Love's Mysteries: The Body, Grief, Precariousness and God

Love's Mysteries reflects powerfully on our fundamental limitations as creatures of flesh and bone, and what our experiences of grief, loss and fragility tell us about God and his astonishing choice to inhabit human flesh. Rachel Mann explores what happens when our bodies are under pressure, living under conditions of trauma, violence, pain or distress, suggesting that the precariousness of life might be where we most authentically encounter God. Her argument combines theological reflection with stories of communal and personal loss, from large-scale events such as terrorist attacks and the coronavirus pandemic to personal accounts of accompanying a dying person. Throughout, she explores how the universal experience of fragility and grief can help us understand our own lives and our relationships with God and with others.