ABSTRACT
The way of uniting man to God, and the ways whereby man is separated from God, concern the totality of what constitutes the human being. The former emphasizes the contingent bond between humanity and God in which bond alone humanity can be truly human – what it is in the creative purpose of God. Humanity exists in dependence to God, yet has its own nature, quality and identity within that relation, for it is other than the Creator; it is created. The latter underlines the breaking of the contingent bond by stressing the attempt of humanity to assert an independence and autonomy over against God, by which action it removes itself from the only ground of its essential being.
