Relating Man in the Image of God to the Health Sciences

A Lecture Delivered for the Christian Medical Society
Gordon College | June 1988

As befitting the presentation of a theologian to a group of medical professionals, Dr. Henry shares the philosophical underpinnings for their work and what questions Christianity can answer. He challenges them, and us today, to consider just what human beings actually are. Are we nothing more than what philosophical naturalism would leave us, beings without out souls, whose minds are nothing more than chemical reactions? This is more than an academic question. The person who sees humans as nothing more than several billion pairs of DNA strands has a significantly different view of medical ethics from that of the Christian who sees human purpose as wrapped up in an individual’s response to an infinite personal God. While not dismissing the importance or place of general revelation, Dr. Henry looks to the specially revealed reality of humans as made in the image of God as the cornerstone of a true anthropology and of ethics.