Stewarding Our Bodies: A Vision for Christian Student Affairs
Glanzer and Smith’s new book Stewarding Our Bodies: A Vision for Christian Student Affairs opens with a bold claim: “Christian student affairs professionals currently neglect students’ bodies” (11). Reflecting upon disturbing data that suggest as much, Glanzer and Smith argue that Student Affairs Leaders (SALs) should be instrumental in facilitating college students’ development in this often-neglected area of student development. They also provide qualitative examples that suggest that though the desire exists for SALs to facilitate students’ stewardship of their bodies, few resources or educational opportunities exist to help them navigate these sensitive and complex issues. This book aims to fill that void, at least partially.
Glanzer and Smith assembled a veteran team for their work, which includes theologians, pastors, student affairs professionals, counselors, and professors. Their text is composed of two parts—“Foundational Christian Vision” and “From Fall to Redemption”—with the former focused on the goodness of the created body and the latter focused on the sinful reality in which we all find ourselves and how SALs might join students in their walk through their physically and spiritually formative years. Part One includes chapters dedicated to the biblical narrative of the body then transitions to the foci of food, sleep, Sabbath, movement, and sex. The authors remind us in the beginning that we are stewards of every living creature, which includes our own corporeal selves. However, the fall brought about plagued feelings of shame and sinful internal and external strife as our bodies and those of others fail to meet unrealistic expectations. And yet holistic redemption—body and soul—is secured through the bodily sacrifice of Jesus which will transform our lowly bodies into glorious ones.
In describing food, sleep, Sabbath, movement, and sex, various authors demonstrate that God’s creation of embodied beings manifests greatness and beauty in many forms. The act of eating provides opportunity to appreciate that we are dependent on others, including the death of living things, and thus are interdependent creatures. The need for rest reveals our dependence on the Creator, and Sabbath allows us to gaze, not just glance, at the beauty that the Creator has designed. Movement—or more specifically, exercise—when viewed properly is a joyful, not dreaded, duty. Finally, on the topic of sexuality, the prevailing American cultural sentiment, which decries any deviation from one’s supposed true self (i.e., how one feels) as inauthentic, is shown to be bankrupt practically and theologically, as authentic sexuality is part of our sanctification.
Part Two is more granular insofar as the contributors provide theological insights and practical wisdom for SALs on salient topics including clothing, social media, mental health, pornography, and sexual and gender identities. Fashion is embraced as a way to include and honor others and ourselves while allowing individuals a way to express themselves. Yet, probing questions are offered like “Are we able to exude the warm welcome of Jesus in what we’re wearing?” and “. . . is our clothing a logo-centric billboard meant to draw attention to ourselves?” (118). Social media usage is cautioned through stories like those of Sean Parker, Facebook’s first president, who is quoted saying “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” (132). Readers are not forbidden from social media but rather encouraged in practices that ground our being “in the visceral and bodily rather than cerebral . . .” such as monotasking (as opposed to multitasking), drawing close to those around us, using an old-fashioned alarm clock, and enjoying nature (134).
The text flows well as it moves from social media use to address the enormous topic of mental health in college students. The authors target some of the most pervasive issues on campus—anxiety and depression. Common sources of both are identified such as excessive use of media, which exposes and underscores unhealthy threats (e.g., self-comparison and diminished social skills), a weakened ability to cope with difficulties, trauma, biology, and spiritual warfare. The authors of these chapters—Stephen Beers, Lea Hart, and Connie Horton—two of three being trained psychologists, are careful in not suggesting SALs move beyond the scope of their training. However, they provide helpful suggestions on how SALs might encourage struggling students by recognizing symptoms, listening well, creating opportunities for students to connect with one another, emphasizing (without patronizing students with) scriptural themes of God as Immanuel and as shepherd, and providing an outline of a resilience-building skills program. Drawing on scriptural and empirical data, the triad of chapters on mental health close with spiritual disciplines that support mental health including gratitude, gathering (eating together, being a part of a group, etc.), scripture engagement, and meditation.
