Wednesday, 24 June 2026

THE IMAGO DEI REVEALED THROUGH GENESIS, Part 2 - Philosophically

 The Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis

Part 2, Philosophically

The doctrine of the imago Dei is grounded on one verse in Genesis chapter 1. From Genesis 1:27, Brent Strawn observes, “The image of God (Latin imago Dei) is a familiar, even fraught, biblical notion because it has served as something of an empty cipher that countless interpreters have sought to fill.”(2) Strawn continues to highlight how much of a lacuna there is in trying to define and explain the  Genesis 1:27 reference to imago Dei: “Despite a great deal of spilled ink, what, exactly, the imago Dei is remains no small mystery because the notion goes largely undeveloped and underdeveloped in the Bible.”(3) Despite Strawn’s highlight of the lack of biblical development of this motif, he is not suggesting that it cannot be developed from the scant biblical data we do have. This is where biblically informed philosophy can be helpful.

The Role of Philosophy

The role of philosophy in interacting with biblical mysteries requires careful reflective thinking about the text in question to initially consider whether we ‘hearing’ the text accurately. Careful reflective thinking should thus comply with the first principles of hermeneutics. This kind of thinking should facilitate sound reasoning leading to logical conclusions. This kind of philosophical enquiry is different to the kind dangerous philosophy that Paul warned the Colossians about:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit,
according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world,
and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:8

Biblically informed philosophy leads the philosopher to ask appropriate questions of a mysterious text. In this Genesis 1:27 instance there are some scholars who have reasoned that such an obviously important text is actually  designed to evoke questions from readers. Notice the questions that Strawn refers to immediately from the preceding text of Genesis chapter one:

And so, again, what the imago is, precisely, remains a live and lively question, as does another: how do (or perhaps better: will) humans manifest that image? The latter question depends on the former one in a primal way the issue is not simply what the image of God means, but how is God imaged in the first place? What is God like, how is God understood? Only by answering these types of questions can one determine if (and how) human beings properly “image” God.(4)

What do we learn about God from Genesis 1:1-26? After all, if humankind is to image this God, what is it about this God that humans are to image? In what ways are humans to image this God? Strawn cites the theologian, Leon Kass who comments, “To see how man [sic] might be godlike, we look at the text to see what God is like.”(5)

While scholars may not be able to identify what it is that makes humankind constitutionally distinct from other creatures, they at least consider that humankind as imago Dei requires doing something that is ‘god-like’. Strawn continues:

Imago is what imago does. Human beings will be (in/as) the image of God or show themselves to be (in/as) the image of God if they actually image God. Image, according to this view, is a verb as much as it is a noun, an action more than a state of being, and is unfinished, not yet complete, with Genesis telling the story of if and how human beings do (and/or do not) turn out to image the Deity.(6)

 

Philosophical Views of the Imago Dei

Our preliminary answer to the questions arising from about the nature of the God being imaged by humankind which we might derive from the preceding verses in Genesis 1 would include a vision of God as:

  • Responsible – He was responsible for the planning, implementation and oversight of Creation.
  • Rational – His planning, would have required enormous logical consideration and intelligence.
  • Relational – He demonstrated a connection with creation describing each stage as good. But His creation of humankind demonstrates a deep desire to connect with humans and for them to connect with Him.

Each of these three observations come from a philosophical consideration of the Genesis 1 text. When add Genesis 1:27 into the consideration Strawn points out something that may not have been immediately obvious to the student. The imago Dei in Genesis 1:27 is not singular.

