ABSTRACT
In pre-modern times discussions of human nature had a somewhat subordinate place in theological reflection. Concentration on the great central dogmatic themes of Christology, the doctrine of the Trinity, creation, atonement, and eschatology meant that theologians rarely regarded anthropology as a separate and distinct theological locus. Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment in their different ways all served to move anthropology to the centre of the stage. Equality is ascribed by God in the work of creation; it is not a human achievement or an empirical characteristic of human beings. Equality before God and with one another is the original and proper human condition, and is an aspect of the promised culmination of all things. An emphasis on human beings as sinners has been particularly strong and important in theologies that have been deeply influenced by the Augustinian tradition of the thought.
