Susan A. Ross is a professor and chair of the theology department at Loyola University Chicago. She is a vice-president and member of the Board of Editors of Concilium, the international theological journal. She is the author of Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology (1998) and For the Beauty of the Earth: Women, Sacramentality, and Justice (2006).

• ContentsEditor’s Preface   ixPreface and Acknowledgments   xiChapter One:Ancient Resources on Being Human   1Biblical Resources   1Interpreting the Bible   1Some Biblical Narratives   4Jesus as Exemplar   9Paul  12Early Christianity on Being Human   13Gnosticism, Irenaeus, and Early Christian Martyrs   14Asceticism   16Platonism and Origen   19Augustine   20Conclusion   24Chapter Two:Resources from the Medieval and Reformation Periods   27Medieval Thought   27Monasticism and Learning   27Monasticism and Living One’s Faith   32The Desire for God   33Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas   36The Reformation   39Martin Luther   40John Calvin   42 The Council of Trent   44Women in the Reformation   45Conclusion   46Chapter Three:Resources from Modernity   47The Desire for Knowledge    48Descartes   49Hume and Kant   51Nineteenth-Century Developments   53The Desire for Freedom   56Slaves, Women, and Personhood   57The “Masters of Suspicion”   61Karl Marx   61Sigmund Freud   62Conclusion / Twentieth-Century Issues   65Chapter Four:Christian Selfhood and Postmodernity   67Characteristics of Postmodern Selfhood   69Fragmentation and Plurality   69Social and Historical Relativity   70The Linguistic Turn   71Otherness   72Ambiguity   74Christian Theological Engagement with Postmodernity   75Edward Schillebeeckx and “Anthropological Constants”   76Jan-Olav Henriksen and the Other   78Karl Rahner and the Desire for God   81Concluding Reflections on the Postmodern Self   83Chapter Five:The Beauty of Embodiment: Body and Sexuality   85The Body   87Sex   94Sex and Traditional Catholic Theology   94Sexuality and Contemporary Theological Anthropology   98 The Theology of the Body   99Margaret Farley and “Just Love”   102Sex and Sexual Variation   104Conclusion   104Chapter Six:The Human Capacity for Evil and the Hope for Salvation   109The Human Capacity for and Propensity to Evil   111Human Beings, the Sciences, and Evil   112René Girard’s Theory of Violence and Mimetic Desire   114Understanding the Perpetrators of Evil   116Victims of Evil   123Trauma Victims   124Social Trauma   127Witnesses to Evil   130Chapter Seven:Theology, Science, and Human Personhood   133What Makes Us the Imago Dei?   135Animals and Human Beings   139Human Beings and the World around Us   141Neuroscience and the Human   144Technology, Medicine, and the Human Person   148Conclusion   152Conclusion: Seeking Light and Beauty   155Index   163

What stands out in this fantastic introductory volume to theological anthropology is the myriad of voices that Ross effectively encompasses in her narrative, including Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Lonergan, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and David Tracy. [This book] is highly recommended as an introductory volume to theological anthropology, and appropriate as source material for an undergraduate course regarding anthropology or moral theology. It is well-written, concise, and adequately sourced.Robert P. Russo, Lourdes University

Susan A. Ross is a professor and chair of the theology department at Loyola University Chicago. She is a vice-president and member of the Board of Editors of Concilium, the international theological journal. She is the author of Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology (1998) and For the Beauty of the Earth: Women, Sacramentality, and Justice (2006).

• ContentsEditor’s Preface   ixPreface and Acknowledgments   xiChapter One:Ancient Resources on Being Human   1Biblical Resources   1Interpreting the Bible   1Some Biblical Narratives   4Jesus as Exemplar   9Paul  12Early Christianity on Being Human   13Gnosticism, Irenaeus, and Early Christian Martyrs   14Asceticism   16Platonism and Origen   19Augustine   20Conclusion   24Chapter Two:Resources from the Medieval and Reformation Periods   27Medieval Thought   27Monasticism and Learning   27Monasticism and Living One’s Faith   32The Desire for God   33Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas   36The Reformation   39Martin Luther   40John Calvin   42 The Council of Trent   44Women in the Reformation   45Conclusion   46Chapter Three:Resources from Modernity   47The Desire for Knowledge    48Descartes   49Hume and Kant   51Nineteenth-Century Developments   53The Desire for Freedom   56Slaves, Women, and Personhood   57The “Masters of Suspicion”   61Karl Marx   61Sigmund Freud   62Conclusion / Twentieth-Century Issues   65Chapter Four:Christian Selfhood and Postmodernity   67Characteristics of Postmodern Selfhood   69Fragmentation and Plurality   69Social and Historical Relativity   70The Linguistic Turn   71Otherness   72Ambiguity   74Christian Theological Engagement with Postmodernity   75Edward Schillebeeckx and “Anthropological Constants”   76Jan-Olav Henriksen and the Other   78Karl Rahner and the Desire for God   81Concluding Reflections on the Postmodern Self   83Chapter Five:The Beauty of Embodiment: Body and Sexuality   85The Body   87Sex   94Sex and Traditional Catholic Theology   94Sexuality and Contemporary Theological Anthropology   98 The Theology of the Body   99Margaret Farley and “Just Love”   102Sex and Sexual Variation   104Conclusion   104Chapter Six:The Human Capacity for Evil and the Hope for Salvation   109The Human Capacity for and Propensity to Evil   111Human Beings, the Sciences, and Evil   112René Girard’s Theory of Violence and Mimetic Desire   114Understanding the Perpetrators of Evil   116Victims of Evil   123Trauma Victims   124Social Trauma   127Witnesses to Evil   130Chapter Seven:Theology, Science, and Human Personhood   133What Makes Us the Imago Dei?   135Animals and Human Beings   139Human Beings and the World around Us   141Neuroscience and the Human   144Technology, Medicine, and the Human Person   148Conclusion   152Conclusion: Seeking Light and Beauty   155Index   163

