My Body and Other Crumbling Empires, Lyndsey Medford
My Body and Other Crumbling Empires, Lyndsey Medford
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My Body and Other Crumbling Empires
Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick

Author: Lyndsey Medford

Narrator: Emily Ellet

Unabridged: 6 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/07/2023


Synopsis

As a writer, activist, and theology student, Lyndsey Medford was used to critiquing unsustainable medical, environmental, economic, and social systems from a theoretical perspective. But when her autoimmune disorder roared out of remission, she discovered that her own body's systems lived at the very real vortex of all those systems' dysfunction.

Learning to cooperate with her body would require her to change every aspect of her life—and in the process, to seek a radical reimagining of the world, from a place where sickness is an individual affliction to an interdependent ecosystem where sustainability is a community way of life. In this beautiful and inspiring book, Medford draws on her experiences with a rare autoimmune disease to illuminate the broader lessons we need to learn, in order to heal what ails us individually and communally. Whether our burnout stems from illness, systemic racism, poverty, or simply sin's separation, we're all in need of hope, and we are called to heal together.

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires points out the beauty and ubiquity of our limitations; the importance of accessibility, broadly construed; the interconnected nature of individual and public health; and the badly needed wisdom we have gained from living with our particular bodies.

About Lyndsey Medford

Lyndsey Medford is a writer, activist, and sometimes disabled person with a rare, chronic autoimmune disease. Her writing has been featured in The Deconstructionist's Playbook, Sojourners, 100 Days in Appalachia, The Wakening, and Our Bible App. She holds a master of theological studies degree from Boston University School of Theology. She and her husband live in Charleston, South Carolina.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shannon

This was a great memoir about living with Behcet's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes various physical symptoms and involves a life of chronic pain. The activist author is also a Christian theologian and the book did have a heavy amount of religious references (a tad too much for my comfort......more

Goodreads review by Josh

As a hospital chaplain, I loved walking with Lyndsey through her story of wrestling with chronic illness. It reminded me of the ways in which (despite my own bias in considering the healthcare providers I work with incredible) our healthcare system is fundamentally broken and often actively inhibits......more

Goodreads review by Allie

“…as much is I think of myself as chronically ill,I also feel myself to be chronically healing. Not healing as in returning to an uncompromised state of perfection, but healing as an activity of resisting destruction and decay, of choosing kindness, nourishment, and self-support.” “If we collectivel......more

Goodreads review by Jackie

Behcet’s disease. The main symptoms include mouth sores, skin and joint pain and inflammation of the eyes. It’s not as common in the US but those that have it – including the author -- will tell you that it’s painful. She was 26 years old when she learned this was happening to her. Lyndsey Medford te......more

This book will continue to be a resource and reference for me as a friend and pastor. The writing is beautiful and accessible and a song of hope for those who are ill and those of us who care for others.......more