19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies (I Co 6:19-20).
In a discussion surrounding the financial challenges facing seminaries, one participant asks whether I “can you explain your premise of how church buildings and institutions are bodies?” Sure.
Of course it is far from self evident that under the Stoic metaphysics that governed popular discourse in the first century, built structures and institutions were deemed to enjoy there very existence due to their relative proximity to or distance from the divine (Ro. 13:1-2). Nor is it self evident that even within apocalyptic discourse the divine held the authority to declare the nullify of things that exist or the existence of things formerly deemed null (1 Co. 1-2); herein annulling the dominant discourse, but not the substance metaphysics around which this discourse was organized.
With the emergence of capitalism in the fourteenth century, however, it became increasingly difficult to imagine sacred bodies or embodied spirits. This is because value in the new practical regime was isolated from its material form of appearance. The familiar notion of “disenchantment” (M Weber) seeks to grasp this development sociologically. But clearly it also achieves theological expression in the transformation and overturning of a wide range of previously settled theological understandings and experiences. Suffice it to say that prior to this point one could speak quite intelligibly of the sacred character of bodies — icons, relics, ground, textiles, buildings, etc. — whereas after this point it became increasingly difficult to do so without invoking the cloak of “mystery” and “inscrutability.” Disembodiment of divinity in the modern era owes itself to the rise of capitalism.
It is in this context that it makes sense not only to speak of buildings and institutions as bodies, but also to speak of sacred groves, mountains, rivers, and gardens. The degradation of bodies is a feature of capitalism, which can only grasp the utility of bodies, but not their divine character. No surprise here that we are more than ready to sacrifice the earth itself to the abstract value form of the commodity.
Yes, we must take care not to make an idol whether of bodies or of spirits. But I think it is a mistake to view either as strictly means to ends. They are also ends, though not the ultimate end. Because if viewed as mere means, this could imply that they can be sacrificed to achieve a higher end, which pits bodies against spirits, instead of challenging us to wonder why the two are found together — e.g., this cup and this loaf, etc.
Churches are places for people and are the people who make these places; the place needs to reflect the people who are also bodies and the Body, not in opposition or by contast, but also alongside. And not simply the Body for the past four hours or years or decades or centuries. Our places are occupied by words and the Word, by the dead, by ghosts and by their words and prayers. Which is why places are sacred (W Benjamin).
I hope that this is helpful.