ABSTRACT
In the seventh chapter, biblical anthropology and axiology are reviewed. Humankind exists, like all other created things, interweaved in a relational ontology. Indeed, within the Christian tradition, relationship with God is constitutive of human identity. Biblically, the defining characteristic of human identity is having been created in God’s image—or, rather, humanity reflecting the image of God in their living. Human identity, then, is only truly understood in and from this relationship, and it is by this relationship with God that all other relations are meaningfully ordered. As created, humankind also shares creaturely finitude. Human completeness, like identity, is found only in communion with God. Thus, all human activity is naturally oriented to God. In actively tending to develop the potential in creation, humankind experiences the power of God in our activity; in this activity, humans find our own potential being developed. Righteousness in humanity, then, becomes “rightly” ordering activity and life toward God. Understood together, we see the mutually supportive nature of humanity and morality, important themes for consideration in a clinical context with Christian clients.
