A Quick Thought on the Image of God

There is a presumption among far too many fundamentalist Christians to equate “Man made in the image of God” with the outward and physical characteristics of God, despite the fact that God is spirit and not material. Fundamentalists do so because they want to counter the findings of biological evolution that traces man’s biological ascendancy from brute beast to a thinking mammal (I myself find the ascendancy from brute mammal to mammal that has a personal relationship with God fascinating). Such an idea unfortunately borders upon that of Mormonism (and some other fundamentalist groups) that views God as having a physical body not unlike that of Adam. Nevertheless, if “Man made in the image of God” with were to be thought of in such physical terms, what would God then look like?

Young or old?
Black of white?
Male or female?
Tall or short?
Fat or thin?
Blonde or brunette?
Brown eyes or blue eyes?
Beard or clean shaven?

The classical philosophers (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) would by dialectical reasoning attempt to find out what the essence of Man is by reducing him or her down to its most common and universal denominator and then state this ideal as that which is what makes man in the image of God and thus, God. Such a Thomist approach to theology would send Barth into a tirade. I myself (like a good neo-orthodox thinker) would rather find out about Man from God and not God from Man.

But, again, if we did make such test on the condition that God is most like what man is most like … then God would be an Asian woman because there are more Asians than any other race and more women than men. Thus, an Asian woman.

[In case your wondering what it means for Man to be made in God’s image, it refers to Man’s ability to relate on a personal level. Thus, He created Man to be able to relate to God. My own personal theory is that the first animal that was able to relate to God on a personal level was the first human (i.e., Adam). I’ll probably have to wait until the resurrection to get an answer. Oh well.]