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The Pope's Theology of the Body
by Christopher West
( Author's note: This marks the first of a series of articles
that will seek to bring John Paul II's "Theology of the body" to the readers
of CCL's website. The Holy Father presents a vision of marriage and sexuality
never before articulated, but few people have been exposed in any depth
to his revolutionary insights. Many simply find his scholarly approach
too difficult.)
This doesn't mean that his message is reserved for the elite. It does
require, however, a particular effort from those who present his teaching,
and from those who wish to understand it, if the Pope's words are to become
bread broken for all. That being said, as this series of articles seeks
to make some of John Paul's sublime catechesis more accessible, be prepared
to expend some mental energy. I assure you, it will to well worth the effort.
Once you've comprehended what he is saying, you will never see the world
the same way again.
Discussing moral issues of the day, a European cardinal recently raised
eyebrows by saying contraception is "way down the list" of importance.
Contrast this with Cardinal Wojtyla's statement on the tenth anniversary
of Humanae Vitae that the issue of contraception is a "struggle for the
value and meaning of humanity itself" (Lateranum 44, 1978). What did he
mean?
As a young priest, bishop, and later a cardinal, Karol Wojtyla devoted
himself to pondering the mystery of conjugal love. He was gifted with remarkable
insight. Little did he know that just a few months after making the above
statement, he would bring his gifts to bear on the world stage as Pope
John Paul II. Twenty-one years later, over two-thirds of what the Church
has ever officially said about marriage and sexuality has come from his
pontificate.
John Paul devoted his Wednesday audiences between September 1979 and
November 1984 to presenting an in-depth biblical explanation of the mystery
of marriage and human sexuality. It's this series of audiences that is
collectively known as the "theology of the body." It was inspired by Paul
VI's statement in Humanae Vitae that the problem of birth regulation must
be considered in light of a "total vision of man" (cf. n. 7). John Paul's
catechesis on the body provides this "total vision of man," or what he
calls an "adequate anthropology." His insights offer a whole new context
for understanding the teaching of Humanae Vitae and demonstrate that -
far from being "way down the list" - this issue is of crucial importance.
A New Synthesis of the Gospel
In trying to present the good news of the Church's teaching to
others, how often have you been met with resistance such as: "That's so
abstract," or, "The Church just isn't 'in touch' with real life experience?"
Without even knowing it, perhaps, most of us have inherited a way of explaining
the faith that is rooted in the objective, principled formulations of Thomas
Aquinas. However, because the modern mindset is very subjective and experiential,
traditional formulations of the faith are typically seen as abstractions
that have little to do with a person's own experience.
There is an inherent danger in the modern mindset that appeals to subjective
experience as the sole judge of reality. We see this in the rampant moral
relativism of the day. However, this "turn to the subject" is not altogether
bad. We can learn a great deal about who man is as a person by examining
authentic human experience. This is precisely what John Paul does in his
theology of the body. This philosophical approach to understanding man
(phenomenology) allows him to penetrate the mystery of the human person
with unprecedented clarity and precision. He helps us make sense of the
movements of our innermost being. The result is a new synthesis of the
Gospel to which the modern mind can relate. The honest person can't help
but recognize his own heart being laid bare. It simply rings true. "I can
identify with this," he responds. "This is the way I experience life."
This new "personalist" synthesis is by no means a departure from the
Church's heritage, but an authentic development of it. It marries the objective
and subjective world views for a "total vision of man." In bringing the
two together, John Paul avoids both abstraction and subjectivism and gives
us a new language with which to express the faith - a new language for
a new evangelization.
As Fathers Hogan and LeVoir point out in their book, Covenant of Love,
the link between these two world views is the fact that we are created
in the image and likeness of God. "This is an objective truth which is
at the same time central to
man's experience" (p. 33). In coming to understand our own experience,
then -
subjective as it is - we come to understand something of God because we
are
images of God. In turn, it's in God that we find the ultimate truth about
ourselves.
