Imago Dei to Ciphers of Transcendence: Narrative Theology of the Integrity of Life

Religious communities around the world face challenges of inclusion. Often the question is asked regarding who does and does not belong within a particular religious or political community. The two ideas of religion and politics can also intermix in a way that creates further challenges. If theology provides a framework for religious communities, it must remain flexible in order to accommodate the continually changing environment of those communities. Viewed through narrative construction, theology, and in the case of this essay specifically Christian theology, is fluid because the narratives of the communities arise out of the ever changing contexts of those communities. The goal of this essay is to use the theological work of Wendy Farley, David Klemm, and William Schweiker among others to show how Christian theology can build communities of inclusion and integrity of life. The imago dei of traditional Christian theology transforms into a potentially trans-contextual narrative of human beings (and perhaps non-human as well) as ciphers of transcendence through a narrative approach to these thinkers and the implications of their work for promoting the integrity of life.

Keywords: Constructive theology, trans-contextual narrative, integrity of life, cipher of transcendence.