Customer Reviews

Liberating Image, The: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1

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Richard Middleton is one of a group of biblical scholars who combine deep grounding in traditional scholarship, profound awareness of the effects of postmodernism on culture and thought, and are unafraid to name openly their faith commitment that informs and shapes their scholarship. Along with colleagues such as Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat (see their also excellent volume, Colossians Remixed), Middleton is working to rethink some ancient questions in light of today's intellectual, social and economic contexts. It is a very fruitful project, as this book illustrates.

Middleton's basic thesis is neither novel nor radical: that Genesis 1, as part of Genesis' wider narrative, is aimed at subverting the Babylonian cultural context of the Jerusalem elite in Exile. Middleton is very cautious about claiming too much certainty, yet he marshals evidence clearly and convincingly to support his case. The outcome is a clear light into the meaning not only of "the image of God" in Genesis 1, but also of the sweep of Genesis as offering an alternative to the dominant urban imperial worldview in which Israel so often found itself, and in which God's people today continue to find themselves.

Middleton's work is not for the casual reader, yet one needn't be a biblical scholar to follow his argument, either. Highly recommended both for its well-written prose and the scope of questions it addresses within a manageable length.

I have read this book at least three times now, and several chapters several times. This book shows the implications of what it means to be made in the image of God and how the West has typically translated the Genesis text. The historical background helps to determine the original meaning of what the original Hebrew authors were conveying in their own time in the midst of other cosmologies that were seemingly designed to keep a monarchic hold on society. Brilliantly done.