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The Body Broken: Answering God's Call to Love One Another
The Body Broken is an honest and moving meditation on the Gospel imperative to love one another as brothers and sisters, even as we choose to live and express our faith in differing ways.
A lifelong Christian and seeker, Robert Benson has shared the prayers, rituals, conversations, and practices of many different denominations. His broad range of ecumenical experiences have led to moments of great joy and deep fellowship, but they have also opened his eyes to the misunderstanding and the intolerance that constantly threaten to dismember the whole Body of Christ.
Benson writes longingly about the things of the faith that bind us together and gracefully about the things that keep us apart. He recounts his own journey from Nazarene to Methodist to Episcopalian and introduces us to the people and the differing expressions of faith he encountered along the way. We meet ordinary folk, including Benson's family and childhood friends, as well as legendary religious thinkers as Henri Nouwen. Some of the stories--particularly the ones about his own brother's suicide--are heartbreakingly painful; others bring to light the joy and grace of Christian love as found in acts of common worship and compassion. Although Benson acknowledges that there are--and always will be--very real differences in the ways that Christians seek to live out their faith, he reminds us of the essential beliefs that we share about God and our common dependency on God's mysterious mercy and grace, even as we look for God as through a glass darkly.
In poetic prose that is reminiscent of the writing of Frederick Buechner and Annie Dillard, Benson illuminates, with wit and wisdom and humility and passion, one of the most difficult challenges that face the Church. The Body Broken is a powerful, important examination of the intolerance and divisiveness that have become an all too familiar part of the Church and a gentle, poignant call for a Christian community that embraces a spirit of love and unity even as it honors our differences.
A lifelong Christian and seeker, Robert Benson has shared the prayers, rituals, conversations, and practices of many different denominations. His broad range of ecumenical experiences have led to moments of great joy and deep fellowship, but they have also opened his eyes to the misunderstanding and the intolerance that constantly threaten to dismember the whole Body of Christ.
Benson writes longingly about the things of the faith that bind us together and gracefully about the things that keep us apart. He recounts his own journey from Nazarene to Methodist to Episcopalian and introduces us to the people and the differing expressions of faith he encountered along the way. We meet ordinary folk, including Benson's family and childhood friends, as well as legendary religious thinkers as Henri Nouwen. Some of the stories--particularly the ones about his own brother's suicide--are heartbreakingly painful; others bring to light the joy and grace of Christian love as found in acts of common worship and compassion. Although Benson acknowledges that there are--and always will be--very real differences in the ways that Christians seek to live out their faith, he reminds us of the essential beliefs that we share about God and our common dependency on God's mysterious mercy and grace, even as we look for God as through a glass darkly.
In poetic prose that is reminiscent of the writing of Frederick Buechner and Annie Dillard, Benson illuminates, with wit and wisdom and humility and passion, one of the most difficult challenges that face the Church. The Body Broken is a powerful, important examination of the intolerance and divisiveness that have become an all too familiar part of the Church and a gentle, poignant call for a Christian community that embraces a spirit of love and unity even as it honors our differences.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2003
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33 people want to read
About the author
Robert Benson
94 books34 followersRobert Benson has written more than a dozen books about discovering the Holy in the midst of our everyday lives. He is a lifelong churchman, a graduate of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, a member of the Friends of Silence and of the Poor, and has been named a Living Spiritual Teacher by Spirituality and Practice. Benson lives and writes, pays attention and offers prayers at his home in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 7, 2021
I loved this book! It was refreshing to my soul. This is what I have been waiting for someone to say: that we can disagree and have different traditions but be faithful parts of the same body of Christ.
April 26, 2020
This was my third book by Robert Benson, preceded by The Echo Within and Dancing on the Head of a Pen. Both of those books, which I enjoyed, were memoirs. The Body Broken was entirely different. It addresses the similarities and differences between various facets of the beliefs and practices of the Christian community of faith. Having started out as a Nazarine, followed by several years as a Methodist, and finally migrating to the Episcopal denomination, Benson has traveled different paths during his own Christian journey.
