James Nelson died on an ordinary Thursday three years ago. He was 85. I wish I could say his work had a deep and far-reaching impact in theology. His ideas reverberated, and the tremors can still be felt, carried forward by feminist theologians like Lisa Isherwoord and Elizabeth Steward. But the wider impact was made by the “theology of the body” of Cardinal Wojtyla, bringing the typescript in Polish (1979 – 1984) for his book, Man and Women He created them to Rome when he became Pope John Paul II. A theology about the body. Definitely not a theology from the body.

James was an activist who took part in the civil rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s and championed LGBTIQ rights, beginning in the 1970’s. For me, he was a liberator, freeing me from hate and guilt and shame and helping me to accept myself as my body. He was a wounded healer. I can imagine a tombstone with an inscription – A giant lies here.

Brian Wren composed the hymn, Good is the Flesh (1989) in dedication to James Nelson. I just wish someone would compose a descent melody:

Good is the flesh that the Word has become,

good is the birthing, the milk in the breast,

good is the feeding, caressing and rest,

good is the body for knowing the world,

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

 

Good is the body for knowing the world,

sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,

feeling, perceiving, within and around,

good is the body, from cradle to grave

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

 

Good is the body, from cradle to grave,

growing and aging, arousing, impaired,

happy in clothing, or lovingly bared,

good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.

 

Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,

longing in all, as in Jesus to dwell,

glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,

good is the body, for good and for God,

Good is the flesh that the Word has become.