A Christian view of the body has gotten a bad rap in a modern American reading. Some read the Christian writings of antiquity that emphasized a future liberation and conclude that ancient Christians were “anti-body,” and thus anti-bodily pleasure: “Poor, guilty God-haunted people, missing out on life in their viewing bodily existence as a regrettable trial so as to give souls a chance to be saved.”
While this may be an accurate reading of some who lived on a guilty extreme, it is not fair to the Christian tradition in the main. It is a modern reading of ancient writings, a first world reading of third world realities.
Consider how differently bodies were experienced in antiquity. Today, we Americans have reason to expect that most will live beyond an expected age of retirement with some measure of vitality. Older adults may not be able to bound up and down steps or play hoops with teenagers as they used to, but still are able to enjoy full lives. Many – not all – spend most of their lives enjoying good health, only periodic pain, and pleasures that come with good food, exercise, and what might too quickly be called “safe sex.”
But consider life before modern medicine; before sterilization practices were used before surgery, before surgery even, before antibodies were developed in the early 1950s. Take for instance the year the smallpox vaccine was developed, the year of our country’s birth, 1776. Childbirth was the leading cause of death for young women. It was the unusual family that did not have at least one child die before adulthood. Many physical problems corrected by commonplace surgery today were then untreated leading to chronic, painful conditions. Periodic plagues could wipe out huge populations. Teeth rotted and joints ached without medicine to lessen the pain. Without refrigeration, food poisoning was commonplace. People lived with intestinal parasites. Basically, it was the rare adult who did not live with chronic pain and the experience of premature death among family and friends. And so, it wasn’t that people- even young people- hated their bodies. They were afraid of them.
It was to that anxiety over the dangers of the body that Christian theologians offered advice for survival and hope and encouragement for eternity. To judge writings about a future liberation from bodies as prudish is to miss the pastoral care offered to people who knew death could come at any time and who hoped they would not be forever trapped in carnal containers so often racked with pain and disease.
And so, when the Apostle Paul talked about body and spirit, he was using a vocabulary the Greek world could understand in separating the two. But while he “spoke Plato,” he was not Plato. Paul proclaimed that we would be raised bodily with Christ. In other words, while pain and suffering will be left behind, we will maintain our bodily identity that separates us from each other, and from God, and thus allows for relationship. We will enjoy a new body and a new spirit, just as there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
From his perspective, faith in the bodily resurrection helps one embrace bodily existence right now. He warns us others not to base their lives on servicing what will not last; seeking bodily pleasures as the end of life; but to live according to the Spirit. To live according to the spirit is to place bodily lives in service of God.
Think of the faith he encourages as “Bodily Believing.” Bodily believing affirms and celebrates bodily lives even while being realistic about dangers and limits. It means taking care of bodies as temples so as to have strength to serve God. It means expressing physical intimacy as an expression of relational integrity. It means eating, because we need to eat to live; but also means being responsible about what we eat, how much, and what we should do in relation to those who do not have enough to eat. It means working; but working in a way that honors ethical standards. It means playing because God’s creation is good and play is a celebration; but it also means working for a world of peace and justice so others can be free to play. It means resting because bodies need rest; but also worshipping because our Sabbath rest is found in God.
Maybe his words are harder to understand for those who do not live with pain and for whom death is a theory. But for those in the know about what happens with bodies, his words ring true and hopeful in calling for good management of bodily lives today while living in hope for a bodily liberation beyond death.
(My thanks to Dr. Margaret Miles whose 2010 Sprunt Lectures informed this column.)
George Anderson is Senior Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church, visit them on the web at www.spres.org.
