On this episode of the Maxwell Institute podcast, I talk with Rachael Johnson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Maxwell Institute, and a brilliant young scholar of early modern intellectual history. Dr. Johnson studies Christian theologies of embodiment -- the spiritual and religious significance of Christ’s body, and of our own bodies made in his image.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught powerfully that “We simply must understand the revealed, restored Latter-day Saint doctrine of the soul, and the high and inextricable part the body plays in that doctrine.” Our bodies are the ever-present condition of our experience, so it’s easy to tune them out and ignore--or resent--their role in our spiritual life. But Dr. Johnson gave me a whole new understanding of how our bodies can connect and empower us in light of the teachings of the Restoration and the gospel of Christ.

References

Caroline Walker Bynum. "Why all the fuss about the body? A medievalist's perspective." Critical inquiry 22.1 (1995): 1-33.

Jeffrey R. Holland. “Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.” https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/souls-symbols-sacraments/

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