Khrystyna Fostyak: Quid est homo? Kontinuität und Diskontinuität in der christlichen Anthropologie des Mittelalters
Theological summae, sententiae commentaries, biblical commentaries, spiritual texts etc. offer us rich material for research on and evaluation of the theological anthropology of the Middle Ages, which shows a certain ambivalence between positive and negative views of humankind. Positive perceptions of man as the crown and ruler of creation, the link between God and the world, a reflection of the world and, most importantly, as the image of God are rooted the statement found in Gen 1,26 that mankind was created in image and after likeness of God. Conversely, the negative anthropological concepts were inspired by the story of the Fall. Some of the anthropological teachings enjoyed an uninterrupted reception, while other seem to have alternated between obsolescence and renaissance. The aim of the present article is therefore to provide a general overview of the central themes and questions of the theological anthropology of the Middle Ages, which, in addition to its biblical foundation, was also based upon the patristic tradition and sensitive to the philosophical movements of the time.
Keywords: imago Dei – dignity – woman – commentary on Genesis – Henry of Langenstein