So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
Genesis. 1:27

It is the first male and female that are revealed as the imagines Dei. Strawn’s point is profound because much of the scholarship regarding the imago Dei is based on a singular consideration of Adam. Even in the more detailed description of the creation of humankind given in the Genesis 2 retelling, after the man is created there is no textual reference to him as an individual being yet designated as the imago Dei. Strawn furthers this point by highlighting that even though the remainder of Genesis only makes another three references to the image or likeness of God, in each reference it is a plural reference. The profundity of this point cannot be overstated, and it adds data that is almost entirely overlooked by most scholars, and as will be shown shortly is used to claim that women are not bearers of the divine image. “The image of God, that is, is not not even in Genesis all by itself a singular entity but, rather, a plural one. There is not just one imago Dei but many images of God.”(7)

Philosopher, Christopher Watkin summarises these foundational and early views of the image of God in these three general categories: (8)

(i) Substantial – with unique capacities including bipedalism, superior intelligence, use of language, and self-consciousness;

(ii) Functional – as representatives of God to steward creation; and,

(iii) Relational – with an inherent capacity for relationship with God, with other human beings, and with creation, including flora and fauna.

Over time these three categories were further distinguished as:

(i) The Religious View –also listed in the Functional, and also referred to as the Vocational, or Priestly view. Humankind is fundamentally religious – homo religiosus.(9) John T. Swann is a prominent proponent of this view.(10)

(ii) The Rational View –also listed in the Substantialist (11) or Noetic view. Humankind as the imago Dei is distinguished from other animals because humans have the mental capacities to will, think, reason, reflect, and/or to recall. Proponents of this view include: Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202), Athanasius (c. 296 – 373), and Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274).

(iii) The Reflective View – when we say humankind is created in God’s image we mean that humans reflect God’s moral attributes and virtuous character. This view is grounded in the idea of imago Dei as imitatio Christi (the imitation of Christ). Proponents of this view include Phillip Edgcumbe Hughes (1915–1990). (12)

(iv) The Responsible View – this is also known as the Representational view. Humankind is to image God by fulfilling certain socio-economic responsibilities to be productive, to be creative (artistically), and to exercise creation care through stewardship. Proponents of this view include Sandra L. Richter (13) and Richard Bauckham.(14)

(v) The Resemblance View – this is also known as the Mimetic view.(15) Humankind resembles God by means of analogy and the exercise of free choice. Proponent, Chad McIntosh acknowledges that “To image something, or to be in something’s likeness, is to represent, resemble, copy, or picture it in some way.” But he sees a distinction between the terms represent and resemble. “Representation is trickier, as some cases of representation involve resemblance and some do not. A painting of a landscape represents the landscape but, in so doing, also resembles the landscape. A flag represents a country but does not resemble it.”(16) While the Reflective view is about reflecting God’s moral character, the Resemblance view is broader and focuses on resembling certain of God’s capacities such as volition. Proponents of this view include Augustine (354-430), Martin Luther (1483–1546), and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945).

(vi)  The (Vice) Regency View – this is often conflated with the Responsible/Representational view. Bauckham explains why these terms are conflated when he argues that those who promote the vice regency view do so because the imago Dei is the distinguishing feature of humans from other animals since “God in creation intended human beings to be the dominant species on earth and intended them to exercise their dominion as his vicegerents” yet Bauckham points out that humankind is still “responsible to him [God].”(17) He then further links the need to see the vice-regency view through the lens of the responsibility view and cautions that “Humanity’s rule over nature is not intended to be tyranny, in which the ruler exploits his subjects for his own benefit, but good government, exercised responsibly for the good of the subjects.”(18) Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395) and J. Richard Middleton(19) are proponent of the vice regency view.

(vii) The Relational Viewpoint – this view is also referred to as the Moral(20) view.(21) It regards the imago Dei evident in the capacity for humankind’s capacity for a vertical relationship with God, and a horizontal relationship with each other. Proponents of this view include Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) who additionally insisted that the imago Dei was constituted by male and female together in “covenantal faithfulness” with God.(22) Martin Buber (1878 – 1965), and Colin Gunton (1941 – 2003) (23) are also proponents of this view.

Theologian, John Kilner, acknowledges that biblical references to the imago Dei in Genesis are scant, but he also contends that they are “significant.”

