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Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body
Why do we have bodies?
When it comes to thinking about our bodies, confusion reigns. In our secular age, there has been a loss of the body's goodness, purpose, and end. Many people, driven by shame and idolatry, abuse their body through self-harm or self-improvement. How can we renew our understanding and see our bodies the way God does?
In Wonderfully Made , John Kleinig forms a properly biblical theology of our bodies. Through his keen sensitivity to Scripture's witness, Kleinig explains why bodies matter. While sin has corrupted our bodies and how we think of them, God's creation is still good. Thus, our bodies are good gifts. The Son took on a body to redeem our bodies. Kleinig addresses issues like shame, chastity, desire, gender dysphoria, and more, by integrating them into the biblical vision of creation.
Readers of Wonderfully Made will not only be equipped to engage in current issues; they will gain a robust theology of the body and better appreciation of God's very good creation.
When it comes to thinking about our bodies, confusion reigns. In our secular age, there has been a loss of the body's goodness, purpose, and end. Many people, driven by shame and idolatry, abuse their body through self-harm or self-improvement. How can we renew our understanding and see our bodies the way God does?
In Wonderfully Made , John Kleinig forms a properly biblical theology of our bodies. Through his keen sensitivity to Scripture's witness, Kleinig explains why bodies matter. While sin has corrupted our bodies and how we think of them, God's creation is still good. Thus, our bodies are good gifts. The Son took on a body to redeem our bodies. Kleinig addresses issues like shame, chastity, desire, gender dysphoria, and more, by integrating them into the biblical vision of creation.
Readers of Wonderfully Made will not only be equipped to engage in current issues; they will gain a robust theology of the body and better appreciation of God's very good creation.
235 pages, Hardcover
Published August 25, 2021
84 people are currently reading
785 people want to read
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August 20, 2024
During my first year of seminary, while taking a class on early church history, the professor commended to us a truth that I have never forgotten. He argued that, of all the times in church history, the one which most closely resembles our own is the second century. During that time, the church was a minor player on the world stage. She could boast no political power. At times, she was persecuted, often violently. It was not popular or culturally acceptable to be a Christian. Indeed, at the time, the followers of Jesus belonged to an illicit religion; it was literally against Roman law to be a Christian.
Most significantly, in the second century, the threats to the church’s orthodox teachings came dominantly from the popular, amorphous religious groups known collectively as Gnostics. These groups often portrayed themselves as variety of Christianity, if not “pure” Christianity itself. Derived from the Greek word “gnosis,” which means knowledge, the various Gnostic sects shared one feature in common: a secret knowledge that led to denigration and rejection of creation and its Creator in favor of the inner spirituality of the divine individual.
Gnostic books, even some claiming to be “Gospels,” taught that creation was the work of an inferior and bad deity. Because of this, Gnostics held that our created human bodies are (at best) irrelevant or (at worst) evil fleshly prisons of the soul, impediments to “true spirituality.” The body you see in the mirror is not reflective of reality. You are not a man. You are not a woman. You are part of divinity. For now, you are trapped in a dungeon of flesh, but that must not dictate how you define yourself and your eternal destiny. In modern parlance, Gnostics would say that the “real you” is the inner person, shorn from whatever your body might say you are.
Though no longer called by this name, Gnosticism today is a—if not the—pervasive religious sentiment, especially in matters involving the body. For instance, at a funeral, even a Christian funeral, when someone refers to the body as “just a shell” and the soul or spirit as the real person, Gnostic theology is afoot. When the body is treated as something external to us, such as this comment from a Reddit thread, “My body is not me. It’s just a meat sack that I live in,” this too would be applauded by Gnostics. And, needless to say, the reigning cultural divorce between sex and gender, along with the smorgasbord of confusion in matters relating to all things sexual, is very much the byproduct of a gnosticizing of our bodies. The result is that the biological, anatomical facts of human existence become irrelevant in the determination of who we are. We decide who we are; the kind of body a man or woman happens to have is utterly beside the point.
