Christian Anthropology in an Age of Science: Between Anthropocentrism and Non-Anthropocentrism

Abstract

Is Christianity so incurably anthropocentric that the demise of anthropocentrism would be tantamount to the falsification of the Christian faith? Would Christianity be able to survive modern scientific challenges to the long-held anthropocentric world picture? Responding to these questions, I claim that the Christian doctrine of incarnation strongly supports the Christian belief in humanity’s special position in God’s created world, whereas it is not only possible but also mandatory to reconstruct a non-anthropocentric Christian doctrine of creation and humanity. First, as regards the non-anthropocentric idea of creation, I propose that creation, instead of redemption, should the overarching framework of Christian theology, the goal of creation is much greater than human redemption, and our human species is a companion to other creatures on the way to the eschatological consummation. With this non-anthropocentric Christian doctrine of creation in mind, however, I even more strongly maintain that humanity has a special position in God’s created world. Even if the traditional doctrine of imago Dei may not successfully convince us of the idea of human uniqueness in the face of scientific challenges, I argue, the authentic Christian affirmation of the incarnation of God in the specifically human form lays a firm foundation for the Christian belief in God’s special concern with our human species.

Enhancing Business Schools’ Pedagogy on Sustainable Business Practices and Ethical Decision-Making

“…Acknowledgement that the scale is reflective of the environmental ethical orientations of anthropocentrism (low score) and ecocentrism (high end) helps explain the lower NEP scores associated with Christian faith. Both the hypothesis of creation from Genesis [97] as well as the doctrine of Christian incarnation, specifically that that God became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, strongly supports a belief in humanity's special position within nature [55,97]. This belief system implies an anthropocentric view of world, placing humans as the central most important element of existence, and other aspects of nature with less special status.…”

Enhancing Business Schools’ Pedagogy on Sustainable Business Practices and Ethical Decision-Making

“…Acknowledgement that the scale is reflective of the environmental ethical orientations of anthropocentrism (low score) and ecocentrism (high end) helps explain the lower NEP scores associated with Christian faith. Both the hypothesis of creation from Genesis [96] as well as the doctrine of Christian incarnation, specifically that God became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, strongly supports a belief in humanity's special position within nature [55,97]. This belief system implies an anthropocentric view of world, placing humans as the central most important element of existence, and other aspects of nature with less special status.…”

Theoanthropocentric: Learning Strategies for Improving Students’ Conceptual Understanding

“…This is because God's revelation is the ultimate source of knowledge, while man acts as a source of knowledge through the optimization of his mind. Kim (2018) explained that Theoanthropocentric is a system that integrates transmitted expertise and acquired knowledge integrally through an interdisciplinary scientific approach.…”