Christian theology, Genesis 1:26 in LXX (Septuagint): καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ᾿ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν. ["And God said, 'Let us make man in our image and likeness.'"]* The words εἰκὼν [image] and ὁμοίωσις [likeness] are almost identical in meaning.
(The idea of God from looking at man—the respective [jeweiliger] religious state at the particular time. Seeing both points of view.) Cf. Kuhn: a sensory rational being (natura [nature], οὐσία [essence, being])—a "personal" being (ὑπόστασις [hypostasis], substantia [substance]), "capax alicujus veritatis de deo" ["capable of some truth about God"] et [and] "alicujus amoris dei" ["some love of God"] [Thomas Aquinas].3
The history of the interpretation of the Genesis passage begins with Paul, 1 Cor. 11:7: ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρχων. ["For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God."]
Cf. 2 Cor. 3:18 and Rom. 8:29: ὅτι οὓς προέγνω καὶ προώρισεν συμμόρφους τῆς εικόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. ["For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren."]
Problem: what is woman?
Tatian (circa 150), Λόγος πρὸς Ἕλληνας: μόνος δὲ ὀ ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις τοῦ θεοῦ, λέγω δὲ ἄνθρωπον οὐχὶ τὸν ὅμοια τοῖς ζῴοις πράττοντα ("not as ζῷον" [an animal]), ἀλλὰ τὸν πόρρω μὲν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος πρὸς αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν κεχωρηκότα ("rather as one having advanced further").4 Here both basic ways of considering man are clearly specified.
Augustine: Et dixit Deus, Fadamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram. Et hie animadvertenda quaedam et conjunctio, et discretio animantium. Nam eodem diefactum hominem ditit, quo bestias. Suntenim simul omnia terrena animantia; et tamen propter excellentiam rationis, secundum quam ad imaginem Dei et similitudinem effkitur homo, separatim de illo dicitur, postquam de caeteris terrenis animantibus solite conclusum est, dicendo, Et vidit Deus quia bonum est. ["And God said, 'Let us make man in our image and likeness/ Here we should notice how the animals are grouped together and yet kept separate. Scripture says that man was made on the same day as the beasts, for they
3. Die christliche Lehre von der gottlichen Gnade, I. Theil (Tubingen, 1868), p. 11.
4. O. v. Gebhardt and A. Harnack (eds.), Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Vol. IV, No. 1 (Leipzig, 1888-93), Chap. 15 (68), p. 16, 11. 13-16. [Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos and Fragments, ed. and trans. Molly Whittaker (Oxford: Clarendon, 1982), p. 31 (modified): ". . . but man alone is the image and likeness of God. I mean by man not one who acts like the animals, but one who has advanced far beyond his humanity toward God himself."]
* Translations of biblical passages in this section are from The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Edition (Toronto: Wm. Collins Sons, 1971).