Comments on: humans, animals and imago dei, pt. 2 http://deepchurch.org.uk/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fdeepchurch.org.uk%2F2009%2F08%2F26%2Fhumans-animals-and-imago-dei-pt-2%2F&seed_title=humans%2C+animals+and+imago+dei%2C+pt.%26%23160%3B2 remembering our past to face our future Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:26:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: humans, animals and imago dei, pt. 2 at Deep Church | Theography http://deepchurch.org.uk/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fdeepchurch.org.uk%2F2009%2F08%2F26%2Fhumans-animals-and-imago-dei-pt-2%2F&seed_title=humans%2C+animals+and+imago+dei%2C+pt.%26%23160%3B2/comment-page-1/#comment-9057 humans, animals and imago dei, pt. 2 at Deep Church | Theography Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:30:00 +0000 http://deepchurch.org.uk/?p=1327#comment-9057 [...] humans, animals and imago dei, pt. 2 at Deep Church.       Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and [...] [...] humans, animals and imago dei, pt. 2 at Deep Church.       Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and [...]

]]> By: Nancy Janisch http://deepchurch.org.uk/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fdeepchurch.org.uk%2F2009%2F08%2F26%2Fhumans-animals-and-imago-dei-pt-2%2F&seed_title=humans%2C+animals+and+imago+dei%2C+pt.%26%23160%3B2/comment-page-1/#comment-6466 Nancy Janisch Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:47:42 +0000 http://deepchurch.org.uk/?p=1327#comment-6466 Thank you for your comments, particularly your thoughts on Leviticus. I think many Christians have too simplistic and too dismissive a view of Torah observance. I lived for a few years in a town with a large observant Jewish community and I slowly began to realize that Torah observance was much more that rule following. It was as you say concerned with relationship and identity. When Jesus says he is the fullfilment, the culmination of the Law, our understanding of relationship and identity are changed and enlarged. I'm glad to hear my post was helpful, that is always my hope and prayer. Thank you for your comments, particularly your thoughts on Leviticus. I think many Christians have too simplistic and too dismissive a view of Torah observance. I lived for a few years in a town with a large observant Jewish community and I slowly began to realize that Torah observance was much more that rule following. It was as you say concerned with relationship and identity. When Jesus says he is the fullfilment, the culmination of the Law, our understanding of relationship and identity are changed and enlarged. I’m glad to hear my post was helpful, that is always my hope and prayer.

]]> By: Leslie Strovs http://deepchurch.org.uk/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fdeepchurch.org.uk%2F2009%2F08%2F26%2Fhumans-animals-and-imago-dei-pt-2%2F&seed_title=humans%2C+animals+and+imago+dei%2C+pt.%26%23160%3B2/comment-page-1/#comment-6457 Leslie Strovs Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:48:12 +0000 http://deepchurch.org.uk/?p=1327#comment-6457 Thank you for this post Nancy. It has helped round out some of the very same thoughts bouncing around in my own head. I think the ideas here about God's character and nature being revealed to us through what He does in relationship with His creation, and our own image being a reflection of that is perhaps why in Leviticus God calls His people to be holy, for He is holy. I think many Christians today are confused about the notion of holiness, believing it to be a status achieved by adherence to a set of rules and regulations around our behavior; the proverbial "thou shalt's" and "thou shall nots". It's understandable given that the Leviticus command for holiness is smack in the middle of a list of rules & regulations around worship and communal living, not the least being the ritual of animal sacrifice. What is forgotten it seems is that the rules & regulations of Leviticus were given in the primary context of God's relational nature as revealed in Genesis, and also that they were given as a means of helping His people claim a new identity for themselves, one completely distinct from the Egyptian culture from which they had just come and from the surrounding nations among which they found themselves. Adherence to the Levitical mandates would be an outward declaration of the Israelites new identity as people who belonged to God because they were now in relationship with Him. Belief is founded in experience and practicing holiness would lead to a real belief in and incorporation of their new identity as God's people into their individual and communal life. This movement from practice to real belief has always been at the heart of the Christian experience. It's what it means to work out our salvation and find and incorporate our new identity. But, like you, I don't believe Christians will be able to do so fully until we truly understand the breadth and depth of what it means to be in God-like relationship with people, animals and all creation. Thank you for this post Nancy. It has helped round out some of the very same thoughts bouncing around in my own head. I think the ideas here about God’s character and nature being revealed to us through what He does in relationship with His creation, and our own image being a reflection of that is perhaps why in Leviticus God calls His people to be holy, for He is holy.

I think many Christians today are confused about the notion of holiness, believing it to be a status achieved by adherence to a set of rules and regulations around our behavior; the proverbial “thou shalt’s” and “thou shall nots”. It’s understandable given that the Leviticus command for holiness is smack in the middle of a list of rules & regulations around worship and communal living, not the least being the ritual of animal sacrifice.

What is forgotten it seems is that the rules & regulations of Leviticus were given in the primary context of God’s relational nature as revealed in Genesis, and also that they were given as a means of helping His people claim a new identity for themselves, one completely distinct from the Egyptian culture from which they had just come and from the surrounding nations among which they found themselves. Adherence to the Levitical mandates would be an outward declaration of the Israelites new identity as people who belonged to God because they were now in relationship with Him. Belief is founded in experience and practicing holiness would lead to a real belief in and incorporation of their new identity as God’s people into their individual and communal life.

This movement from practice to real belief has always been at the heart of the Christian experience. It’s what it means to work out our salvation and find and incorporate our new identity. But, like you, I don’t believe Christians will be able to do so fully until we truly understand the breadth and depth of what it means to be in God-like relationship with people, animals and all creation.

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