Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 35:4 (Autumn 2021)
Article: Created In God’s Image: Theological And Social Impact
Author: John Wijngaards

PP 35:4 (Autumn 2021) p. 24

Created In God’s Image: Theological And Social Impact

John Wijngaards

John Wijngaards is a former Roman Catholic priest, having been ordained in 1959; his opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding ordaining women is well known. He holds a Doctorate of Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University as well as the Licentiate of Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, both in Rome. He is well published, including Did Christ Rule Out Women Priests? (McCrimmon, Great Wakering, 1977) and The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church (Darton, Longman and Todd; Continuum, 2001). His several ministries have included teaching at St John’s Major Seminary in Hyderabad, India, and at the Missionary Institute in London, England, as well as serving as Vicar General of the Mill Hill Missionaries in London. He is founder of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make a human being in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created the human being in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen 1:26–28)1

Part One. Wrong Interpretations In The Past

The early Christian communities were heavily influenced by the cultural prejudices of Hellenistic and Roman thought. Patriarchy reigned supreme. Women were seen as subordinate to men by nature, ontologically. This had its effect on how Gen 1:26–28 was interpreted. Of course, the interpretation of NT texts, especially 1 Cor 11:7 and 1 Tim 2:12, also influenced their views, but Gen 1:26–28 remained the root passage.

AD 100–800

According to Greek/Hellenistic thinking, animals were made up of two elements: sarx (body) and psychê (life, breath). Human beings possessed a third element: pneuma (consciousness, soul).

In general, the church fathers thought that Genesis teaches two stages of creation: during the...