Flyer

Call for Papers
Programm

Seminar with Prof. John Behr, University of Aberdeen
Monday, 29 March 2021
14:00-16:00
Flyer

Seal: The ambiguity of imprinting and the imprinted, stamping and the stamped, the duality of form and material, renders the thought of the “image of God” productive but also puzzling in the context of the incomprehensibility of God. The starting point of our inquiry is the unknowability of God as a principle deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition (Ex 33:20: “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live;” John 1:18: “Nobody has ever seen God”). Equally deeply rooted is the anthropological affirmation, that the human is made in the image of God
(Gen 1:26-27). In this context, God’s unknowability/ The combination of these two conceptions opens up the following questions to be addressed:

• How can the relationship of the invisible, unknowable, incomprehensible God with the (unknowable, incomprehensible) human being be shaped?
• What does the designation of the human being as image of the image (LXX Gen 1:26 κατ’ εἰκόνα) mean against the background of an unknowable God?
• Is the human being itself – as image of the unknowable Archetype – knowable?
• How can we understand that the human being and especially Christ are designated, following Gen. 1:26-27, as the visible image of God and the radiance of his glory (Heb 1:3)?
• What role does the ‘dark side’ of the human being play in the relationship between God and human being?

These and related questions will be addressed within an interdisciplinary and international conference from different perspectives (Ancient Philosophy, Hellenistic Judaism, Theology and Religious Studies).
In the framework of an apophatic anthropology, we would like to investigate where and how can we find a way from theology to anthropology and back.
Dimensions of our investigation:

• negative theology and the unknowability of God;
• the human being as image of the image;
• Christ as Archetype of the human and New Adam;
• desiring in its ambiguity between appetitive impulse and longing for the Divine;
• deepness and abyss as images for God and the human in their unfathomability and mystery.

The conference intends to build bridges between East and West, as well as between history and the present; it aims to bring Jewish, New Testament, and Early Christian writings into dialogue with contemporary iterations of systematic theology.
The conference is organized within the project “Image of God and Abyss of Desires”, financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Participation is open to the public and free of charge.

Flyer Tagung: Siegel des Göttlichen. Von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück

Abendvortrag: Unbegreiflich. Über die Unergründlichkeit Gottes und die Abgründigkeit des Menschen