Unfinished Thoughts on The Divine Image

John Calvin, in his commentary on Colossians, spoke of the image of God within us as a broken mirror. He meant it more to reflect (ha ha) the idea that we were once made in the perfect image of God, and have since fucked it all to hell. Although I disagree with the final conclusion of Calvin’s use of the metaphor, I find it quite compelling.

To be made in the image of God is to contain within you, at the very center and least changeable portion of your being, something that is holy, something that is Good, something that reflects God, much like a mirror. The thing is, we are all insufficient mirrors. We don’t have the ability to reflect the entire image. God is the horizon, the entire landscape, and we are shards of broken mirrors, with a good deal of our reflective surface buried underground.

God is eternally present whether we are subservient to his will or not, whether we believe in him or not. The image of God is a part of our being, whether we acknowledge it or not. The mirror sticks above the ground, if only minutely. That mirror will reflect a small portion of God. As Christians, our goal is to “unearth” ourselves as it were, and become as reflective of God as we can possibly be.

Here’s where people start getting cranky. The image of God is not containable within a single human being (with the ultimate and mysterious exception of Christ). Even if we were to somehow completely pull ourselves from the layers of dirt, sin, historical context, and personal preference, we would not be full representatives of the image of God, and this is why.

God is not genderless, he is all genders. God is not raceless, he is all races. God is not faceless, he is all faces. God is not breathless, he is every breath.

God is not one of This or That. God is a one of This and ... and … and … (ad infinitum).  To whit: God is not genderless or raceless or faceless or breathless. God is all genders and all races and all faces and every breath.

The image of God is a universal, but that image is not universal.

Kierkegaard believed that the only thing that was not fractured or internally divided was God, and the will of God. He termed this “the Good.” The image of God is the Kierkegaardian Good within every human being. The problem is that we can take this Good and turn it into an idol. Good is to Idol as Truth is to Heresy, taken too far. God is the only place where the divine image is whole and complete. God is the only place where the Good is fully and accurately represented.

The image of God in us is, therefore , at the same time our best and easiest access to our God and our largest temptation to pride. When the image of God is seen from the perspective of the individual, the image of God becomes reason for self-deification. When the image of God is seen from the perspective of God, it becomes a reason for utmost humility and surrender to the one whose image we so desperately desire to become, and are in part, but by our own power never fully will be.

[The above is a random rant in response to some reading I did for a Theology class on the Divine Image. As the title suggests, I do not consider this in any way complete or exhaustive. I do, however desire a bit of dialectical discussion... so.... thoughts?]

What, therefore, am I to do?

Last night I lost my cool over a political discussion. I lost control of myself, and I knew it. Thankfully Lauren Oglesby has a far calmer and less partisan head than I do, and, mostly due to her ability to penetrate circularity, the conversation turned away from dogma and to a re-emphasis of our shared goal of Christ-like Love.

This morning I listened to This American Life, as I am wont to do. The topic of the week was "Kid Politics." Each story was about how children of various ages act when they're put into the ostensibly adult position of dealing with political systems and decisions. I lost my cool again, but for a different reason.

Political discourse in the states is polarized and vitriolic, most people will agree with that. I have a perspective that works, but it's far from the absolute answer. I think... I think that's all we have. We base our political ideals (whether we realize it or admit it) on our very limited access to the intellectual frameworks of history, philosophy, and political theory, and on our equally limited experiential knowledge of how human beings get along.

It becomes all-consuming, doesn't it? The political worldviews we're offered are so complete that they can account for every aspect of our public (and many aspects of our private) lives. But... where's the transcendent truth? No political ideology answers the question "Why?" in any satisfactory way.

I have come to realize that my approach to politics have just as much been idols as my approach to my intellectual pursuits, love, and pleasure. The conclusion that I'm slowly coming to is that my passion to effect the world for good is not in itself wrong, but my allegiance to liberal social-constructivist approaches is misplaced. These strategies may lead to good things, I still believe that, but they are not where I place my hope, they can't be.

My allegiance must be first to my God. It doesn't change what I do, but it gives me a why. If I do the things I do because I believe they are the best ways to respond to the grace of God, then I'm one step closer to making the right decision. I'm still fallible, this isn't a formula for perfection, but... I don't really know how to explain it.

I lost it yesterday because I confused my political convictions for my spiritual convictions. I lost it this morning because I realized that, in much of our society, political convictions take the place of spiritual convictions. I don't want to be like that. My spiritual convictions will change my political views, but they are not identical, and I don't have it all figured out.

God is the God of paradox. He is not genderless, he is all genders. He is not raceless, he is all races. He is not  faceless, he is all faces. He is not breathless, he is every breath. He cannot be delineated, or associated with any one group.

"Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"

"No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come."

I must be more concerned with being allied primarily with God, otherwise I'll end up worshiping images of man. I need humility in this. God is not mine to define, but ours to seek. I need your help to keep on this narrow and winding path, and if we disagree, I hope we will remember that we are both clothed in Christ before we are draped in any flag. I'll probably forget at some points.

This is hard, but I want to do it right.