Splendor.

"It was bodily, sensuous human beings whom He created to be His image, and His first commandment was "Be fruitful, and multiply"...
They (were) His image in their whole particular bodily existence...
The 'redemption of the body' begins here and now, in the liberation of the bodily nature
which has been suppressed out of fear,
for the body truly belongs to the Lord and the Lord to the body -
the work of the Spirit through Christ is God pervades His creation".

Jurgen Moltmann : God in Creation.



Freedom (as depicted in a public statue).

Here's your starter for ten (as they say on the British program, University Challenge),
what's wrong with this picture?


Well, if you followed a principally Platonic notion of liberating the soul from the body, or a medieval (Aristotelian) approach that the body is formed (subservient) to the soul, or a modernal perspective which viewed the mind or will (now more in vogue than using soul) as the key instrument of the body, then you would probably approve of this rendition of this form... manly, yet modest;
an affirmation, perhaps, that God's key work cannot be viewed primarily as to do with the body, but a truly 'divine' propensity to look above and beyond such a confinement to something more 'pure', more ethereal - a higher glory.

It all sounds so noble - the declaring of some great, higher good, but in reality, just as when we view the original of this statue, it all comes crashing down....



The original work of Michelangelo had a very different 'glory':
Take a good, long look at this masterpiece, and you'll begin to understand why the 'piety' in the above version is such a mistake. I have been privileged enough to view a copy of his Renaissance masterpiece, on permanent display in London's Victoria and Albert museum, and it is simply breathtaking. The artist here is clearly seeking to make us recognize something which our times, like those blighted 'ladders to enlightenment' mentioned above, totally fail to see or understand. The central point of creation is indeed what God fashioned on that sixth day, not because of the spatial location of our planet, but because here, from the clay, from amongst the realm of flesh, God formed a creature which, in its bodily form, truly reveals and expresses something concerning His nature and His glory - that is the wonder of what we are. Like so much of the world's misguided philosophy, Christianity has so often in its history become so woefully benighted because it has neglected or miserably 're-interpreted' this astounding truth, and yet, there, in the core of the story of our creation and our redemption, this great gem glows undinted by such dross. It is when we begin to grasp the weight of this faith, as touched upon in my opening quote or so richly expressed in Michelangelo's art, that we find ourselves facing an uncomfortable, perhaps painful, yet finally marvelous transition.

We do not inhabit a realm that was made to merely fall and be judged - a mistake to be done away with... no, no! God inhabited the creation Himself - He was refreshed by His handiwork, and as He communed with Man, He sanctified such as Holy... a true reflection of His nature and goodness. That is why a full redemption is coming, and that is why we should, as Christians, be shocked and appalled at theology and art which professes a 'form' of godliness alien and foreign to the faith which focuses upon a naked child, a stripped, crucified man and a bodily risen Christ. If the physical, in this fashion, is not ours, then we have nothing to say to our fallen, broken world, for Christ is the redeemer of this earth, this creation, and His life, His treasure, will indeed be expressed here, in that day of glorification, forever.

That, perhaps, more than anything else is why discovering the splendor of the human, the body, is so important, to turn away from distortions of the goal, to the true splendor, the true prize, made ours in Jesus Christ.

H o m e

"And on the seventh day, God rested from His labors, and hallowed the seventh day, for the hosts of the heavens and the earth were finished" Genesis 2:1-3.





Seasons Fall by M29

There's nothing like it...
After all the endeavor to get something substantial finished, it can be truly satisfying to just stand back and truly delight in the finished work, especially when it's something you know will bring pleasure and satisfaction for a very long time to come.
Some creations are far more significant. Building an environment for others, or yourself, must be an amazing achievement. I've often watched shows where this has been done and pondered just how splendid it must be, after years, even decades of planning, hard work and often downright frustration to bring such a grand design from dream to reality.

The opening chapter of Genesis describes God's majestic work of creation along similar lines.
After an initial work in which all the principal essentials are put in place, the last few days home in on furnishing our world with all of the marvels which surround us, culminating in a wondrous garden where the first Man and Woman, naked and unashamed, are placed to live amidst the excellence of a world rich and fruitful.

It truly is all a marvel, but in many respects, the most important 'work' or activity of all takes place at the end of the creation week, when God does something quite remarkable.
The heavens and the earth are finished. Humanity has been given a place to live well - there's plenty to be delighted about, but God's 'delight' is more than some distant appreciation.
God 'refreshes' Himself in His creation. He makes that final day special, because the completed work before Him truly reflects His nature and purpose - to reveal and share something of the depth and beauty of His character. God is delighted to 'inhabit' this moment, to make it truly special, and in so doing, He shows to His handiwork the true purpose of the created order - to eternally speak of His glorious nature.

Within the 'glory' of the goodness of that day, God had created a being as male and female which was to become the focus of that revelation. We had been formed to truly express His being, His likeness, to the rest of His handiwork, and our bodies are an astonishing expression of this. Made from the earth, they share a rich commonality with all natural life, but the body is also the means whereby we express the deep tones of the nature or personality given to us. It is in this totality that we should express the image of our Creator and Father in all of our life, in all that we do. Whilst sin and evil have marred this, God's inhabiting of His creation anticipates something amazing - the day, many thousands of years later described by John, when the dwelling of God is truly amongst men (Revelation 21).


It's when we apply this context or framework to our natural condition that the human form is given its true worth.
In our fallen world, this is often glimpsed in art or moments of natural beauty which can literally take our breath away in a similar manner to the natural beauty of creation itself.
The danger, so often in this context, is bad theology, which uses the reality of the fall to essentially mask this inherent goodness regarding the natural, marking the material in general as evil and ungodly, when the entire reason for creation contends fundamentally against this.

When Christianity speaks of our redemption from death to life, it is not referring to some kind of 'half-life' continuation as a 'soul' or 'spirit' in an ethereal estate 'way beyond the blue' - it's talking about a bodily existence on a physical world without pain, disease, death or suffering, forever.

The Apostle Paul speaks of how our current earthly 'tents' are but a pale reflection of the glorious 'mansions' - the new bodies - we will posses on first day when God's delight in Genesis becomes the common estate of all creation by the redemptive work of Christ.

So our attitude to the body, then, is part of something far more comprehensive.

In the light of this, do we look upon the naked form, and perhaps creation in general, as something rich and good, or do we only see the scars of a fallen world - a prison we long to escape?
There is clearly a great deal to consider here.