God's Image in Humanity

Nahum Sarna writes in Understanding Genesis:

Perhaps nowhere is the contrast between the mythological and the Israelite conceptions more striking and more illuminating than in their respective descriptions of the creation of man.

In Genesis, though, like in some of the contemporary Ancient Near Eastern cultures, man is fashioned from clay, he is made “in the image of God,” giving him a dignity and value unheard of in other societies. Sarna understands this key phrase as making reference to the blessing God gives humanity, endowing “man with power over…