Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality

A 5 Star Book Review

Nancy Pearcey (Director, Center for Christian Worldview, Scholar-in-Residence, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University) in her book, Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, continues to set herself apart as a high-level scholar able to convey complex issues with simple clarity understandable to the average reader. This book, along with her other fine works, deals with some deeply controversial issues facing Christians in their daily lives.

The strength of her work is that Pearcey is able to move the reader beyond the overly simplistic moral “do’s and don’ts” and ground her arguments in a deeper worldview that equips readers to apply her ideas to a broad spectrum of social issues not covered in the book itself. Pearcey writes:

We live in a moral wasteland where human beings are desperately seeking answers to hard questions about life and sexuality. But there is hope. In the wasteland we can cultivate a garden. We can discover a reality-based morality that expresses a positive, life-affirming view of the human person— one that is more inspiring, more appealing, and more liberating than the secular worldview (16).

Pearcey’s use of Schaeffer’s Upper and Lower story paradigm resonates with my own study over the years. She smartly discerns the problem for all those who have adopted the dualistic ethic common in our world—even amongst Christians:

The problem is that many people treat morality as a list of rules. But in reality, every moral system rests on a worldview. In every decision we make, we are not just deciding what we want to do. We are expressing our view of the purpose of human life (11).

I highly recommend Pearcey’s book and give it a solid 5 stars. I strongly encourage every Christian who wants to grasp the significance of our discussions about transgenderism, gender identity, and human dignity to read it. The book will definitely join my list of recommend reading for my students studying ethics and the Christian worldview because Pearcey addresses some important issues that some older books on ethics do not. Pearcey’s overall philosophical approach in Love Thy Body may just force me to make it required reading for future courses.