Male and Female: The Imago Dei

Transcription

1 Male and Female: The Imago Dei UNIT 5, LESSON 2 Learning Goals To understand what it means to be made in the imago Dei, the image of God, we must know who God is and what He is like. We believe in one God who is a communion of Persons, a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love. The greatest expression of love is the giving of oneself to another, which was modeled for us by Jesus sacrifice on the Cross. Human beings image God not only as individual persons, but most perfectly as male and female in a common union (communion) of love. The union of both our body and soul is essential to who we are as human beings. The image of God is made visible in and through the body. Connection to the Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC CCC CCC 234 CCC 237 CCC CCC 298 Vocabulary Imago Dei Trinity Masculinity Femininity CCC CCC CCC 1004 CCC 1605 CCC CCC 2393 Communio personarum Anthropology Sex BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20 GENESIS 1:

2 Lesson LESSON PLAN Plan Materials God Is Body Language Masculinity and Femininity The Body Reveals Man Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion DAY ONE Warm-Up A. Project Genesis 1:26-27 on the board, and have a student stand and read it aloud: Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. B. Have your students, with a neighbor, brainstorm as many reasonable questions as they can come up with that we can ask about this passage from Genesis. Encourage students to limit their questions to only this passage, even if they are aware of answers from other passages. When students have had sufficient time to brainstorm, call on pairs to share some of their questions. Record key questions from the brainstorming on the board. Potential questions students may think of include: What does God mean when He says Let US make human beings? To whom was God speaking? How did God speak? What does it mean to be made in God s image and likeness? Do we look like God? Why did God make human beings, but not any other living creature, in His image? Why did God give dominion over all the animals to human beings? What does dominion over the animals mean? How did God create mankind? Why did God make us as male and female? C. Then ask your students what the most important of all of these questions is. Explain that this question is in fact the entire point of this passage. Students may suggest various questions, but help them to recognize that the most important question in this passage is What does it mean to be made in God s image and likeness? D. Explain to your students that this question is one of the most important concepts in our Christian faith. The Church Fathers referred to this concept as the imago Dei, the image of God. The Bible is very clear here (and in other places) that humanity is made in the imago Dei. The answer to the question What does it mean to be made in the imago Dei? is essential to an authentic understanding of who we are as human beings. It is essential to understanding why we are the way we are (human nature), the meaning of life, the meaning of human sexuality, and anything else about our human existence. E. Ask your students what it means to be an image of something. To be an image of something means to be a likeness or representation of some original thing. 662 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

3 LESSON PLAN F. Ask your students what is something in their own experience that has given them evidence that God is love. Answers will vary. Activity A. Explain to your students that while God transcends or goes beyond anything that we can fully know and understand, that does not mean that we cannot know and understand something about Him. In fact, the Bible is not silent on who God is and what He is like. It tells us a lot about who He is. Therefore, if we look at what the Bible tells us about who God is and what He is like, we can then discover who we are, made in the imago Dei. B. Arrange students in pairs or trios, and have students turn to God Is... (page 345) in their workbooks. Ask them to complete the activity together. Students will look up the given Scripture passages, determine what each tells us about God, and record their answers. Remind your students that they should not divide up the work on the worksheet; rather, they should work on it together and discuss each answer. Also, have your students save the I have experienced... questions to complete later. Directions: I have Read experienced the following God passages. in this way After by... reading each passage, complete each sentence. In other words, determine what each passage tells about God. (Hint: You are not necessarily to take your answers word for word from the Scripture text, although you might. Consider the meaning of what you read, rather than just looking for I a have word-for-word experienced answer, God in this because way by... it s not necessarily there.) Save the I have experienced questions to complete after you review the correct answers. 4. John 1:1-5, 14 God the Son is (Hint: What I have did/does experienced the Son God do?) in this way by Genesis 1:26-27 God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 7. Ephesians 4:4-6 God is (Hint: The Persons of the Trinity) I have experienced God in this way by John 15:13 Love is 2. Matthew 28:19 I have experienced God in this way by... God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 5. 1 John 4:14 God the Son is (Hint: What I have did/does experienced the Son love do?) in this way by... I have experienced God 8. in Exodus this way 3:13-14 by... God is John 3:16 We know love by 3. Genesis 1:1 I have experienced God in this way by... God the Father is (Hint: What did/does the Father do?) 6. John 14:26 God the Holy Spirit is (Hint: I have What experienced did/does Christ s the Holy love Spirit by... do?) 9. 1 John 4:8 God is C. When they have finished, review and discuss the correct answers with your students. In doing so, help your students come to understand that God is a communion of Persons, He is Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet He is one God. Each Person of the Trinity is fully, 100 percent God but unique and distinct from the other Persons. This is the mystery of the Trinity. Why does this make sense? John tells us in his first letter that God is love not that He loves but that He is love. That means at the very core of His being, in His very identity, He is love itself. Love, then, in its greatest, most perfect expression, is the giving of oneself to another. This was demonstrated by Jesus sacrifice on the Cross, in which He gave His life for all. Therefore, if God is love, and love is the giving of oneself to another, God, who is Trinity, contains within Himself the ability to be love that is, the Persons of the Trinity eternally give and receive love among themselves. It is precisely this that we as human beings image. To be made in the imago Dei is to be made in the image of love. God Is... Unit 5, lesson 2 663

