The Case for Personhood

“It is the simple truth that man does differ from the brutes in kind and not in degree; and the proof of it is here; that it sounds like a truism to say that the most primitive man drew a picture of a monkey and that it sounds like a joke to say that the most intelligent monkey drew a picture of a man.”

GK Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

We all recognise “people” and the value of an individual “person” but what are human beings and what is the source of their worth and value? Each of us has a unique identity and ability to interact with the world in a way that is different from any other animal, but how do we account for it? If the world is just physical stuff and we are simply the result of random physical forces (working together for no purpose) we do not add up to much, but if people have real worth and value we must consider the reason why.

The Case for Personhood identifies five main areas where a purely physical worldview fails to explain human worth or identity but the Christian worldview answers all these questions and helps us make sense of the world.

Genesis 1:27 “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”