Bodily Transcendence in the Bible

The abundance of excruciating “love scenes” in cinema, crude, female-debasing song lyrics, and tasteless romance novels reveals a widespread obsession with sex. Society clumsily bumbles about in a variety of pop art mediums in an attempt to evoke what is arguably the most powerful bodily experience. But not only do hip hop and Hollywood reveal our generation’s obsession with sex, they indicate a decline in what Prothero called “religious literacy.” Without religion, or an understanding of it, society fails to understand bodily transcendence and completely misinterprets and conveys what really are beautiful human experiences as crude and primitive acts of lust.

As knowledge increases by leaps and bounds globally, religion and spirituality decline. What once served as one of the greatest common factors between nations now may crack and splinter nations internally. The splintering of religious sects has made connection and communication between peoples challenging. But people have always, and will forever eat, sleep, experience pain and procreate as long as the human race exists. Can’t these basic human experiences serve as common ground?

Not while society continually debases them.

In contrast with popular music today, the Bible glorifies procreation and pain in the female’s body.

“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John.16:21).

The Bible portrays the woman in child birth as one transcending her pain in the overwhelming beauty and good that comes from the new life she bears. The woman’s body essentially forgets its pain. Yes, a woman can recall that giving birth was painful, but her body cannot actually recall the sensation. Our bodies do not, in general, remember pain. Society’s “religious illiteracy” today causes widespread abuse and exploitation of what is a marvel of human existence.

The Bible continues to glorify the transcendence of the body with the crucifixtion of Jesus and the resurrection of Lazarus, to name just a few of many examples. Contemporary society's portrayal of the body reveals a failure to understand this concept. Jessica mentioned that she couldn't imagine being crucified, or giving up her body the way Jesus did in the Bible. Indeed, very few of us can. This ultimate sacrifice involves a level of detachment from our bodies that only those who have found passion and intense discipline can understand.


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The evident obsession with the body reveals a total ignorance in body transcendence and the current trend towards a lack of spiritual principles.


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Bernini’s “The Ecstasy of St Teresa” successfully communicated the thin line between mortal sensations and divine transcendence through a portrayal of a deeply religious experience. St Teresa’s eyes roll back into her head and she appears to be having a climatic encounter with God. The angel’s dart points somewhere other than her heart. Art patrons initially expressed shock at Bernini’s masterpiece, finding it lewd and vulgar. Upon first seeing “The Ecstasy”, one French art patron famously exclaimed, “Well, if that’s divine love, I know all about it.” But by bridging the chasm of worldly and unworldly experiences, Bernini evoked spirituality in a way that even laymen can relate to. It applied universally. And while hip hop does relate to the layman, it fails to communicate anything greater than primitive lust and often female debasement.