Body Mods and Christianity: A Personal Story

I am an ordained minister in mainline denomination (United Methodist Church) pastoring two congregations in the Midwest of the US. I grew up in the church and have been an ordained pastor for over three years. I also have numerous piercings including PA, apadravya, frenum, dydoe, nipple, and numerous ear piercings; and a growing collection of tattoos. I had began stapling myself (!) and drawing pictures on myself by 10 or 11 years of age. Almost all of my piercings I have done myself and I am a 'professional piercer' (whatever exactly that means) although I am not currently piercing. Only my first two ear piercings (gun) and one nipple piercing (apprentice) have been done by others.

This may seem a curious combination of professions and interests. Certainly some in my congregations find even what little they know about my 'other' life to be incompatible with their view of the faith and appropriate behaviour (attire?) of pastors. And while the simple analysis of specific Biblical passages (see BME Editorial 003) is useful it tells only a small part of the potential story of the relationship between body art and christian faith.

A fundamental theology of the christian scriptures is a theology of 'incarnation'. From the Hebrew Testament through to Revelation the Bible proclaims that Godde acts in and through the human experience. This story finds its ultimate form in Jesus Christ... Godde views our human embodiedness so highly that Godde is prepared to encounter our humanity as 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh'.

This says to me that the Hellenistic dualism between body and spirit that has so plagued christianity from the time of St Paul onwards is not the reality that Godde sees. To Godde our body and our spirit (and our mind... and our emotions... and...) are profoundly one and together vital. That is what comes closest to the 'image of God'.

If the created order then is profoundly good in the redeemed reality of the New Aeon then the body is, in some sense, a sacrament of Godde. And, just as I try to choose the best bread and the best wine (well, grape juice in my tradition!) and use the best possible in plate and cup, cloths and ornaments, so my piercings and tattoos are my attempt to clothe and ornament well my body. That doesn't mean that everyone must, Godde accepts the sacraments and us however we come and certainly our bodies are true marvels of creation. But where body art improves self image, expresses love of body and creation, stories faith, or sacramentally proclaims the redemptive and radical power of the incarnate Godde then it is like the beautiful choir anthem integrated into the liturgy... technically unnecessary but profoundly expressive of Godde, Godde's gifts to us, and our response to Godde.

Don't get me wrong, just as I am not obligated to choose what I will (or will not, but that's another essay) wear solely in terms of clothing's ability to 'express Godde' in some way so body mods are not required to explicitly express Godde. I tend to wear the clothes I do because I like them, likewise my piercings and tattoos. They are not primarily some 'Grand Statement'. But it is to say way more than simply there is no Biblically binding prohibition on body art. The body adorned (as well as unadorned) is a sacrament to the glory of Godde the Creator.

(Note: Godde is a term being used by some to shift away from the culturally gender-bound term 'God'.)

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