Human Dignity and Bioethics

76 | Robert P. Kraynak
from God—a comparative rank entitling man to limited dominion
over creatures that is a mirror of God’s total dominion over all
creation. Yet, the divine image can be partially lost, either by the
whole human species, as in the Fall, or by individuals, as a result of
committing murder. In addition to stressing dominion, the passages
from Genesis emphasize procreation, as if procreation were an image
of God’s power of creation—which would explain the reference to
male-female sexual differentiation as part of the divine image and
the command to “be fruitful and multiply.” Although procreation
enables people to make children in their image—just as God made
Adam in God’s image, so Adam makes Seth in his image—one cannot
be sure if this is the basis of human dignity. For the lower animals
also procreate “according to their kinds” and are commanded to
“be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22). Perhaps the Bible is saying
that procreation with the conscious intention of passing on personal
identity and subduing the earth is the divine image in man.
The challenge of Genesis is that it offers a glimpse into human
dignity by referring to the divine image without precisely defining
it. Dignity includes man’s superior rank in the created hierarchy; and
it confers special worth to human life and procreation, although the
lifeblood and procreation of other animals also receive certain blessings
(as if they too shared in the divine image to some extent). If this
is true, however, what remains of the special dignity of man? The
only answer that makes sense to me is that the lifeblood and procreation
which man shares with other animals have a deeper meaning
for the human species: they are pale reflections of something man
alone possessed before the Fall, namely, immortal life. The implication
is that immortality is the lost image of God in man—a suggestion
supported by the account of the Fall, which is primarily about
the loss of immortality, as well as by the longevity of Adam and the
early patriarchs, who lived up to 900 years, as a kind of afterglow of
immortality that God finally ended by setting a limit to human life
at 120 years (Genesis 6:3). As compensation for the limited life span
of mortals, the surrogate immortality that Adam gained through his
son Seth continues through the procreation of families and tribes
that endure for generations. Man’s dignity, in the sense of original
immortality or surrogate immortality (through children and long
life) is therefore a comparative notion since it is the highest degree of