Immaculate Misconceptions: The Problem with Perfection

How have inherited and contemporary notions of perfection distorted our theology and the way in which we have expressed and lived out our faith? Immaculate Misconceptions explores the foundations of our understanding of perfection, focusing in particular on Platonic and Aristotelian thought, which exemplifies human perfection as a male olympiad. It looks at how this conception of perfection subsequently impacts scripture, use of language, projections onto others, an individual's sense of self and how over the centuries this has shaped how the church has gained, retained, articulated and exercised power. Reflecting on a very different vision of perfection - that as expressed in the risen body of Jesus Christ, the book asks what that vision, taken seriously, would mean for church and those sections of society which have been marginalised throughout history.