Examine religious teachings about what what it means to be human?

Many people believe that a big part of what it means to be human is the fact that we are relational beings. The fact that humans can have relationships with God, a higher spiritual being and with one another is partly what makes us human.Christian beliefs claim that human beings are created in imago dei, created by God as recorded in Genesis 1:26.  As mentioned in the Nicene Creed God is part of the Holy Trinity where the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are inter-relational. The fact that humans are in imago dei suggests that we are also created to be relational, similarly to God.The Nicene Creed could also suggests that in the same way that The Holy Trinity are all part of the same spiritual being and are fully inter relational suggests that humanity has to be inter relational and work together, this is shown by the continual of the inclusive pronoun 'We'. A key Christian belief, the golden rule (Mark 12:31) , that we should 'love thy neighbor as yourself 'reinforces the fact that we should be compassionate and emphatic towards one another. It also emphasizes the importance of loving oneself and 'thy neighbor' as it is showing compassion in the body that is in the imago dei which in turn shows your love for God.

The fact that humans were created by God is what some people argue as what it means to be human.  Through christian beliefs humans were created by God on the sixth day, at the climax of creation showing humans importance. In Genesis 2:7 God said 'Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground' and let them have dominion'. God created humankind in His image and gave humans the ability to have dominion over other creatures the He had created which shows the significance of humans. It also shows humans role of stewardship within the world in order to look after God's creation that reflects His omniscience and omnipresence. This is also mentioned in Psalm 139 which signifies the importance of God and humans' dependence of God and God's relationship between God and humanity. Psalm 139 also references Genesis 2 where it says that 'I was...intricately woven in the depths of the earth' also suggesting the importance of the earth reinforcing the idea of stewardship. Furthermore it also suggests how humans are 'intricately woven' and created with importance and with great detail to each and every one of humankind showing God's omniscience and omnibenevolence. It also suggests human's fragility that contrasts greatly with God's status and omnipotence.

Another defining characteristic of being human is the fact that humans are rational creatures. This means that the fact that we can think and reason is a unique characteristic that partly defines what it means to be human. St Augustine supports this idea of humans' ability to reason is what makes us human. However this potentially could be very controversial as it is a reductionist approach hence excluding people with mental illness, babies etc. who are not able to reason. However it could be suggested that the potential to reason is what defines humans. St Aquinas suggests that reason is partly a form of revelation which leads us to God. The fact that we have the ability to try and comprehend God and have faith in Him shows the existence of God and what makes us human. Furthermore our rationality allows humans to be compassionate ad have the ability to empathize. C.S.Lewis compares humanity to angels who are much holier and closer to God. However he expresses how humans have the ability to feel and experience as humans experience the world a posteriori. Furthermore humans are able to live with feelings and enjoy experiences although they know there's a time limit and can accept an inevitable death unlike angels. This reinforces the idea that humans are rational beings and because we can think of ideas such as God, and postulate death.

Good Girls vs. Bad Girls

God's Good Girls;

Deborah and Jael(Judges 4)

• Deborah(meaning Bee) was the first and only female Judge( a prophet, leader) of Israel, who settled disputes and helped the citizens of Israel who were oppressed by the Canaanites.
• In order to stop the oppression by the Canaanites she called Barak(meaning lightening) and told him to summon 10 000 troops from the tribes of Israel. She prophesied that Sisera( the leader of Canaan) would come and attack and would be defeated by the Israelites. This in theory wouldn't be realistic as Sisera's army was extremely strong and was well equipped. However Barak's army went up to Mount Tabor and Deborah said, 'The Lord is indeed going out before you'. Sisera's army was defeated however Sisera fled by foot from the battle.
• Deborah promised that 'the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.' (Judges 4:9)
• Sisera fled to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite as there was peace between the clan of the Kenites and King Jabin of Hazor. So Jael said  ‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.’
• Jael let him sleep in the tent and gave him some milk in order for him to fall into a deep sleep. Once he was asleep she took a tent peg and drove it into his temple until it reached the ground and he died. 
• God then subdued King Jabin and the Israelites bore harder and harder until King Jabin was defeated

Esther

• Esther was summoned to be King Ahasuerus's wife, after his previous one refused to entertain him and his company and was banished as punishments. 
• King Ahasuerus did not not know that Esther is a Jew but after Haman orders to kill all the Jews she pleads to the King to stop Haman.
• King Ahasuerus said ‘See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews' (Esther 8:7)  and so Esther saved the Jews from assassination.

