The Image of God

This is a reading list on the doctrine of the image of God—what the imago Dei is, who bears it, and what follows from it. It grew out of two runs at the doctrine of man with my church, and it follows the questions those classes kept raising: what Genesis 1:26–28 would have meant in its own world, whether the image is something we are or something we do, what the fall did to it, and how Christ as the image of God reshapes the whole discussion. For my own teaching on the subject, see the image of God topic page. It’s a working list, not an exhaustive one, so tell me in the comments what you’d add.

It’s organized in 7 sections:

1. Top Picks
2. Books and Monographs
3. Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sources
4. Chapters or Sections in Systematic Theologies
5. Sections in Genesis Commentaries
6. Journal Articles and Essays
7. Dissertations and Theses

1. Top Picks

If you read only a handful, read these. Hoekema is still the best one-volume evangelical treatment; Clines is the classic survey of the exegetical options; Middleton makes the case for the royal-functional reading; Kilner presses hardest on what the fall did and didn’t do to the image; Lints traces image and idol as inversions of each other; Kline reads the image through Spirit and glory.

1. Clines, D. J. A. “The Image of God in Man.” Tyndale Bulletin 19 (1968): 53–103.
2. Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God’s Image. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
3. Kilner, John F. Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015.
4. Kline, Meredith G. Images of the Spirit. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1999.
5. Lints, Richard. Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion. New Studies in Biblical Theology 36. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015.
6. Middleton, J. Richard. The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005.

2. Books and Monographs

1. Anderson, Ray S. On Being Human: Essays in Theological Anthropology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982.
2. Beale, G. K. We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008.
3. Berkouwer, G. C. Man: The Image of God. Studies in Dogmatics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962.
4. Blocher, Henri. In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis. Translated by David G. Preston. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984.
5. Brunner, Emil. Man in Revolt: A Christian Anthropology. Translated by Olive Wyon. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1947.
6. Cairns, David. The Image of God in Man. London: SCM Press, 1953.
7. Cortez, Marc. ReSourcing Theological Anthropology: A Constructive Account of Humanity in the Light of Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017.
8. ———. Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: T&T Clark, 2010.
9. Garr, W. Randall. In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity, Divinity, and Monotheism. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 15. Leiden: Brill, 2003.
10. Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012.
11. Green, Joel B. Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.
12. Grenz, Stanley J. The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei. The Matrix of Christian Theology 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
13. Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.
14. Herzfeld, Noreen L. In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.
15. Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God’s Image. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
16. Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.
17. Jervell, Jacob. Imago Dei: Gen 1,26f. im Spätjudentum, in der Gnosis und in den paulinischen Briefen. Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 58. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960.
18. Jónsson, Gunnlaugur A. The Image of God: Genesis 1:26–28 in a Century of Old Testament Research. Coniectanea Biblica: Old Testament Series 26. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1988.
19. Kilner, John F. Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015.
20. Kline, Meredith G. Images of the Spirit. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1999.
21. Lints, Richard. Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion. New Studies in Biblical Theology 36. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015.
22. Machen, J. Gresham. The Christian View of Man. New York: Macmillan, 1937.
23. McDowell, Catherine L. The Image of God in the Garden of Eden: The Creation of Humankind in Genesis 2:5–3:24 in Light of the mīs pî, pīt pî, and wpt-r Rituals of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Siphrut 15. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015.
24. McFarland, Ian A. The Divine Image: Envisioning the Invisible God. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005.
25. Middleton, J. Richard. The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005.
26. Orr, James. God’s Image in Man and Its Defacement in the Light of Modern Denials. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1905.
27. Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Anthropology in Theological Perspective. Translated by Matthew J. O’Connell. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1985.
28. Peterson, Ryan S. The Imago Dei as Human Identity: A Theological Interpretation. Journal of Theological Interpretation Supplements 14. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016.
29. Reinders, Hans S. Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
30. Scroggs, Robin. The Last Adam: A Study in Pauline Anthropology. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966.
31. Sherlock, Charles. The Doctrine of Humanity. Contours of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996.
32. Van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel. Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.
33. Walton, John H. The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2–3 and the Human Origins Debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015.
34. Yong, Amos. Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007.

3. Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sources

1. Aquinas, Thomas. “The End or Term of the Production of Man.” In Summa Theologica, part 1, question 93. Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1948.
2. Augustine. The Trinity, books 9–14. Translated by Edmund Hill. The Works of Saint Augustine I/5. Brooklyn: New City Press, 1991.
3. Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.15. Edited by John T. McNeill. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Library of Christian Classics 20–21. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960.
4. Irenaeus of Lyons. “Irenæus against Heresies.” In The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Vol. 1 of The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885.
5. Turretin, Francis. Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Vol. 1. Translated by George Musgrave Giger. Edited by James T. Dennison Jr. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1992.

4. Chapters or Sections in Systematic Theologies

1. Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics III/1 and III/2. Edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1958–1960.
2. Bavinck, Herman. “Human Nature: The Image of God.” In Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, edited by John Bolt, translated by John Vriend. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.
3. Berkhof, Louis. “Man as the Image of God.” In Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1938.
4. Erickson, Millard J. “The Image of God in the Human.” In Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.
5. Frame, John M. “The Image of God.” In Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2013.
6. Grudem, Wayne A. “The Creation of Man.” In Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.
7. Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872.
8. Horton, Michael. The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

5. Sections in Genesis Commentaries

Every serious commentary on Genesis has to decide what צֶלֶם and דְּמוּת mean in 1:26–28. These are the treatments worth comparing.

1. Hamilton, Victor P. The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.
2. Mathews, Kenneth A. Genesis 1–11:26. New American Commentary 1A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996.
3. Sarna, Nahum M. Genesis. JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989.
4. von Rad, Gerhard. Genesis: A Commentary. Rev. ed. Old Testament Library. Translated by John H. Marks. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972.
5. Waltke, Bruce K., with Cathi J. Fredricks. Genesis: A Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.
6. Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 1–15. Word Biblical Commentary 1. Waco, TX: Word, 1987.
7. Westermann, Claus. Genesis 1–11: A Commentary. Translated by John J. Scullion. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984.

6. Journal Articles and Essays

1. Barr, James. “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis—A Study of Terminology.” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 51 (1968): 11–26.
2. Bird, Phyllis A. “‘Male and Female He Created Them’: Gen 1:27b in the Context of the Priestly Account of Creation.” Harvard Theological Review 74, no. 2 (1981): 129–59.
3. Bray, Gerald. “The Significance of God’s Image in Man.” Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 2 (1991): 195–225.
4. Clines, D. J. A. “The Image of God in Man.” Tyndale Bulletin 19 (1968): 53–103.
5. Gentry, Peter J. “Kingdom through Covenant: Humanity as the Divine Image.” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 12, no. 1 (2008): 16–42.
6. Kilner, John F. “Humanity in God’s Image: Is the Image Really Damaged?” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 3 (2010): 601–17.
7. Middleton, J. Richard. “The Liberating Image? Interpreting the Imago Dei in Context.” Christian Scholar’s Review 24, no. 1 (1994): 8–25.
8. Miller, J. Maxwell. “In the ‘Image’ and ‘Likeness’ of God.” Journal of Biblical Literature 91, no. 3 (1972): 289–304.
9. Sands, Paul. “The Imago Dei as Vocation.” Evangelical Quarterly 82, no. 1 (2010): 28–41.

7. Dissertations and Theses

1. Curtis, Edward M. “Man as the Image of God in Genesis in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Parallels.” PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1984.