Human Creation in the Image of God

Eric B. Antwi

Human Creation
in the Image
of God

The Asante Perspective

PETER LANG

New York • Bern • Berlin

Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Antwi, Eric, author.

Title: Human creation in the image of God: the Asante perspective / Eric B. Antwi.

Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2018.

Series: Bible and theology in Africa; v. 25 | ISSN 1525-9846
Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018009918 | ISBN 978-1-4331-5198-9 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5199-6 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-5200-9 (epub)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5201-6 (mobi)

Subjects: LCSH: Theological anthropology—Christianity. | Image of God.
Ashanti (African people)—Religion. | Theology, Doctrinal—Ghana.

Classification: LCC BT701.3 .A58 2018 | DDC 233/.5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018009918
DOI 10.3726/b13525

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Structure of the Book

Family Relations

The General Description of the Asante Language Group

The Migration of Akan and Its Linguistic Impact

Chapter 1 The Asante Cosmology

Names and Attributes of God

Artistic Symbols

Prayer

Religions in Ghana

Chapter 2 The Asante Theory of the Composition of the Human Person

Chapter 3 The Asante Anthropology

Asante Terms

Summary of Asante Understanding of the Human Person ←vii | viii→

Chapter 4 Asante Philosophers and the Composition of the Human Person

Chapter 5 Biblical Foundation and Early Church Fathers on What It Means to Be Created in the Image of God

The Hebrew Bible Concerning “Created in the Image of God”

The Theological Significance of the Genesis Narratives of the Image of God

The New Testament Concerning “Created in the Image of God”

The Anthropology of Saint Paul

Origen (185/186–253/254 C.E.)

St. Aurelius Augustine of Hippo (354–430 C.E.) and the Human Person

Conclusion: Re-Thinking the Image of God in the Human Person

Chapter 6 The Holy Spirit and Human Identity

The Role of the Spirit in Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament

From Ancestral Christology of African Theologians to Christian Anthropology

Chapter 7 The African Initiated Churches as Illustration of Asante Clarification of Christian Anthropology

The AICs as a Theological Movement

Conclusion

Conclusion

Highlight of the Results of the Discourse and Its Impact on This Book

Bibliography ←viii | ix→

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been successful without the prayers and support of family, friends and parishioners. I am especially indebted to Father William A. Anderson, D. Min., Ph.D., Sister Anne Francis Bartus, CSJ, D. Min., Rev. Dr. Eugene Elochukwu Uzukwu, C.S.Sp., Most Reverend Joseph Osei-Bonsu (Bishop of Konongo-Mampong Catholic Diocese, Ghana) and Most Reverend Michael J. Bransfield (Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston Catholic Diocese, West Virginia, U.S.A.).←ix | x→ ←x | 1→

Introduction

Philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and scientists from every age and tradition have pursued the question of who we are as human beings and what is our origin and destiny. A persistent belief throughout history is the conviction that human beings are central to God’s creation. The Judeo-Christian belief, based on the bible, is that “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 27).¹ This current text explores the Asante understanding of the human person² to shed light on the creation of human beings in the image of God and to understand and demonstrate the uniqueness of the human being among God’s creatures.

When speaking of human creation in the image of God, a major issue confronting theological anthropology is the issue of sameness and differentiation. The uniqueness of the human being can be understood in two ways. First, God creates the human being differently from every other creation, such as animals, plants, water bodies, etc. Second, each human being is unique with characteristics that differ from other human beings. For instance, every human being has a unique fingerprint, which distinguishes one person from the other. The fingerprint of humanity results in “equality-in-difference.” “Equality-in-difference” implies that human beings are equal and yet are dif←1 | 2→ferent. Using the key tenets of Asante anthropology, this book provides a tool to shed further light on the uniqueness of human creation in the image of God.

Christian theology teaches there are three persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, identified as the Trinity.3 The Trinity is the Christian image of God. Within the Triune God there is equality-in-difference, a characteristic that humanity shares in its nature. For Christians, the Trinitarian doctrine affirms and illustrates God’s intimate relationship with humanity through Jesus in the Holy Spirit.⁴

Human language has its own challenges in presenting a description of the mystery of God. The finite language of personhood is ascribed to God who is infinite. The need to use relational terms underlines the limitations of human language, for without them, God would be described in unrelated terminologies such as a principle, a source, a factor, etc. Christians explained the meaning of the Trinity by using the language of “person”. In speaking of the Trinity, St. Augustine stresses that the Trinity is not three gods but one.⁵ It is this God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in whose image every human being is created.