4 LESSON PLAN Formative Assessment After reviewing and discussing the correct answers to God Is..., have your students return to God Is... and respond to the I have experienced questions. Circulate the room and help your students think of ways that they have experienced God and love in their lives. DAY TWO Warm-Up A. Review the main ideas from the previous lesson: Human beings are made in God s image and likeness. To know what it means to be made in the imago Dei, the image of God, we must know who God is and what He is like. We believe in one God, who is a communion of Persons, a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love. The greatest expression of love is the giving of oneself to another. This was modeled for us by Jesus sacrifice on the Cross. In God s very being as Trinity, a communion of Persons, God is love, giving and receiving love eternally among the distinct Persons of the Trinity. B. Write the words masculinity and femininity on the board. Ask your students what the words masculinity and femininity mean. Masculinity refers to the qualities of being a male, or manliness. Femininity refers to the qualities of being a female, or womanliness. Masculinity and Femininity Directions: Draw in each box a visual representation of masculinity and femininity, respectively. Do not use any sort of recognizable signs or symbols (such as smiley faces, letters, numbers, or other recognizable forms beyond basic shapes), but use purely gesture drawings, color, basic shapes and lines, and so forth. Be sure to keep your eyes on your own drawings; do not look at what other students are drawing. (This is important for the activity to work properly.) You will have two minutes to draw each picture. Masculinity Femininity 349 C. Have students turn to Masculinity and Femininity (page 349) to each student. Make markers, crayons, and/or colored pencils available to your students. Have your students draw in each box a visual representation of masculinity and femininity respectively. Tell your students that they cannot use any sort of recognizable signs or symbols (such as smiley faces, letters, numbers, or other recognizable forms beyond basic shapes) but must use purely gesture drawings, color, basic shapes, and lines, and so forth. Also, tell your student to be sure to keep their eyes on their own drawings and not look at what other students are drawing. (This is important for the activity to work properly.) Give your students two minutes to draw each picture. (This is to ensure that they are drawing their first impression and not overthinking the activity.) 664 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

5 LESSON PLAN D. When students have completed their drawings, have them place their drawings on their desks face up. Then, allow a few minutes for students to circulate around the room to look at each other s drawings. When students have had sufficient time to view each other s drawings, have them return to their seats. Then ask the following questions: What did you notice about the drawings you saw? More than likely, most of the drawings were similar to each other, even though they did not look at each other s drawings while making them. This activity tends to produce the following results (with a few outliers, but even those tend to follow similar logic even if they look different): Masculinity drawings tend to include hard, thick, or jagged lines, squared shapes, and bold or dark colors. Femininity drawings tend to include soft, thin, delicate lines, rounded shapes, and soft, light, or pastel colors. Why do you think there were so many similarities in your drawings? Accept reasoned answers. Help your students recognize that masculinity (manliness) and femininity (womanliness) are essential parts of our identities. We are, at our core, male or female, and this essential truth is reflected not only in our bodies, but in the way we think, the way we respond to the world around us, and so many different aspects of being human. We automatically recognize and understand the truth of maleness and femaleness because it is so essential to our human nature. In fact, as this activity shows, maleness and femaleness are not socialized concepts but are truths we inherently know. Was it easy or hard to make your drawings? Why or why not? Accept reasoned answers. Activity and Assessment A. Project Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:22-24 on the board, and have a student stand and read the passages aloud: Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called woman, for out of man this one has been taken. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. B. Ask your students the following questions: The first of these passages we ve already looked at: God made human beings in His image. What have we said is God s image? In other words, what is God? God is love. According to the first passage, from Genesis 1, what did God create human beings to be, in His image? Male and female. This means that there is something essential about our being male and female and how we are in the imago Dei. Unit 5, lesson 2 665