Therefore, living as we do in a second-century kind of twenty-first century, we need teachers such as those early Christians had in Irenaeus of Lyons, who exposed the errors of the Gnostics and explained, in detail, all the wonderful and saving ramifications of creation being the handiwork of a good and gracious God who has become incarnate—flesh and blood!—in Jesus Christ. Such a teacher we have in John Kleinig, whose book, Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body, is a rhapsody about the human body, marriage, sexuality, and how all of these creaturely realities impact the life of the church and individual believers.
The book is divided into seven sections: Body Matters, The Created Body, The Redeemed Body, The Spiritual Body, The Sexual Body, The Spousal Body, and The Living Body. In each of these, Kleinig does something remarkable: he lights a candle more than he curses the darkness (17). That is, while he does take the time to explain where modern thinking regarding the body has gone astray, he spends much more time positively teaching what the Scriptures themselves teach us about the beauty of creation, God making humanity in his image and likeness, the ramifications of the incarnation of the Son, the blessings and purposes of marriage, and how the Lord uses the created elements in the sacrament (e.g., the water of baptism) to convey to us his saving gifts. Christians today are often criticized for being anti-this and anti-that, cynical complainers about the moral collapse of society. This criticism is deserved. And that’s why I welcome Kleinig’s approach. He doesn’t balance the negative and the positive; the positive far outweighs the negative.
Were I granted three wishes about Wonderfully Made, they would be these. One, that the book would have included a Study Guide, or at least Discussion Questions, at the end of each chapter. The book would be ideal for use in congregational or community Bible Studies. Perhaps such a guide will be forthcoming.
Two, that a book with such profound depth and breadth of (small “c”) catholic theology would have included fewer quotes from Martin Luther and more from other ancient and modern teachers of the church. Kleinig is a Lutheran theologian (as am I), but I fear the overabundance of quotes from this one Reformer might lead some readers to amend the subtitle from “A Protestant Theology of the Body” to “A Lutheran Theology of the Body.”
My final wish would be that Wonderfully Made might serve as the doorway to other books by Kleinig on these same topics. A book on marriage. A book on the resurrection. A book on sexuality. Each of the seven sections of Wonderfully Made could easily be expanded into multiple volumes. Who knows? Maybe this wish will come true. God grant it.
I have been a student of John Kleinig, from afar, for the last thirty years. His books and essays were the foundation upon which I built my understanding of Old Testament worship. I have recommended his commentaries on Leviticus and Hebrews to countless people. Now, with Wonderfully Made written, I will point people to this work as well. He, and his work, are a gift to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
Most significantly, in the second century, the threats to the church’s orthodox teachings came dominantly from the popular, amorphous religious groups known collectively as Gnostics. These groups often portrayed themselves as variety of Christianity, if not “pure” Christianity itself. Derived from the Greek word “gnosis,” which means knowledge, the various Gnostic sects shared one feature in common: a secret knowledge that led to denigration and rejection of creation and its Creator in favor of the inner spirituality of the divine individual.
Gnostic books, even some claiming to be “Gospels,” taught that creation was the work of an inferior and bad deity. Because of this, Gnostics held that our created human bodies are (at best) irrelevant or (at worst) evil fleshly prisons of the soul, impediments to “true spirituality.” The body you see in the mirror is not reflective of reality. You are not a man. You are not a woman. You are part of divinity. For now, you are trapped in a dungeon of flesh, but that must not dictate how you define yourself and your eternal destiny. In modern parlance, Gnostics would say that the “real you” is the inner person, shorn from whatever your body might say you are.
Though no longer called by this name, Gnosticism today is a—if not the—pervasive religious sentiment, especially in matters involving the body. For instance, at a funeral, even a Christian funeral, when someone refers to the body as “just a shell” and the soul or spirit as the real person, Gnostic theology is afoot. When the body is treated as something external to us, such as this comment from a Reddit thread, “My body is not me. It’s just a meat sack that I live in,” this too would be applauded by Gnostics. And, needless to say, the reigning cultural divorce between sex and gender, along with the smorgasbord of confusion in matters relating to all things sexual, is very much the byproduct of a gnosticizing of our bodies. The result is that the biological, anatomical facts of human existence become irrelevant in the determination of who we are. We decide who we are; the kind of body a man or woman happens to have is utterly beside the point.
