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Teaching pastoral theology is a privilege. I envision Gospel communities and a society built on a foundation of compassion, care, and nonviolence. This is the politics of Jesus, as theologian Marcus Borg reminds us. In such communities the marginalized and the stranger are welcomed and befriended. Needed are pastoral leaders who will empower, educate, and love those they serve.

One of the courses I teach is a seminar called Embodiment.

Seminar description
CM593 Embodiment is an elective seminar addressing the ambivalence Christianity portrays towards the human body. The seminar argues that Christianity is fundamentally a religion of the flesh (John 1:14). Christianity is also a religion of the spirit (Gen 2:7; Acts 2:3). Yet, Christianity remains highly ambivalent about the human body.

The seminar asks: How can the Christian faith help individuals to embrace their embodied existence? Students will be empowered to create a theology of embodiment that can inform their ministries. Conversing with a wide range of researchers and scholars, themes that will be addressed in the seminar include: neuroscience, the body, and spirituality (including religious and mystical experiences); the body and food (including obesity and eating disorders); body image; cutting/self-mutilation; the abused/violated body; the body with disability; the body and aging; expressions and theological implications of human sexuality; and, dying bodies.

Seminar required texts

• Eiesland, Nancy L. The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. (119 pages)
• Isherwood, Lisa. The Fat Jesus: Christianity and Body Image. New York: Seabury Books, 2008. (146 pages)
• Green, Joel B. Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008. (180 pages)
• Moltmann-Wendel, Elisabeth. I Am My Body: A Theology of Embodiment. New York: Continuum, 1995. (105 pages)
• Nelson, James B. Embodiment: An Approach to Sexuality and Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1978. (274 pages)
• Selected articles will be required.