, and nature. Connected with God, listening to God, following God, a global society would flourish. But the descendants of Abraham and Sarah mistook privilege for exceptionalism. They needed a leader, someone to show the way. Moses got close, but not quite. None of the judges amounted to much. The only king who mostly did it right was David, but he blew it at the end of his life. Who will lead the way?

God becomes human. Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth, the perfect man-god, living in harmony with Father YHWH, always doing what the Father says is best. The exact image of God. If we would know what God is like, look at Jesus. God is exactly like Jesus. There is nothing unchristlike in God. 

So, what is God like? Compassionate, understanding, forgiving, reconciling, restoring, healing, liberating, caring, empathetic, wise, and tender – a friend of “sinners,” outcasts, and the lowliest of the low. Yet Messiah is also flooded with fiery indignation over injustice, opposed to the rich and powerful, the manipulators, liars, and exploiters. This is the imago Dei. Jesus is what a human in harmony with God looks like.

So, back to our original question:  What does it mean to be human? We are unique because we are created in the imago Dei, the image of God. Each one of us has the potential to live connected to, in harmony with, God. The imago Dei is fundamentally relational. God is Trinity. God exists as persons-in-relation. Consequently, imaging God means being created for communion — with God and all other creatures. And communion implies love because God is love.

The closer we get to recovering the imago Dei, the more we will care for the environment, live in harmony with nature, serve the poor, feed the hungry, house the homeless, care for the orphan, the widow, and the disabled, bring fresh water to the thirsty, visit the sick and the incarcerated, take bold stands against injustice, and practice other-oriented cruciform love.  Our capacity to do so out of oneness with the Divine is what makes humans unique. Doing less is dehumanizing.