In the final chapters on human sexuality—a chapter on pornography by John Foubert and a chapter on sexual and gender identities by Mark Yarhouse, Stephen Stratton, and Janet Dean—readers are shown that “sex with a person’s mediated body” (191) is not sex at all, but a counterfeit which robs the authentic connection of its beauty and joy (193). The chapters encourage SALs to engage in calm, honest dialogue that fosters deep relationships, which allows for accountability and healing. The chapter on identity is the longest and most citation laden as it ushers readers through the mechanics and timeline of identity development of sexual and gender identities. Self-acceptance, though not emotional capitulation, is promoted “. . . as the primary ingredient of self-development [and] . . . spiritual direction” (204). The authors suggest that self-acceptance, properly understood, allows for guilt, as opposed to shame, and can combat single-narrative description of the self. Self-cohesion and grace for self—the interconnectedness of personal qualities and a generous posture towards oneself—are pillars that support self-acceptance which, cultivated in healthy Christian community dedicated to sanctification, facilitates the development of “. . . holy and healthy sexual and gendered bodies” (216).
Glanzer and Smith provide a conclusion that admonishes readers to frame conversations on the body with the stewardship language of Genesis (e.g, imago dei). They believe that taking a Christ-animated approach—which makes theology the bedrock to which these conversations are anchored—will yield the most holistic development of college students. Finally, Glanzer and Smith remind readers that our fallenness requires us to learn how to steward our bodies and that our sinful inclination is to misunderstand and misuse our wonderfully made bodies. They exhort SALs to model the described virtues and behaviors and help create communities through which these virtues and behaviors may be inculcated.
This book is a solid resource for SALs who are seeking to more thoughtfully, intentionally, and theologically traverse the college years with young adults. I know of no other volume that provides readers with such a broad treatise of du jour topics facing young people. The topics are salient to broader (American) culture and Glanzer and Smith assembled a team with bona fides to address such issues. The authors took care to not oversimplify complex issues while also providing incisive means by which SALs might guide their students. Challenging questions from the chapter on fashion are noted above, but other examples abound across the text. For example, the chapter on movement by Andrew Borror is subtitled “Attuning and Attending” and it encourages readers to see the beauty their bodies possess while challenging them to orient healthy exercise patterns to Sabbath rest and “. . . [receive] their health as a gift from God with thanksgiving” (81). The chapter on anxiety, by Stephen Beers and Lea Hart, notes that students have a tendency towards pathologizing natural developmental barriers and imbibing moralistic therapeutic deism. To combat these anxiety provoking predilections, the authors suggest that SALs lead students towards a “Christian metanarrative” for framing problems and assist students in developing coping skills (e.g., being in community and understanding one’s own limitations). Altogether, the authors have compiled a work that will assist readers in their own understanding and practice, which will flow downstream to nourish those under their care.
The book is not intended to be comprehensive, as noted in both the introductory and concluding chapters, and various topics are left unexplored (e.g., tobacco and drug use). Additionally, the text seems implicitly focused on American higher education, which is not to suggest it is unhelpful to those outside of the United States. However, some cross-cultural comparisons might provide tools to SALs outside of the United States as well as why perhaps some of these issues are more prevalent here. Finally, the text seems to target SALs who serve traditional, residential undergraduate students. How would someone mentor students in a virtual or hybrid environment? Do these principles scale to non-traditional students who are middle-aged and upskilling post-pandemic? Are graduate students in less need (or perhaps more?) of these sorts of discussions and modelling? These remain open and important questions given the shifting collegiate demographic and demographic of the United States more broadly.
The intended audience for this work is current and aspiring SALs working in Christian and secular higher education environments. I highly recommend this work to those professionals as I suspect many are underprepared and yet ready to engage, as Glanzer and Smith have suggested. Given the well-documented and grave issues students are facing, this volume provides practitioners with a reference for both theological and practical questions. Beyond professional SALs, though, I would recommend this text to any college professor, coach, or administrator who wishes to have a theological primer and practical guide to the issues plaguing college students today. Personally, I have sat across from a student who was asking many of the hard questions this book tackles, but I had few words of wisdom. Having this text would have been invaluable to me to help students better steward their bodies and glorify the One who made them.
One Comment