Theology Of The Body
Lately, I have received quite a few emails from our Catholic brothers and sisters similar to the one below…
I am wondering if you have received a welcome in the Catholic Church community, both lay and clerical. As you may know much better than I, Pope John Paul II has made a contribution to the world of Christian Couples, and beyond them to every Christian, with his “Theology of the body”. It is the book that puts together a sequence of his Wednesday Audience Talks over a period of two or three years in St. Peter’s Square, and given rise to the still-to-be-discovered by the Catholic Faithful, for the most part, the Theology of the body. He may not have accomplished what you have done, namely knowing off-by-heart the Song of Solomon, but with his biblical and theological knowledge, including very much so, the Song of Songs, he has ‘revolutionised’ sex for people who come in touch with the theology of the human body.
As you would agree, the Word of God became flesh the moment Jesus, the Son of God, was conceived in the womb of Mary. The implications of that mystery that leads to the measure of God’s love that he communicates to every human being who will allow him in the mystery of giving his life on the cross, that in turn leads to the Resurrection of the body in eternal life. The ‘body’ is involved in every gesture, thought and aspiration a human being makes. It’s capacity to communicate God’s love is not confined to married couples, but, as you would agree, is intended for every one who is a human being, bearing in his or her human nature from conception to death that capacity, should that person come to know his true dignity and worth.
So let me know how you and your books have been received by the Catholic Community thus far, if you will be so helpful.
There is a man called Christopher West who has made the Theology of the Body the focus of his mission and life work in and beyond the Catholic Church. I am hoping you know of his work, and I am hoping he is aware of yours.
Through our Catholic readers, I am aware of Christopher West’s work. And, in my opinion, it is a valuable and positive step forward for Catholics.
As the above writer described, Christopher has (much like Susan and I) “taken a leap of faith” by focusing his ministry on marriage and sexuality.
Although I was born in the Catholic Church, my parents left when I was fairly young. The majority of my life has been spent in the Protestant side of the Church. Consequently, I am not nearly as familiar with the theological ramifications of our approach relative to Catholic theology as I am current Protestant theology.
That being said, from what I have read of The Theology Of The Body and Christopher West’s work, I believe that (despite REAL disagreements) there is much room for agreement.
In the past few years, I was surprised to find that there was as much confusion and guilt among our married Catholic readers, relative to married sexuality, as there was with our Protestant readers.
Not being Catholic, I assumed that NO ONE could be as “backward” or inhibited as your average evangelical Christian…but, apparently, there is much room for sex positive education within the Catholic church as well.
There appears to be two major differences of focus/themes between our “every day” work and Christopher’s.
Catholic theology appears to (still) focus quite heavily on the morality of contraception.
Catholic theology (unlike most actual Catholics) has NOT yet put contraception under the “okay” category.
Catholic theologians focus quite a bit on their view that contraception( outside of “natural” contraception) has been one of the major causes of our current society’s moral and sexual decline.
Although I, personally (and most Protestant theologians, as well) do not find such a significant problem with contraception (within marriage, of course), this position (for Protestants in general) is not above discussion and is a relatively NEW attitude for Protestants. Historically, protestants were as (or more) adamantly opposed to contraception as were Catholics. It was only 70 or 80 years ago when the major figures in Protestant theology railed against contraception.
Scripturally, I don’t find much support (within marriage) for this position.
Although I understand and empathize with the “spirit” of the argument (contraception removes God’s providence from the sex act and reduces sex to something less than it’s “mysterious” nature), I don’t agree that there are any specific Scriptures that would ban contraception for married Christians.
The scriptures related to Onan “spilling his seed” (as we have discussed TOO many times), have nothing to do with “contraception” (or masturbation), per se; they refer Onan’s unwillingness to obey God’s command to fulfill his duty to his brother’s widow.
The other “difference” that I see between our approach and most Catholic theologians is on the “purpose” of sexuality for married Christians.
We spend much time pushing “pleasure” UP the ladder of priorities/purpose, relative to sex. Catholic theologians seem to spend quite a bit of time pushing pleasure down this ladder of priorities/purpose.
Unlike the contraception issue, I think that we agree more than we disagree in this area.
Neither of us believe that sex is more important than our relationship to God or our spouse.
Sex is just a part of our lives and marriage relationships.
Sexual pleasure is NOT more important than being a good person, spouse or Christian.
But…
There does seem to be a difference of opinion relative to just how important pleasure is in the mix.
In my opinion, Scripture supports the belief that sexual release and pleasure is one of the fundamental purposes for marriage.
Most Scriptures that explicitly deal with “reasons to get married” specifically mention sex (or avoiding sexual sin).
Paul tells us to marry to avoid sexual sin…he does not tell us to marry to have children.
In my opinion, the importance of sex and sexual pleasure is probably higher than most Catholic theologians would.
That being said, it is really a matter of semantics.
We agree sex is divinely created for our pleasure.
We agree that sex is NOT more important than our relationship to God or our spouse.
We agree that a healthy expression of our God-given sexuality is best for us, our marriages and the world.
And, as with most “theological differences,” once you move beyond “the foot of the cross,” these differences (although important) should not separate us.
We are thrilled that our Catholic brothers and sisters have resources that CAN, specifically, address their theological needs…while learning to better express their sexuality.
