Why Body Theology?
In an age when we can transplant blood and organs from one person to another in order to bring life; when people’s bodies can be augmented by artificial means; when a person’s sex can be altered; when beings can be cloned; when heterosexual and patriarchal understandings of the body are breaking down, issues of bodily identity worry us and yet in an age when aesthetics appears to have largely replaced metaphysics,
the body seems to be all we have
(even, as [Sarah] Coakley notes, as it disappears on the internet). The body matters and so it is little wonder that a distinctive genre of theology known as body theology has developed. But in truth
Christian theology has always been an embodied theology rooted in creation, incarnation and resurrection, and sacrament.
Christian theology has always applied both the analogia entis (analogy of being) and the analogia fidei (analogy of faith) to the body.
The body is both the site and the recipient of revelation.
– Lisa Isherwood and Elizabeth Stuart, Introducing Body Theology (p. 10-11), emphasis added
Body theology — holistic body theology — is about knowing who we are in Christ and allowing that identity to inform the way we see ourselves, the way we interact with others who share the same identity, and the way we interact with the world as a whole.
Having a healthy relationship with our bodies informs the way we relate to ourselves, to God, and to each other.
When we are free from the lies we receive and internalize, we are able to enter into the fullness of life God has promised and live in the already as whole, redeemed, holy people of God.
I write this blog because I need to be reminded every day that my body is good, has been redeemed, and is an inextricable and irremovable part of the way God speaks to me and uses me in the world for God’s good purpose.
I write this blog because I have met so many other people who struggle just like I do to live a little more in the already and recognize the sacred in ourselves and all around us.
I write this blog because we are not made to be alone. We do not walk this journey alone. Your comments, Facebook messages, and emails continually inspire, encourage, and challenge me.
Keep thinking. Keep sharing. Keep walking with me. Let’s walk together slowly, faithfully into the freedom God has promised.
Posted on June 6, 2012, in Body Image, Body of CHRIST, BODY of Christ, Identity, Spirituality and tagged Christian theology, Christianity, God, Religion & Spirituality, Theology. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Holistic Body Theology 
I greatly appreciate your blog and your reflections. It has seemed to me that historically, Western Christians, particularly protestants, have had difficulty connecting body and spirit, and seems to consistently think that “body” is bad but “spirit” is good, in true gnostic character. While it is true that our bodies are fallen and imperfect creations, we were created with bodies and we were created for bodies. Many people look at me strange when I tell them that I don’t believe in the immortality of the soul — I believe in “the resurrection of the body.”
Thanks, Matthew!