Images for Self-Recognition

With clear purpose and remarkable style, David Baily Harned writes about our identity as an imaginative act of mind and spirit. In this important theological work, Harned shows that the "master images" of self as player, sufferer, and vandal are fundamental ways of understanding who we are and what we might be in our lifetime. The book points out that conflicting images of ourselves often develop out of our social relationships and our bodily experiences. Some images are more important than others, and it is these "master images" that express what is most fundamental to our self-understanding. The extent to which the master images are recognized by us and allowed to subdue lesser images determines our stability and wholeness as persons. Recognition of God's presence, especially as it is disclosed to us in hearing and sensing, is the primary way to growth in wisdom, character, and virtue.