Echo of the Soul: The Sacredness of the Human Body [Paperback]

J Philip Newell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000

Few issues have caused the church more difficulty through the ages than those surrounding the human body. Throughout much of Christian history, spiritual seekers have considered the body to be, at best, a hindrance to spiritual enlightenment, and, at worst, an enemy to be suppressed. Many of our contemporary negative preoccupations with physical appearance, image, and sexuality derive from this ancient and habitual denial of the notion that we were created in God’s image. In Echo of the Soul bestselling author J. Philip Newell finds that the human body, like creation, is actually the dwelling place of God. Using the Old Testament Wisdom literature, which informed Celtic spirituality’s positive understanding of what it means to be human, Newell looks at each part of the body as a sacred text that reveals something of the Divine. Looking back to a time before Christians began to distrust their physicality, Newell shows that our most ancient texts challenge modern assumptions about love, beauty, sexuality, learning, wisdom, power, and responsibility, and bridges the body/spirit divide.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Christians have been accused of maintaining a strict, sometimes detrimental, split between body and soul. Here, Edinburgh's Newell tries to bring body and soul together, urging readers to "regard our bodies as sacred." He draws on the Bible, Kabbalistic texts and Celtic spirituality, structuring the book around parts of the body and their various spiritual meanings. Newell insists that the head is "associated with mystery," the arms with strength, the genitals with creativity, and so on, but he never tells us what it means to integrate those insights into daily life. He quotes so frequently from other spiritual writers Meister Eckhart, Bernard of Clairvaux, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Gerard Manley Hopkins that one wonders if Newell really has anything original to say; at places, this reads more like Newell's personal commonplace book. Newell is to be commended for drawing extensively on Jewish sources, which Christian writers usually overlook. And readers who haven't yet caught the Celtic spirituality craze will no doubt find enlightening the occasional discussions of Irish greats like the ninth-century teacher Eriugena. Any Christian who has been attracted to the Eastern chakra system will be thankful to find a Gospel-friendly version of the same basic truths: different parts of the body relate to different aspects of our being, and body and soul can and should be fully integrated. Overall, this is a well-meaning but unsatisfying stab at an important topic.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Despite its subtitle, the latest from the author of Celtic Benediction and many other books has less to do with reimagining or revalorizing the human body than it does with the symbolic value of certain parts of the body. Newell's book is a true religious meditation with a literary flavor that takes up head, heart, legs, feet, even genitals, and considers their symbolic power in the light of Christian scripture and experience. As Newell says, "God has placed a holiness of desire within us," and his book represents a significant effort toward reuniting us with that desire through the power of metaphor. For most collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819219088
• ISBN-13: 978-0819219084
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtfully reasoned testimony of Christian faith, November 17, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Echo of the Soul: The Sacredness of the Human Body (Hardcover)

Accessibly written by J. Philip Newell (a minister of the Church of Scotland), Echo Of The Soul: The Sacredness Of The Human Body deftly presents the idea that the human body is not an obstacle to ascending to the divine, but rather the dwelling place of God, and truly created in God's image. Echo Of The Soul is confidently recommended as a powerful and thoughtfully reasoned testimony of Christian faith offering informed and informative insights concerning the importance of both human and divine love as manifested on the physical Earth.