Nudity and Christianity

Nudity and Christianity PDF Author: Jim C. Cunningham
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 146345094X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
Jim C. Cunningham considers his latest 588-page work, Nudity & Christianity, to be his "magnum opus." It represents the fruit of thirty years of research, meditation, discussion and many personal experiences. Though much of the material is new, Jim has included the best of his twenty-three years of naturist publishing. Although all of his previous publications (see naturistlife.com) were highly photographic, this latest is 100% textual, in hopes of reaching those who might be intimidated even by tasteful graphics. The insightful ideas of dozens of authors from various denominations are represented here, from Pope John Paul II to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis to Kahlil Gibran and even Mark Twain. The purpose of this book is to encourage readers to probe the reasons for wearing clothes. Today, Western convention tends to assume that "nude is lewd," but it was not always that way. For half the Church's history, catechumens--men, women, boys and girls, were routinely baptized together, nude, by full immersion. Today, we recoil at learning this, but how have cultural attitudes toward the body changed to effect this reaction? Jim asks those hard questions about the body and the meaning of true modesty, and exhorts Christians to lead the way in asserting God's definition of the body, rather than Playboy's. Instead of allowing pornographers to define the body for us, and then create a virtue of modesty to fit that false definition, Christians should assert God's definition as found in Scripture and Church Tradition. When we view the body as Jesus did, our definition of modesty becomes radically different from what is conventionally presumed. Two highly detailed indices (Scriptural and Topical) make this an excellent reference book. Readers are exhorted to live what they learn. Jim proposes attending "Theology of the Body Retreats." For more information go to JIMCCUNNINGHAM.COM.

Nudity and Christianity

Nudity and Christianity PDF Author: Jim C. Cunningham
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 146345094X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 600

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jim C. Cunningham considers his latest 588-page work, Nudity & Christianity, to be his "magnum opus." It represents the fruit of thirty years of research, meditation, discussion and many personal experiences. Though much of the material is new, Jim has included the best of his twenty-three years of naturist publishing. Although all of his previous publications (see naturistlife.com) were highly photographic, this latest is 100% textual, in hopes of reaching those who might be intimidated even by tasteful graphics. The insightful ideas of dozens of authors from various denominations are represented here, from Pope John Paul II to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis to Kahlil Gibran and even Mark Twain. The purpose of this book is to encourage readers to probe the reasons for wearing clothes. Today, Western convention tends to assume that "nude is lewd," but it was not always that way. For half the Church's history, catechumens--men, women, boys and girls, were routinely baptized together, nude, by full immersion. Today, we recoil at learning this, but how have cultural attitudes toward the body changed to effect this reaction? Jim asks those hard questions about the body and the meaning of true modesty, and exhorts Christians to lead the way in asserting God's definition of the body, rather than Playboy's. Instead of allowing pornographers to define the body for us, and then create a virtue of modesty to fit that false definition, Christians should assert God's definition as found in Scripture and Church Tradition. When we view the body as Jesus did, our definition of modesty becomes radically different from what is conventionally presumed. Two highly detailed indices (Scriptural and Topical) make this an excellent reference book. Readers are exhorted to live what they learn. Jim proposes attending "Theology of the Body Retreats." For more information go to JIMCCUNNINGHAM.COM.

The Naked Christ

The Naked Christ PDF Author: Dan Le
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610977882
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
The cross of Christ is undeniably central to the Christian faith. But, how can the cruelty and brutality of a two-thousand-year-old Roman cross touch base with a hedonistic world that has been so desensitized towards violence? Within the postmodern setting of a body-obsessed culture, Christianity urgently requires an innovative and stimulating way of understanding the cross and its atoning significance. At the heart of this book is the Naked Christ--an emblem through which the author draws on the rich resources of the Christian tradition in its portrayal of the cross. He explores how the metaphors of nakedness and clothing can encapsulate aspects of atonement and enable them to be understood within a variety of contemporary contexts. The Naked Christ is a useful resource for anyone seeking fresh ways to express what the cross of Christ means to contemporary culture.

See Me Naked

See Me Naked PDF Author: Amy Frykholm
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807004685
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
“A fascinating, troubling, and finally heartening book that subtly shows ways that Christians might reconcile their bodies with their devotion to God. Highly recommended for individual Christians but also for pastors and church groups.”—Library Journal, starred review Stories of sexual scandals in churches throughout the nation have been downright routine in recent years, suggesting to many Americans that a deeply rooted problem plagues American Christianity—and prompting some to abandon their congregations altogether. In See Me Naked, Amy Frykholm takes us beyond simple indictments of, or blind allegiance to, Christian cultures to explore the complex, intimate intersection of sexuality and spirituality as it affects the lives of ordinary Christians. Recounting with care and nuance the life histories of nine American Protestants, Frykholm shows us the harm done by the rules-based sexual ethic now dominant, which alternately denies and romanticizes sexuality. But she also points to how American Christians might otherwise access their spiritual tradition to heal the divide between religion and sexuality. One story examines the intricate relationship between a man’s religious faith and his sexual addiction. In another, a man defines religion as a wall that kept him from the discovery that he was gay. One young woman uses sex to defy her devout parents, while another seeks to transcend her body by going without food. Nearly everyone interviewed in See Me Naked remains a Christian, with some further on their journey than others. Yet each of them is working to understand the connection between their desires and their faith. Ultimately, their stories—stories of pain and violence, perseverance and courage—attest to the healing power of struggling through the wild and uncertain experiences of life. See Me Naked explores the many ways that people work to recover from harmful beliefs and restores the notion that one of the key insights of Christianity is that the body, with all its struggles, pains, and difficulties, is a vehicle of the holy and can lead us into a more full relationship with God.

