Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice [Paperback]

Stephanie Paulsell (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Practices of Faith Series | Publication Date: March 7, 2003

In this exquisite and sensitive book, author Stephanie Paulsell draws on resources from the Christian tradition to show how we can learn to celebrate the body's pleasures, protect the body's vulnerabilities, and develop the practices that will ultimately transform our troubled relationship with our bodies to one of honor and joy. A practical resource, Honoring the Body weaves together scripture, history, and lively stories that can help us recover and sustain an appreciation for ourselves as physical beings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This latest installment in Jossey-Bass's Practices of Faith series is at once a highly organized survey of human embodiment and a free-flowing meditation on the same. Paulsell, who teaches at Harvard Divinity School, works her way through topics such as bathing, clothing, eating and having sex, and sheds thoughtful light on each not-so-mundane practice. As she discusses each activity, she ponders its spiritual significance and explores Scriptural references to it. She asks, for example, what it means to clothe ourselves in Christ, thereby eschewing but at the same time maintaining our sexual and ethnic identity. These metaphysical questions give way to lovely stories from the lives of Paulsell and her loved ones, and from the autobiographical work of such writers as Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Ehrlich, the latter an agnostic Jew who chronicles her difficult but rewarding journey toward keeping kosher. Paulsell's approach is to ask rather than to answer questions, and to analyze rather than to judge. The only absolute moral stand she takes is one in favor of church recognition of homosexual unions. In fact, Paulsell takes care throughout the book to include references to queer experience, the most touching of which is the story of Mark Doty's care for his dying lover, as told through Doty's poems. While there is little in the book that feels particularly dramatic or original, it will undoubtedly lead its readers to a new and deeper understanding of their embodiment.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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

From Library Journal

In Christianity, the Eucharist emphasizes the relationship between Jesus' body and humanity, so it would seem logical that Christians would honor their own flesh and blood. Not so, says Paulsell, an ordained pastor currently serving as visiting lecturer on ministry at Harvard Divinity School. Her compelling book argues that while it is quite possible to regard highly the human physique, various societal and cultural conceptions go against the belief that human beings are "fearfully and wonderfully made" in the image of God. Paulsell writes about bathing and clothing the body, the necessity of exercise and rest, sexuality, and physical debilitations with their all-too-often negative connotations. The section on food is particularly fitting, since modern society places so much emphasis on physical perfection often with devastating consequences. Through this extremely well-written book, both lay readers and clergy will develop an appreciation of the body. Including a companion study guide (not seen), it is highly recommended for all public and academic libraries serving theological programs. Mary Prokop, Savannah Country Day Preparatory Sch., GA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (March 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787967572
• ISBN-13: 978-0787967574
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS TRULY A LIFE CHANGING BOOK!, April 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice (Hardcover)

Everyone with a body should read this book. After reading Paulsell's book "Honoring the Body" you will never bathe or dress, eat or drink, run or walk, rest or make love in the same way. You will look with care into yourself as embodied and find the sacredness that God put into you and your body from the moment of your birth. Armed with this new experience of God as intimately with you in your embodied life, you without a doubt will experience sacredness in the everyday tasks of living an embodied life. The intimate journey through embodied life Paulsell's invites you to take I guarantee will change you to the point that you will revisit this book often because the truth of which it speaks is remarkable and as I have said life changing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mindfulness About Our Own Bodies, May 21, 2008

By 

JAD (The Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice (Paperback)

Those who are on the Christian journey with the intention of filling our humanity with a graciousness and truthfulness like Christ's sometimes fall prey to the notion that what God wants of us is for us to live as if we are disembodied spirits. If that mistaken notion has been nagging at you, this book by Stephanie Paulsell is a helpful corrective.

"Honoring the Body" offers some outstanding suggestions as to how to do exactly what the tile says. As the author states, "My hope is that by reflecting on our bodies in everyday life we might cultivate a mindfulness about our own bodies and a more attentive consciousness about the bodies of others." (Page xv)

Paulsell teaches at Harvard Divinity School and is a Disciples of Christ pastor. From her mainstream Christian perspective comes this book, divided into nine chapters that help us see the many routines of life, bathing, clothing, nourishing the body, and the like, as more than just routine. In the initial chapter of the book, Paulsell encourages the reader to awaken to a scared vulnerability. This means remembering that we are frail, like dust, we each have the potential to see our body as a sacred gift, a gift so precious that when God made our bodies God called them good and that we are made in the image of God. Paulsell also reminds us that the Apostle Paul uses the analogy of the human body for the body that is that Church of Jesus Christ--made of many different parts that are to work together for the benefit of all.

Paulsell's final chapter, on honoring the suffering body, is a powerful witness to the gifts of those who care for others who are in pain. She makes it clear that it is both a vocational path of great challenge and difficulty and also a high and holy calling.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, March 20, 2006

By 

Liz Cary "Lizzie" (Upper midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice (Paperback)

Paulsell's book is comforting and liberating at the same time. A must read for any Christian. Highly recommended!