The link in this movement from man to God and God to man is, of course,
the
God-man. Jesus Christ "fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme
calling
clear" (Gaudium et Spes n. 22). John Paul's entire catechesis on the body
could
simply be considered a commentary on this passage from Vatican II.
The Content of the Theology of the Body
The theology of the body consists of a searching analysis of biblical texts
that
reveal the mystery of the body, sexuality, and marriage at three critical
"levels" of
human experience: as man experienced them "in the beginning" before sin
(Original Man); as man experiences them in human history affected by sin,
yet
redeemed in Christ (Historical Man); and as man will experience them in
the
resurrection of the body (Eschatological Man). This forms his "adequate
anthropology." He continues his catechesis by analyzing scriptural passages
that
reveal the meaning of Christian celibacy and Christian marriage in light
of this
"total vision of man." He then concludes with a reflection on Humanae Vitae
demonstrating that "the doctrine contained in this document . is organically
related to . the whole biblical question of the theology of the body" (General
Audience 11/28/84).
According to John Paul, by reflecting on these three levels of "experiencing"
the
body, sexuality, and marriage, we discover the very structure and deepest
reality
of human identity - we find our place in the cosmos and even penetrate
the
mystery of the Trinitarian God. How is this so through contemplating the
body,
sex, and marriage? As John Paul shows us, the question of sexuality and
marriage
is not a peripheral issue. In fact, he says the call to "nuptial love"
inscribed in our
bodies is "the fundamental element of human existence in the world" (General
Audience 1/16/80). In light of Ephesians 5, he even says that the ultimate
truth
about the "great mystery" of marriage "is in a certain sense the central
theme of
the whole of revelation, its central reality" (General Audience 9/8/82).
This is to say that everything God wants to tell us on earth about who
he is, the
meaning of life, the reason he created us, how we are to live, as well
as our
ultimate destiny, is contained somehow in the meaning of the human body
and the
call of male and female to become "one body" in marriage. How? Pointing
always
to the Scriptures, the Holy Father reminds us that the Christian mystery
itself is a
mystery about marriage - the marriage between Christ and the Church. Yes,
God's
plan from all eternity is to draw us into the closest communion with himself
- to
"marry" us! Jesus took on a body so we could become "one body" with him
(which we do in the Eucharist).
This eternal plan of God is inscribed in (and revealed through) our very
being as
male and female and our call to become "one body" in marriage. As St. Paul
says,
quoting from Genesis, "For this reason a man will leave his father and
mother,
cling to his bride, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a profound
mystery,
and it refers to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:31, 32).
As this series on John Paul's theology of the body continues, we will come
to see
that God created the "one flesh" union of man and woman to be the fundamental
revelation in the created world of his own divine mystery - the mystery
of his Life
and Love, and his plan for us to share in this Life and Love through Christ.
And
some claim this Pope is down on sex.?
Birth Control: It Almost
Cost Us Our Marriage
Marital Duration & NFP
Pope John Paul II's
Theology of the Body
The Pope on Sexual
Intercourse
The Pope's Theology of the Body
Part II
By Christopher West
Audiotape on the Theology of the Body by Christopher West available
It may seem peculiar, at first, that the Pope speaks of the body as something
"heavenly," that he speaks of it as a theology. Central to the Christian
mystery,
however, is the stunning belief in the embodiment of God, the Incarnation.
God has revealed himself to man through the human body. So it shouldn't
surprise
us that John Paul deals with the body as a theology. As he puts it, "Through
the
fact that the Word of God became flesh the body entered theology ... through
the
main door" (General Audience 4/2/80).
The Holy Father challenges us to see that the human body possesses a
"language" which enables it to proclaim and make present the eternal plan
and
mystery of God. "The body, in fact, and it alone, is capable of making
visible what
is invisible: the spiritual and the divine," says John Paul (General Audience
2/20/80). In other words, we cannot see spiritual things with our eyes.
They are by
nature invisible. But the body makes them visible. The body reveals the
spiritual
nature of the person. But not only the human person. Let us remember that
as
body-persons we are made in the image of the invisible God. John Paul says,
"[the
body] was created to transfer in the visible reality of the world the invisible
mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus be a sign of it"
(General
Audience 2/20/80). This striking declaration brings us to the summit of
John Paul's
anthropology (his understanding of man), crystallizing everything he has
to say
about the body. The human body reveals the mystery of God!
But what particular characteristic of the body allows us to understand
it this way?
The answer is its sexuality, its unifying complementarity as male and female.
Here,
in an extraordinary development of Catholic thought, John Paul takes us
beyond
traditional understandings of what it means to be a human person made in
the
image of God.
While medieval philosophers developed a relational notion of the Persons
in the
Trinity, they didn't translate this to their understanding of human persons.
John
Paul does. For him, since God is a life-giving Communion of Persons, "man
became the 'image and likeness of God' not only through his own humanity,
but
also through the communion of persons which man and woman form right from
the beginning" (General Audience 11/14/79).
"Communion of persons" (communio personarum in Latin) is a key concept
for
John Paul. The marital embrace is not merely a union of bodies, but a communion
of persons brought about through the body. And this communion of persons
in
"one flesh" is an icon of the inner-life of the Trinity!
This is a beautiful and profound truth, but we need to be careful not to
misunderstand what is being said. The fact that the male/female communion
reveals something of the mystery of the Trinity's Communion does not mean
that
God is sexual. God is not made in man's image as male and female, but man
is made
in God's.
These are all objective truths about the human person that can be gleaned
from
the first creation account in the book of Genesis. These truths are confirmed
and
more deeply realized in the subjective experiences of Adam and Eve in the
second
creation account (here we begin to see how John Paul masterfully marries
an
objective and subjective world view for a "total vision of man," as discussed
in
Part I of this series).
"In the Beginning"
When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about divorce, he pointed them to man
and
woman's perfect unity "in the beginning." "Haven't you read that in the
beginning
God created them as male and female and said 'the two will become one flesh.'
Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate"(Mt 19:4-6).
It's
because of Christ's words that John Paul turns our attention to the Book
of
Genesis. God's intention for original man is the norm for marriage. But
to
comprehend it, we, as historical man (man tainted by sin), must follow
the deep
"echoes" of our hearts into our "pre-history." Here, in a world untainted
by sin (a
world admittedly hard to imagine), we rediscover the experiences of original
solitude, original unity, and original nakedness.
Having named all the animals, man realized he was alone in the world as
a person.
He alone was aware of himself as a "self," and was free to determine his
own
actions; he alone was called to love. But there was "no helper suitable
for him"
(Gen 2:20). This is the experience of original solitude. It's common to
all human
beings. We know instinctively that we are alone in the visible world of
creation.
We experience that we are qualitatively different from "the animals" (the
word that
sums up this difference is person). Further, we all experience a longing
to live in
communion with other persons, to love and be loved. For man, precisely
as male
and female, is made in the image and likeness of God "who is love" (Gen
1:27, 1 Jn
4:8). Love is, therefore, man's origin, vocation, and end.
This is why "it is not good for the man to be alone" (Gen 2:18) - he has
no one to
love. So, to create a "helper suitable for him," the Lord caused the man
to fall into
a deep sleep. Taking a "rib" from his side, he fashioned woman. John Paul
points
out in a footnote that the word "rib" in the original biblical language
is a play on
the word "life" (General Audience 11/7/79). In poetic fashion the biblical
text is
indicating that woman comes from the very same life as the man. In other
words,
she, too, is a person.
As the Pope explains, "there is no doubt that man falls into that 'sleep'
with the
desire of finding a being like himself. In this way, the circle of the
solitude of the
man-person is broken, because the first 'man' awakens from his sleep as
'male and
female'" (General Audience 11/7/79). Immediately the man declares: "At
last this
one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." (Gen 2:23). That is to say,
"Finally,
a person with whom I can share the gift of life. Finally, a person I can
love!"
