The body in christianity on the basis of the crisis of the corporeal in modern culture

Abstract

This article is devoted to the meanings and practises of the body in Christian culture and the issue of preserving and continuing this tradition in modern culture. Since it is about the semantic contexts of the body, the article uses the phenomenological method in combination with hermeneutic analysis. The authors consistently deploy several logical lines. The fist line is related to the description of such a direction as hesychasm, its practises and attitude toward the body. At the same time, the ethical potential of hesychasm and the pathos of physicality as an instrument of morality are emphasised. The second line revolves around the practical attitude to the body in modern culture: the preservation of the Christian tradition, the natural characteristics of the body, and understanding the meaning of the body. The third line is connected with the loss of the “sanctity” of the body and the unawareness of this loss on the part of the common citizen and, as a result, the erosion of the ethical and natural meaning of the body. According to the authors, history will show how terrible these changes in meaning can be.