Therefore, living as we do in a second-century kind of twenty-first century, we need teachers such as those early Christians had in Irenaeus of Lyons, who exposed the errors of the Gnostics and explained, in detail, all the wonderful and saving ramifications of creation being the handiwork of a good and gracious God who has become incarnate—flesh and blood!—in Jesus Christ. Such a teacher we have in John Kleinig, whose book, Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body, is a rhapsody about the human body, marriage, sexuality, and how all of these creaturely realities impact the life of the church and individual believers.
The book is divided into seven sections: Body Matters, The Created Body, The Redeemed Body, The Spiritual Body, The Sexual Body, The Spousal Body, and The Living Body. In each of these, Kleinig does something remarkable: he lights a candle more than he curses the darkness (17). That is, while he does take the time to explain where modern thinking regarding the body has gone astray, he spends much more time positively teaching what the Scriptures themselves teach us about the beauty of creation, God making humanity in his image and likeness, the ramifications of the incarnation of the Son, the blessings and purposes of marriage, and how the Lord uses the created elements in the sacrament (e.g., the water of baptism) to convey to us his saving gifts. Christians today are often criticized for being anti-this and anti-that, cynical complainers about the moral collapse of society. This criticism is deserved. And that’s why I welcome Kleinig’s approach. He doesn’t balance the negative and the positive; the positive far outweighs the negative.
Were I granted three wishes about Wonderfully Made, they would be these. One, that the book would have included a Study Guide, or at least Discussion Questions, at the end of each chapter. The book would be ideal for use in congregational or community Bible Studies. Perhaps such a guide will be forthcoming.
Two, that a book with such profound depth and breadth of (small “c”) catholic theology would have included fewer quotes from Martin Luther and more from other ancient and modern teachers of the church. Kleinig is a Lutheran theologian (as am I), but I fear the overabundance of quotes from this one Reformer might lead some readers to amend the subtitle from “A Protestant Theology of the Body” to “A Lutheran Theology of the Body.”
My final wish would be that Wonderfully Made might serve as the doorway to other books by Kleinig on these same topics. A book on marriage. A book on the resurrection. A book on sexuality. Each of the seven sections of Wonderfully Made could easily be expanded into multiple volumes. Who knows? Maybe this wish will come true. God grant it.
I have been a student of John Kleinig, from afar, for the last thirty years. His books and essays were the foundation upon which I built my understanding of Old Testament worship. I have recommended his commentaries on Leviticus and Hebrews to countless people. Now, with Wonderfully Made written, I will point people to this work as well. He, and his work, are a gift to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
July 31, 2025
Just start handing these out to your congregation please.
May 2, 2021
Easily one of my favorite books this year. The best part of this work is the clear and elegant prose throughout. Kleinig models a way of doing theology and poetics. His language is vivid, memorable, and more than competent presentation of the subject matter. A wonderful complement to other textbooks on theological embodiment, but also simply a feast for the soul.
November 27, 2021
Absolutely fabulous book, so well crafted, both lucid and lyrical in its prose, profoundly theological, yet thoroughly straightforward, down to earth, and practical. A must-read in these confused and confusing, rampantly gnostic times.
April 7, 2022
Overall, a phenomenal read. The modern church I think has a bad habit of engaging in functional Gnosticism with the way we think of who we are, portraying us as divided people who are spirits within an evil fleshly cocoon that must be set free.
In actuality, the Bible portrays a more holistic perspective of who we are: embodied souls created in the Imago Dei. Our bodies as well as our souls are a product of God’s good purposes. As a result, we should care for our bodies and souls simultaneously as a means of glorifying God, meditating on the reality that despite our falleness, our bodies will someday be glorified in eternity in the likeness of our glorified Savior.