6 LESSON PLAN What is the first command that God gives to human beings, created as male and female? Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. According to the second passage, from Genesis 2, what did God create the woman from? A rib taken from the man. Often this passage is misinterpreted: that since the woman was made from the man s rib, she is somehow less than the man. This is incorrect, especially considering what Genesis 1 tells us, that both man and woman are made in God s image. What else could it mean that the woman was made from a part of the man? Men and woman are equal to one another and are of one flesh. That woman is made from man s rib is a sign of the complementary relationship between men and women. They are always a part of one another. What does the man recognize about the woman when he first sees her? She is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. In other words, at last there is another like him, a person in the imago Dei. What do you think the statement a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body refers to? Marriage. In marriage, specifically the marital act, one man and one woman become one spiritual body united in marital love. (This reality will be explored in greater detail in later lessons.) C. Explain to your students that it is clear from Scripture that the fact that we are male and female is essential to the way in which we image God. The fact that we are male and female is an absolute essential truth about our very existence. Think about it: each and every one of us is the product of the union of a man and a woman. We would not be here today if this were not true. And each of our parents is likewise the product of the union between a man and woman, and each of their parents, and each of their parents, and so on for as long as human beings have existed (with the notable exception of our original parents, Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion the first man and the first woman whom we call 3. According Directions: to the second Read chapter the Theology of Genesis, of the Body in what excerpt two ways below do and human answer beings the become focus and the reflection image and likeness of questions. God? Adam and Eve). In fact, we image God not only as n the first chapter, the narrative of the of solitude as in the moment of communion. 4. When Iwas creation the communion of man affirms of persons directly, formed right by man and Right woman from created? the beginning, he is not only an individual Persons, but most perfectly as male and from the beginning, that man was created image in which the solitude of a person who in the image of God as male and female. The rules the world is reflected, but also, and 5. What narrative is the function of the of second an image? chapter, on the other essentially, an image of an inscrutable divine hand, does not speak of the image of God. communion of persons. female in a common union (communion) of love. 6. What But two in images its own of way God it does reveals man that reflect the complete right from the beginning? In this way, the second narrative could also and definitive creation of man (subjected be a preparation for understanding the first to the experience of original solitude) Trinitarian concept of the image of God, is expressed in giving life to that communio 7. What concept does the second chapter of Genesis prepare even us if for? the latter appears only in the first personarum that man and woman form. In narrative. Obviously, that is not without this way, the Yahwist narrative agrees with significance for the theology of the body. the content of the first narrative. Perhaps it even constitutes the deepest 8. What unity was man endowed with in the mystery of creation? If, vice versa, we wish to draw also from the theological aspect of all that can be said about narrative of the Yahwist text the concept man. In the mystery of creation on the basis of image of God, we can then deduce that of the original and constituent solitude of 9. What man blessing became descended the image upon and man likeness from the of beginning? his being man was endowed with a deep God not only through his own humanity, unity between what is, humanly and through but also through the communion of persons the body, male in him and what is, equally which man and woman form right from humanly and through the body, female in the beginning. The function of the image him. On all this, right from the beginning, the is to reflect the one who is the model, to blessing of fertility descended, linked with Reflection Question reproduce its own prototype. Man becomes human procreation (cf. Gn 1:28). Think the of and image describe of God at not least so much three ways in the in moment which the differences between men and woman are a blessing to human life. 1. What does the first chapter of Genesis affirm about the nature of human beings? 2. According to the second chapter of Genesis, what is expressed in the communion of persons that man and woman form? D. Have students turn to Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion (page 350) in their workbooks. Have each student read the excerpt from Pope Saint John Paul II s Theology of the Body (which will be more formally introduced in a later lesson) and respond to the focus and reflection questions on their own paper. Explain in advance that in this excerpt, the pope discusses the stories of the creation of human beings from Genesis 1 (referred to as the 666 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

