The theological concept of image of God as foundation of universal equality and dignity in the black abolitionist movement and in the theology of Martin Luther King, Jr.

在黑人废奴运动和马丁·路德·金的神学中，上帝形象的神学概念是普遍平等和尊严的基础。

• 批准号: 435847497
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Michael Haspel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Martin-Luther-Institut (MLI)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/435847497?language=en
• 关键词: theological; concept; image; God; foundation

Martin Luther King, Jr. regularly employs the theological concept of all human beings created in the image of God in order to substantiate the equal dignity of all humans. From this foundation of hu-man dignity, he derives the quest for equal civil and human rights for all people. In his concept, this is combined with the quest for the abolition of segregation in the South of the US, and later on with the quest for worldwide social and economic rights for all.The role of the concept of image of God in linking the theological foundation of human dignity to the quest for universal human rights was far from self-evident in the 1950s and 1960s, and not only in continental theology.However, so far there is no systematic analysis of this relationship in King’s theology based on a comprehensive number of sources. This is the goal of the first part of the project. This part of the inquiry also entails consideration of which sources and traditions King uses and how he systematiz-es them.We can assume that King draws on the tradition of abolitionism. Usually, reference is made to the dominant abolitionist discourses after 1833. However, this discursive pattern of substantiating human dignity and human rights by the theological concept of image of God and correlated with this, the quest not only for the abolition of slavery but full emancipation of people of African descent occurs already earlier, for instance in Walker’s famous Appeal from 1829/30. Walker’s argumenta-tion is different from the contemporary concepts and goals of white abolitionists, who mostly do not accept the equal dignity of black people but emphasize the sinfulness of slavery and that the judg-ment for it will come on the white people. Therefore, they normally do not aim for the emancipation of black people but only on the gradual abolition of slavery and colonization of the free blacks in Africa. In the second part of the project, this theological argumentation in the black abolitionist dis-course between 1819 and 1850 shall be reconstructed in more detail.Finally, the theological foundational discourses of human dignity in black abolitionism and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theology will be compared in order to identify similarities and differences. If it can be shown, that a correlation exists between the concept of imago Dei and the foundation of univer-sal human dignity in the black abolitionist discourse already around 1830 and that these discursive patterns are employed and systematized by Martin Luther King, Jr., then previous views on the genesis of theological foundational discourses of human dignity and human rights must be qualified.In theological perspective a foundational discourse would be recovered, which could enrich even the current debates on racism and human dignity.

马丁路德金它经常采用所有人都是按照上帝的形象创造的神学概念，以证实所有人的平等尊严。从人类尊严的基础上，他寻求所有人平等的公民权利和人权。在他的概念中，这与美国南部对废除种族隔离的追求，以及后来对全世界所有人的社会和经济权利的追求相结合。上帝形象的概念在将人类尊严的神学基础与对普遍人权的追求联系起来方面的作用在20世纪50年代和60年代还远未不言而喻，然而，到目前为止，在金的神学中还没有一个基于全面的大量资料来源的系统分析。这是该项目第一部分的目标。这一部分的研究还需要考虑金使用了哪些来源和传统，以及他是如何将它们系统化的。通常情况下，参考1833年后占主导地位的废奴主义者的话语。然而，这种通过上帝形象的神学概念来充实人的尊严和人权的论述模式以及与此相关的不仅是对废除奴隶制而且是对非洲人后裔充分解放的追求，在更早的时候就已经出现，例如在步行者1829/30年著名的《呼吁》中。步行者的主张与当代白色废奴主义者的主张和目标不同，他们大多不承认黑人的平等尊严，而强调奴隶制的罪恶性，认为对奴隶制的审判将落在白色人的头上。因此，他们的目标通常不是解放黑人，而是逐步废除奴隶制和对非洲自由黑人的殖民。在第二部分中，我们将对1819 - 1850年间黑人废奴主义者话语中的这一神学论证进行更详细的重构，最后，我们将对黑人废奴主义者和马丁·路德·金关于人的尊严的神学基础话语进行分析。的神学将进行比较，以确定相似之处和不同之处。如果可以证明，上帝意象的概念与1830年左右黑人废奴主义者话语中普遍的人类尊严基础之间存在关联，并且这些话语模式被马丁·路德·金所采用和系统化，那么，以前关于人类尊严和人权的神学基本论述的起源的观点必须加以修正，从神学的角度来看，一种基本论述将被恢复，这甚至可以丰富目前关于种族主义和人类尊严的辩论。