In actuality, the Bible portrays a more holistic perspective of who we are: embodied souls created in the Imago Dei. Our bodies as well as our souls are a product of God’s good purposes. As a result, we should care for our bodies and souls simultaneously as a means of glorifying God, meditating on the reality that despite our falleness, our bodies will someday be glorified in eternity in the likeness of our glorified Savior.
June 16, 2023
'[spiritual life] takes me ever further and deeper into bodily life and into fuller embodiment as a human being. It makes me at home in my body as I live here on earth.' (p. 3)
Some thoughts:
- Fascinating stuff, there were plenty of things I liked about this book and a handful of things I didn't completely agree with. Overall, it wasn't really what I expected, but it was still thought-provoking and engaging.
- Substituting 'Protestant' with 'Lutheran' would give a more accurate picture of the author's perspectives and assumptions, but I didn't mind reading something from a theological tradition I'm unfamilar with (it was actually really interesting seeing how a different view of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and liturgical calendars can impact someone's experience and understanding of bodily life). To be fair, the author does say quite early on that this is 'a pastoral-theological meditation written from a Lutheran perspective' (p. 17). I think this would hit the spot for Lutherans, yet not so much for me (but that's okay).
- Despite the above quibble, this was a worthwhile read and has opened up quite a few cans of worms for me (e.g. what about disability theology? what about cognitive conditions and mental illness?) as well as raising some points for personal reflection. Some things that were worded particularly well have also been bookmarked to return to later.
Some thoughts:
- Fascinating stuff, there were plenty of things I liked about this book and a handful of things I didn't completely agree with. Overall, it wasn't really what I expected, but it was still thought-provoking and engaging.
- Substituting 'Protestant' with 'Lutheran' would give a more accurate picture of the author's perspectives and assumptions, but I didn't mind reading something from a theological tradition I'm unfamilar with (it was actually really interesting seeing how a different view of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and liturgical calendars can impact someone's experience and understanding of bodily life). To be fair, the author does say quite early on that this is 'a pastoral-theological meditation written from a Lutheran perspective' (p. 17). I think this would hit the spot for Lutherans, yet not so much for me (but that's okay).
- Despite the above quibble, this was a worthwhile read and has opened up quite a few cans of worms for me (e.g. what about disability theology? what about cognitive conditions and mental illness?) as well as raising some points for personal reflection. Some things that were worded particularly well have also been bookmarked to return to later.
September 22, 2021
3.5/5. A longer review to come later. For now, this was really more “A Lutheran Theology of the Body” than a Protestant one. It is deeply rooted in Scripture and will be enduring because of that, but this also limits it. It starts a conversation but does not go into as much detail as a reader might want it to.
You can read my longer review at the Regent Bookstore blog here.
You can read my longer review at the Regent Bookstore blog here.
September 24, 2023
Beautiful, poetic, hard, and insightful, Kleinig delivers a profound rhapsody on the human body - its beauty and its abuse and its redemption. Whatever your station in life, Wonderfully Made is made for you.
December 7, 2021
Wonderful book. The chapters on sexuality are difficult, because they are so filled with law and how we abuse our bodies, and there is some way that we all have sinned in that regard, but the final chapter is a lovely finish to this "rhapsody" on the human body. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are graciously and fittingly remade.
February 14, 2025
I'm glad for the latter half of this book, because it was thought provoking and interesting in a way I did not find with the former. I'm not sure what I expected differently in the first half, but it just wasn't there for me in the way I expected based on recommendations. Overall a solid read, especially if you haven't had a lot of experience in speaking about the importance of our bodies to God!
March 21, 2022
I recently spoke to a group of women about how God created us, sustains us, and uses us to serve others. This book was instrumental in how I spoke of the work of God when it came to our creation and how he sustains us. Klenig's words are a treasure. This will be a book I read and reference again along with giving as a gift.
December 29, 2021
Book of the year for me. Enjoyed it tremendously. Comprehensive, clear, beautiful prose, historical, theological, biblical.
