The Resurgence recently featured Gregg R. Allison’s series “The Theology of the Body.” Allison serves as professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Here are some excerpts from the series:
Many Christians, due to either poor or non-existent teaching on human embodiment, consider their body to be, at best, a hindrance to spiritual maturity and, at worst, inherently evil or the ultimate source of sin.
Elsewhere:
… [H]uman beings are created holistically, so that in this earthly existence, soul and body are an inseparable unity. Indeed, being made in the image of God entails the embodiment of the image bearers. Human embodiment, then, is according to divine design.
Further:
As sanctification is pursued, Christians should not ignore the important biblical teaching that their body is part and parcel of this process of becoming more like Jesus Christ.
The series is adapted from his article, “Toward a Theology of Human Embodiment,” published in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. The entire series is featured on The Resurgence Web site.