With the help of the RDS office I was able to work my course schedule around his delivery in May 2021. As my sons have grown, many of the practicalities of studying with a toddler and infant have been graciously taken care of by my mother. This study is just another step into the unknown, guided by God and faithfully aided by His saints—just a few of whom I have mentioned here by name.
RESEARCH CONCERN
Embodiment
9 Allison notes that beyond simply having a body, “embodiment is a field of study that explores how people are bodily present and physically engaged in the world. Moreover, common human properties are shared throughout humanity.13 These properties are developed in the following sections. In the beginning, mankind was created by God for God's purposes; this is the state created.
15 While it is divinely intended that the material and immaterial aspects of the human embodiment should not be separated, in the intermediate state humans continue to exist in a disembodied state, separate from their material bodies. Though Christ was deeply affected by the sin of the world—until His sacrificial death—His conscious human capacity was in perfect harmony with God's design for mankind. However, the incarnation of Christ has not eradicated the presence of sin or the sinful nature in the temporal state of existence.
These potential corruptions of the human capacity for embodiment include both unconscious and conscious perversions. Instead, the unconscious perversions serve to show the vast and destructive effects of sin in the dark state. 25 Allison aptly uses phantom limb syndrome as an illustration of the state of disembodiment in the intermediate state.
Incarnation is designed by God, appropriate for human existence, and inherently good.29 In the restored state, believers will experience perfect alignment between the divine design for embodiment and their own human capacity.
Gendered Embodiment
Paul Evdokimov, Woman and the Salvation of the World: A Christian Anthropology on the Charisms of Women, trans. 42 God created people according to their kinds; both male and female are of the human kind. If there was any doubt that all people are of the same kind as the first man and woman, Rom 5 dispels such doubts.
The next section describes the female type and the unique female involvement of the common human traits. Made in the same image, of the same kind, and of the same constitution, man and woman were formed separately. The definition of gender by divine design can be identified as the following statement: Gender refers to the two kinds of people - male and female - who share uniformity in purpose, mandate, and virtues, but differ in expression of the common human traits.
In this version of complementarity, the fundamental dignity and the significant distinctions of man and woman must be maintained and balanced. 77 Although I appreciate the term itself, I do not subscribe to the underlying assumptions of the concept. On the other hand, female expression is phenomenological and is the result of the ontological distinction of the female type of humanity.
An attempt to do so is a conscious distortion of the human capacity for sexual embodiment, forcing an incompatibility between divine design and human capacity.
Dependent, Gendered Embodiment
The fact that mankind was created in God's image logically necessitates God for the existence of mankind; God is both the Creator and the pattern for mankind (Gen 1:26-27). God's interaction with mankind, especially evidenced by the incarnation and self-sacrifice of the Son, demonstrates God's independent, transcendent love for people (John. Worship can be understood as the recognition of one's dependence on God and celebration of God's character, total otherness, and provision.
While God's plan for mankind's dependence is uncorrupted, man's capacity for dependence has been corrupted by sin. Human capacity includes one's desire for, expression of, and receptivity to a relationship with God.95 Human beings cannot change or lessen their need for God, but human beings can direct their desire toward false gods. As discussed in the previous section of the divine design for dependency, humans in the created state were intrinsically dependent on God.
Mankind's dependence on God as part of their design is shown in the reality of the Incarnation. The presence of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and the serpent's temptation to eat from it and "be like God" show the limitations of human knowledge (Genesis 3:2-5). Since dependence is ontological, people in the restored state will still be constitutionally dependent on God, which is exemplified by God's title King (Rev 19:16).
Furthermore, the perversion in either desire for or receptivity to dependence will lead to the perversion of the expression of dependence.
Social, Dependent, Gendered Embodiment
Allison asserts, "God's design for his image-bearers is that they are social people who express their sociality in appropriate interpersonal relationships and, in the case of marriage, through sexual activity."107 God intends people to be with, and to be in relationship with be each other Biblically and theologically, that divine order expresses itself, in the case of women, (1) in relationship with other women, as friendship apart from same-sex attraction and homosexual activity; and, (2) in relationship with men, as friendship apart from lust and heterosexual activity (with one exception for such activity: marriage to a man). Human sociality from a biblical perspective expresses itself, in the case of men, (1) in relationship with other men, as friendship apart from same-sex attraction and homosexual activity; and, (2) in relationship with women, as friendship apart from lust and heterosexual activity (with one exception for such activity: marriage to a woman).113.
