Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically

by Beth Felker Jones

While healthy eating or exercise ought to be practices of embodied joy and embodied courage, it is almost impossible for some of us to think of them as anything but punishment for bodies that do not measure up to impossible standards of commercial beauty. While I might wish to go to the gym for the glory of God, the scripts in my head make it hard for the action to be about anything but seeking a standard of attractiveness defined not by God but by companies that want to sell me endless products. We’re tyrannized by beauty standards that have a lot to do with racism, classism, and consumerism and nothing to do with God’s glory. Add to this the fact that so many of us have experienced abuse in the body, including intimate partner violence and sexual violence, and the idea that we might claim our embodiment as a created gift becomes illusory.