Being The Body (Hardcover)

~ Charles Colson (Author), Ellen Vaughn (Author) "No matter how much time goes by or what has happened since, it still seems unbelievable..." (more)
Key Phrases: pedestal complex, celebrity syndrome, missional church, Holy Spirit, Prison Fellowship, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1992, Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship International, penned The Body, an important work on how Christians have emphasized individualism to the detriment of the church, or the body. More than a decade later, Colson is back with Being the Body, a revised and updated edition of his award-winning book. It opens with the gripping personal accounts of several September 11 survivors, then states that in the immediate days following the World Trade Center attacks, the church was at last doing what it is supposed to do: it was being the body. As time went on, Christians' purpose veered off course, and the sense of community that was forged by the tragedy faded into memory. The book draws upon politics, philosophy and religion, demonstrating Colson's trademark breadth in its quest to foster Christian community. While some nonevangelical readers will likely be offended by aspects of the book (such as its broad generalizations about Islam), it will certainly be as influential and provocative as its predecessor.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Charles Colson has been called, one of the most important social reformers in a generation. Ten years ago in The Body, Colson turned his prophetic attention to the church and how it might break out of its cultural captivity and reassert its biblical identity.

Today the book's classic truths have not changed. But the world we live in has. Christians in America have had their complacency shattered and their beliefs challenged. Around the world, the clash of world views has never been more strident. Before all of us, daily, are the realities of life and death, terror and hope, light and darkness, brokeness and healing. We cannot withdraw to the comfort of our santuaries...we must engage. For, if ever there was a time for Christians to be the Body of Christ in the world, it is now.

In this new, revised and expanded edition of The Body, Charles Colson revisits the question, "What is the church and what is its relevance to contemporary culture at large?" Provocative and insightful, Being the Body inspires us to rise above a stunted "Jesus and me" faith to a nobler view of something bigger and grander than ourselves --the glorious, holy vision for which God created the church.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 450 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Limited First Edition edition (April 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849917522
• ISBN-13: 978-0849918087
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #425,616 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great update to a modern Christian Classic, May 23, 2003

By	D. Keating (Bristow, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With this book, Chuck Colson and Ellen Vaughn update their previous classic work about the Christian church (The Body). This version is even more powerful than the original, and it covers some new ground that is worth exploring. For instance, the event of 9/11 and how the Church reacted to them is described at length. Colson and Vaughn are right on when they argue that the Church was truly fulfilling its mission after this tragic event by showing God's love in our modern world. As many Christians are well aware, somehow we have once again lost the momentum (and possibly our direction) of that season. This book looks at possible reasons why we have returned to a normal state despite the fact this country experienced events which "forever changed the face of our nation".

Of course, the scope of the book goes well beyond the Christian church in the USA, and the events of 9/11. It looks at the Church around the globe, and covers how the church has succeeded or failed throughout history. In fact, some of the more interesting stories and examples come from outside the US, and deal with events from other eras (the reformation, and WWII). I also like the fact that the authors use many examples from the Catholic church to demonstrate that they too are members of the body, and have made an enormous impact throughout history, despite their challenges (to include the current crisis).

Just like the original version, this book challenged me to take a hard look at my own faith, and my role within the local church. For those who feel that Christianity is only a personal experience, I challenge you to read this book, and discover why our participation at our local church is so vital to the Body of Christ. Hopefully, this book will help change your mind, and get you involved with Gods people as they try to bring light into today's dark world.

I highly recommend this book to any Christian who has not read it. More specifically if you are looking for a detailed analysis of today's church - this book is it. Also, if you have read The Body, it is worth the time and effort required to read this version. More than half of the material is new. The updates are of the same high quality as the original and result in an even stronger and more comprehensive look at The Body.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Colson Brilliance, May 3, 2003

By	Jacob Aitken (Pineville, LA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like his other book, How Now Shall We Live?, Colson argues brilliantly and convicingly for a Christian worldview. This book is not perfect and I have my disagreements with him on several issues, which I will voice later, but this was extremely edifying to the saints.

He has divided the book into three parts: What is the Church? The Church against the World. The Church in the world. Interspersed between each theological/practical chapter is a chapter on how the church triumphed over Communism. In part one Colson gives a convicting definition of the Church, that is, the Church is the believers, not the pretty building down the street. Here he argues for unity between denominations and points how such unity enabled the Church to rise above her oppressors in the past and empowered them to proclaim a dynamic Christian witness. In part two he lays bare the nature of Truth. Truth is propositional. As Francis Schaeffer put it, "we must argue for 'True truth'", that is the truth that is found only in Jesus Christ. And in communicating this truth we must show the postmodern world that their worldview cannot match up to reality, only Christianity can. And when the Church proclaims this truth against the tide of the world, society is transformed (expressed brilliantly in chs. 19-20). In part three Colson gives an outline on when the church has properly equipped the saints in modern day times the surrounding community is transformed. Also of interest to the reader would be the new stduy guide and recommended reading list at the end of the book.

Final Analysis:
This is one of the top five books I have ever read. Here are my faults with it. I am a thoroughly reformed protestant and I am very uncomfortable on the Evangelicals and Catholics Together Doctrine. What are we, Reformers who desire to change culture, to do with union with Catholics? Is there any reconciliation? Here is what I propose to my Protestant and Catholic bretheren: We cannot reconcile our views on justification; let us leave it at that and unite in the public square, not the spiritual square. I say this with utmost respect to my Catholic brethren. May God uses this book for His Glory!

Soli Deo Gloria

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How the Church is the Body, July 29, 2005

By	Orville B. Jenkins "Research Guy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Being the Body (Colson, Charles) (Paperback)

I received the hardback edition of this for a Christmas present. Because it is over 500 pages long, I put off reading it for almost 18 months. When I got to it, it actually went very fast. In reality it was not a technical book, just a detailed one.

The authors present practical and theological concepts of the Church as One Body in the world. Extremely articulate and comprehensive in scope, this book is still an easy read. Though writing in a novelesque narrative style, Colson and Vaughn present an excellent correlation of readable and engaging information from various disciplines: politics, theology, history, sociology, art and culture.

A long chapter 17 details the persecution of Christians in Communist Europe, and their part in the fall of Communism in 1989-90, in making that happen. The authors provide a good ideological summary of the streams of thought and activity in the Protestant Reformation, including the foundations of modern science, critical scholarship and technological development laid by early Protestant leaders.

I was glad to see the strong pleas for practical unity, but the authors retain the more doctrinaire neo-gnosticism that has become common in some biblicist circles, as they still maintain this must be built on a foundation of strong evangelical intellectual concern for "correct doctrine." This sounds like Colson's contribution, as it is similar to language I have heard him use before about "propositional truth."

The book also draws strongly on Catholic sources, and gives a good coverage to Eastern Orthodoxy, particularly in regard to the faithful suffering of Christians under Communist regimes.

The work surveys current areas of Christian persecution in the world. The book is more prophetic than I expected in speaking to the "evangelical" church and its common foibles and failures.