What the Image of God Is and Is Not (Carmen Imes)

The Biblical Mind

You might have heard that being made in the image of God refers to human rationality, relationality, moral agency, or some combination of these qualities. Dr. Carmen Imes disagrees.

She and Dru discuss what they think the author of Genesis was actually referring to with the phrase "image of God," in light of Carmen's latest book Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters (forthcoming in June, 2023). Along the way, they discuss artificial intelligence, the resurrection and renewal of creation, and why Eve should have been more assertive.

Carmen (PhD in Biblical Theology, Wheaton College) is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is also the author of Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters. Carmen is an active member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. Carmen keeps a blog called Chastened Institutions and releases weekly Torah Tuesday videos on her YouTube channel.

• 00:25 Rediscovering the biblical doctrine of the Imago Dei
• 08:47 "Male and female he created them"
• 12:17 The importance of the body
• 17:38 Eve wasn't too bossy—she wasn't assertive enough
• 20:18 Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT
• 28:08 Abdication of creation care and the renewal of the earth
• 38:02 Implications for how we should treat people

Show notes by Celina Durgin

This episode's music was generated by artificial intelligence.