Fingerprint of God: The Church as a Living Body

Bryce, an ER physician, adopts the metaphor of a living body to describe the Christian Church in this impassioned debut book of reflections on the state of modern Christianity. For Bryce, the Church can be made whole through the interdependent function of various parts: “We are meant always to be in community, supporting, encouraging, and helping one another to function. We should appreciate that spiritual gifts are never to be used to advance ourselves as individuals or groups.” Though the metaphor is a cliché, Bryce’s medical training allows him to delve deeply into the material. He recounts his struggle with an immune disorder that left him temporarily paralyzed and fearful that he might never regain movement in his limbs. This experience helped him grow in empathy and to understand the dangers of the body attacking itself. He then leaps to the larger analogy, railing against cultural and political polarization, lack of understanding between opposing groups, and the isolation of church communities all as self-inflicted damage. The piquant questions for discussion at the end of each chapter will make this perfect for a book club or church group. Though the tone can tend toward the dogmatic, Bryce affectingly bares his heart and soul in this stirring call for greater introspection within Christianity. (Oct.)