Created in God's Image

Overview

“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” — (Genesis 1:27)

For centuries, the creation story in Genesis 1 has been a foundation for Christian understandings of the human being. In particular, this egalitarian vision of women as well as men being created in the image of God has been a lynchpin to feminist claims for equality in the church and society. But as Michele Gonzalez shows, feminist theology has struggled against a long, contrary tradition, in which women’s claim to represent the image of God was seen as deficient or secondary to men. In tracing the history of this contested theme, Gonzalez presents an introduction to the field of feminist anthropology. Ultimately, she argues, a new understanding of imago Dei in women must be rooted in a new understanding of God –grounded in, yet critical of, the Christian tradition.

Michelle A. Gonzalez teaches in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Miami. Her previous book, Sor Juana, won the Hispanic Theological Initiative Prize as well as a Catholic Press Association Book Award.