The biggest takeaway for me in this book was learning for the first time about the Quadrilateral. Benson explains, “The Quadrilateral is a tool used to discern the different ways that we look at the Mystery that is God. At one corner is scripture, at another corner is experience. In a third corner is reason, and in the fourth corner is tradition. These corners are bound together with God in the center; it is the Mystery, the mysterious presence of the Almighty, that fills out the space in between.”
He continues, “Catholics rely heavily on the view through the window of tradition, while Baptists look more through the window called scripture. Pentecostals, with their emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, spend a fair amount of time looking through the window called experience, while Unitarians focus on the one marked reason.”
Tempered throughout by observations and comments gained during Benson’s own personal faith journey, the main message of this book is that no matter which window of the Quadrilateral you look through, what type of liturgy (or lack thereof) or music you prefer, we are all members of the same Christian family at large, worshiping the same God. The importance of our similarities far outweighs the significance of the differences between our denominations.
Benson drives this point home with these final paragraphs in the book: “The walls that have been built out of fear or pride or ignorance can be taken down. We are the ones who can stop the daily dividing up of the Body of Christ into pieces and, instead, make it more possible for the Christ to be seen in our world.
“We must seek out the things that we have in common and at the same time learn to honor the things that make us different. We must learn to take the things that we hold dear – our sense of community, our love for the scriptures, our hunger for prayer, our capacity to worship – and work to make them wide enough and deep enough to include others rather than keep them at a distance.
“We must be willing to cultivate humility along with certainty, to practice tolerance along with devotion, to seek patience along with piety.
“We must learn to seek the face of Christ in those who are different as readily as we do in the faces of those who are like us.
“We must learn to love one another.”
Any Christian who feels that his or her own “brand” of religion is the only true approach to the Christian faith would do well to read this book. Doing so would go a long way toward helping that individual overcome the shallowness and inaccuracy of their way of thinking, and encourage them to become a more understanding, forgiving, and tolerant member of the Body of Christ.
The biggest takeaway for me in this book was learning for the first time about the Quadrilateral. Benson explains, “The Quadrilateral is a tool used to discern the different ways that we look at the Mystery that is God. At one corner is scripture, at another corner is experience. In a third corner is reason, and in the fourth corner is tradition. These corners are bound together with God in the center; it is the Mystery, the mysterious presence of the Almighty, that fills out the space in between.”
He continues, “Catholics rely heavily on the view through the window of tradition, while Baptists look more through the window called scripture. Pentecostals, with their emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, spend a fair amount of time looking through the window called experience, while Unitarians focus on the one marked reason.”
Tempered throughout by observations and comments gained during Benson’s own personal faith journey, the main message of this book is that no matter which window of the Quadrilateral you look through, what type of liturgy (or lack thereof) or music you prefer, we are all members of the same Christian family at large, worshiping the same God. The importance of our similarities far outweighs the significance of the differences between our denominations.
Benson drives this point home with these final paragraphs in the book: “The walls that have been built out of fear or pride or ignorance can be taken down. We are the ones who can stop the daily dividing up of the Body of Christ into pieces and, instead, make it more possible for the Christ to be seen in our world.
“We must seek out the things that we have in common and at the same time learn to honor the things that make us different. We must learn to take the things that we hold dear – our sense of community, our love for the scriptures, our hunger for prayer, our capacity to worship – and work to make them wide enough and deep enough to include others rather than keep them at a distance.
“We must be willing to cultivate humility along with certainty, to practice tolerance along with devotion, to seek patience along with piety.
“We must learn to seek the face of Christ in those who are different as readily as we do in the faces of those who are like us.
“We must learn to love one another.”
Any Christian who feels that his or her own “brand” of religion is the only true approach to the Christian faith would do well to read this book. Doing so would go a long way toward helping that individual overcome the shallowness and inaccuracy of their way of thinking, and encourage them to become a more understanding, forgiving, and tolerant member of the Body of Christ.
October 9, 2021
Nothing new under the sun.
In The Body Broken, Robert Benson sets out on the noble task of arguing for the unity of the church. It just so happens that he’s not all that convincing. His story (albeit only up to 2003) is the story of the typical liberal Episcopalian today. He grew up as a conservative Evangelical. He then transitioned to the UMC. Then on to the Episcopal Church. He considers himself a Doubting Thomas (and considers that to be virtuous). The book comes across almost as an exposition of the famous Rodney King phrase “Can’t we all just get along?” There are legitimate, heartfelt, and justifiable differences in the Body of Christ. And Benson is right to recognize the beauty in that. But there really isn’t a final sense of how unity in the church can take place. (The answer is that unity in the church pretty much will come with the resurrection of the dead).
Outside of that, the way he refers to God (the One who…) is less profound than he thinks. Three stars only because he’s approaching a hard subject.
In The Body Broken, Robert Benson sets out on the noble task of arguing for the unity of the church. It just so happens that he’s not all that convincing. His story (albeit only up to 2003) is the story of the typical liberal Episcopalian today. He grew up as a conservative Evangelical. He then transitioned to the UMC. Then on to the Episcopal Church. He considers himself a Doubting Thomas (and considers that to be virtuous). The book comes across almost as an exposition of the famous Rodney King phrase “Can’t we all just get along?” There are legitimate, heartfelt, and justifiable differences in the Body of Christ. And Benson is right to recognize the beauty in that. But there really isn’t a final sense of how unity in the church can take place. (The answer is that unity in the church pretty much will come with the resurrection of the dead).
Outside of that, the way he refers to God (the One who…) is less profound than he thinks. Three stars only because he’s approaching a hard subject.
June 29, 2023
This book was written 20 years ago and is as timeless as ever right now. We are all in one church, just different pews. It has inspired me to clarify...I am a Christian and I attend a Methodist church. "I am a Christian" is the most vital part of that piece of my identity, not the place in which I chose I to practice my Christianity. This book is a must for anyone struggling with holy discontent. It's a beautiful reminder of the basics...love one another...and masterfully told through real life situations.
July 6, 2011
I first cracked this book open in October 2010. I wasn't even halfway through it when I returned it to the library a few weeks later; I had deemed it boring and too slow.
But that's the beauty of this particular work, this collection of musings and thoughts. It isn't boring-- it's gentle. So gentle, in fact, that it could be mistaken for boring and slow. Benson is sharing his thoughts, collected and honed over time; he isn't trying to bash you over the head, using his loud and scary televangelist speaker voice. This book, and his voice throughout it, is the embodiment of having a conviction and sharing it with gentleness and respect.
If you are used to reading fast-paced novels or memoirs filled with wit and movement, it will take some time to get used to Benson's style, but it will be worth the shift. He whispers where others would prefer to shout, and it is the quietness of his presentation that makes all the difference.
But that's the beauty of this particular work, this collection of musings and thoughts. It isn't boring-- it's gentle. So gentle, in fact, that it could be mistaken for boring and slow. Benson is sharing his thoughts, collected and honed over time; he isn't trying to bash you over the head, using his loud and scary televangelist speaker voice. This book, and his voice throughout it, is the embodiment of having a conviction and sharing it with gentleness and respect.
If you are used to reading fast-paced novels or memoirs filled with wit and movement, it will take some time to get used to Benson's style, but it will be worth the shift. He whispers where others would prefer to shout, and it is the quietness of his presentation that makes all the difference.
October 26, 2015
This is an easy read. Benson was Nazarene, Methodist and now Episcopalian. He is encouraging the church to accept others and build bridges. Our theology and worship styles too often separate us but should not. Seems more philosophical than theological in the writing but well worth the read.
August 26, 2007
This is a book on loving others. Its fine, its just not super deep.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews