In Echo of the Soul bestselling author J. Philip Newell finds that the human body, like creation, is actually the dwelling place of God. Using the Old
Testament Wisdom literature, which informed Celtic spirituality's positive understanding of what it means to be human, Newell looks at each part of the body as a sacred text that reveals something of the Divine. Looking back to a time before
Christians began to distrust their physicality, Newell shows that our most ancient texts challenge modern assumptions about love, beauty, sexuality, learning, wisdom,
power, and responsibility, and bridges the body/spirit divide.
| Acknowledgements | viii | |
| Preface | ix | |
| Introduction | xi | |
| 1 | The Mystery of the Self | 1 |
| 2 | The Wisdom of the Self | 19 |
| 3 | The Strength of the Self | 39 |
| 4 | The Beauty of the Self | 60 |
| 5 | The Creativity of the Self | 79 |
| 6 | The Eternity of the Self | 96 |
| 7 | The Presence of the Self | 111 |
| Appendix | A Way of Awareness | 131 |
| Notes | 135 |
Overview
and, at worst, an enemy to be suppressed. Many of our contemporary negative preoccupations with physical appearance, image, and sexuality derive from this ancient and habitual denial of the notion that we ...