Breaking, Not Broken - by Timothy Goode (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

How have inherited and contemporary notions of perfection distorted our theology and the way in which we have expressed and lived out our faith?

Breaking, not Broken exposes how Western Christianity, post-Constantine, assimilated a Greco-Roman ideal of the flawless body as its anthropology and built its theology, architecture, and memory around it. Against this ableist inheritance, Timothy Goode offers a radical alternative: a return to a risen body anthropology grounded in the wounded yet glorified body of Christ. Drawing deeply on disability and liberation theology, critical heritage studies, and his own lived experience of disability, Timothy Goode reframes how the Church understands the body, healing, time and space. Here, disabled lives are not marginal but central: living archives of God's story, prophetic voices that disrupt and renew, and bearers of hope for a more just ecclesiology. Written with theological depth and human honesty, this book bridges scholarship and practice, inviting the Church to rediscover its true heritage not in monuments of stone or ideals of perfection, but in the scars of resurrection and the grace of embodied diversity.

Review Quotes

Breaking, not Broken issues a strong and at times uncomfortable challenge, shining a light on an important area of our shared life that we should not ignore. Tim Goode is opening up a long overdue conversation and inviting us into deeper understanding. This is a book born of pain but full of hope for the possibility of transformation, not just for disabled people but for the whole church.

--Guli Francis-Dehqani

I have received so much from Tim Goode's profound theological insights into the 'risen, wounded body of Christ' and its implications for the Church. I am delighted that this book places this prophetic challenge before the whole church and reminds us that ableism 'is a distortion of the image of God'.--Richard Atkinson

There are few gifts as precious as being invited to understand from another's experience, and this book is just such a gift. As you read Tim Goode's honest and thoughtful words, you will smile and weep and wonder and repent and grow, and maybe the church of Christ will engage just a bit better with all our sisters and brothers. This is a gift to be treasured which helps each of us treasure the other.--Mark Tanner

This is a fascinating book and a must read for anyone interested in reflecting in more depth about the place that bodies have in Christian faith. Tim Goode reflects powerfully on the way in which Greco-Roman ideals of perfection still affect our understanding of embodiment and argues that the Body of Christ, shaped as it is by the scarred, glorious resurrection body of the risen Jesus, should think again about our relationship to our bodies. Challenging, thought-provoking and rich in every way, this book comes highly recommended!--Paula Gooder

This is a passionate and beautifully written appeal for us to centre the wounded and risen Christ and to use this reorientation to transform our buildings, our heritage, our reading of the Bible, and our liturgy. Tim Goode lays bare the extent of ableism in the churches and argues for the benefits for all of us in focusing on being a home where all can belong. Making access possible for everyone is not a logistical chore, not an extra, but an expression of our theology.--Helen King

Tim Goode argues persuasively that our theology has been so infected by Greco-Roman values of aesthetic perfection that we have lost the true image of God. As a disabled Christian, I applauded every word of this important book, but make no mistake - this is an urgent, prophetic message the whole church needs to hear. I dare to hope that Breaking, Not Broken will serve as a catalyst for the church's 're-membering', becoming a body of Christ that radiates resurrection, scars and glory, truly welcoming all.--Tanya Marlow

Tim Goode has written a book which every church leader should read. He challenges us to consider disabled bodies as sacred texts to be read with reverence, and in his own interpretive reading shines a light on false theologies, false understandings of church and false Christologies. This book is beautifully written, full of poetic language with scriptural echoes, like the best sort of liturgy. It is both deeply personal and wide ranging in scope. In particular, writing from a deeply considered theological perspective, Tim invites us to expand our thinking and practice in worship, in liturgy, in the design of our churches, in our attitudes to music. No-one who reads this book will emerge unscathed or unchanged, and neither should they.--Mandy Ford

Timothy Goode weaves biography and theology into a profound challenge for the Church - especially for those shaping its liturgy, architecture, theology, and art. This book names ableism for what it is: sin. It insists, with theological clarity, that all are fearfully and wonderfully made. Compelling, moving, and beautiful, it is ultimately irresistible in its moral and theological force.--Ian Markham