God and his world is a wonderful little book that follows the transcript of the Haywood Lectures delivered in October 2009 by Rev. Dr. John Webster. Webster argues for a moral theology of human dignity that begins with the study of God as the Creator, an area of theology that Webster claims is already beyond us as we are limited to our created intelligence.
The aseity of God that undergirds Webster’s thesis of human dignity defies the modern zeitgeist. Human dignity is not derived from our desire for independence, as any attempt at self-autonomy is limited because we are created beings. Rather, human dignity is innate to us as created beings when we live out this reality, beyond ourselves, without restriction, in full and free dependence on God. Our liberation from this fallen assumption of self, allows us to be reconciled to our Creator, in Christ, practiced through the church.
Deserting the corporate expression of the Christian life is to degenerate into a lower form of existence rejecting God’s approval to stand alone as a mere product of his initial cause. ‘God the Perfecter completes the dignity of creatures by gathering them into the fellowship of the saints and empowering them actively to testify to God’s protection over human dignity.’
