Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made: A Surgeon Looks at the Human & Spiritual Body By Dr. Paul Brand* & Philip Yancey Grason Company/Zondervan, 1980 Brilliant. Insightful. Astonishing. Tender and humane. Eye-opening. Fascinating. These are just a few words describing Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. In this winsome, remarkable work the unique function and vast complexities of the human and spiritual body are explored and explained with vivid, absorbing descriptions from both nature and nature’s Creator. In Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Brand covers vast quantities of medical science with the descriptive prowess of a gifted physician. He adroitly resists clinical “data dumps” as well as “dumbing down” the material and insulting the lay reader’s intelligence. Interweaving personal anecdotes and experience with surgical skill and precision, Fearfully and Wonderfully presents a seamless garment of health, vigor and efficiency in both the physical and spiritual worlds. (At just over 200 pages, I read it cover-to-cover in two and a half days.) The book is divided into four main sections – Cells, Bones, Skin, Motion – with five or six supporting chapters to each section. Several themes recur throughout the book: the need to serve the Head loyally, the unobtrusive nature of the Body’s firm skeleton, the softness and compliance of the skin, and the healing activity of Christ’s Body. “Taken together,” writes Brand, “these provide a sense of presence to the world – God’s presence. In the section on Bones, for example, Dr. Brand likens hard skeletal bones to basic fundamental truths of the Christian faith and the laws governing human nature and relationships. One of the most fascinating portions of this book is Dr. Brand’s discussion of skin and touch, which includes visibility, perceiving, compliancy, transmitting, loving, and confronting. “Skin” properties in the Christian community include “beauty, sensitivity to needs, compliance, and the steady, fearless application of divine love through human touch.” (p. 157.) Coupling the physical with the spiritual Brand writes, “The skin of the Body of Christ, too, is an organ of communication: our vehicle for expressing love.” He notes how frequently Jesus touched people He healed “… With His power, He easily could have waved a magic wand. … but He wanted those people, one by one, to feel His love and warmth and His full identification with them.” Brand says, “ … I firmly believe such love (of Christ) is best expressed person to person, through touch. The further we remove ourselves from personal connections with people in need, the further we stray from the ministry Jesus modeled for us.” Brand explains that Christian love, agape love, like skin, senses a need and responds instinctively, personally. This concept is expanded in the final segment on Motion or Muscles, which includes Movement, Balance, Dysfunction, Hierarchy, and Guidance. Following an eloquent and understandable discourse on Movement in the Body and the “biology of motion,” Brand discusses the importance of exercise to physical and spiritual health. “If, through paralysis, we lose movement, atrophy will set in and muscles will shrink away until they are absorbed by the reset of the body. Similarly, Christ’s Body shows its health best by acting in love toward other human beings.” (p. 179). Additionally, motion “… requires the smooth and willing cooperation of many parts who gladly submit to the will of the Head. If they act apart from the Head’s orders, their action, though powerful and impressive, will not benefit the body.” (p. 179). Taking readers further into the staggering – and fascinating - complexities of Motion, Brand reviews neurons and communication, neurophysiology, dendrites, synapses, motor nerves, glia cells, reflex and regulation, delegation and decision. The combination of freedom and cooperation necessary to effect movement closely parallels differing roles of “individual cells” within Christ’s Body and the part each has to play in ministry. Perhaps the most powerful portion of this book is the final segment, Presence. In the face of suffering, Brand asserts, the person who helps the sufferer most is rarely brilliant, technical, or equipped with a truckload of trite answers: “It is someone quiet, understanding, who listens more than talks, who does not judge or even offer advice. A sense of presence. … A hand to hold, an understanding, bewildered hug. The best we can offer,” writes Brand, “is to be there, to see and to touch…. We are what Jesus left on earth. He did not leave a book or a doctrinal statement or a system of thought; He left a visible community to embody Him and represent Him to the world… Christ has no hands but ours.” Insightful. Astonishing. Eye-opening. This book has been around awhile, but I just got to it. I’m glad I did. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made is a wonderful read for anyone who wants to better understand the workings of a healthy spiritual Body and what membership in that Body means. *At the time of publication, Dr. Paul Brand was Clinical Professor of Surgery and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Louisiana State University Medical School and a world-renowned hand surgeon who pioneered research on leprosy in India. Among his long list of honors and distinctions is the prestigious Albert Lasker Award and the appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Dr Brand authored 100 scientific papers and seven books, including Clinical Mechanics of the Hand, which is the premier handbook for hand surgeons, physiotherapists and other hand specialists. Co-author with Philip Yancey of three inspiring books, Fearfully & Wonderfully Made, In His Image, and Pain - The Gift Nobody Wants, Paul Brand is also the subject of Dorothy Clarke Wilson's biography, Ten Fingers for God. He passed away in 2003 in Seattle, Washington.