It is for this reason (because they are both persons created for each other)
that a
man will leave his father and mother and cling to his bride and the two
will become
one flesh (Gen 2:24). This is the experience of original unity, an experience
that
both confirms their solitude (in the sense that it confirms their person-hood,
their
"aloneness" in the visible world of creatures), and breaks their solitude
(in the
sense of finding someone to love).
The Nuptial Meaning of the Body
Man and woman's common humanity is revealed through the body - "flesh of
my
flesh." Yet the body also revealed their complementary differences. It
was through
their experience of original nakedness that they knew they were called
to love
each other (cf. General Audiences, Jan., Feb., and Sept. 1980). Nakedness
revealed: "We can give ourselves (our bodies) to each other and live in
a
life-giving communion of persons" (i.e. marriage). This was the only desire
the
body conjured up in their hearts - a desire to love in the image of God.
Hence they
were both naked and felt no shame (Gen 2:25).
Original nakedness reveals the "nuptial meaning of the body," another important
theme that runs throughout the Pope's catechesis. The nuptial meaning of
the
body is "the [body's] capacity of expressing love: that love precisely
in which the
person becomes a gift and - by means of this gift - fulfills the very meaning
of his
being and existence" (General Audience 1/16/80).
Let's pause just for a moment to drink in what the Pope is saying here.
If we live
according to the truth of our sexuality, we discover and fulfill the very
reason for
our existence (Who's looking for the meaning of life? Well, here it is!).
This is so
because, as the Second Vatican Council taught, "man can only find himself
by
making a sincere gift of himself" (Gaudium et Spes n. 24). It is precisely
in and
through our bodies, in and through our sexuality, that we realize we are
called to
make this sincere gift of self. Thus, John Paul can say, "we are convinced
of the
fact that the awareness of the [nuptial] meaning of the body . is the fundamental
element of human existence in the world" (General Audience 1/16/80).
Again, we must pause to take this in. Our Holy Father is saying that the
truth of
our sexuality is the most basic, essential element of our existence in
the world.
Could our sexuality possibly be any more important than this? Twisted as
it has
become, man's perennial fascination with sex speaks of how fundamentally
important it is.
This raises an important question. How did it become so twisted? John Paul's
theology of the body offers some original and profound insights in answer
to this
question. We'll seek to unpack some of them in Part III.
To be continued.
Birth Control: It Almost
Cost Us Our Marriage
Marital Duration & NFP
Pope John Paul II's
Theology of the Body
The Pope on Sexual
Intercourse
The Pope's Theology of the Body
Part III
By Christopher West
Audiotape on the Theology of the Body by Christopher West available
Authors note: This marks the third of a series of articles that seeks to
bring Pope
John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" to the readers of Family Foundations.
In part II of this series, we sought to follow the deep "echoes" of our
hearts into
our "pre-history." There we discovered man’s experience of his body as
male and
female before sin in what John Paul called original solitude, original
unity, and
original nakedness. What we experience now after sin is in some way the
"negative"of the image whose "positive" had been these original experiences
(cf. General Audience 2/4/81).
Through the nuptial meaning of their bodies, the first man and woman
experienced Love. They realized that their very existence, and all of creation,
was
a gift, and that Love (God) was the source of that gift. In this state
of original
innocence, their nakedness revealed that they were called to share in this
Love by
being "gift" to one another. In union with God’s Love, their love would
re-create
the mystery of creation (pro-creation). Before sin, this was the very sentiment
of
sexual desire – to love as God loves in total, fruitful self-giving and
receptivity
(marriage).
All of creation had been created for their sake, and they were called to
have
dominion over it (Gen 1:28). The human person, however, is created "for
his own
sake," (cf. Gaudium et Spes 24). Persons cannot be ruled or dominated by
others.
So the first man and woman had no desire to grasp or possess each other
– only to
give and receive each other in what John Paul II calls "the freedom of
the gift."
In this freedom they saw and knew each other "with all the peace of the
interior
gaze, which creates… the fullness of the intimacy of persons" (General
Audience
1/2/80). Since they lived in complete accord with their dignity as persons,
"the
man and his wife were both naked and felt no shame" (Gen 2:25).
Original Sin & the Entrance of Shame
Shame enters only upon their denial of Love as the source of creation.
The
serpent tempts them to believe that God is withholding himself from them
– "For
God knows that when you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil]
...you will be like God knowing good and evil " (Gen 3:5). The implication:
God
doesn’t want you to be like him – God is not Love, God is not "gift." If
you want
to be like God, you must grasp this likeness to God in order to possess
it for
yourself. How tragic! Man had already been freely given this likeness to
God as a
gift – a gift he need only receive – but a gift now denied in his heart
(cf.General
Audience 4/30/80, CCC n. 397).
While the experience of original nakedness revealed to them the very meaning
of
"gift," now their experience of nakedness changed. Through the denial of
the gift
in God, they subsequently denied "the interior dimension of the gift" in
themselves (if man and woman deny God’s Love in their hearts, they no longer
have the ability to love one another – you cannot give what you do not
have).
Lacking God’s Love, lacking trust in one another to give and receive in
"the
freedom of the gift," sexual desire, too, became a desire to grasp and
possess. The
other came to be seen not as a person to love, but as a thing to use for
one’s
selfish gratification. Thus, "The difference of the male sex and the female
sex was
suddenly felt and understood as an element of mutual confrontation [rather
than
communion]" (General Audience 6/4/80). In this way, nakedness in the presence
of the other – and in the presence of God – became an experience of fear,
alienation, shame. "I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid" (Gen 3:10).
As John Paul points out, the experience of shame now connected with nakedness
has a double meaning. It betrays a loss of respect in man’s heart for the
nuptial
meaning of the body, and an inherent need to preserve it. Because of lust
– the
desire to grasp, possess, use – they lost the "peace of the interior gaze"
associated
with original nakedness. Man is ashamed of this loss. He is ashamed, not
of the
body itself, but of the lust in his "heart." However, still knowing that
they were
persons created by God "for their own sakes," they were keenly aware that
lust
violated their dignity. Covering their sexual organs demonstrated an inherent
need
to protect the body from the degradation of lust. This is a positive function
of
shame.
Experience confirms the Pope’s observation, and history tells the tale
of sin’s
effect on man and woman’s relationship ("Your desire will be for your husband
and he will rule over you" – Gen 3:16). The "heart" has become a battlefield
between love and lust, habitually threatening the nuptial meaning of the
body. As
John Paul says, because of concupiscence (man’s disordered passions), "The
human body in its masculinity and femininity has almost lost the capacity
of
expressing this love in which the person becomes a gift…" (General Audience
7/23/80).
Thus, if historical man is to live according to the nuptial meaning of
his body and
thus "fulfill the very meaning of his being and existence," he must win
the battle in
his heart over lust. He must come to see the body, once again, as the revelation
of
the eternal mystery of God. This, according to the Holy Father, is the
very
meaning of purity of heart (cf. General Audience 3/18/81). Blessed are
the pure of
heart, for they shall see God (Mt 5:8) – in the body!
Let’s ponder that for a moment. The pure man does not eschew his sexuality.
The
pure man sees the revelation of the mystery of God in his sexuality, despite
the
endless ways man warps it. The pure man is able to take the "negative"
image and
allow the Holy Spirit to develop it into the corresponding "positive."
This positive
image makes visible the invisible mystery of God (cf. General Audience
2/20/80). In
this way, the pure man sees God in the human body. How tragically misguided
are
those forms of spirituality that tend to equate holiness with a puritanical
attitude
toward sexuality!
The Redemption of the Body
This is the purity to which Christ is calling us when he says, "…if you
even look
at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery with her in your
heart"
(Mt 5:28). By giving us a command beyond our own ability to live, Christ
sets the
stage for our redemption. "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Co
12:10).
John Paul poses the question: "Are we to fear the severity of [Christ’s]
words, or
rather have confidence in their salvific content, in their power?" (General
Audience 10/8/80). Their power lies in the fact that the man who utters
them is
"the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29). Whoever
allows
these words to act in his heart will hear an "echo" of God’s original plan
for
sexuality. He will taste the freedom that he lost and long for its restoration.