October 10, 2025
2.5 stars but I felt bad giving it just 2
Ok if you want to write a body theology book that toes the conservative line on all the typically covered body theology topics, be my guest. But I’d love more argumentation or explanation than the excessive quoting of Martin Luther I found here. There were decent things in this book, and maybe I was just looking for a different read, but this really didn’t say anything new or anything old especially insightfully. Especially in the sections on sexuality, the author just mourns how Things are Bad These Days and states a traditional sex ethic very dramatically, which I think he thinks is supposed to be compelling but it isn’t. He does a poor job giving reasons for his assertions about, say, what gender is in relation to sex and why his subsequent claims about them are true according to the Bible. I don’t see anyone walking away agreeing with him if they didn’t already agree before, so I’m not sure what the point is.
I can’t figure out what the other people writing reviews are loving so much about this, are we reading it entirely differently?? Someone explain.
Ok if you want to write a body theology book that toes the conservative line on all the typically covered body theology topics, be my guest. But I’d love more argumentation or explanation than the excessive quoting of Martin Luther I found here. There were decent things in this book, and maybe I was just looking for a different read, but this really didn’t say anything new or anything old especially insightfully. Especially in the sections on sexuality, the author just mourns how Things are Bad These Days and states a traditional sex ethic very dramatically, which I think he thinks is supposed to be compelling but it isn’t. He does a poor job giving reasons for his assertions about, say, what gender is in relation to sex and why his subsequent claims about them are true according to the Bible. I don’t see anyone walking away agreeing with him if they didn’t already agree before, so I’m not sure what the point is.
I can’t figure out what the other people writing reviews are loving so much about this, are we reading it entirely differently?? Someone explain.
October 7, 2025
This was a really interesting book. While I appreciated a lot of what Kleinig had to say, discernment needs to be exercised in reading this. The following points are worth keeping in mind:
-Kleinig is approaching this from a Lutheran perspective, so the way he talks about the sacraments is reflective of that.
-Kleinig seems to assume a trichotomist view of human nature, which results in some confusing explanations and implications of the human “spirit” in the first couple of chapters.
-Kleinig seemingly contradicts himself in multiple places, so paying attention to statements he makes within and between chapters and comparing his assertions with what Scripture actually says is key.
In general, this isn’t a book I would recommend, as I think it could easily cause confusion. That being said, there were some really poignant insights buried in it, and individual chapters (or parts of chapters) were helpful in framing the body in a positive light from a Protestant perspective.
-Kleinig is approaching this from a Lutheran perspective, so the way he talks about the sacraments is reflective of that.
-Kleinig seems to assume a trichotomist view of human nature, which results in some confusing explanations and implications of the human “spirit” in the first couple of chapters.
-Kleinig seemingly contradicts himself in multiple places, so paying attention to statements he makes within and between chapters and comparing his assertions with what Scripture actually says is key.
In general, this isn’t a book I would recommend, as I think it could easily cause confusion. That being said, there were some really poignant insights buried in it, and individual chapters (or parts of chapters) were helpful in framing the body in a positive light from a Protestant perspective.
November 15, 2024
I hadn't heard of the Theology of the Body till earlier this year when my dad started talking about it. I borrowed this book from him. The first chapter was great and got me excited. The chapter on the Redeemed Body somehow was a bit more dry and theological to me. But then the chapters on the Spiritual, Sexual, and Spousal Body got me excited again. The way God has designed this life in the body to work and mirror his life...it's amazing. I also really liked the thought in the last chapter of the three homes for our bodies that show where we have come from, where we are, and where we are going. Maybe someday I can read this again.
November 19, 2021
In a time when the body is discarded and disembodied by so many teachings and practices, this is a wonderful defense of created body, soul, and spirit of man and woman. This is an accessible and nicely written theology of the body based upon the biblical witness. I can't recommend this highly enough in a time when so many issues surrounding the body are misunderstood and purposely politicalized for immoral and unnatural agendas.
December 22, 2022
I think the subtitle (A Protestant Theology of the Body) would be better written as "A Lutheran Homily on the Body." It was less a theology than a set of sermons and though I get that Lutherans were the first Protestants, large sections of the book were too particularly Lutheran for me to glean much from it (Luther is quoted almost as much as Scripture).
