Alvin Plantinga on Being Created in God's Image

January 7, 2013 | Is belief in God properly basic to humanity? Philosophers of religion have vigorously contested this question, and the relationship between theism and rationality more generally, over the past several decades. As part of its ongoing research project on religion as intrinsic to human experience, the Religious Freedom Project hosted a standing seminar addressing this topic with noted philosopher Alvin Plantinga on January 7. A panel of distinguished philosophers engaged with Plantinga's paper on the basic nature of belief in God and the rationality of theism and with a response by respected philosopher Ernest Sosa. The panel subsequently delved into these issues and assessed their impact on broader questions involving the philosophical underpinnings of religious freedom.

Alvin Plantinga is the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to Notre Dame in 1982, he taught at Calvin College from 1963 to 1982. A widely regarded philosopher of religion, he is credited with helping revive Christian philosophy. Acclaimed for his work on metaphysics, the problem of evil, and the epistemology of religious belief, he has written or edited numerous books, including Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism (2011), Science and Religion (2010, with Daniel Dennett), and Knowledge of God (2008, with Michael Tooley). Other major works include God and Other Minds (1967), The Nature of Necessity (1974), Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God (1983, ed. with Nicholas Wolterstorff), and a major trilogy on "Warrant" which argues, among many other things, that belief in God is "properly basic." Plantinga received his A.B. from Calvin College and Ph.D. from Yale University.

[oldpossum]

The lovely thing about Plantinga is that he knows god personally. Where he lives, his favourite drink, what “racial” features he has. And he deduces all of this from a definition. Terrific work! Can’t wait to see the sequel!

[JCATG]

Thatʼs an articulate way of putting the Imago Dei conversation on a broader perspective. Thank you for this snippet of Dr. Alvin Plantingaʼs talk at Georgetown.

I am thoroughly amazed by his writings on philosophical theology and I hoped that more people would come to know about his body of work.

God bless!

[godonlyone]

There are only about 4, 000 words in the ancient Hebrew language. Therefore when translating into English, which has about 171, 476 words, most ancient Hebrew words can be correctly translated in very many different ways:

The average number of possible choices in English is just under 43 words (forty-three words) for each ancient Hebrew word. This obviously leaves a whole lot of room for interpretation, and obliges the wise translator to rely heavily on context in order to produce an accurate translation.

The ancient Hebrew word from Gen 1:26 under discussion in this video, (_tselem_), which has been translated by some as "image, " can also correctly be translated as "imagination." This translation would mean that man was created first in God's imagination, and only later, in Gen 2:7, given a gross material body (when God formed his body from dust), given the breath of life, and placed on planet Earth.

"And God (אֱלֹהִים -- _'elohiym_) said (אָמַר -- _'amar_), Let us create (עָשָׂה -- _`asah_) man (אָדָם -- _'adam_)
*in our imagination* (צֶלֶם -- _tselem_), and after our likeness (דְּמוּת -- _dĕmuwth_)" [emphasis added]

God's above use of the Hebrew word _dĕmuwth_, which means "likeness, " directly after the word _tselem_ adds weight to this contention, for using _tselem_ as "image" in such close quarters with _dĕmuwth_ ("likeness") would certainly be redundant, whereas using _tselem_ as "imagination" adds its own discrete meaning to the sentence.

The proper reading of this passage, as expressed above, also nullifies the atheistic contention that God could not have "created" man on the grounds that neither spirit nor matter can actually be created or destroyed. While it is true that neither spirit nor matter can be created or destroyed, God could have easily created a mental body for man (which would be both non-spiritual and non-material) in God's imagination before God set out, later, to give man a material body.