A Theology of the Body: Working Out One of Evangelicalism’s Least Developed Doctrines

My friend, Matt Anderson, has a piece in Christianity Today on a theology of the body. You might not agree with everything, but I commend Matt for giving attention and hard thinking to a much overlooked doctrine. And, the article is extremely well written. In my opinion, Matt is one of the best writers in evangelicalism right now.

Here are two core quotes:

Evangelicals desperately need, then, an ordered account of how Scripture informs our understanding of the human body and its uses. But with few exceptions—like James K. A. Smith and Amos Yong—evangelical theology is still playing catch-up. As Westmont College theologian Telford Work recently pointed out in these pages, the theology of the body is one of evangelicalism’s least developed doctrines.

And:

When Paul exhorts the church at Rome to “offer [their] bodies as living sacrifices,” he is commending to them a spiritual act of worship. Our bodies, and what we do with them, matter to God. They’ve been given as a gift—a gift meant to be returned to his service. As evangelicals, the pattern for our sacrifice must be the pattern of the Cross, and the power for our giving must be the power of the Resurrection. Otherwise, our ethics will be moralism and our spirituality will be disconnected from the unique revelation of God to man in the incarnate person of Jesus Christ.

Matt blogs at Mere Orthodoxy and is also the author of Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith, which I highly recommend.

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August 15, 2011 | Filed Under Theology | 3 Comments 

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3 Responses to “A Theology of the Body: Working Out One of Evangelicalism’s Least Developed Doctrines”

  1. Rachael Starke on August 15th, 2011 1:09 pm

    i second the enthusiastic recommendation of the book on both counts – it’s a sadly neglected topic, and Matt’s writing on it is excellent.

    I would definitely be one who isn’t, well, blessed by his extensive referencing of a….. how to put this….. less than Biblically orthodox leader of a false religion. But that’s mostly because I’m afraid it will turn off the very audience Matt’s trying to challenge. That the only voices advocating for a Biblical consideration of the body are ones who, in general, deny Biblical truth in a whole host of other areas, is as much an indictment of the evangelical church as anything else.

  2. Rachael Starke on August 15th, 2011 1:13 pm

    Hmm. Come to think of it – the same thing could be said about a theology of work and productivity.

    Wow – I may have just found a narrow escape out of my enormous discomfort over all your posts from the WIllow Creek Leadership event. (And no, I’m not saying I think Bill Hybels is a heretic. It’s just that the whole event gave me the Reformed shivers. :) )

  3. Gordon Cheng on August 15th, 2011 2:54 pm

    Oh dear. An article on the body that quotes approximately one scripture verse, alludes to approximately 3 Bible passages, lumps ‘evangelicals’ together as a group and accuses them of playing ‘catch-up’ (by implication, with Roman Catholics) and being crypto-gnostics, and then spends most of the time exegeting the words of Pope John Paul II.

    The result is a woolly, waffly, article that is low on sin, judgement and salvation, and high on Roman Catholic-inspired speculation.

    I don’t see much good about it, Matt.

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