Our image

Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. The plural — our image, our likeness — has drawn reflection from every generation of theologians. The Christian tradition reads this as the first echo of the Trinity in Scripture: Father, Son, and Spirit in conversation before the creation of humanity. If that reading is right, then humanity is made in the image of a community — a community of perfect love and mutual self-giving. We are not made in the image of a solitary, self-contained deity. We are made in the image of a God who exists in relationship. Which means we are made for relationship, and isolation is not just painful — it is a contradiction of what we are. This is why community is not optional for the Christian life. It is built into the image we bear.