Who is included in the image of God?
Genesis 1:27 places both male and female in the image of God. The Hebrew tselem and demut speak of image and likeness; readers debate how these ideas are best described, but the passage does not grant this dignity only to rulers, nations, races or educated people. After human sin, Genesis 9:6 still gives divine image as a reason to safeguard human life.
For readers examining inequality, the most important discipline is not to force Genesis to mention contemporary categories it never names. Rather, ask how a universal claim about humanity constrains the way we value each neighbour. Any reading that turns the mark of Cain into a racial identity is an invention; the text does not describe the mark’s appearance.
A place for personal reflection
How does universal human dignity challenge my own habits of treating people?
How we work
Human dignity, responsible authority and resistance to racial misuse of biblical stories are central questions in these notes. These are applications we propose, not passages that explicitly name modern political histories.