Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels - Softcover

2004 Publishers Weekly Book of the Year2004 Quills Award Nominee"Angels, in the Christian tradition, are disembodied spirits who directly behold the face of God. And we, Clapp insists, are not angels. So Christian spirituality will have to take full account of our bodies--their earthy constitution, their intense desires, their certain death, and their promised resurrection. What follows from this premise is a poetic account of traditional spirituality, unapologetically borrowed from writers like the desert fathers, Augustine and Luther, but enlivened with elegant writing and alert to the needs and challenges of contemporary life. To readers who associate spirituality with gauzy inner states, Clapp's attention to everything from posture to excretion will be startling, but the reward is a book that manages to be both traditional and original. . . . With the same elan he demonstrated in his previous book, Border Crossings, Clapp probes popular culture and household life for clues to practicing the Christian faith. . . . Such down-to-earth realism makes this a splendid introduction to Christian spirituality."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A healthy dose of incarnational Christianity. Real redemption involves both body and soul. Clapp not only understands this doctrinal truth but profoundly grasps how popular culture has profoundly caused us to miss it in our churches. . . . Clapp's style is insightful, earthy and astute. He knows how to explore complex issues in ways that always make his ruminations fresh."--Reformation & Revival "Tortured Wonders imaginatively unpacks a faith and way of life that 'never gives up on the body.' Constantly stimulating and fresh, in contrast, it puts thebody at the center of Christian spirituality. This is not a superficial book; it calls on ancient authorities to bring wisdom to modern culture."--SirReadaLot.org"The surprising upshot of [this] book is that as we become open to God's love for our whole person (body and soul), we reconnect with a world that has lost interest in disembodied spirituality. One of the best features of the book is how Clapp relates bodies to a traditional view of the sacraments. Moving away from stiff and problematic formulations of the sacraments, Clapp shows instead how much the sacraments can mean if we allow Christ to minister through them to both our bodies and our souls. . . . Making no pretense of writing the definitive Christian work on embodiment, Clapp instead draws on classics like Augustine and Luther, attempting the very difficult task of getting evangelicals to rediscover bodily Christian spirituality. . . . Although Tortured Wonders is not a difficult read, it is best read slowly. From Elvis and Charles Mingus to Ash Wednesday and the Eucharist, Clapp's reflections are like a long soak in a hot bath--good for body and soul alike."--David L. O'Hara, Prism"Confronting cliche Christian morality, Clapp argues for a holistic Christian spirituality dismissing the distance between flesh and soul. Skipping gleefully between philosophers and Elvis Presley, Clapp covers ground the Church needs to consider."--Winn Collier, Relevant"[A] stimulating book."--Ecumenism

A 2004 Publishers Weekly Book of the Year; 2004 Quills Award Nominee "Tortured Wonders "shows how orthodox Christian spirituality "never gives up on the body." Rodney Clapp begins by addressing the incarnation of Christ and the resurrection of the body, and the place of sacraments in Christian spirituality. Then he takes up the likes of Elvis and Bambi to explore the spiritual consequences of our contemporary obsession with celebrity and the fear of death. He calls us to embrace our creatureliness through a string of irresistible topics: Is there sex in heaven? What is the most "biblical" posture for prayer? Can we learn anything from non-Christian spiritual traditions? Pastors, counselors, and anyone interested in Christian spirituality will appreciate this lucid and insightful book.