Some people do not give humanity’s creation in God’s image careful consideration because they see relatively few direct references to it in the Bible. While their observation is true, the conclusion they draw from it does not necessarily follow. The particular places where references to God’s image appear are unusually significant in the Bible.

In the next chapter we will see why he considers them significant and how Strawn also makes a similar contention.

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4  |  Part 5  |  Part 6

__________________________

References

(2) Arnold B. T., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Genesis. Brent A. Strawn, Chapter 10, “From Imago to Imagines: The Image(s) of God in Genesis,” 211-235. Cambridge University Press; 2022, 211.

(3) ibid.

(4) Arnold B. T., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Genesis. Brent A. Strawn, Chapter 10, “From Imago to Imagines: The Image(s) of God in Genesis,” 211-235. Cambridge University Press; 2022, 220. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108529303.010

(5) Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom, 37. Similarly, von Rad, Genesis, 59: “If one wants to determine the content of this statement more closely, one must ask how ancient Israel thought in details of this Elohim,” though he immediately goes beyond Genesis by mentioning the divine predicates “wise” (2 Sam 14:17, 20) and good (1 Sam 29:9).

(6) Arnold B. T., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Genesis. Brent A. Strawn, Chapter 10, “From Imago to Imagines: The Image(s) of God in Genesis,” 211-235. Cambridge University Press; 2022, 219. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108529303.010 Citing: Cf. Von Rad, Genesis, 59: “the text speaks less of the nature of God s image than of its purpose. There is less said about the gift itself than about the task.” So also Schüle, Theology, 27 44; McConville, Being Human, esp. 29 45; Yochanan Muffs, The Personhood of God: Biblical Theology, Human Faith and the Divine Image (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 2005), 174 75: “as image, his is an unrealized potential. Only by becoming human under the guidance of the law does man [sic] actualize this potential ; and Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2003), 38 40. In Kass’s opinion, the open-ended nature of the text indicates that the first chapter of Genesis begins the moral education of the reader (40). A similar sentiment may be present in the šumma kataduggȗ text: “To the extent that zaqīqu [the human “spirit”] is not a physical characteristic, humanity s divine quality is not physically embodied or expressed but is manifest by his spirit and behavior” (Hurowitz, Divinity, 273 74). Similarly, Tigay, Image, 172 73 notes that the king Tukulti-Ninurta s status as the image of the god Enlil appears to depend on his attentiveness to his subjects and his understanding.

(7) Brent A. Strawn, Chapter 10, “From Imago to Imagines: The Image(s) of God in Genesis,” 211-235. Cambridge University Press; 2022, 215.

(8) Christopher Watkin. Thinking through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Academic Publishing, 2017. Kindle Edition), 91.

(9) Paul Ricoeur. Interpretation Theory: Discourse and Surplus of Meaning. “Metaphor to Symbol.” (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1976), 60.

(10) John T. Swann cites “Van Wolde, Stories of the Beginning, 26–29. While the worship context might be muted—or perhaps better said, missed by contemporary readers—the introduction of the צלם אלהים establishes the creation of humankind as an essential part of the overall temple-building exercise of Genesis 1 and therefore inherently related to a cultic and/or worship environment in at least a broad sense. Smith, Priestly Vision, 3. In: The Imago Dei. A Priestly Calling for Mankind. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock. 2017), 4, fn. 20.

(11) Brandon Rickabaugh and J. P. Moreland use this term and define it as “Staunch hylomorphists view substantial form as an abstract particular and call it a soul that departs at death and, somehow, sustains absolute personal identity. Here, the soul qua particularized substantial form is substance-like, i.e., it is an incomplete substance that requires a body to form a genuine substance.” They argue that it is this substantial view which animates the mind to enable the noetic function of a human. Brandon Rickabaugh, J. P. Moreland. The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism. (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kindle Edition. 2024), 13, fn. 56.