Mary( Luke 1:26-56)

• Mary was engaged to Joseph and when the Holy Spirit came to her, God's presence and power led to the virginal birth of Jesus Christ
• Magnificat 
• Mary was a woman of virtue and of faith who sought God's will (set out to confirm God's message)
• She knew of Jesus' powers and called on him to help on various occasions (John 2:1-12) 
• 

God's Bad Girls 

Eve (Genesis 1-3)

• In Genesis 1 Eve was created 'in the image of God' and was created as an equal to Adam; ' God created humankind..male and female' 
• However in Genesis 2 man was formed from the dust of the ground and woman was created as a 'helper and a partner' from one of Adam's ribs and was named woman 'for out of man this one was taken'. However being called a helper doesnt necessarily have to create negative connotations- God was also referred to as 'helper'
• After eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge and of good and evil God punished Eve with pain of childbirth and that all her desire to be for her husband who 'shall rule over you'. And because Adam listened to the voice of his wife he was also punished.
• It also mentions in Genesis 3:20 that man named his wife Eve showing his dominion of man and his ability to name all creatures.
• Eve is very often blamed for the original sin and the fall of humanity

Adam and Eve by Giovanni della Robbia- depicting Eve also as the face of the snake depicting women as untrustworthy, sinful and manipulative. Adam and the snake's faces suggest their blame of Eve.

BatSheva(2Samuel 11)

• BatSheva was the wife of Urriah who was part of King David's army. While the troops were away Kind David saw BatSheva bathing on her roof and sent messengers to fetch her and he slept with her and consequently impregnated her.
• In order to cover up his mistake he called Urriah back from the battle for a night thinking he would sleep with his wife however Urriah refused to while his men were sleeping out in the open as it would be unfair. David intoxicated him however Urriah still slept outside the next night. So Kind David sent a messenger to Joav and told him to send Urriah to the forefront to confirm his death in battle. BatSheva then became one of many of King David's wives
• Some people suggest that BatSheva lived in a time where modesty was extremely important and the fact that she bathed naked was actually in order to seduce Kind David and he was just a slave to his masculinity 

Salome (Matthew 14:1-11)

• Salome was the step-daughter of King Herod and for his birthday she entertained King Herod and his company and he enjoyed it so much he vowed he would give her whatever she pleased. She, instructed by her mother, asked for the head of John the Baptist and in turn, with great sadness the King commanded the beheadedment of John the Baptist. Salome was presented with his head on a silver platter
• The erotic dance was later known to be iconized as the dance of the seven veils and that she was depicted as an icon of dangerous female seductiveness. Again creating a power over the men 

Augustine's Confessions Book 11 Notes

• In Book 11 Augustine points out that during the creation in Genesis there is an apparent separation of God (who is eternal) and his creation (trapped in time 'temporality')

• while writing the book he continually asks God to help keep his mind focused (i could use with some help too...) serving the purposes of reducing the criticisms of Augustine putting his philosophical views over God and to keep readers from giving up on intricacies of argument as God has helped him keep his mind focused showing the importance of the details 
• all of his confessions are in praise of God 

[XI.1-16]

Time

Following the theme in Genesis of 'beginning', Augustine tries to determine when time started and God's relation to 'beginning'. Augustine makes it clear that God did not make creation of the heavens and earth in a literal sense or within the universe at all since nothing could exist before this act of creation. The 'making' of the universe suggests that God had materials in which to 'make' the universe. And therefore Aug. shows that the words in Genesis are to be taken spiritually rather than literally.

