Theology of the Body, Part 9

Now, yet more in my Theology of the Body (TOB) series about the theological outlook espoused by the late Pope John Paul II, as described in Christopher West's book Theology of the Body for Beginners.

The "theology of the body," as John Paul called it, is all about chastity, the opposite of lust.

According to West, TOB affirms that there is, beyond repression or indulgence, a third way of the heart by which we can redeem our erotic impulses. Once we have found this way, we can turn our sexuality into a sacrament.

That's the good news. The bad news is that it isn't either quick or easy to find the way. Time after time, West writes, we must pray to Jesus to transform our lust. Eventually, if we have enough faith, we will be rewarded.

Self-scrutiny tells me that I personally don't have enough faith for this. And, on a chastity scale from one to ten, where ten is the Virgin Mary, I imagine I'm at least a six. I don't lust in my heart all that much. But I know that some people do, and many who don't haven't found the sacramental third way; rather, they repress and suppress and turn aside from sexual indulgences in deference to what West calls the "negative" rules of purity.

Most good Christians, I believe, are thou-shalt-not Christians.

The theology of the body, accordingly, would seem to be a sort of post-graduate course in the "nuptial meaning of life."


Intellectually, I can see that the Bible affirms such a nuptial meaning. The story begins with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Before the fall from grace that occurs when they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they innocently live out the original nuptial meaning just as God wants them to, and they are not at all ashamed of their nakedness.

After they eat the forbidden fruit, cover their private parts, and are expelled from Eden, a huge amount of narrative ensues, all focused on the way God interacts with his people in view of their inheritance of Adam and Eve's original sin and their constant infidelity to his worship and will. Eventually, Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was born of a virgin, walks this earth. He teaches us, works miracles, dies on a cross, is resurrected and assumed into heaven, and eventually turns out to have been the Son of God all the time. Finally, at the end of history, his return to us is promised in the Book of Revelation; he will be the Bridegroom, and his redeemed people will be his Bride.

As I say, the Bible as a whole affirms the nuptial meaning of our existence. I can see that intellectually. But I cannot see how the vast bulk of us are really capable of faithfully living that meaning, except in negative, thou-shalt-not terms.