Here's a second attempt at a list of anthropological requirements that are imposed by Christian soteriology.
1. Creation-fall-redemption of the human person
2. Continuity of the person in creation-fall-redemption
3. Person has to be capable of relating to God
4. Person has to be resurrectable
5. Have to account for the power of evil in human life without failing any of the other requirements listed here
6. Language of sin and salvation have has to be about human nature itself, not just external factors
7. Unity in sin: there has to be a link between the personal and the corporate
8. Unity in grace: there has to be a link between Christ and human nature, personal and corporate
9. The person has to be responsible and capable of corporate responsibility
10. There has to be a difference between believers and nonbelievers but this can't be a "human" difference, i.e. it can't be a difference within human nature
11. There has to be an account of the existential gap between Christian experience and Christian claims about grace
12. A theological account of persons can't contradict what is known about human nature from other sources
I'm not trying to create a prescriptive list, just to describe the logic of how the doctrine works and how it is shaped by pressures from soteriology
I think some of these requirements have led to the most extraordinarily fruitful and far-reaching insights - e.g. #3 (persons must have a capacity for relating to God), which has generated so much reflection on language, relations, the structure of the mind, etc
And it seems to me that some of the requirements (notably #4, persons must be resurrectable) have led mostly to confusions
Patristics were especially good at 4, 5, 6 (but not 11). Medievals were especially good at 3 (but not 10). Reformation theology was good at 7, 8, 11 (but came close to failing 5). Current theology is good at 7 and 12 (but often very poor at dealing with 5, 8, 11)
