Visceral Theology

A visceral theology majors in the sense of touch rather than in the sense of hearing ... The sacred must be rediscovered in what moves and touches us, in what makes us tremble, in what is proximate rather than remoe, ordinary rather than extraordinary, natuive rather than imported

A visceral theology therefore demands reawakening of the body, the resurrection of the bodily

If the church fails to develop a visceral theology and fails to help modern man rediscover and reverence his flesh and his feelings, it will neglect a source of common grace as well as the seed from which his compassion grows.

- Sam Keen

It is highly probable that sexual activity, the frenetic preoccupation with sex that characterises western culture, is in so many cases not the expression of sexual interest at all, but rather a search for the satisfaction of the need for contact.

- Ashley Montague

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him...

- Col 2.9-10

This is my first reaction to the SCM Conference in Hope, it is probable that I will follow this with at least one other post. I didn't want to try and fit it all into one very confused post. I can assure you it will all be interconnected.

This concept is definitely an interesting one, the word 'visceral' is certainly an arresting one. Perhaps one of my favourites, I can say it again and again. It is not erotic, but it certainly evokes tangibility.

I am not a very tactile person as a rule, I do not always tend to hug my friends, for instance. But I like to think I am comfortable with touch. When I went to Footsteps Nicola went through a phase of trying to get us comfortable with touching each other, without it being silly, or weird, or sexy or whatever. It makes you realise just how reified touch has become.

Christians have touched each other for years, sharing the Peace. It is interesting that this is one of the elements of church life which many people really dislike. It is often described as being a hygiene issue. but hygiene has nothing to do with it. (x's hands are likely no less hygienic than the hands of whoever prepared your cup of tea, or put out your biscuits, or gave you your hymnbook etc) Jesus used touch as a central part of his ministry, dialogues of ritual purity made some people untouchable, perhaps like the Dalit community, but Jesus flouted the regulations and he touched the ritually unclean on a regular basis. He touched lepers, bleeding women, foreigners, to him no one was unclean. The importance of this cannot be understated, it is often ignored as just a detail, but it cannot be dismissed as such if we believe in a Christ who was Bodily Incarnated. I think touch and the body is central, and deeply relevant. For all I do not like the fuss about Lady Diana, one of the best things she did was to touch AIDS sufferers. The dialogues of ritual purity are alive and well, children practice them in the playground, "the lergy" as a way of defining community and excluding the outsider. Every school I suspect had one child who was "manky", excluded and, perhaps crucially, untouched.

Two workshops at the movement challenged me to think again about touch, space and physicality, I attended an excellent session on Mime, and a very interesting session on Celtic Spirituality, the latter I may return to, perhaps tangentially in a separate post. The former was mainly creative, Martin taught us some mime basics, how to create simple illusions, how to portray certain characters. We then split into two groups to create a simple sketch (ours wasn't as simple as perhaps it should have been) I was surprised to discover that most of the Celtic Spirituality session was spent exploring our attitudes to space, and our bodies. There was a thesis that traditional Latin descended Christianity had a poor attitude to the body, with which I sort of agree, but do not believe it is as simple as that, nor that there is any evidence that the "Celtic Church", if such a thing ever existed, was any different.

Touch, and physicality fitted quite well into the theme of interconnectedness. The language we use is dominated by concepts of touch, we keep "in touch", we are "connected", or make a "connection", we might "touch base" with someone "touch on", an issue. Unsurprisingly nothing makes one feel more connected than physically touching to something. Putting a hand on someone's shoulder, a resting arm over a treasured possession, or the hearth of the family household. Pope John Paul II earned a certain amount of popularity for the simple, humble action, of kissing the tarmac in a new country. Not demonstrating his allegiance or humility through words, but through a simple physical action. I can't remember where I read a quote suggesting he would have done better to move off the Tarmac and kiss the earth that sustains the people of that country. As I understand visceral theology it is the concept that by becoming comfortable with my own body, with my own space, and the physical connections with the world, I will become more in tune with the reality of the incarnation, as well as battling the malaise of loneliness, negative body image and fulfilling the basic human desire to be touched.