The BODIES Exhibit, and "Super Sunday"

In yesterday's post-Liturgy discussion I responded to someone's question concerning the BODIES exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center. From the Orthodox perspective, this exhibit is definitely ill-conceived and ethically dubious - at best. The display of human cadavers in such an environment, though purportedly for "educational" purposes, is thoroughly inconsistent from a biblical understanding of the integrity of the human body. To make matters worse, the deceased, whose bodies are on "display," did not consent to such a use as far as can be ascertained. Sadly ironic In an era when "exploitation" is vehemently rejected from all quarters!

I went on to read a few passages from an editorial in Friday's enquirer, written by the Rev. Michael A. Seger. For those who missed this editorial, here are a few of the more telling portions from the Rev. Seger:

First, one is drawn to ask about the values at stake in displaying human beings in such a manner ... Our society goes so far as to regulate the treatment of corpses. This concern speaks to protecting and promoting profound human values. The human person is an embodied spirit so that our body is more than just a temporary container.

One faces yet another, related question: How does this exhibit touch upon the respect due to the human person as an embodied spirit?

As an integral unity of spirit and body, my body as a personal reality expresses and communicates my deepest spiritual values. We love with our bodies, we mourn with tears, we nourish with our bodies, we comfort with compassionate embraces. Our bodies bear the marks and movements of our life story. The plasticized bodies of this exhibit rip a person from the context of her or his life story. They stand before us sadly anonymous: not mourned and not reverenced.

...The plasticized bodies splayed for anatomical voyeurism belong to a person who deserves better. We are a society that prides itself on protecting and promoting human dignity, so we ask if this exhibit respects that noble goal.

Well said, I believe, and also quite consistent with our own Orthodox Christian perspective. What prompted me to relate yesterday's discussion was what I saw on the news last night as a kind of follow up to our discussion. I found a seemingly innocuous and "upbeat" report filled with disturbing and even chilling images: the smiling faces of adults and children coming out of the exhibit with comments of "cool," "neat," "amazing," etc. You would think that they just emerged from the Newport Aquarium after seeing a rare species of some tropical fish! We continue to cheapen life - and death for that matter. And that further means that everyone's life - yours and mine - is cheap regardless of how we bluster on about "human rights" and the like.

If your instinctive and intuitive reaction is to say "there is something not right in this" then I believe that you got it right.
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Yesterday was "Super Sunday" and tomorrow will be "Super Tuesday." Sounds like almost too much to handle in one week! The former brought to us the Game of the Year (and from what I understand, a good game because it was such an "upset"); and the latter a series of primaries that will further reduce the field of candidates for the presidential election later in the year. As is my own tradition, I always announce the "real" Super Sunday of each year on the day of the national and secular Super Sunday. And that would of course be the date of Pascha, the "Sunday of Sundays," because it is the Feast of Feasts. This year Pascha Sunday will be April 27. That means that Great Lent will begin on Monday, March 10. Still a ways off, but good to know well ahead of time, so that we will not make any foolish calender choices/commitments that could have been avoided with a bit more care. Whatever your level of "commitment" to Super Sunday or Super Tuesday, may it be nothing in comparison with your commitment, anticipation and preparation for the paschal celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ.

Fr. Steven