Marriage can be understood as a fundamental – perhaps even paradigmatic – expression of this drive towards attachment in the present age. But some aspects of social expression, namely sexual activity and related sexual expressions, are determined in the divine design and assigned by gender. In the eschaton, the divine design and the human capacity for sociality will be in perfect harmony.
122 Tennent emphasizes the importance of marriage and celibacy as markers of different aspects of human life in the eschaton. Marcia, “The Status of the Statuses: A Research Review,” in Ego Identity: A Handbook for Psychosocial Research, by J. In these cases, the desire for and receptivity to human relationships can be perverted by the presence of sin in the world and its destructive consequences for lives people.
Although sexual activity and roles – as understood in the temporary state – will no longer exist, gender balance is an eternal necessity and reality.
Particular, Social, Dependent, Gendered Embodiment
While Barth asserts a temporal end for all humanity, Cortez insists: "The biblical material presents Jesus as having a continuous historical existence after his biological death." Cortez, Sources of Theological Anthropology, 254. Barth, in fact, argues for the cessation of all history, or "the completion of history, history at the end of the story, the history of the individual's life as well as the history of the world and the Church" (102 ). Citizenship in the kingdom of God and eternal brotherhood will radically transcend – though not minimize or eliminate – the sense of belonging to any nation, tribe, ethnicity, family or historical context (Gal 3:28; Revelation 7:9-10) .
McCall, "The Lived Experience of African American Pastors: A Phenomenological Study" (PhD diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2022). Albert Mohler Jr., “The Power of the Gospel and the Meltdown of Identity Politics,” Albert Mohler, February 12, 2019, https://albertmohler.com power-gospel-meltdown- identity-politics/?fbclid=IwAR0WCy-rAYKsNNjp7YxhpAgtDfj2nw5oxuOlYektKVpdCQoySTl08Ot7M IC. Regarding a woman's gifts and instruction, Durrett eloquently explains that "the ability to do this [filling the pulpit] does not entail the necessity, any more than knowing how to dance, makes it incumbent upon women to appear on the stage."
Reuben Thomas Durrett, "The Sublime Effects of a Liberal Female Education" (address delivered at the public examination of the W. F. Broaddus Female Academy, Shelbyville, KY, July. However, Scripture does not dictate ordinary human characteristics that are sex-specific, nor it limits the expression of those qualities (eg, virtues) by gender.5 This is how common human qualities are expressed. Female seminaries were established in America in the mid-1800s, primarily with the understanding that "women could not to perform adequately the duties of wife and mother without a high degree of education and learning.” Sweet, “The Feminine Seminary Movement,” 43.
When asking the question "What is a woman?" the answer that "a woman should do this" is hollow and incomplete.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS 1
Gender refers to the two kinds of people - male and female - who share uniformity in purpose, mandate and virtues, but differ in expression of the common human traits. While many other facets and nuances of the term exist, identity could be formally defined in this study as "the relationship each thing has with itself" and is considered persistent. Intangible refers to the soul or spirit of a human being, or any aspect of the person that is not visible or tangible.
Mankind's mandate transcends the created, temporary, and restored states, although the fulfillment of the mandate in the restored state will be different from its pursuit in former states. In the restored state, perfect congruence will be restored as parameter corruption will be eliminated. Humanity's purpose transcends the created, temporary, and restored states, although the realization of the purpose in the restored state will be different from its presentation in previous states.
Unconscious perversion refers to the involuntary disharmony of human capacity with the divine plan for each of the parameters of embodiment. This phenomenal cultural shift can be evidenced in common LGBTQ+ affirming statements such as "I have to be true to myself," "I've been living a lie," and "I can't change who I am." Elevating gender identity as the cardinal identity of an individual—sometimes over and against biological sex—is a recent maladjustment that has disastrous consequences for individuals, families, and society as a whole. Academic disciplines (especially history, social sciences, and theology) do not agree on the use of the terms sex and gender.
Gender expression refers to "the body of attitudes and behaviors conveyed by people" that are strongly influenced by their respective contexts and cultural expectations.13 Gender expression can be viewed as the social outworking of biological sex.14 Gender expression thus takes ethology into account of ontological reality.