7 LESSON PLAN first chapter ) and Genesis 2 (referred to as the second chapter or the second narrative or the Yahwist narrative/text ). Note: There are some challenging words in this reading. You may want to define the following with your students in advance: Inscrutable Not fully understood. Communio personarum Latin for Communion of persons. Yahwist Refers to the theorized author of the second chapter of the book of Genesis, the Yahwist source. Prototype An original model on which something is patterned. Solitude Aloneness. E. Review and discuss the correct answers to the focus and reflection questions from Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion. DAY THREE Warm-Up A. Write the following on the board: Human communication is 20 percent verbal and 80 percent nonverbal. B. Ask your students the following: If only 20 percent of human communication consists of what we speak, then what is the other 80 percent? Body language. In other words, our bodies communicate far more than what we speak. C. Have students turn to Body Language (page 352) in their workbooks. Have your students, with a neighbor, read each phrase and decide whether it is something that is knowable from observing a person s body. If the answer is yes, have them briefly record how they think it is knowable from observing a person s body. Note: Every statement on the worksheet is knowable from observation of a person s body. When students have completed the activity, review and discuss the answers. D. Explain to your students that even though it may seem obvious, human beings are bodily creatures. We have bodies, and our bodies are an essential part of who we are. Our bodies say Body Language Directions: Read each phrase and decide whether it is something that is knowable from 7. If someone is an athlete Yes/No observing a person s body. If the answer is yes, briefly record how it is knowable from observing a person s body. 1. If someone is happy Yes/No 8. If someone is nervous Yes/No 2. If someone is sad Yes/No 9. If someone is embarrassed Yes/No 3. If someone is angry Yes/No 10. If someone is hungry Yes/No 4. If someone likes you Yes/No 5. If someone is tired Yes/No 6. If someone is lying Yes/No Unit 5, lesson 2 667

8 LESSON PLAN a lot about us. And we say a lot in and through our bodies. As human beings, we also possess a soul. In fact, it is untrue to say that our soul is more us than our bodies, or that our bodies are more us than our souls. The truth is that the union of our body and our soul is essential to who we are, and what happens in our souls is made visible in and through our bodies. Our bodies are so important to who we are, in fact, that we believe as Christians that we will be united with our resurrected glorified bodies at the end of time, and it is in this bodily form that we will live for eternity with God. We profess belief in this fact every time we say the Nicene Creed at Mass ( I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come ) and when we say the Apostles Creed when we pray the Rosary ( I believe in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting ). Activity and Assessment A. Project Genesis 2:18-24, and have a student stand and read it aloud: The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him. So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name. The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called woman, for out of man this one has been taken. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. B. Ask your students the following questions: Why did God want to make a helper suited to the man? Because He saw that it was not good for the man to be alone. What did God create and bring to the man in order to find his partner? All the animals. After viewing and naming all the animals, what did the man recognize? None of them was a suitable helper. After God created the woman from the man s rib, what were the man s first words when he saw her? This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Remember, this passage is often misinterpreted: that since the woman was made from the man s rib, she is somehow less than the man. This is incorrect, especially considering what Genesis 1 tells us, that both man and woman are made in God s image. What else could it mean that the woman was made from a part of the man? Men and woman are equal to one another and are of one flesh. That woman is made from man s rib is a sign of the complementarity relationship between men and women. They are always a part of one another. 668 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

9 LESSON PLAN C. Explain to your students the man s first words upon seeing the woman indicate that he instantly recognizes something about her because of her body. He understands that she is like him, a person made in God s image. He did not recognize this fact in any of the other creatures that God made. It is only in the woman, whose body is like his, yet also unique as woman, that he finds another person made in the imago Dei. It is clear that the image of God, then, is made visible in and through the body. D. Have students turn to The Body Reveals Man (page 354) in their workbooks. Have each student read the excerpt from Pope Saint John Paul II s Theology of the Body and respond to the focus and reflection questions on their own paper. Note: There are some challenging words in this reading. You may want to define the following with your students in advance: Anthropological (Anthropology) The study of human beings that concerns their origin, nature, and destiny (anthropos = human, logos = study). Corporality The quality of having a body or a physical, material existence. Theological (Theology) The study of God (Theos = God, logos = study). The Body Reveals Man Directions: Read 4. What the Theology does the of pope the Body suggest excerpt is the below connection and answer between the focus the answer and reflection to question number 3 questions. and science? n this way, we find ourselves almost at the body as organism, about its vitality, and its heart of the anthropological reality that has particular sexual physiology, etc. This first the name body. The words of Genesis 2:23 expression of the man, flesh of my flesh, 5. What does the man s phrase flesh of my flesh say about man s relationship to God? speak of it directly and for the first time in the also contains a reference to what makes that following terms: flesh of my flesh and bone body truly human. Therefore it referred to of my bones. The male-man uttered these what determines man as a person, that is, words, as if it were only at the sight of the as a being who, even in all his corporality, is woman that he was able to identify and call by similar to God. 6. What is at the very core of the study of man? name what makes them visibly similar to each We find ourselves, therefore, almost at the other, and at the same time what manifests very core of the anthropological reality, the humanity. name of which is body, the human body. 7. Why is the study of the human body not only the study of man but also the study of God? In the light of the preceding analysis of However, as can easily be seen, this core is all the bodies which man has come into not only anthropological, but also essentially contact with and which he has defined, theological. Right from the beginning, the conceptually giving them their name theology of the body is bound up with the (animalia), the expression flesh of my flesh creation of man in the image of God. It 8. Why does a study of the human body become a theology of sex? takes on precisely this meaning: the body becomes, in a way, also the theology of sex, reveals man. This concise formula already or rather the theology of masculinity and contains everything that human science femininity, which has its starting point here in could ever say about the structure of the Genesis. 1. What does the author (Pope Saint John Paul II) suggest is the anthropological reality that the man is speaking Reflection of when he Question says flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20 We have learned that the human body reveals something about God Himself to us. What are three ways in which we can honor and respect our bodies better, because they are a 2. What does the body make visible, and what does it manifest? literal reflection of God? _ 3. After he has defined and named all the animals, what meaning do the man s words take on? _ 354 _ 355 Sex It is important to note here with your students that the word sex first and foremost refers to masculinity and femininity (being male and being female), and, while it can and often is used to refer to sexual intercourse and procreation, even in that usage, it is derived from its root meaning, referring to the difference of male and female. Further, human sexuality not only includes our physical, psychological, and emotional characteristics as male and female, but also our attitudes, and our need for love and friendship. E. Review and discuss the correct answers to the focus and reflection questions from The Body Reveals Man. I Unit 5, lesson 2 669

10 Answer Key 1. Genesis 1:26-27 God is plural, somehow multiple as indicated by the phrase Let US make man This is the first revelation of the Trinity, God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 2. Matthew 28:19 God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, fully revealed by the Son, Jesus Christ. 3. Genesis 1:1 God the Father is Creator, the maker of all things ( In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ). God Is... Directions: 1. Genesis 1:26-27 Read the following passages. After reading each passage, complete each sentence. In other words, determine what each passage tells about God. (Hint: You are not necessarily to take your answers word for word from the Scripture text, although you might. Consider the meaning of what you read, rather than just looking for a word-for-word answer, because it s not necessarily there.) Save the I have experienced questions to complete after you review the correct answers. God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 2. Matthew 28:19 God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 3. Genesis 1:1 God the Father is (Hint: What did/does the Father do?) SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

11 Answer Key 4. John 1:1-5, 14 God the Son is the Word of God who was in the beginning with God and is God, who gave life to the human race John 4:14 God the Son is the Savior of the world. 6. John 14:26 God the Holy Spirit is our teacher, and He reminds us of holiness He is our sanctifier. 4. John 1:1-5, 14 God the Son is (Hint: What did/does the Son do?) 5. 1 John 4:14 God the Son is (Hint: What did/does the Son do?) 6. John 14:26 God the Holy Spirit is (Hint: What did/does the Holy Spirit do?) 346 Unit 5, lesson 2 671

12 Answer Key 7. Ephesians 4:4-6 God is one/ there is only one God. This is the mystery of the Trinity. We believe in one God who is three Persons. In Him He is a communion of Persons, a relationship, a family. 8. Exodus 3:13-14 God is knowable. He has a name that He gives to us so that we can know Him and call upon Him John 4:8 God is love. 7. Ephesians 4:4-6 God is (Hint: The Persons of the Trinity) 8. Exodus 3:13-14 God is 9. 1 John 4:8 God is SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

13 Answer Key 10. John 15:13 Love is giving yourself completely to another John 3:16 We know love by Christ having given Himself completely on the Cross. 10. John 15:13 Love is I have experienced love in this way by John 3:16 We know love by I have experienced Christ s love by Unit 5, lesson 2 673

14 Masculinity and Femininity Directions: Draw in each box a visual representation of masculinity and femininity, respectively. Do not use any sort of recognizable signs or symbols (such as smiley faces, letters, numbers, or other recognizable forms beyond basic shapes), but use purely gesture drawings, color, basic shapes and lines, and so forth. Be sure to keep your eyes on your own drawings; do not look at what other students are drawing. (This is important for the activity to work properly.) You will have two minutes to draw each picture. Masculinity Femininity 349 Accept reasoned answers 674 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

15 Answer Key 1. Human beings were created in the image of God as male and female. Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion Directions: Read the Theology of the Body excerpt below and answer the focus and reflection questions. 2. The complete and definitive creation of man. n the first chapter, the narrative of the Icreation of man affirms directly, right from the beginning, that man was created in the image of God as male and female. The narrative of the second chapter, on the other hand, does not speak of the image of God. But in its own way it reveals that the complete and definitive creation of man (subjected first to the experience of original solitude) is expressed in giving life to that communio personarum that man and woman form. In this way, the Yahwist narrative agrees with the content of the first narrative. If, vice versa, we wish to draw also from the narrative of the Yahwist text the concept of image of God, we can then deduce that man became the image and likeness of God not only through his own humanity, but also through the communion of persons which man and woman form right from the beginning. The function of the image is to reflect the one who is the model, to reproduce its own prototype. Man becomes the image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion. Right from the beginning, he is not only an image in which the solitude of a person who rules the world is reflected, but also, and essentially, an image of an inscrutable divine communion of persons. In this way, the second narrative could also be a preparation for understanding the Trinitarian concept of the image of God, even if the latter appears only in the first narrative. Obviously, that is not without significance for the theology of the body. Perhaps it even constitutes the deepest theological aspect of all that can be said about man. In the mystery of creation on the basis of the original and constituent solitude of his being man was endowed with a deep unity between what is, humanly and through the body, male in him and what is, equally humanly and through the body, female in him. On all this, right from the beginning, the blessing of fertility descended, linked with human procreation (cf. Gn 1:28). 1. What does the first chapter of Genesis affirm about the nature of human beings? 2. According to the second chapter of Genesis, what is expressed in the communion of persons that man and woman form? 350 Unit 5, lesson 2 675

16 Answer Key 3. In a person s own humanity and through the communion of persons created by the union of male and female. 4. In the beginning. 5. To reflect the model or reproduce its own prototype. 6. A person who rules the world and a divine communion of Persons. 7. The Trinity. 8. That which is male and that which is female in humanity. 9. The blessing of fertility and human procreation. 3. According to the second chapter of Genesis, in what two ways do human beings become the image and likeness of God? 4. When was the communion of persons formed by man and woman created? 5. What is the function of an image? 6. What two images of God does man reflect right from the beginning? 7. What concept does the second chapter of Genesis prepare us for? 8. What unity was man endowed with in the mystery of creation? 9. What blessing descended upon man from the beginning? Reflection Question Think of and describe at least three ways in which the differences between men and woman are a blessing to human life SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

17 Body Language Directions: Read each phrase and decide whether it is something that is knowable from observing a person s body. If the answer is yes, briefly record how it is knowable from observing a person s body. 1. If someone is happy Yes/No 2. If someone is sad Yes/No 3. If someone is angry Yes/No 4. If someone likes you Yes/No 5. If someone is tired Yes/No 6. If someone is lying Yes/No 352 Accept reasoned answers Unit 5, lesson 2 677

18 7. If someone is an athlete Yes/No 8. If someone is nervous Yes/No 9. If someone is embarrassed Yes/No 10. If someone is hungry Yes/No 353 Accept reasoned answers 678 SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

19 Answer Key 1. The human body. 2. The body makes visible the similarity between man and woman, and it manifests humanity. 3. The body reveals man. The Body Reveals Man Directions: Read the Theology of the Body excerpt below and answer the focus and reflection questions. n this way, we find ourselves almost at the Iheart of the anthropological reality that has the name body. The words of Genesis 2:23 speak of it directly and for the first time in the following terms: flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. The male-man uttered these words, as if it were only at the sight of the woman that he was able to identify and call by name what makes them visibly similar to each other, and at the same time what manifests humanity. In the light of the preceding analysis of all the bodies which man has come into contact with and which he has defined, conceptually giving them their name (animalia), the expression flesh of my flesh takes on precisely this meaning: the body reveals man. This concise formula already contains everything that human science could ever say about the structure of the body as organism, about its vitality, and its particular sexual physiology, etc. This first expression of the man, flesh of my flesh, also contains a reference to what makes that body truly human. Therefore it referred to what determines man as a person, that is, as a being who, even in all his corporality, is similar to God. We find ourselves, therefore, almost at the very core of the anthropological reality, the name of which is body, the human body. However, as can easily be seen, this core is not only anthropological, but also essentially theological. Right from the beginning, the theology of the body is bound up with the creation of man in the image of God. It becomes, in a way, also the theology of sex, or rather the theology of masculinity and femininity, which has its starting point here in Genesis. 1. What does the author (Pope Saint John Paul II) suggest is the anthropological reality that the man is speaking of when he says flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones? 2. What does the body make visible, and what does it manifest? 3. After he has defined and named all the animals, what meaning do the man s words take on? 354 Unit 5, lesson 2 679

20 Answer Key 4. The phrase the body reveals man contains everything that human science could ever say about the body as an organism. 5. Man, even in bodily form, is a being who is similar to God. 6. The human body. 7. Because man is made in the image of God. Therefore, a better understanding of man will lead to a better understanding of God. 8. Man is made male and female in the image and likeness of God. A study of God through this lens would be incomplete without considering what it means to be made male and female in God s image. 4. What does the pope suggest is the connection between the answer to question number 3 and science? 5. What does the man s phrase flesh of my flesh say about man s relationship to God? 6. What is at the very core of the study of man? 7. Why is the study of the human body not only the study of man but also the study of God? 8. Why does a study of the human body become a theology of sex? Reflection Question For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20 We have learned that the human body reveals something about God Himself to us. What are three ways in which we can honor and respect our bodies better, because they are a literal reflection of God? _ SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS

21 God Is... Directions: Read the following passages. After reading each passage, complete each sentence. In other words, determine what each passage tells about God. (Hint: You are not necessarily to take your answers word for word from the Scripture text, although you might. Consider the meaning of what you read, rather than just looking for a word-for-word answer, because it s not necessarily there.) Save the I have experienced questions to complete after you review the correct answers. 1. Genesis 1:26-27 God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 2. Matthew 28:19 God is (Hint: Think of the nature of God.) 3. Genesis 1:1 God the Father is (Hint: What did/does the Father do?) Unit 5, Lesson 2 345

22 4. John 1:1-5, 14 God the Son is (Hint: What did/does the Son do?) 5. 1 John 4:14 God the Son is (Hint: What did/does the Son do?) 6. John 14:26 God the Holy Spirit is (Hint: What did/does the Holy Spirit do?) 346 Unit 5, Lesson 2

23 7. Ephesians 4:4-6 God is (Hint: The Persons of the Trinity) 8. Exodus 3:13-14 God is 9. 1 John 4:8 God is Unit 5, Lesson 2 347

24 10. John 15:13 Love is I have experienced love in this way by John 3:16 We know love by I have experienced Christ s love by Unit 5, Lesson 2

25 Masculinity and Femininity Directions: Draw in each box a visual representation of masculinity and femininity, respectively. Do not use any sort of recognizable signs or symbols (such as smiley faces, letters, numbers, or other recognizable forms beyond basic shapes), but use purely gesture drawings, color, basic shapes and lines, and so forth. Be sure to keep your eyes on your own drawings; do not look at what other students are drawing. (This is important for the activity to work properly.) You will have two minutes to draw each picture. Masculinity Femininity Unit 5, Lesson 2 349