He will
feel in the depths of his heart the tragedy of sin and cry out in repentance,
and by
the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ will save him.
This is the Good News of the Gospel. While we can’t return to the state
of
original innocence, we can live as God intended "in the beginning" if we
appropriate the redemption of our bodies (Ro 8:23). Experiencing this redemption
is the call of every man and woman, married or unmarried. It’s a mistake
to think
marriage somehow provides a "legitimate" outlet for our disordered sexual
desires.
In a clarion call for husbands to uphold the dignity of their wives, John
Paul
stated that a man can commit adultery "in his heart" even with his own
wife if he
treats her only as an object to satisfy concupiscence (cf. General Audience
10/8/80). Despite what the secular media had to say, the Pope was in no
way
suggesting that the marital relationship is itself adulterous. In a world
that
encourages sex merely to gratify disordered instinct, John Paul was calling
spouses back to God’s original intention of self-donation as the norm for
sexual
relations.
This is a difficult calling. Even the most devoted of spouses must face
the reality
of mixed motives and imperfect desires. But Christ has definitively revealed,
fulfilled, and restored the nuptial meaning of the body by making a "sincere
gift"
of his own body to his Bride on the cross. This means loving as Christ
loves is
truly possible through the power of the Holy Spirit who has been poured
into our
hearts (Ro 5:5).
Through his "sincere gift" of self, Christ "fully reveals man to himself
and makes
his supreme calling clear" (Gaudium et Spes n. 22). Man’s supreme calling
is that
he is made for nuptial union with Christ! It’s written in his very being
as male and
female. The tragedy of sin is that, rather than thanking God for such a
great gift,
man let his trust in this gift die, and sought to grasp God for himself.
But the glory
of the Gospel is that "he who was God did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped." Instead, he humbled himself, taking on flesh,
and in
thanksgiving (eucharistia) for the gift of the Father, became obedient
unto death
– even death on a cross (Phi 2:6-8).
Redemptive Suffering
Because historical man is tainted by sin, living according to the truth
of the body
must lead him to the cross. We must go into the "dark room" if we ever
hope to
have the "negative" image developed into the "positive." This means suffering.
Christ, the New Adam, paves the way by reliving the same experiences of
the first
Adam. His words, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Mt 27:46),
speak of his experience of solitude, a solitude of intense suffering. Still,
believing
in the gift of the Father (unlike the first Adam), this solitude led him
to the
ultimate gift of himself. In his nakedness he endured the cross, heedless
of its
shame (Heb 12:2). And through the cross, Christ re-establishes unity between
God
and man.
Our redemption is won! In Christ’s own words, "It is consummated" (Jn 19:30).
What is consummated? The mystical marriage of the New Adam and Eve. Christ
is
put into the "deep sleep" of death, and "the woman" (Jn 19:26) is immaculately
conceived from his side in the flow of blood and water: figures of Baptism
and
Eucharist. And their mystical union gives "new birth" to the beloved disciple
("Behold your mother" [Jn 19:27]). Creation is recapitulated!
In light of the cross, how can we continue to deny God’s gift – "this is
my body
given up for you"? All we need do is receive it. Our model in doing so
is "the
woman" whose fiat finds fulfillment at the foot of the cross: "Let it be
done unto
me according to your word." As we make her words our own, we conceive new
life in us through the Holy Spirit. And as much as concupiscence blinds
man and
woman to their own truth and distorts the desires of the heart, so much
does this
"life according to the Holy Spirit" permit man and woman to find again
the true
"freedom of the gift" united to the nuptial meaning of the body (cf. General
Audience 12/1/82).
But this is not the end of the story. God’s work in Creation and Redemption
is
only a foreshadowing of the consummation of all things at the end of time.
What
does the theology of the body tell us about the final resurrection?
PART I
PART II
Christopher West is the Director of the Office of Marriage & Family
Life for the
Archdiocese of Denver. He received his Master’s degree in theology from
the
John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family.
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