(William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006)
A fresh restatement of the nature and scope of human dignity in Christian perspective and a demonstration of its relevance with respect to a range of pressing issues. The book reexamines the foundation, dimensions, and entailments of human worth in light of sacred scripture, doctrine, and ecclesial practice. In contrast to modernity’s often monochromatic accounts of human dignity in terms of freedom or rationality, the essays mount a cumulative argument that human dignity in Christian perspective is a “many splendored thing” that reflects humanity’s participation in the divine drama of creation, redemption, and new creation. At the same time, the essays flesh out the contemporary relevance of these dimensions of salvation history with reference to a range of contemporary issues, including globalization, evolutionary theory, biotechnology, representations of race and gender, death, severe handicap, and political organization.
