"A straightforward account of ancient Greek anthropology and spirituality that shows other, non-Augustinian methods for understanding the human condition before God. This side of patristic theological development deserves to be heard."--D. H. Williams, Baylor University
What does it mean to be a human being made in the image of God? In this book Nonna Verna Harrison, a respected specialist in early Eastern Christianity, offers a fresh approach to theological anthropology by revealing the thought of leading early church theologians concerning what it means to be human.
Throughout the ages Christians have believed that the image of God in which we are created is at the core of who we are as humans. Theologians and spiritual writers have found the divine image in many different aspects of human identity. Drawing on the wisdom of the desert mothers and fathers and the heritage of Eastern Christianity, Harrison makes the case that the divine image can be seen in not just one or two aspects of human identity but in all of them. Each chapter explores a different facet of the divine image and likeness and maps out a path that can lead toward wholeness and holiness. Harrison challenges the popularized negative view of human nature as inherently bad by proposing an alternative grounded in early Greek Christian sources.
God's Many-Splendored Image brings Greek patristic theology to students in a readable fashion and will work well in theology, patristics, ministry, missions, and anthropology courses.
Contents
Introduction
1. Freedom
2. God and Christ
3. Spiritual Perception
4. Virtues and Humility
5. Royal Dignity
6. Embodiment
7. In the Created World
8. Arts and Sciences
9. Community
Conclusion
Index
Endorsements
"Sister Nonna writes as an expert in the early Christian world and its literature, but she presents the fruits of her learning in a form that is readily accessible to every reader. Her style is simple yet profound, vivid yet never overstated. . . . The author sums up the basic message of her work in the words, 'This book aims to show readers that all people have value before God.' She has indeed succeeded in achieving this objective. And her message is altogether timely, for we live in an era when--in the Western world, at any rate--among all too many people there is a tragic loss of meaning and hope. . . . Here truly is a work that I can recommend with all my heart."--Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia (from the foreword)
"A straightforward account of ancient Greek anthropology and spirituality that shows other, non-Augustinian methods for understanding the human condition before God. This side of patristic theological development deserves to be heard."--D. H. Williams, professor of religion in patristics and historical theology, Baylor University
"Clarity, simplicity, beauty, and depth--these are the gifts offered to the reader in this distillation of all that the Christian tradition has signified by claiming that humanity is created in the image of God and may grow into God-likeness. This book is a model of how to appropriate the church fathers for Christians today."--Frances M. Young, retired Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham, England
"Among its countless insights, this book reveals a deep irony: contemporary libertine society is based on a negative and hopeless view of human possibility, while ancient Christian ascetical fathers and mothers powerfully exalted humanity, seeing within it nothing less than the image of the supra-transcendent God. Harrison shows this image to be multifaceted, affirming a deep-seated diversity of gifts meant to be cultivated in freedom. This book is a gift, written in a voice that is inviting, deeply personal, and generous. Yet the lucidity and accessibility of her presentation never compromises the profundity and genuineness of its content, which is always true to the early Christian sources on which she draws. This book is also a rarity: comprehensible, practical, embodied theology. It is founded upon the author's decades of study but also reflects a life lived in alertness to the Word of God spoken in a painfully broken world. It deserves, and will richly repay, the wide audience to which it is addressed."--Peter C. Bouteneff, associate professor in systematic theology, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
"This is a wonderful book. In God's Many-Splendored Image, Sister Nonna Harrison brings together the spiritual wisdom of the diachronic church and the love for God and God's creation--all of God's creation!--to provide a masterful guide for Christian formation that is based on God's love and care from the very act of creation to the eschaton. Sister Nonna opens for us the Eastern part of early Christianity, providing an alternative to the expected--for Western readers--understanding of postlapsarian 'human nature' as inherently 'bad,' and shows how early Christians, from theologians to desert mothers and fathers, understood the divine image as inherent in who we are."--George Kalantzis, associate professor of theology; director, The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies, Wheaton College
Reviews
"Harrison's book stands apart from other works on theological anthropology for at least three reasons. First, the book's dialog partners. . . . Harrison's exclusive focus on early Greek theology provides a much more focused perspective. . . . This . . . makes the book very interesting as an introduction to Greek theology and its particular perspective on humanity. Second, the book's topics. Along with the expected chapters on freedom, christocentrism, the imago Dei, and embodiment, Harrison also has chapters on spiritual perception, virtues and humility, the arts, and community. These surprising inclusions help set the book apart and keep it from getting bogged down in topics that have been thoroughly explored elsewhere. And, third, the book's readability. Given the book's subject matter and dialog partners, I expected a much more technical work. Instead, this book is very clear and easy to read. It could easily be used in a classroom to introduce students to theological anthropology or the theology of the Greek fathers."--Marc Cortez, westernthm.wordpress.com