Carnal Knowing

Carnal Knowing PDF Author: Margaret R. Miles
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 172521752X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
When we look at Michelangelo's David, we see a nakedness that expresses physical prowess, self-knowledge, and spiritual discipline. What do we see when we look at Hans Baldung's Eve, the Serpent, and Death or Master Francke's Martyrdom of Saint Barbara? Why should those naked female images symbolize wantonness and shame? How do ideas about nakedness formed at the dawn of Christianity continue to shape today's sexual values? What must women do to take their bodies back? This revolutionary study by Margaret R. Miles, formerly Bussey Professor of Historical Theology at the Harvard Divinity School and author of the acclaimed Images as Insight, sifts through centuries of Christian writing and religious ritual and, above all, Western art to reveal the origins of our attitudes toward women's bodies and their encoded meanings. Broad enough to encompass fourth-century descriptions of Christian baptism and contemporary theories of representation, Carnal Knowing is a brilliant, startling work of scholarship whose implications extend far beyond the academy to the way we live and see.

Clothing and Nudity in the Hebrew Bible

Clothing and Nudity in the Hebrew Bible PDF Author: Christoph Berner
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567678482
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
The volume discusses nudity and clothing in the Hebrew Bible, covering anthropological, theological, archaeology and religious-historical aspects. These aspects are addressed in three separate sections, enhanced by over a hundred pictures and illustrations. Part I places nudity and clothing in its ancient Israelite context, with discussions of methodology, the ancient Near Eastern evidence (including material culture and iconography), and an assessment of central aspects of the biblical material such as fabrication and uses of textiles, lexicography, theological and anthropological implications. Part II looks at key themes such as mourning, death, encounters with the divine and issues of power and status. Finally, Part III presents several close studies of key passages from narrative, prophetic and wisdom texts where clothing and nudity play an important role.

The Renaissance Nude

The Renaissance Nude PDF Author: Thomas Kren
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 160606584X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
A gloriously illustrated examination of the origins and development of the nude as an artistic subject in Renaissance Europe Reflecting an era when Europe looked to both the classical past and a global future, this volume explores the emergence and acceptance of the nude as an artistic subject. It engages with the numerous and complex connotations of the human body in more than 250 artworks by the greatest masters of the Renaissance. Paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, and book illustrations reveal private, sometimes shocking, preoccupations as well as surprising public beliefs—the Age of Humanism from an entirely new perspective. This book presents works by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Martin Schongauer in the north and Donatello, Raphael, and Giorgione in the south; it also introduces names that deserve to be known better. A publication this rich in scholarship could only be produced by a variety of expert scholars; the sixteen contributors are preeminent in their fields and wide-ranging in their knowledge and curiosity. The structure of the volume—essays alternating with shorter texts on individual artworks—permits studies both broad and granular. From the religious to the magical and the poetic to the erotic, encompassing male and female, infancy, youth, and old age, The Renaissance Nude examines in a profound way what it is to be human.

A Brief History of Nakedness

A Brief History of Nakedness PDF Author: Philip Carr-Gomm
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861897294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
As one common story goes, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, had no idea that there was any shame in their lack of clothes; they were perfectly confident in their birthday suits among the animals of the Garden of Eden. All was well until that day when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and went scrambling for fig leaves to cover their bodies. Since then, lucrative businesses have arisen to provide many stylish ways to cover our nakedness, for the naked human body now evokes powerful and often contradictory ideas—it thrills and revolts us, signifies innocence and sexual experience, and often marks the difference between nature and society. In A Brief History of Nakedness psychologist Philip Carr-Gomm traces our inescapable preoccupation with nudity. Rather than studying the history of the nude in art or detailing the ways in which the naked body has been denigrated in the media, A Brief History of Nakedness reveals the ways in which religious teachers, politicians, protesters, and cultural icons have used nudity to enlighten or empower themselves as well as entertain us. Among his many examples, Carr-Gomm discusses how advertisers and the media employ images of bare skin—or even simply the word “naked”—to garner our attention, how mystics have used nudity to get closer to God, and how political protesters have discovered that baring all is one of the most effective ways to gain publicity for their cause. Carr-Gomm investigates how this use of something as natural as nakedness actually gets under our skin and evokes complicated and complex emotional responses. From the naked sages of India to modern-day witches and Christian nudists, from Lady Godiva to Lady Gaga, A Brief History of Nakedness surveys the touching, sometimes tragic and often bizarre story of our relationships with our naked bodies.

Letter to Artists

Letter to Artists PDF Author: John Paul II
Publisher: LiturgyTrainingPublications
ISBN: 9781568543383
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Meeting House Essays in a series of papers reflecting on the mystery, beauty and practicalities of the place of worship. This popular series was begun in 1991, and each resource focuses on a particular aspect of space, design or materials and how they relate to the liturgy.

Christian Sex Positions

Christian Sex Positions PDF Author: Lewis Mason
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781508768401
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
When you put so much store into your faith, it can be difficult to find guides for the bedroom that understand where you – as a Christian couple fully committed to God – are coming from. At the same time, our sexuality is a gift from God that should be enjoyed. Enter this wonderful guide, filled with tasteful pictures and informative, gently witty positions/descriptions that include no nudity or inappropriate content of any kind. These 58 positions will help you maintain the focus on Christ while accepting and adoring His gifts of pleasure.

God and the Gay Christian

God and the Gay Christian PDF Author: Matthew Vines
Publisher: Convergent
ISBN: 1601425163
Category : Christian gays
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Reinterpretations of key Bible texts related to sexual orientation, written by a Harvard student, present an accessible case for a modern Christian conservative acceptance of sexual diversity.