There are some helpful sections in the book, it just wasn't what I thought it'd be.
There are some helpful sections in the book, it just wasn't what I thought it'd be.
January 24, 2022
“As disciples of Jesus and recipients of his Spirit, we exhibit the grace of God the Father bodily in the course of our earthly lives. As blameless, innocent, and unblemished children of God, we are enabled to shine as lights in a dark and crooked world. What greater honour could be conferred on us and our bodies than that?”
January 18, 2026
3.5 probably? Really solid, love the way he talks about the wholistic body, not “I have a body” but “I am a body”, and how the church needs to do better. Especially loved his discussion of the value and beauty of singleness in the church. Didn’t agree with everything but also was challenged in a good way! Glad I read it!
January 27, 2022
Read my review essay here: https://thelutherancolumn.com/2022/01...
February 5, 2022
Amazing work!
John Kleinig manages to unravel a difficult topic in a way that is simple, biblical, and beautiful. He writes like a pastor who loves his people, and who longs to teach them the Scriptures.
John Kleinig manages to unravel a difficult topic in a way that is simple, biblical, and beautiful. He writes like a pastor who loves his people, and who longs to teach them the Scriptures.
March 7, 2025
Spectacular! He essentially only quotes Luther and Lutheran standards, commentaries, and theologians….with a splash of CS Lewis. Wish he quoted more broadly. Hence, not 5 stars.
This is my entrance to the world of a theology of the body. And I can’t believe it took me this long to get to it. God created us with bodies, bodies that are broken by the fall, and He will give us new bodies in glory. The extent of those facts impacts everything!
This is my entrance to the world of a theology of the body. And I can’t believe it took me this long to get to it. God created us with bodies, bodies that are broken by the fall, and He will give us new bodies in glory. The extent of those facts impacts everything!
April 15, 2024
gives a Christians a "rhapsody of the human body." The topic of gender today often starts in the negative, but Kleinig offers a positive and beautifully Christian assertion of about our bodies which is well worth the read.
Expect a lot of Luther and some great chapter introductions.
Expect a lot of Luther and some great chapter introductions.
October 29, 2024
An interesting overview of what the Bible says about the body, but no real radical or big-brain thoughts.
Currently reading
January 16, 2023First impressions: The hardcover printing is quite possibly the most beautiful printing of a modern book I’ve had the pleasure to hold in my hands. From the dust jacket, to the end papers, the texture of the pages and the font, and everything in between, the design of the book reinforces the depth of the content.
p. 48 “God’s creation of human bodies and care for them is not a theory but a reality that governs what we actually do and what we can potentially do every day of our lives…. He allots us our bodies with their abilities and capacities, their location in families and societies, their work and their rest form work, necessities for their survival and undies for their enjoyment, their lifespan and the season in their lifecycle. Our task is to recognize what he is doing with our bodies at each stage of our lives and work together with him. How well we harmonize with him and his activity in the order of creation shapes the story of our bodies for good and ill—for good if we cooperate with him as our Creator, for ill if we defy him by attempting to reconstruct our own bodily existence.”
“Since God is our Creator, he relives us of the stressful burden of making do for ourselves, as if we were our own creators. Because we receive our bodies and the life-support system from him, they serve us best when we adjust to his provision for them and cooperate with him.”
P. 56 “Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all share the same humanity, an innate identity that is granted in our conception that cannot be taken away from us. No one, or othering, can unperson us and cancel our human identity. That foundational identity does not threaten the other layers of identity.”
P. 66 "Since [Christ] provides us with forgiveness and the remission of sins from his heavenly Father, he frees us from the three terrible tyrants that spoil life in the body for us: sin that gives us a bad conscience and makes us afraid of God's rejection of us, the devil who enslaves us through our fear of death and eternal punishment, and death itself, which intimidates us and robs us of life long before we actually die."
p. 48 “God’s creation of human bodies and care for them is not a theory but a reality that governs what we actually do and what we can potentially do every day of our lives…. He allots us our bodies with their abilities and capacities, their location in families and societies, their work and their rest form work, necessities for their survival and undies for their enjoyment, their lifespan and the season in their lifecycle. Our task is to recognize what he is doing with our bodies at each stage of our lives and work together with him. How well we harmonize with him and his activity in the order of creation shapes the story of our bodies for good and ill—for good if we cooperate with him as our Creator, for ill if we defy him by attempting to reconstruct our own bodily existence.”
