My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Matthew Lee Anderson’s Earthen Vessels is a hard book to pin down. The author’s voice is at once conversational and classical. (With titles like, “Preface: In Which I Clear My Throat,” I was often reminded, stylistically, of C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton.) And while he is not afraid of big words, he is somehow deceptively simple in his delivery. Imagine you have an old high school friend who grew up to be a philosopher and you guys get together for a cup of coffee – that’s Anderson’s style.
His tone belies the depth of his subject – “why our bodies matter to our faith” – but this is not a weakness. On the contrary, Earthen Vessels could have read like a text book, but it doesn’t. It’s a much, much easier read than it has any right to be.
Anderson presents as the basis for his book the idea that our physical bodies are “the place of our personal presence in the world.” (pg. 233) As such, we cannot separate our bodies from ourselves as easily as we sometimes try to (philosophically, at least). And in fact, Christ took on a human body, and He “died to save and renew human bodies.” (pg. 16) Therefore, we are inseparable from our bodies. There’s a lot of very interesting philosophical delving here to elaborate and drive the point home.
Once that premise is established, Anderson takes us on a wide-ranging journey into topics as varied as pleasure, tattoos, homosexuality, and death and the implications they hold for our bodies and our faith.
Earthen Vessels covers a great deal of ground in its 230 or so pages. The book may leave you with more questions than it answers, but Anderson’s purpose in these pages is to start a conversation rather than end it.
It takes a while to wrestle with all these topics, and it is not for the casual reader. As I’ve said, the book was easy enough to read, but understanding what you’ve read takes some serious thought. Unless you’re some kind of genius, it may take a second or even a third read. However, it’s worth the time. There’s a lot of meat to chew on here, and that’s something that is sorely missing in most Christian literature. I definitely recommend Earthen Vessels.
I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers for this review as part of their blogger review program.
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