26 Image of Inscrutable Divine Communion Directions: Read the Theology of the Body excerpt below and answer the focus and reflection questions. In the first chapter, the narrative of the creation of man affirms directly, right from the beginning, that man was created in the image of God as male and female. The narrative of the second chapter, on the other hand, does not speak of the image of God. But in its own way it reveals that the complete and definitive creation of man (subjected first to the experience of original solitude) is expressed in giving life to that communio personarum that man and woman form. In this way, the Yahwist narrative agrees with the content of the first narrative. If, vice versa, we wish to draw also from the narrative of the Yahwist text the concept of image of God, we can then deduce that man became the image and likeness of God not only through his own humanity, but also through the communion of persons which man and woman form right from the beginning. The function of the image is to reflect the one who is the model, to reproduce its own prototype. Man becomes the image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion. Right from the beginning, he is not only an image in which the solitude of a person who rules the world is reflected, but also, and essentially, an image of an inscrutable divine communion of persons. In this way, the second narrative could also be a preparation for understanding the Trinitarian concept of the image of God, even if the latter appears only in the first narrative. Obviously, that is not without significance for the theology of the body. Perhaps it even constitutes the deepest theological aspect of all that can be said about man. In the mystery of creation on the basis of the original and constituent solitude of his being man was endowed with a deep unity between what is, humanly and through the body, male in him and what is, equally humanly and through the body, female in him. On all this, right from the beginning, the blessing of fertility descended, linked with human procreation (cf. Gn 1:28). 1. What does the first chapter of Genesis affirm about the nature of human beings? 2. According to the second chapter of Genesis, what is expressed in the communion of persons that man and woman form? 350 Unit 5, Lesson 2

27 3. According to the second chapter of Genesis, in what two ways do human beings become the image and likeness of God? 4. When was the communion of persons formed by man and woman created? 5. What is the function of an image? 6. What two images of God does man reflect right from the beginning? 7. What concept does the second chapter of Genesis prepare us for? 8. What unity was man endowed with in the mystery of creation? 9. What blessing descended upon man from the beginning? Reflection Question Think of and describe at least three ways in which the differences between men and woman are a blessing to human life. Unit 5, Lesson 2 351

28 Body Language Directions: Read each phrase and decide whether it is something that is knowable from observing a person s body. If the answer is yes, briefly record how it is knowable from observing a person s body. 1. If someone is happy Yes/No 2. If someone is sad Yes/No 3. If someone is angry Yes/No 4. If someone likes you Yes/No 5. If someone is tired Yes/No 6. If someone is lying Yes/No 352 Unit 5, Lesson 2

29 7. If someone is an athlete Yes/No 8. If someone is nervous Yes/No 9. If someone is embarrassed Yes/No 10. If someone is hungry Yes/No Unit 5, Lesson 2 353

30 The Body Reveals Man Directions: Read the Theology of the Body excerpt below and answer the focus and reflection questions. In this way, we find ourselves almost at the heart of the anthropological reality that has the name body. The words of Genesis 2:23 speak of it directly and for the first time in the following terms: flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. The male-man uttered these words, as if it were only at the sight of the woman that he was able to identify and call by name what makes them visibly similar to each other, and at the same time what manifests humanity. In the light of the preceding analysis of all the bodies which man has come into contact with and which he has defined, conceptually giving them their name (animalia), the expression flesh of my flesh takes on precisely this meaning: the body reveals man. This concise formula already contains everything that human science could ever say about the structure of the body as organism, about its vitality, and its particular sexual physiology, etc. This first expression of the man, flesh of my flesh, also contains a reference to what makes that body truly human. Therefore it referred to what determines man as a person, that is, as a being who, even in all his corporality, is similar to God. We find ourselves, therefore, almost at the very core of the anthropological reality, the name of which is body, the human body. However, as can easily be seen, this core is not only anthropological, but also essentially theological. Right from the beginning, the theology of the body is bound up with the creation of man in the image of God. It becomes, in a way, also the theology of sex, or rather the theology of masculinity and femininity, which has its starting point here in Genesis. 1. What does the author (Pope Saint John Paul II) suggest is the anthropological reality that the man is speaking of when he says flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones? 2. What does the body make visible, and what does it manifest? 3. After he has defined and named all the animals, what meaning do the man s words take on? 354 Unit 5, Lesson 2

31 4. What does the pope suggest is the connection between the answer to question number 3 and science? 5. What does the man s phrase flesh of my flesh say about man s relationship to God? 6. What is at the very core of the study of man? 7. Why is the study of the human body not only the study of man but also the study of God? 8. Why does a study of the human body become a theology of sex? Reflection Question For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20 We have learned that the human body reveals something about God Himself to us. What are three ways in which we can honor and respect our bodies better, because they are a literal reflection of God? _ Unit 5, Lesson 2 355