Disability, Society and Theology: Voices from Africa

Chapter Three: Perfect God and Imperfect Creation: In the Image of God and Disabled

Perfect God and Imperfect Creation CHAPTER THREE Perfect God and Imperfect Creation: In the Image of God and Disabled Joseph D. Galgalo Introduction J ohn was a happy child. He grew up in a relatively well-to-do family. He was the top student in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national examinations in his district. This secured him a rare scholarship to do medicine at a prestigious university. While in his second semester at the university, he was involved in a car accident and sustained multiple fractures. His right leg was completely crushed that the doctors had to amputate it. He also lost effective use of his right arm. It took John a while before he came to terms with his loss and accepted his new condition. He soon came to realise that disability did not only impose bodily limitations – he also faced new cultural, social and personal dynamics. These cultural and social realities that he faced redefined his very identity. Just when John thought his new self-identity was no longer a problem to him, he suffered a severe stroke. While addressing a group of people with varied disabilities, John narrates his experience in the following words: In addition to my physical diminishment, the stroke changed my understanding of self. I feel my true identity is lost and what is left of me is a pale shadow of who I used to be. I can’t help feeling that Disability, Society, and Theology whatever is left of me is barely recognisable and now helplessly trapped in this shell of a body (Verbal communication) A listener in the audience asked, “I wonder what you mean by ‘the loss of your true identity.’ Aren’t you like everybody else despite your disability?” Aren’t we all made in the ‘image of God’ – our true selves? This Chapter discusses the meaning of ‘human beings’ as beings made ‘in the image and likeness of God’. It also raises the question of the existence of ‘imperfections’ in a world created and sustained by a perfect God. Perhaps we could begin by asking, “What does it mean to be ‘in the image of God?’ How can we describe ‘the image of God?’” The Image and Likeness of God: Traditional Interpretations Reconsidered The Christian doctrine of creation accords human beings a special status and place in the whole of the universe. Human beings are affirmed as uniquely created in the image and likeness of God. The idea is based on Gen 1:26-27, which says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him (Hebrew, b’tzelem elohim).” The meaning of the phrase ‘the image and likeness of God’ (v.26) down the centuries has generated many different interpretations. The image and/or likeness of God in us has been seen in terms of physical, cognitive, spiritual, relational or functional elements that constitute what it means to be human. Let us examine a few of these interpretations. The Image of God: A Substantive Interpretation The Early Church Fathers show keen interest in the meaning of image and/or likeness of God as relates to human beings. Irenaeus may be the best place to begin. In his short writing, The Demonstrations, Irenaeus explains that the “image” and “likeness” constitutes two different things. The likeness, he argues, refers specifically to God’s creation act of ‘breathing into Adam’ after 32 Perfect God and Imperfect Creation making him. He further argues that God endowedAdam with divine ‘likeness’ consisting of reason and freedom. Since “reason” and “freedom” are part of divine attributes, he is of the opinion that human beings are special creatures by virtue of sharing something of a divine nature. This means that cognition and the ability to exercise freewill are basic to what it means to be human. Irenaeus further contends that while the image specifically refers to the act of ‘formation,’ ‘likeness’ on the other hand, specifically refers to the act of ‘inspiration.’ By breathing into him, God gave Adam a spiritual or divine endowment, after God’s own likeness. The likeness was then lost as result of the Fall. It was, in the first place only seminal in nature and Adam was meant to grow into spiritual maturity and attain the fullness of Godlikeness. When the likeness was lost, the image remained but only in a residual form. Irenaeus’ substantive interpretation of the image...