This page brings together a handful of resources connected to my Doctor of Ministry thesis, Seeing and Seeking Embodied Beauty. Every now and then, someone asks to read it, or asks how themes like beauty, embodiment, aging, and desire relate to the Christian life. It’s something I enjoyed thinking about, so I thought it might be helpful to gather everything in one place.
The Project
Seeing and Seeking Embodied Beauty was written as a Doctor of Ministry thesis in pastoral counseling, shaped by both theological study and pastoral concern.
This started back in seminary when I did a project on cosmetic surgery and realized I didn’t have good pastoral categories for questions people actually ask. Then life made it more personal as I thought about marriage, sexuality, and what I’d want to say to my daughters someday about beauty and their bodies. The project gave me an opportunity to explore those questions in depth.
The bottom line is that we tend to think about bodily beauty in too “small” or narrow way. Scripture trains us to see something much bigger: beauty tied to God’s glory, experienced with delight, and expressed in more ways than appearance alone.
Because it was written for an academic setting, the project is fairly long and detailed. Feel free to so feel free to pop into the sections that are most interesting to you.
- Part 1 (chapters 1-4) explores embodiment and beauty, situating embodied beauty within the story of creation, fall, redemption, and hope.
- Part 2 (chapters 5-7) applies those theological foundations in more practical and accessible ways. These chapters are meant to be stand alone considerations of a particular topic related to beauty.
Download the full document (PDF – 2MB)
(I’m sharing this freely and as-is. It hasn’t been edited for publication and reflects a particular season of study and ministry. If you quote from it or use it in teaching or writing, please include a brief citation.)
A Summary Conversation
I had the privilege of being interviewed about this topic on The Liberator Podcast, with Chelsea and Layton. It was a thoughtful and enjoyable conversation that touched on many of the central themes of the project.
Pastoral Teaching Contexts
Some of these themes have also been explored pastorally in the life of Grace Bible Church, often as part of larger teaching series. Here are some that are most directly related:
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