"by your word you made (the creation)...but how did you speak?"

God created the universe with a 'word' but not like that in normal speech. Normal speech is known and successive, part of a language- it is shared. This cannot be the case with God's word of creation as it would require a succession of that 'word', that creation. And God's word cannot have succeeded in time(as time did not yet exist) so must have been spoken eternally.

The 'word' and creation of God does not become over time rather it is constant and continuously spoken.

If the 'word' is continuously spoken then how could creation be temporal and continuously change. Aug. suggests that things change but only according to God's whole eternally uttered Word and unchanging design. Everything that exists and ceases to exist, in the eternal reason where nothing changes, it is known that there is a reason for its beginning or end.

Beginning

Aug. states that the beginning is God himself or Christ, the living 'word' of God, not that he was first as there was no 'first' as God is eternal and transcendent, but rather that God is the fixed point as he is the first cause and the source of all things. 

The same interpretation allows us to refer to Christ, the 'beginning' as 'wisdom' as it is the route where one can seek the wisdom of God. "Wisdom is the beginning, and in the beginning you made heaven and earth". This is a profoundly spiritual reading and has moved away from the temporal beginning and rather just focuses on the eternal wisdom in which God creates the world accessible through Christ. 

Neoplatonist Porphyry (disciple of Plotinus) validly argued that the creation was impossible as there must have to be a moment when God made the decision to create. As the will of God (unchanging) would have had to change in order to create.

However Aug. claims that Porphyry failed to recognize the eternal and constant sense of the word 'creation'. God did not create the universe at a given time as for God there is no time as he is transcendent. The time that we know and follow does not apply to God and is only a feature of the creation world. The act of creation is both instantaneous and eternal. "There was no 'then'", there was no before. God created the ability to have a 'before'.

[XI.17-41]

In this section Aug. begins to consider time itself as the creation in which we live in still seems to exist in time. Following Aristotle, Aug. notes that everyone thinks they know what time is, at least they are asked...

[dictionary definition of time: the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole]

Aug. strengthens his proof on the non-existence of time using the three defining elements of time; past (passing away), present(existing) and future(things arriving). It seems that time depends entirely on a movement toward non being as time just passes away without any purpose. Time doesnt exist except in the sense that it tends towards non-existence. This is similar to people questioning the meaning of life. He states that neither past or future actually exist and if they were they would be the present. The present can't truly be said to exist either as the present occupies 'no space' and has 'no duration' as any duration would immediately become past or future which can't exist. Hence time has no real existence at all.

However we can measure it and talk about time so it must exist. Aug. states that time can only exist in the present through memory and predictions. The past is made up only by memory images that exist in the present and the future only get its existence from predictions of signs existing in the present. Aug. stated that time has no duration- but how can we measure something if it has no duration and no extension? the answer may lay in the fact that we seem to measure time as it passes through the present moment.

But still, how and with what can we measure something that has no duration? Aug. dismissed any temporal measurements put forward by others particularly the astronomically inspired idea that time is measured by the movements of the heavenly bodies as the heavenly bodies moved in time and therefore not definitive in themselves of time. 

Aug. suggests that time seems to be a form of distention(stretching) of the soul. The soul (abiding in eternal present-no other time exists) becomes stretched out into temporality into an apparent successiveness of events. 

Plotinus wrote that time as a spreading out of life. However Aug. surprisingly sees this distension as a painful fall away from God. This is another version of God's eternal, unified and unchanging essence into the created world of multiplicity and temporality.

Aug. however does confirm that time is a property of the soul itself rather than the external world. That when we appear to be measuring time we are actually measuring our own memory as the past does not exist only the images of the past's existence. Hence time seems to be a property of the mind or soul perhaps as a distension.

Aug. compares his own existence of temporality with God's existence in eternity and being omniscient at all times, in a single timeless eternity...

happy new year!

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