“Since God is our Creator, he relives us of the stressful burden of making do for ourselves, as if we were our own creators. Because we receive our bodies and the life-support system from him, they serve us best when we adjust to his provision for them and cooperate with him.”
P. 56 “Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all share the same humanity, an innate identity that is granted in our conception that cannot be taken away from us. No one, or othering, can unperson us and cancel our human identity. That foundational identity does not threaten the other layers of identity.”
P. 66 "Since [Christ] provides us with forgiveness and the remission of sins from his heavenly Father, he frees us from the three terrible tyrants that spoil life in the body for us: sin that gives us a bad conscience and makes us afraid of God's rejection of us, the devil who enslaves us through our fear of death and eternal punishment, and death itself, which intimidates us and robs us of life long before we actually die."
October 12, 2021
I'm curious to see what others think about this one. As a reader, any time an author has written such an illuminating classic as was done with Grace Upon Grace, anything he writes from that point on will be outstanding and worth reading. The temptation, however, is to then compare this present work to the former, which I don't think is fair but is hard not to do.
His gentle nudges toward gratitude will forever stay with me. His conviction that Christians "will not be heard and heeded by our critics in our teaching of various aspects of bodily life unless we paint an attractive picture of it in its potential and actual beauty" is something we all need to hear. He then sets for us an example in every biblically saturated page of this book.
In some ways I wish I would've liked it more. There were parts that were painfully beautiful and engaging. Others fell into your more standard Lutheranese. A handful of points I would personally disagree with, though it doesn't seem necessary to bring them up here. In all this, I can't seem to get past the inkling that I really should've loved this one, and that somewhere, I did.
"With his human body he undoes the damage done by our rebellion against God and restores God's good order on the earth. Nothing on earth is more wonderful and beautiful than that."
"As we see ourselves in Jesus, we see ourselves as God the Father sees us."
"His body has now become the place for theophany, the place where God shows his glory to all people, in order to give them access to his grace."
"God also defends human life in the body through his law, the natural law that is summarized by the seven commandments in the second table of the Decalogue."
"By his word he gives us a nuanced vision of a good life in the body, a good life in a good world that provides us with ample evidence of his goodness."
His gentle nudges toward gratitude will forever stay with me. His conviction that Christians "will not be heard and heeded by our critics in our teaching of various aspects of bodily life unless we paint an attractive picture of it in its potential and actual beauty" is something we all need to hear. He then sets for us an example in every biblically saturated page of this book.
In some ways I wish I would've liked it more. There were parts that were painfully beautiful and engaging. Others fell into your more standard Lutheranese. A handful of points I would personally disagree with, though it doesn't seem necessary to bring them up here. In all this, I can't seem to get past the inkling that I really should've loved this one, and that somewhere, I did.
"With his human body he undoes the damage done by our rebellion against God and restores God's good order on the earth. Nothing on earth is more wonderful and beautiful than that."
"As we see ourselves in Jesus, we see ourselves as God the Father sees us."
"His body has now become the place for theophany, the place where God shows his glory to all people, in order to give them access to his grace."
"God also defends human life in the body through his law, the natural law that is summarized by the seven commandments in the second table of the Decalogue."
"By his word he gives us a nuanced vision of a good life in the body, a good life in a good world that provides us with ample evidence of his goodness."
July 27, 2023
This book started out strong, lulled in the middle, and then finished strong. One thing to note is that this book is from a Lutheran perspective; nothing wrong with Lutheranism, but it may be helpful to know since the book is advertised as a 'Protestant theology of the body.' Instead of being Protestant broadly speaking, it also has particular points of contact with the Lutheran tradition that may not represent Protestantism more broadly. Another thing to note is that it does not draw from many secondary sources; it has a rather short bibliography of only a page or two. I think the book would have been more engaging and balanced if it had more conversation partners, but from the way the author was writing, using robust secondary sources was not his intention. Chapters 1, 2, and 5 were the highlights. These were the most carefully worded and interesting. At other points in the book, he may write to be more poetic than precise; this would not be an issue except that the subject matter does actually require a fair amount of precision.
