Undeceptions with John Dickson 174. God's Image
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Apr 5, 2026 
Carmen Joy Imes, Associate Professor of Old Testament who writes on the image of God and creation, joins to unpack ancient and biblical views of human worth. She contrasts pagan creation myths with Genesis and explains imago Dei as royal rulership and kinship with God. They explore how this idea challenged infanticide, combats discrimination and shapes debates on disability, pornography and abortion.
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Genesis Replaces Utility With Inherent Dignity
- The biblical idea of humans as the image of God overturned ancient pagan logic that judged human worth by utility or capacity.
- John Dickson contrasts Hilarion's throwaway remark about exposing female infants with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to show Christianity reframed inherent human dignity.
Humanity As The Climax Of Creation
- Genesis 1 presents humans as the climax of creation, made in God's image to rule on God's behalf rather than as an afterthought or slave of the gods.
- Carmen Joy Imes highlights the textual pause “Let us make” as a deliberate literary device stressing human uniqueness and vocation.
Image Of God As Kinship Not Capacity
- The imago Dei is not a detachable capacity like rationality but a concrete relational status: we are God's offspring and thus have inherent worth irrespective of abilities.
- Carmen Joy Imes argues capacity-based definitions exclude infants and dementia sufferers from dignity, which the biblical grammar avoids.
