How to Define a Human Person | Kevin Vanhoozer
Channel: Henry Center
Date: 2022-08-17

Lecture Title - The Human Person: A Grammatical Subject

TEDS professor Kevin Vanhoozer raises the question of how one can define a human person. The first step is to differentiate between a person and a non-person. A person is someone, not something. Vanhoozer traces the history of "person" in the Trinity. "Person" comes from the Latin "persona," meaning "a player's mask." Vanhoozer continues to articulate three initial questions: First, given that personhood is an interdisciplinary topic, which discipline do you think should take priority in the discussion? Second, do you agree that the discourse about personhood is often subject to dichotomizing forces? Third, echoing David Kelsey's concern, whatever the concept of person means in Trinitarian theology, it cannot be generalized to cover human beings. The modern concept of human beings is so culturally dominated and theologically inadequate as to render it unserviceable.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer (PhD University of Cambridge) is Research Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2010), Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), and Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples Through Scripture and Doctrine (Lexham Press, 2019).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

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