THE Word was made flesh: but why is it that women’s bodies often remain enslaved? Through various means, sensitive and original reflections on assumptions about beauty, body shape, sex, and perfection in the lives of women are challenged and examined by an international range of female contributors, including both established and emerging theologians and writers. Throughout, ways of seeing and experiencing bodies as sacred gifts are offered, often with startling clarity.

St Augustine may seem like an unlikely bedfellow, but one chapter explores how the sheer magnitude of the words that he uses to express wonder for God in the Confessions enables us to revel in the excess to be found in fatness. Fat activism celebrates the glorious vastness of large bodies, questioning assumptions of perfection in which small and fully able bodies are privileged above all else. By emphasising the centrality of the incarnation, fat bodies have a particular power to celebrate radically the gift of Christ.

Another chapter questions whether there are fat people in heaven. This is important. Clearly, we must revise our notions of beauty and ethical assumptions about fatness, most especially in the West, where the image of the slim blonde young body stubbornly remains the touchstone.

We are also offered a sober and yet vital proposal that the sexual revolution for women was, and still is, an anti-climax. Despite efforts for equality, women largely remain dominated by men’s desires rather than their own. Moreover, the inexorable rise of porn increasingly turns women into consumable goods. Can we just sit back?

Moving personal reflections on the “religion of thinness”, in which a pervasive devotion to dieting reigns. This is brilliantly examined: a debilitating practice that has, unfortunately, gone unchallenged by the Church, not least because women’s bodies continue to be viewed with suspicion. Further, we must not turn a blind eye to the inexorable rise of eating disorders when, week by week, we claim as a Church to be one body.

The female body is a battleground and a worksite rather than a place of wonder and grace. Christianity, which has pervasively placed blame on Eve’s insatiable appetite, has a lot to answer for. We learn here how bad theology contributes to the misery that many women and girls endure. It is crucial to encourage a yearning for fullness of life rather than a longing for thinness. Another chapter convincingly seeks, as an alternative approach, to promote contemplative prayer rather than obsessive food restrictions.

One original and sobering chapter offers fascinating insights into parts of the Song of Songs, revealing how poor exegesis has the potential to lead to domestic abuse. This could be valuable, not only for wedding preparation with starry-eyed couples, but also in seminars and reading lists at theological colleges. Poignant and searching questions at the close of each chapter provide rich food for thought, making this an excellent book for groups.

Masculinity appears to be reasserting itself with vigour; the objectification of women and their bodies is not abating. These provoking essays are accessible to many, not least male readers, who can become allies in women’s struggle to see joy rather than shame in their flesh.

The Revd Jennie Hogan is a psychotherapist and author of This Is My Body: A story of sickness and health (Canterbury Press, 2017).

Pursuing Perfection: Faith and the female body
Maja Whitaker, editor
SCM Press £35
(978-0-334-06558-6)
Church Times Bookshop £28