(12) Philip Edgcumbe Hughes states, “In the nature of the case, there can be no such thing as a pictorial copy of the invisible; consequently, the term “image” does not mean here simply a visible likeness other than the reality itself.” The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1989), 28. But still Hughes does not downplay the physical form of humankind but says that image of God reflects certain essences of God, “namely, personality, spirituality, rationality, morality, authority, and creativity.” Hughes, 51.

(13) Sandra L. Richter. Stewards of Eden – What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why It Matters. (Lisle, IL: IVP Academic. 2020.)

(14) Richard Bauckham states, “Genesis does not tell us (and scholars cannot agree) to what actual characteristics of human nature creation in the image of God refers. What is clear is that it enables human beings to be God’s representatives on earth (like the images of kings, representing kings, in the ancient world), a function which they exercise in their dominion over nature (1:26, 28).” “First Steps to a Theology of Nature.” The Evangelical Quarterly, 58:3, July-September, 1986. 232-33.

(15) John Hayn Gurmin, notes in his 2010 dissertation, “The use, however, of the term image of God is thus far equated as being a resemblance of God found in relation to a concrete instantiation and also with regard to ‘semblance’ (the Latin origins of which similis means to be like, and that has a close relation to re-semblance, which would relate likeness to some object, in this case, God). Here we get the impression that the writers of Genesis aim to outline something concretely apparent in the human being that sets the human apart from all of ‘incarnate’ creation.” ‘A Study of the Development and Significance of the Idea of the ‘Image of God’ from its Origins in Genesis through its Historical-Philosophical Interpretations to Contemporary Concerns in Science and Phenomenology’, doctoral dissertation, The Department of Philosophy National University of Ireland, Maynooth. 29th October, 2010, 17.

(16) Chad McIntosh argues, “Although these terms denote distinct concepts, resemblance is arguably the most privileged, since if x reflects or copies or pictures y (or is a reflection or copy or picture of y), clearly, x will resemble y in some way.” Chad A. McIntosh, “Of Monsters and Men: A Spectrum View of the Imago Dei.” Religions Journal, 2023, 14, 267. Basel, Switzerland. MDPI. 2.

(17) Richard J. Bauckham. “First Steps to a Theology of Nature.” The Evangelical Quarterly, 58:3, July-September, 1986. 233.

(18) Richard J. Bauckham. “First Steps to a Theology of Nature.” The Evangelical Quarterly, 58:3, July-September, 1986. 234.

(19) “Said one way, humans are like God in exercising royal power on earth. Said in another way, the divine ruler delegated to humans a share in his rule of the earth. Both are important ways of expressing the meaning of the imago Dei.” J. Richard Middleton. The Liberating Image. The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. 2005), 88.

(20) John Owen (1616-1683) argued that the original imago Dei suffered from the Fall of humankind and needed to be renewed through a relationship with Christ based on texts such Colossians 3:10, “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” which resulted in the necessary moral transformation to enable such a restoring relationship. John Owen. The Works of John Owen, “The Trinity Defended: Part 2.” (Scotland, UK: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968 [1850-1853]), Vol. 3 418 19.

(21)Gerrit Berkouwer (1903-1996) refers to this as the ‘relational-ethical’ view. G. C. Berkouwer, Man: The Image of God. (trans. Dirk W. Jellema; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 58-62. This is explained in more detail in chapter 2.

(22) Marc Cortez. ‘Body, Soul, and (Holy) Spirit: Karl Barth’s Theological Framework for Understanding Human Ontology’, International Journal of Systematic Theology Volume 10 Number 3 July 2008. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2400.2007.00328.x 342. In what is referred to as “Barth’s mature position” which he developed after he was challenged by Emil Brunner in Natural Theology (trans. Peter Fraenkel; London: Bles, 1948) where his relational view of the imago Dei was adjusted to the I-Thou encounter of humans in their co-humanity (male and female) with God through His word. J. Richard Middleton. The Liberating Image. The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. 2005), 22.

