Published Book Reviews
I.
Nudity &
Christianity
2006,
edited by Jim C. Cunningham
Publ.
AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Indiana
Soft
Cover, 596 pages
Nudity &
Christianity is
Jim. C. Cunningham's magnum opus. I
know the man personally, have had one-on-one talks with him, and can honestly
say he is one of the great philosophical thinkers alive today. The fact that
that philosophical thinking comes from a Christian-based worldview makes him
all the more of a treasure. At a time when philosophers pride themselves on
being iconoclasts--gleefully taking pot shots at Christianity--Jim starts with
the Bible as his base and argues from there. His mission is, as I see it, to
strip away the misconceptions and incorrect thinking regarding nudity extant
today in Christian circles and to cause us to look at the body the way God
intended. That he does this as an avowed Catholic makes it even more
remarkable. Jim is not some freethinking, pseudo-Christian, who takes snippets from
Christianity, mixes it with a bit of Eastern mysticism, and throws in some New
Age thought for good measure. He makes no bones about his strong, Catholic
faith and clearly writes how and why he came to view his Christian-based ideas
regarding nudity as eminently logical. This dovetails with the Theology of the
Body, introduced by Pope John Paul II.
Along
the way, Jim founded Naturist LIFE International, the Mt. Carmel Academy, and
the Cunningham Family Retreat. It's a shame Catholics in general don't give
their faith the same honest and forthright examination--we'd all be better off
for it. Just as the title implies, Nudity and Christianity is not a Catholic handbook on nudity but a handbook all Christians can use, regardless of persuasion. Not all the
pieces are by Catholic authors. Nudity and Christianity is a compendium of
Christian thinking on the subject of nudity, gleaned from Jim's writings, and
the writings of others. The table of contents alone is the size of a small
pamphlet. In the back of the book, Jim has provided a Scriptural Index and a
Topical Index--great tools in using a book of this size as a handy reference.
The text is fully annotated throughout. For a book that appears to be on one
subject, the sheer scope of its many treatises is amazing. Of the 105 separate
articles, Jim wrote 41 of them himself (and one with another writer)--and
they're not cursory musings either. Each article, whether long or short, is a
concise distillation of Christian thought bent to the task of showing that simple,
human nudity is not the odd, or sinful thing, most Christians think. Jim's
sources are eclectic, ranging from lay friends, to the Pope himself (John Paul
II).
In
a book of this size and scope, it's hard to pick any particular piece (or
pieces) as an example but two in particular do it for me: “Dialog of
Conscience: Nudism & Scandal” and “Dialog of Conscience: The Cannes
Principle” (pgs. 152-165). In the first of these pieces, Jim dialogs with a
woman named Tina. They discuss the issues of an innocent practice (i.e.
offering wine at a family gathering) leading to someone else's sinning. In
discussing this with Tina, Jim introduces the [moral] "principle of double
effect," and its four conditions. In the second piece, they discuss the
issue of a social practice that was once considered wrong, becoming common
practice through a change in social mores (i.e. swimsuit size). Again, the
"principle of double effect" with its four conditions is invoked.
Good stuff--whether you're talking about nudity, or moral living in general.
While the irreverent might think it just so much moral nit-picking, these
dialogs are illustrations of how any moral person can come to grips with his
faith, and mode of living, and not tie himself into moral knots.
Another
piece of must-reading is Paul M. Bowman's “Open Letter to Evangelicals” (pgs.
166-169). It's essentially a letter to a pastor who decried Paul's view of
nudity and it pulls no punches. Every Christian should have this piece copied
and inserted under the front cover of his Bible.
If
you call yourself a Christian and have an open mind, N&C is a must in your library. Buy it, read the
articles thoughtfully and carefully (you could incorporate it into your daily
quiet time reading--an article at a time each day), and keep it on your
reference shelf. It's as indispensable as the dictionary.
I
awaited this book with great anticipation and, now that it's out, I'm not
disappointed. It will remain one of my essential reference guides, right next
to Strong's Concordance and Unger's Bible Handbook.
Note
to all pastors (and laypersons), of all denominations: Get a copy of Nudity & Christianity and read it
cover to cover. By performing this simple act, you will educate yourself on the
theology of the human body, nudity, and how the body is integral to a complete
faith. You will also insulate yourself from the urge to grab a picket sign and
harass the naturists at the local clothing-optional beach.
Tom
Pine
For
Inter-Naturally magazine
II.
Nudity
& Christianity
edited by Jim C. Cunningham
“Sexual modesty cannot then in any
simple way be identified with the use of clothing, nor shamelessness with the
absence of clothing and total or partial nakedness. There are circumstances in
which nakedness is not immodest… nakedness as such is not to be equated with
physical shamelessness. Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value
of the person, when its aim is to arouse concupiscence, as a result of which
the person is put in the position of an object of enjoyment. The human body is
not in itself shameful... Dress is always a social question, a function of…
social customs. In this matter there is no exact similarity in the behavior of
particular people, even if they live in the same age and the same society. The
principle of what is truly immodest is simple and obvious... If someone takes
advantage of such an occasion to treat the person as an object of enjoyment
(even if his action is purely internal) it is only he who is guilty of shamelessness…
not the other.”
--Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul
II), Love and Responsibility, trans.
H. T. Willetts (New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1981), pp. 176-192.
We don't know if John Paul II went
skinny-dipping as a young priest on his hikes in the Polish countryside, but
the excerpt quoted above [found on p. 1 of Nudity
& Christianity], almost indistinguishable from arguments made by
naturist writers, makes one wonder. The Christian justification of naturism is
based on several premises: that nudity is an Edenic ideal of innocence (either
never lost, or restored by Christ's death on the cross); that while the Bible
condemns promiscuity and lust (acts of man) it does not condemn the nude body
(God's good creation); that a refusal to honor all physical creation is
essentially Manichean heresy; that dress norms are ephemeral and cultural; and
that nudity was common and unexceptional in the Biblical and early Christian
eras.
Jim C. Cunningham is a devout Roman
Catholic who attends Mass daily, and the founder of Naturist Life
International. Most of the 509 un-illustrated pages (not including introduction
and indices) in this book are Cunningham's own writings, those of his wife, and
apparently of fellow nudists. (Unfortunately, many contributors are identified
only by name). Quotations from known writers--John Paul II, John Bunyan, Mark
Twain, C. S. Lewis, a few early Christian church notables--make up a relatively
small portion of the whole volume.
Cunningham is not merely a
"recreational" nudist, and eloquently argues for naturism and body
acceptance as antidotes both to demeaning pornography and equally to
life-denying Puritanism, in accordance with John Paul II's Theology of the
Body.
A very useful feature is a 23 page
Scriptural Index that allows one to look up chapter and verse often used to
condemn nudity, and then to read the various essayists' contrary
interpretations.
Several years ago, Paul Bowman
published What the Holy Bible Really Says
About Nakedness. Bowman's conclusion--buttressed by scriptural
citations--was that neither Old nor New Testament condemned nudity, and he
offered many examples where nudity was presented in a neutral context, or even
showed God's overt blessing and approval. Bowman's shorter work (177 pages)
offers a more straightforward, linear approach. Cunningham's covers much of the
same ground, with additional scriptural arguments, in a more discursive and
often more impassioned style, and it's good to have the quotes from the various
saints, clerics, and one "sinner" (Twain) in one volume.
Michael
Kush
Editor,
Sundial
South
Florida Free Beaches: http://www.sffb.com
[Bowman's book can be purchased at the
above SFFB web site.]
III.
No one in North American naturism has
had more to say about nudity than Jim Cunningham. Slightly to the right of the
Pope both socially and theologically, Cunningham has for years been an
unabashed advocate for what he calls “chaste naturism.” As a writer, publisher,
speaker and naked entrepreneur, he has preached the gospel of Christ as
declared by St. Jerome so many centuries ago: Nudus nudum Iesum sequi, “Naked I follow the naked Jesus.”
Whether
you applaud Cunningham’s efforts to salvage what he sees as the authentic core
of true naturism, or have been driven to distraction by what many naked folk
believe to be either unfair allegations concerning other naturists or forays
into ethical issues tangential to naturism, his new anthology, Nudity and Christianity, is worth a
close look.
Cunningham
has been writing and speaking on this pair of subjects for years. His work has
appeared in N magazine; he’s led
discussions for an early TNS Special Interest Group call the All-Together
Christians: while in later years he’s focused his energies in his own group and
magazine, each by the same name of Naturist Life International. The short,
easy-to-read, and intellectually engaging articles in Nudity and Christianity are drawn largely from his own writing
originally presented in these sources. Other authors form NLI magazine and elsewhere also appear, alongside voices of the
past ranging for Pope John Paul II and Kahlil Gibran, to C.S. Lewis and Mark
Twain. Each has something to say about the inherent goodness of the body,
body-acceptance, social nudity, or what the Church (Triumphant or otherwise)
has said about such things.
Cunningham’s
new book is a sizable and engaging mix of anecdote, rhetoric, sustained
argument, and biblical exegesis. The topical and scriptural indices will help
those pursuing discussion on a particular subject or biblical passage. His
“Dialog of Conscious: Nudism & Scandal” remains, to my mind, one of the
best presentations of a useful but potentially complex philosophical principle.
In response to the concern over the offense some may take at any public nudity,
Cunningham masterfully unfolds in dialogue form the Principle of Double Effect,
applying it as clearly as any writer I’ve come across on the subject.
Other
articles address the use and acceptance of nudity by the early Church, and the
ethics of social nudity. More than one essay argues cogently for a
“nudification of culture” Nudist clubs and nude beaches are all very well,
Cunningham acknowledges, but we must take our fully revealed humanity outside
the confines of established sites and “stretch out tent pegs” a bit if we are
to see growth in true naturist freedoms. Cunningham never fails to remind us
that the struggle for such freedoms entails responsibility. Naturists
interested in such responsible expansion of naturist liberty-in Christ or
otherwise- will likely enjoy the many dialogues and voices Cunningham has
amassed in Nudity & Christianity.
Mark Storey
“N” Magazine Autumn 2007
IV.
NUDITY
& CHRISTIANITY
Edited by Jim C. Cunningham
2006, AuthorHouse, Bloomington IN
6 x 9 paperback, 545 pages
This massive but highly readable
collection of writings starts at the beginning -- the Garden of Eden and Adam
and Eve, who were created by God in His own image, naked and unashamed (Genesis
2.25) -- and then follows nudity down through history. With the help of early
Church Fathers, the author looks at nudity in much the same way that John Paul
II did in his Theology of the Body.
Author Jim C. Cunningham, a practicing
Catholic, has an academic background that includes study at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and the
Angelicum in Rome. Now blind, he was assisted by his wife, Linda, to whom the
book is dedicated. Together they reared a family in Vermont, where they also
operated Mt. Carmel Academy, a private school. A unique feature of this school
was that it was clothing optional, just as the Cunningham family lived in their
own home. The author has written several other books, including the beautiful Vermont Unveiled, and was the founder
and editor of Naturist LIFE International magazine in which some of
the articles in this book were first published.
Mr. Cunningham has also lectured on the
late pope's Theology of the Body. The thrust of the book is summed up by
Catholic, Protestant and even agnostic writers with oft-repeated references to
Genesis and other parts of the Bible. Among Biblical authors citing non-sexual
nudity are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul. Other writers included are
Catholic priests, monks and bishops, all pointing to the fact that Jesus Christ
was baptized naked and was crucified naked, and that He obviously arose naked
because He left His burial wrappings in the tomb. There are numerous writings
of early Church Fathers quoted showing that for at least the duration of the
first millennium, baptism was conferred upon new Christians -- men, women, and
children -- in the nude.
"Bodies Wonderful!" is the
title of the final chapter by the editor/author. He writes: "Wonderful
bodies? Whose bodies -- mine?' Yes, yours, and mine. I am not referring to some
"perfect 10," idealized form, but what we all see when we step out of
the shower and dare to look into the full-length mirror."
This book teaches the revealed truth
that our bodies are precious gifts of God, good and holy and beautiful, created
as they are in the image and likeness of our all-good, all-holy, all-beautiful
Creator.... "There is something beautiful in most of us which passionately
wants to believe the message of this book. This is because we are made for
higher things -- for ideals -- and we would like to think they could be true.
Man finds his highest fulfillment in hope.
Mr. Cunningham holds that clothing
actually separates mankind from God. "Go ahead," he concludes.
"Leap into the air, click your bare heels and let out your yodel or
yahoo!"
From: Fig Leaf Forum, Issue 125
Reviewed by Dean, California
FIG LEAF FORUM
PO BOX 1955 STN MAIN
WINNIPEG MB R3C 3R2 CANADA http://www.figleafforum.com