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Belief in Human Dignity |
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Belief in Human Dignity |
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Michelangelo Sistine Ceiling: Creation of Adam 1508-1512
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Adam here is not a weak, helpless creature but vibrant and beautifully formed. Equal in size to God as well as in bodily form, he gazes into God's eyes directly with intelligence. No puny lump of clay, Adam conveys a sense of infinite potential, calm self-reliance, and human dignity, an idea emphasized by Pico della Mirandola. For Renaissance humanists, ultimate humanity is when the soul yearns upward toward God. For Michelangelo, to turn toward God is to become human. Human dignity is the the freedom and capacity to turn to God.
To study the entire Sistine Chapel, click here! |
All images marked MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.