What stands out in this fantastic introductory volume to theological anthropology is the myriad of voices that Ross effectively encompasses in her narrative, including Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Lonergan, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and David Tracy. [This book] is highly recommended as an introductory volume to theological anthropology, and appropriate as source material for an undergraduate course regarding anthropology or moral theology. It is well-written, concise, and adequately sourced.Robert P. Russo, Lourdes University

Susan A. Ross is a professor and chair of the theology department at Loyola University Chicago. She is a vice-president and member of the Board of Editors of Concilium, the international theological journal. She is the author of Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology (1998) and For the Beauty of the Earth: Women, Sacramentality, and Justice (2006).

• ContentsEditor’s Preface   ixPreface and Acknowledgments   xiChapter One:Ancient Resources on Being Human   1Biblical Resources   1Interpreting the Bible   1Some Biblical Narratives   4Jesus as Exemplar   9Paul  12Early Christianity on Being Human   13Gnosticism, Irenaeus, and Early Christian Martyrs   14Asceticism   16Platonism and Origen   19Augustine   20Conclusion   24Chapter Two:Resources from the Medieval and Reformation Periods   27Medieval Thought   27Monasticism and Learning   27Monasticism and Living One’s Faith   32The Desire for God   33Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas   36The Reformation   39Martin Luther   40John Calvin   42 The Council of Trent   44Women in the Reformation   45Conclusion   46Chapter Three:Resources from Modernity   47The Desire for Knowledge    48Descartes   49Hume and Kant   51Nineteenth-Century Developments   53The Desire for Freedom   56Slaves, Women, and Personhood   57The “Masters of Suspicion”   61Karl Marx   61Sigmund Freud   62Conclusion / Twentieth-Century Issues   65Chapter Four:Christian Selfhood and Postmodernity   67Characteristics of Postmodern Selfhood   69Fragmentation and Plurality   69Social and Historical Relativity   70The Linguistic Turn   71Otherness   72Ambiguity   74Christian Theological Engagement with Postmodernity   75Edward Schillebeeckx and “Anthropological Constants”   76Jan-Olav Henriksen and the Other   78Karl Rahner and the Desire for God   81Concluding Reflections on the Postmodern Self   83Chapter Five:The Beauty of Embodiment: Body and Sexuality   85The Body   87Sex   94Sex and Traditional Catholic Theology   94Sexuality and Contemporary Theological Anthropology   98 The Theology of the Body   99Margaret Farley and “Just Love”   102Sex and Sexual Variation   104Conclusion   104Chapter Six:The Human Capacity for Evil and the Hope for Salvation   109The Human Capacity for and Propensity to Evil   111Human Beings, the Sciences, and Evil   112René Girard’s Theory of Violence and Mimetic Desire   114Understanding the Perpetrators of Evil   116Victims of Evil   123Trauma Victims   124Social Trauma   127Witnesses to Evil   130Chapter Seven:Theology, Science, and Human Personhood   133What Makes Us the Imago Dei?   135Animals and Human Beings   139Human Beings and the World around Us   141Neuroscience and the Human   144Technology, Medicine, and the Human Person   148Conclusion   152Conclusion: Seeking Light and Beauty   155Index   163

What stands out in this fantastic introductory volume to theological anthropology is the myriad of voices that Ross effectively encompasses in her narrative, including Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Lonergan, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and David Tracy. [This book] is highly recommended as an introductory volume to theological anthropology, and appropriate as source material for an undergraduate course regarding anthropology or moral theology. It is well-written, concise, and adequately sourced.Robert P. Russo, Lourdes University