(23) Colin E. Gunton was a student of Karl Barth who introduced the idea that the sexuality of the males and females was an integral facet of the imago Dei. Gunton went further than Barth’s concept by including non-sexual relationships between males and females to “reflect the difference and sameness present in the Trinity.” Colin E. Gunton. Christ and Creation. The Didsbury Lectures. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1992), 101.

(24). John F. Kilner, Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 37.

© Dr. Andrew Corbett, 13 January 2026, from Melbourne Victoria

Sunday, 21 June 2026

THE IMAGO DEI REVEALED THROUGH GENESIS, Part 1 - Introduction

 Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis by Dr. Andrew Corbett, 5th January 2026, from Melbourne, Australia  

Part 1, Introduction

This is the first sub-series in the grander Imago Dei series. It is the first series because the Book of Genesis is the first book of the bible, and appropriately so because Genesis means “beginning”. Yet as I will show throughout the grander series it is not the very beginning – that will be referred to in the New Testament documents (Jn. 1:1, 17:5; 1Cor. 2:7; Titus 1:2; 2Tim. 1:9; Jude 25). In the meantime, I will commence this series “in the beginning” described in Genesis 1:1 from which we will see that God is the introduced as the Creator and humankind is introduced as the created.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2

Genesis 1 introduces several biblical motifs that will contribute to how we understand their use throughout the remainder of canon of Scripture including: day, night, heavens, light, darkness, good, waters, “God said”, and “be fruitful”. In addition to this motifs which become the basis for many biblical symbols and metaphors, the account of the creation of humankind as male and female “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27) becomes one of the most important biblical verses about: the uniqueness of humankind, the foundation for the rule of law, homo religiosus, human rights, and anthropological teleology.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image (Heb. tselem), after our likeness (Heb. demuth). And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,in the image of God He created him;
male and female he created them.

Genesis. 1:26-27

Theologians tend to use the Latin term for “the image of God” – imago Dei. Remarkably for such a profound biblical concept (either as tselem or demuth), only occurs four times directly in the first nine chapters of Genesis:

(2) Gen. 5.1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, He made him in the likeness (demuth) of God.

(3) Gen. 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness (demuth), after his image (tselem), and named him Seth.

(4) Gen. 9.6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image (tselem).

Jewish theologian, Michael Wyschogrod, wrote chapter in Die Hebräische Bibel und ihr zweifache Nachgeschichte: Festschrift für Rolf Rendtorff zum, 65 Geburstag, “The Impact of Dialogue with Christianity on My Self-Understanding as a Jew,” regards Genesis 1:26 as “the single most powerful [verse] in the Bible.”

As we proceed in our study through Genesis I am going to argue that its introduction in the opening chapter marks one of the predominant themes of this book. As such I will demonstrate that the book has been ordered in a way that we are able to see why certain people did not live up to this created purpose and how Genesis concludes by giving an example of someone who did. The reason that this is an important way to regard Genesis is that establishes a literary sophistication one might reasonably expect from a book claiming to have divine inspiration and authority. Secondly, it will be shown that this positive example exhibits Christological qualities that will contribute to the Hebrew expectation of what the Messiah would be like.

The immediate explication for us is to recognise that all human beings are created as imago Dei. This should consequently lead us to treat all people with inherent dignity and respect. It should also remind us that as imagines of God we have a responsibility to exhibit character qualities deserving of the God we image. For the Christian, this gives us a recognition of our need for the infilling with the Holy Spirit to help us to be the light to the world that Christ spoke of and the bear the good fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul wrote of in Galatians 5. At the very least it should also cause us to be more prayerful for our souls to honour Christ.

Part 2 - The Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis, Part 2 - Philosophically






Dr. Andrew Corbett.