July 4, 2022
Kleinig serves up a biblical-theological rhapsody on the body from a specifically Lutheran (despite the title) perspective. He gives a positive vision for the body as created and redeemed, describing how Christianity is "an embodied faith in God’s embodied Son" (97). I found this book a struggle to engage with at points, and have some strong disagreements with Kleinig, including his assertions that virtual churches services are "discarnate" (98) and his permanence view of marriage, as well as this spurious quote:
"Since we shall be perfectly dressed at the resurrection, we, even now, secretly clothed with Christ’s purity and holiness, symbolically bear secret witness to the resurrection of the body by dressing modestly and being well dressed" (143).
It remains a valuable book, and I'm sure Lutherans will be glad to have something from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. But not a high-scoring read for me.
"Since we shall be perfectly dressed at the resurrection, we, even now, secretly clothed with Christ’s purity and holiness, symbolically bear secret witness to the resurrection of the body by dressing modestly and being well dressed" (143).
It remains a valuable book, and I'm sure Lutherans will be glad to have something from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. But not a high-scoring read for me.
December 27, 2022
To be fair I expected this book to be better
Here are some of the points
* We are imbodied spirits
* We can separate our souls/ spirit and body
* Holy Spirit starts the work eternally and completes it when we posses are spiritual bodies in heaven or the new heaven and new earth
* Our spiritual bodies are going to be without blemishes illness, scares and etc
* Are bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
* He splits the book into a number of sections
* The spousal body is an interesting chapter - how we are created basically for community and use our bodies to love others weather sexually or non sexually
* Interesting discussion on not be ashamed of our bodies
* But if we use them for improper use we know about it emotionally or through I’ll health
* Like when we used to call it the walk of shame and you felt dirty and had to get a shower
* Overall an ok book, only some things where new to me- especially the inside out becoming more like Jesus in mind and body
Here are some of the points
* We are imbodied spirits
* We can separate our souls/ spirit and body
* Holy Spirit starts the work eternally and completes it when we posses are spiritual bodies in heaven or the new heaven and new earth
* Our spiritual bodies are going to be without blemishes illness, scares and etc
* Are bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
* He splits the book into a number of sections
* The spousal body is an interesting chapter - how we are created basically for community and use our bodies to love others weather sexually or non sexually
* Interesting discussion on not be ashamed of our bodies
* But if we use them for improper use we know about it emotionally or through I’ll health
* Like when we used to call it the walk of shame and you felt dirty and had to get a shower
* Overall an ok book, only some things where new to me- especially the inside out becoming more like Jesus in mind and body
September 8, 2025
I came to this book with high expectations after reading several reviews, but I ended up underwhelmed. Although marketed as a work of “Protestant” theology, it reads far more as a distinctly Lutheran approach. That’s not necessarily a drawback—there were many points I agreed with—but the claims often reflected Lutheran particularities rather than Protestantism in general. Not bad, just some confused marketing in my opinion.
My greater difficulty, though, was more personal. The prose is graceful and even melodic, but the book lacks sustained argumentation. It offers many beautifully written passages illustrating theological claims, yet little in the way of clear logic or conceptual frameworks to engage and test those claims. I will say that the chapter on human sexuality introduced some helpful distinctions and language to the subject that I haven’t really engaged with. In short it was good but not very helpful.
My greater difficulty, though, was more personal. The prose is graceful and even melodic, but the book lacks sustained argumentation. It offers many beautifully written passages illustrating theological claims, yet little in the way of clear logic or conceptual frameworks to engage and test those claims. I will say that the chapter on human sexuality introduced some helpful distinctions and language to the subject that I haven’t really engaged with. In short it was good but not very helpful.
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