Homo adorans:exitus et reditusin theological anthropology

Abstract

AbstractThinking with and beyond Alexander Schmemann, this essay constructs a theological anthropology that conceives of humans as standing as priests at the centre of the cosmos. Within theexitus et reditusframework of neoplatonic thinking, the cosmos proceeds from and returns to the one God. Recent biblical theology has interpreted theimago Deiin a royal-functional sense. However, this essay argues for a priestly-functional interpretation of theimago Deithat comports better with the conceptual schema of Genesis 1–2 when read through anexitus et redituslens. Ramifications for worship and work follow the constructive portion of the essay.