Sunday, 5 October 2025

SOLACE, WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, MOVIE REVIEW

The 2015 movie Solace, directed by Alfonso Poyart, was released in 2016, and stars Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Abbie Cornish, and Colin Farrell. This movie was pitched as a science-fiction film, which I initially found to be  intriguing, because it involves a contemporary setting (rather than the usual futuristic setting which many sci-fi movies are), no aliens, and no robots trying to take over the world, just a couple of detectives and a consultant trying to solve a murder. The FBI consultant, Dr. John Clancy, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, is called upon by Agent Joe Merriwether (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to assist the FBI psychologist Katherine Cowles (Abbie Cornish) in solving this crime. Yet from the outset, we discover that Clancy and Cowles are unlikely to be willing to work together - and this is where the science fiction becomes apparent.  


THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTHONY HOPKINS

I suspect Anthony Hopkins (December 31st 1937 - ) is in the enviable position for an actor that he gets to choose which roles he wishes to accept. And based on the actor’s most recent starring roles, he must have a lot to choose from. And when one considers the types of movies that Sir Anthony has selected there is an interesting golden thread through this particular selection including: 

Solace - John Clancy (2016), 

The Two Popes* - Pope Benedict XVI (2019), 

The Father - Anthony Evans (2020), 

One Life* - Nicolas Winton (2023) 

Freud’s Last Session - Sigmund Freud (2023) 

Mary* - King Herod (2024)    

This is not an exhaustive list of Hopkin’s movies, but this selection reveals a consistent supernatural and ethical thread through this particular selection. Half of this selection are true stories.* The movie I am commenting on, Solace, is not a true story but it is an example of Hopkins choosing to do a film which has supernatural and ethical themes which was oddly presented as science fictions by the producers.


ABOUT SOLACE

How is Solace a supernatural-ethical movie? Dr. John Clancy is a man living with a dark secret which comes to haunt him with his reengagement as an FBI homicide consultant. Clancy is a deeply spiritual man who has spent most of his life as a physician working with the dying, whom the FBI regard as psychic with his ability read people and situations.  This ability was perhaps heightened after the unfortunate death of his only child, his daughter, Emma. Katherine Cowles, the FBI psychologist is a sceptic and materialist who finds the invitation of Joe Merriwether for Clancy to be involved in this homicide case to be pointless. But as Cowles and Clancy spend time together investigating this murder she becomes aware that he is rather unusual with his ability to detect and see things that others can not. She then challenges Clancy to tell her what he sees when he looks at her. Clancy’s insights into her previously secretive past stuns her.

The case they are working on together leads them to finally track down the serial killer in the hope of preventing him from killing again. As they eventually trap the murderer, what happens is a significant twist where it is revealed that it was not only Cowles who was carrying a painful secret. The lead FBI detective, Joe Merriwether, was also carrying a painful secret - a secret which only Clancy had perceived. As the murderer is caught by Clancy's clever perception of his next move, we then learn that Charles Ambrose (Colin Farrell) also had a dark secret which Clancy had failed to perceive. But what no-one had perceived was that Clancy was carrying an immensely painful secret that had also contributed to the temporary estrangement from his wife. The irony of his secret is only grasped after his exchange with Charles Ambrose, the murderer, by attempting to explain to him that killing people is not a merciful act, and definitely not a compassion one. Clancy speaks to him as an experienced physician who has been at the bedside of numerous dying patients and tries to help to understand that in a person’s final moments there is a lot of what I might call ‘soul-cleansing’ that happens as a patient settles accounts with those they may had haboured unforgiveness toward and is able to share their final moments conveying their love for those closest to them. But Ambrose is fatally indifferent to Clancy’s admonitions.    

I appreciated this movie’s ‘science fiction’ label and it’s profoundly connotative presentation of the unmeasurable value of human life and why our final moments in natural death are sacred. I am aware that the subtleties of such connotative messaging may be lost on most viewers of Solace but I think that many people who appreciate their ethical instructions wrapped in fantasy will find this movie much more than just entertaining - and perhaps even heart-warming.


Dr. Andrew Corbett