Description: Debates about human sexuality have divided the church across denominations. The Body of Christ has been wounded by profound theological disagreement. Preaching can be a healing balm for those who have been bruised and harmed by these debates. This book asks the church to remember its own nature as a Body that has a baptismal identity rooted in the triune God. We remember the beauty and value of the human body and we remember that we belong to a baptismal community with a distinctive ethic. Sermons are an opportunity to refresh and heal a Body that has been broken by division. By affirming sexuality and the body, preachers can build toward an affirmation of all sexual identities while making space for those whose theology is not affirming. In recovering the body as a focus for preaching, this book argues for a more equitable and inclusive understanding of Christian identity.
Brief description: Sarah Travis is associate professor at Knox College, University of Toronto, in the Ewart Chair in the Practice of Ministry and Faith Formation.
Review Quotes: "With more than sixty denominations in every continent moving towards affirmation of LGBTQ people there is a great need for resources to help pastors to teach in affirming and life-giving ways. Sarah Travis' theological lens on the church as the body of Christ combined with an affirmation of physical human bodies is inspired and profoundly helpful."
--Charles Fensham, professor emeritus, Knox College, Toronto
"In this book, Travis takes the conversation about inclusion and affirmation of LGBTQ persons in the church to a new level. She offers preachers a homiletic intended to heal the whole of the Body of Christ due to ways it has done damage to others and has been damaged by its exclusionary practices."
--O. Wesley Allen Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
"Theology and embodiment have for too long been separated, but we are all embodied beings. Issues around sexuality have been problematic in the church for centuries. Providing the foundation to reexamine the ways bodies are understood is a gift that this book provides without apology."
--Karyn L. Wiseman, Stuempfle-Folkemer Professor of Homiletics, United Lutheran Seminary
"In Remembering the Body, Sarah Travis empowers the want-to-be-bold-for-the-sake-of-the-gospel-but-fearful-of-alienating-some-people preacher. As a self-identified LGBTQ ally, she acknowledges the brokenness of the Body of Christ and calls the church to confess the silence that has hindered healing and wholeness. Travis emphasizes confession as the start and practices of repair and reconciliation as the ongoing work."
--Shauna K. Hannan, professor of homiletics, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary