What Makes Us Human?

The Modern World Has Many Answers to What We Are. They Do Not All Agree. And the Differences Matter Enormously.

What exactly are we? It sounds like a simple question. But the answers on offer in our culture are many — and deeply conflicted. Are we the products of blind evolutionary processes, with no more inherent dignity than any other animal? Are we the authors of our own identity, free to define ourselves however we choose? Are we spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting physical bodies? Are we just our brains?

Each of these answers carries consequences — for the choices we make about our own lives, for the lives of others, and for the way we treat the most vulnerable among us.

In What Makes Us Human?, Mark Meynell cuts through the confusion with the clarity, warmth, and biblical faithfulness that have made the Questions Christians Ask series one of the most trusted apologetics resources available. He helps confused Christians understand what God has actually said in Scripture about the questions that matter most: When does life begin? Where do our souls come from? What sets human beings apart from everything else in creation? And what does true humanity — humanity as God designed it — actually look like?

The answers are not merely intellectually satisfying. They are liberating — offering a vision of what it means to be human that is both more dignified and more hopeful than anything the modern world has to offer.

What This Book Covers

Mark Meynell works through the key questions about human nature and dignity with biblical care and pastoral warmth:

• What the modern world says we are — An honest engagement with the competing answers our culture offers to the question of human nature — and why the differences between them matter enormously
• What the Bible says we are — A clear, accessible account of the biblical understanding of human beings — made in the image of God, fallen in sin, and redeemed in Christ
• The image of God — What it means that human beings are uniquely made in the image of God — and why this truth is the foundation of genuine human dignity
• When does life begin? — A careful, biblically grounded answer to one of the most practically pressing and morally urgent questions of our time
• Where do our souls come from? — What the Bible teaches about the soul — its nature, its origin, and its relationship to the body
• What sets humans apart — How human beings are genuinely distinct from the rest of creation — and why that distinctiveness matters for how we live and how we treat one another
• True humanity in Christ — How Jesus — the perfect human being — reveals what true humanity looks like, and how being united to him begins to restore what sin has damaged
• A positive and liberating way forward — How the Bible's vision of human nature is not restrictive but liberating — offering dignity, hope, and a way of being human that truly flourishes

What Readers Will Learn

• What the Bible teaches about human nature — and why it is both more dignified and more hopeful than the modern world's alternatives
• What the image of God means — and why it is the foundation of genuine, unshakeable human dignity for every person
• When life begins according to Scripture — and what that means for the ethical choices we face today
• What the soul is — where it comes from, how it relates to the body, and why it matters
• What genuinely sets human beings apart from the rest of creation — and why that distinctiveness is worth understanding and defending
• How Jesus reveals what true humanity was always meant to be — and how union with him begins to restore what sin has distorted
• How the Bible's vision of humanity offers a positive, liberating, and genuinely hopeful way forward through the confusion of the modern world

How to Use This Book

What Makes Us Human? is short, clear, and immediately useful:

• Personal reading — Ideal for any Christian wanting a clear, biblically grounded, and practically relevant guide to what the Bible teaches about human nature
• Gift for a confused or questioning friend — A warm, honest, and intellectually credible resource to give to someone wrestling with questions about identity, dignity, and what it means to be human
• Small group discussion — Short enough to read together, rich enough to generate genuine and honest conversation about some of the most pressing questions of our time
• Pastoral resource — A reliable, biblically grounded guide for pastors and counsellors working with individuals wrestling with questions of identity, personhood, and human dignity
• Church training — A clear, accessible resource for churches wanting to equip their members to engage the cultural conversation about human nature with biblical confidence and genuine compassion

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for you if you are:

• A confused Christian wanting to understand what the Bible teaches about human nature — and how to hold that conviction with clarity and compassion in a culture that offers very different answers
• A Christian engaging with questions of bioethics — abortion, assisted dying, human cloning — who wants a biblically grounded foundation for thinking about when life begins and what human dignity requires
• A pastor or counsellor wanting a reliable, accessible resource to give to members wrestling with questions of identity, personhood, or the nature of the soul
• A new Christian wanting to understand what the Bible says about what we are — and why that matters for how we live
• Anyone who has ever been told that their view of human nature is outdated, unscientific, or oppressive — and wants a clear, confident, and genuinely positive biblical response

About the Author

Mark Meynell is an author, speaker, and Senior Associate for Langham Preaching in Europe and the Caribbean. He is known for his warm, accessible, and culturally engaged writing — bringing careful biblical thinking to bear on the pressing questions of contemporary culture with the genuine care of a pastor and the intellectual honesty of a thoughtful apologist. Mark writes with the conviction that the Bible's answers to the deepest questions about human nature are not merely defensible but genuinely liberating — and that helping Christians understand and articulate those answers is one of the most important tasks the church can undertake in our present moment.