Definition of Terms: Identity (Pt. 7)

Excerpt from, “From social justice warrior to Gospel-centered servant of God: An educator’s reflection on critical theory and Christianity” (Linkletter, 2021).

Identity is “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). And “personal identity deals with the philosophical questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being” (Shenvi, 2019).

When we consider our personal identity, we often consider the following problems:

Who am I?

Which properties am I attached to or take ownership of, and which properties do I think define myself as a person or distinguish me from others?

Next, one might consider what it means to be a person.

For example, at what point did I become a person? In the womb or once I was born?

What is the difference between a person and a nonperson (an animal or an inanimate object)?

One also might consider, their past and their future and whether they will continue to exist after they die.

Finally, one might consider what evidence there is to justify their concept of their personal identity. Have they established the concept of personal identity from first-person memory, or is the evidence from an external source? (Oslon, 2021).

It is my personal belief that our identity is found in God and that we are made in the image of God.

Genesis 1:27 (ESV) reads, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Michael Horton (2012) explains human personhood as a “true uniqueness [that] can be discovered only in relation to God (p.128).

Bavinck (2008) eloquently explains the image of God:

As prophet, man explains God and proclaims his excellence; as priest, he consecrates all that is created to God as a holy offering; as king, he guides and governs all things in justice and rectitude. In all this he points to One who in a still higher and richer sense, is the revelation and image of God, to him who is the only begotten of the Father, and the firstborn of all creatures. Adam, the son of God, was a type of Christ. (p. 328)

For this research paper, it is important to make the distinction between identity as simply attributes of a person (ethnicity, race, gender) and identity as the whole person not just bearing or having the image of God, but the whole person is the image of God (Horton, 2012, p. 123).

Rebecca

References

Bavinck, Herman. (2008). Reformed dogmatics: Holy spirit, church, and new creation. Baker Academic.

Horton, Michael. (2012). Pilgrim theology: Core doctrines for Christian disciples. Zondervan.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Identity. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved June 25, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/identity.

Olson, eric T., “Personal Identity”, The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zlata (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=identity-personal

Shenvi, N. & Sawyer, P. (2019) https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/incompatibility-critical-theory-christianity/