Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s a long time since I read the books by the late Dr Paul Brand (in conjunction with Philip Yancey). I have two of them in one volume, ‘In the Likeness of God’, which I finished for the first time back in 2007. I recalled finding this inspiring, encouraging and helpful but hadn’t remembered much of the content. I have just finished the first of the books, ‘Fearfully and Wonderfully Made’, and, again, thought it excellent.

Paul Brand was a missionary doctor whose vocation was for people with leprosy. This was once a feared disease, leading to people becoming outcasts forever. Dr Brand was convinced that he should work with lepers, in particular doing what he could to help their deformed hands, since his speciality was on orthopedics.

During his work and research, he realised that leprosy did not attack tissues or bones, but that it is a disease of the nervous system. Patients lost the ability to feel, and thus did not notice the pain sensations that prevent us from (for instance) walking on sharp objects, or gripping too hard when trying to turn a handle. Pain, as Paul Brand wrote in another book, is a gift: something that alerts us to potential damage, and forces us to stop, or rest, or seek medical help.

However, ‘Fearfully and Wonderfully Made’ is not a biographical book, although it includes incidents from Dr Brand’s work.  Instead, it looks, mostly in layperson terms, at the way our bodies work. He starts with cells, explaining what they do and how the different kinds of cells function in our bodies. Then he turns cells into a metaphor for individual believers as part of the Body of Christ. 

Subsequent chapters focus on skin, bones, and movement; short sections explain what these do, and why, and each time there’s a segue into his ongoing metaphors. I was particularly struck by one of the sections on bones, as he contrasts our internal skeleton with the exoskeleton of (for instance) some shellfish. An exoskeleton protects from harm, but does not enable any growth, or much range of movement. Brand relates this to people who have built up a protective shield around themselves, often (in the church) based on legalism or adherence to rules without any flexibility. 

The overall analogy is extremely well done, helped by Philip Yancey’s very readable style which took Brand’s notes and turned them into this excellent, thought-provoking book. It didn't blow me away quite like it did the first time I read it, possibly because I had absorbed some of the material without realising it, but I still liked it very much. It's informative without being dull, inspiring without being preachy, and of relevance to anyone who is - or would like to be - part of the worldwide church. 

I’m quite sure that Paul the Apostle didn’t think of his ‘Body of Christ’ metaphor in such a detailed fashion; he wouldn’t have known about blood cells at all back in the first century. But equally, I’m certain he would be delighted that his namesake almost two millennia later was able to take the phrase and apply it in such ingenious and inspiring ways.

Definitely recommended if you’re interested in what it means to be part of the Body of Christ in the 21st century. 

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