I found this lecture quite interesting. The basic thesis that the speaker develops is that human beings are not in fact unique in the created order. He goes on to suggest that since only human beings bear the image of God, it must be something other than human uniqueness that constitutes this image. His suggestion is that it is God's election that makes us image bearers and not something unique within us (like a spiritual dimension). Election rather than uniqueness is the proposed image of God in human beings. What do you guys think?

His lecture seems to discredit the "Great Leap Forward" that James Arraj refers to in his "Can Christians Still Believe?" book on human evolution. I'm not a scientist so I don't know, but may Arraj have been mistaken or maybe just working with old data when he posited a "Great Leap Forward" in human evolution that made humans unique. Arraj's used this idea of a great leap to make a case for prehumans becoming genetic and spiritual humans...but the speaker seems to dismiss such ideas as unscientifically grounded.

Jacques, I haven't listened to the lecture as it's almost 90 min. long, but will give it a shot when I have more time. But to my understanding, Jim Arraj presumes an intervention of the divine in his writings about the emergence of human spiritual consciousness.

I'm not clear on what's being proposed by Joshua Moritz, however. Human beings are unquestionably similar in countless respects to other mammals, but different as well in many ways. In speaking of "spiritual consciousness," we are attempting to say something about this -- not simply that we are more intelligent, but that we possess ourselves and our intelligence differently from other animals, or so it seems. I'm not clear why divine election vs. evolutionary emergence is an either/or matter in accounting for this. Just everything is, ultimately, subordinate to divine providence, and that includes our evolutionary history.

Phil, I know the lecture is quite long, which unfortunately means less people will watch it - the actual presentation is only about 50 minutes, with the extra time at the end spent on questions.

Of course Moritz doesn't actually mention Arraj or speak specifically to all the topics Arraj discusses in his book. But I quite enjoyed Arraj's explanation of the great leap forward when I first read it a few years ago, and it was something that was on my mind as I listened to Moritz. Arraj seemed to indicate that hominids preceding homo sapiens lacked many of the key characteristics that made homo sapiens unique - explosion of culture, major advancement in tool making, art, music etc. Arraj believed that it was the giving of the human soul that changed Adam and Eve into the first real people.

As I was listening to the presentation, it was this reality of uniqueness that was being called into question and a different explanation given for what makes man the image of God.

I find both Moritz and Arraj's work interesting, but realize that some of what Moritz says would make Arraj's position somewhat outdated...if of course Moritz is correct.

Just thought I'd share the link in case others have found the interaction of evolutionary science and Christian theology interesting...I know I have.

Jacques, I'll tune in to the lecture when I have a bit more time and get back to you.

Just to clarify, though: for Arraj, it is the spiritual soul that constitutes us as images of God, and he believed this to have been a case of special intervention by the divine in the evolutionary process rather than a natural emergent outcome. So just going by what you're sharing, here, I'm still not seeing the issue of "great leap" vs. divine election as either/or.