{"id":1342,"date":"2012-02-01T10:16:07","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T17:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?p=1342"},"modified":"2012-02-01T10:19:19","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T17:19:19","slug":"the-sensual-nature-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sensual Nature of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

[As part of the blogger roundtable on Christopher West\u2019s new book At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization<\/a>, Patheos\u2019 Managing Editor Patton Dodd<\/a><\/strong> offers this reflection on sexuality and religion. \u00a0Visit the Patheos Book Club for more conversation here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"\"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome. He knew I had been raised Baptist, experienced a charismatic turn in college, and bounced around between belief and non-belief for most of my adult life. \u201cBut you\u2019re drawn to the resources of faith,\u201d he observed, noting my love of religious history and religiously inflected literature and film. \u201cAnd you\u2019re drawn especially to Catholic resources\u2014you\u2019re always talking about Flannery O\u2019Connor and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Maybe they\u2019re speaking what you know in your heart to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I\u2019ve not darkened the door of a Catholic church for some time now, but I do use that rosary from time to time, and I still keep close company with the likes of O\u2019Connor and Hopkins. And upon reading Christopher West\u2019s\u00a0At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization<\/em>, I remembered that much of what I am drawn to in those \u201cCatholic resources\u201d is their attention to\u2014and affection for\u2014the human body. For O\u2019Connor, the body is the main place where Christ shows up in the world, often in some comically violent way because\u2014to paraphrase O\u2019Connor\u2019s most famous villain, The Misfit\u2014people can hardly act as they ought unless there\u2019s someone there to shoot them every minute of their lives. For Hopkins, Christ expresses himself visibly through limbs and \u201ceyes not his\u201d and \u201cthe features of men\u2019s faces\u201d\u2014through the bodies of God\u2019s making.<\/p>\n

\"\"Growing up Baptist, I never heard much about the body at all. I associated my body only with the \u201cflesh\u201d and its carnal desires, which I was always trying to deny\u2014often without much success. The Christians I knew were people of the head or people of the heart, and my turn to teenage charismatic Christianity was, in part, an attempt to embrace a more bodily faith. Charismatics don\u2019t just talk and feel their way to God\u2014all that dancing and touchy prayer is a way to express their sense of the immediate presence of God.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a way to express the sensuality of faith, an idea that is at the heart of Christopher West\u2019s project. West writes that if the language of Judaism is Hebrew and the language of Islam is Arabic, then the language of Christianity is the body. St. Paul chose to use the image of human marriage to clarify his idea of what God had done through Jesus\u2014as a man gives himself entirely to his bride, so Jesus gave himself entirely to the Church\u2014not just because it captured the depth of God\u2019s covenant, but because it captured the sensual and ceaseless nature of God\u2019s affection for humankind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Just this morning, I was talking to a dear friend of mine about sex. I\u2019ll say no more about that conversation here except that we observed how sex is profound in its capacity to open up the deepest, most essential questions about what it means to be human and what it means to attempt a life of love. Sex combines our most basic urges with our most soulful intentions, and the gospel, if it hopes to speak to us at all, must speak to that intersection. West is right that sex and the human body are \u201cat the heart of the gospel,\u201d and his book is a useful tool for examining the condition of that heart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[As part of the blogger roundtable on Christopher West\u2019s new book At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization, Patheos\u2019 Managing Editor Patton Dodd offers this reflection on sexuality and religion. \u00a0Visit the Patheos Book Club for more conversation here.] A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sensual Nature of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sensual Nature of God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"{Take & Read}\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-01T17:16:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-02-01T17:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/media.patheos.com\/Images\/PC\/PC_PattonDodd_bio.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/\",\"name\":\"The Sensual Nature of God\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-01T17:16:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-01T17:19:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Sensual Nature of God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\",\"name\":\"{Take & Read}\",\"description\":\""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sensual Nature of God","description":"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sensual Nature of God","og_description":"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/","og_site_name":"{Take & Read}","article_published_time":"2012-02-01T17:16:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-02-01T17:19:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/media.patheos.com\/Images\/PC\/PC_PattonDodd_bio.jpg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/","name":"The Sensual Nature of God","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-02-01T17:16:07+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-01T17:19:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"A few years ago, a dear Catholic friend of mine gave me a rosary and told me that it would soon come in handy, for I was on an inevitable journey to Rome.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/02\/the-sensual-nature-of-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Sensual Nature of God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/","name":"{Take & Read}","description":""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}