Introduction

"The Theology of the Body," delivered by John Paul II in 129 catechetical addresses from 1979 to 1984, explores the mystery of love as it flows from the Trinity, through Christ’s spousal relationship with the Church, and is realized in human relationships and the human body. This work addresses misunderstandings about the Church's teachings on sexuality by examining scriptural premises and situating marriage, family, and sexuality within God's divine plan of love and salvation.

A new critical translation by biblical scholar Michael Waldstein (linked at the bottom of this page) provides a meticulous and insightful presentation of John Paul II's vision of the human person. This edition includes a preface by Cardinal Schönborn, a foreword by Dr. Christopher West, comprehensive indexes, and a reference table for papal texts. Despite cultural shifts away from objectivity, this study underscores the enduring beauty and truth in the Church's teachings on sexuality, emphasizing that with Christ’s support, the challenges of Christian life are surmountable.

Recommended Uses for this Study

Ideal Contexts

1. A Couple's Study - This is helpful to develop together key take aways and to love out what is learned

2. A Group Study of Adult Men or Adult Women - This is helpful especially for people preparing for a vocation because it allows for open dialogue concerning related struggles, fostering authentic fraternity/sorority.

3. Personal Study - Need for Brevity and Clarity

   1. If you need a more comprehensive look at the work of the Theology of the Body and find the actual text a little cumbersome, this is a great option for you. 

   2. It may be used alongside a class using the text, in order to be given a more concise version of the same arguments without the repetition of a translated Papal General Audience series.

   3. A word of caution, in our day sex has become a commodity and so is made into a culural phenomenon, if you struggle with chastity consider not studying this alone. Alternatively, it may be worth looking into resources to help address addiction or consider doing this as a part of a group perhaps also using anti-pornography resources.

Ideal Methodology

1. Complete this study alongside the main text and/or Waldenstein's work linked below

2. Complete this study before reading the main text to get a helpful and adequate feel for its structure and arguments followed by seeing the text and how the Pope leads one slowly through the Scripture

Alternative Resources

• Ascension Press's 4-Hour Lecture Series: much briefer with a more conceptual but well-rounded conceptual approach. You will get a lot of the same concepts but you won't necessarily get the grand sense of it being scripturally-based. This is definitely more helpful for those want to get a feel for it before investing more time in studying this. 

• The Fellowship of Catholic University Student's Bible Study: This study is a little more in-depth but is still a little heavy on the philosophical side, but may be more helpful for a younger group.

• Theology of the Body Institute: dedicated to making the profound riches of Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body accessible and applicable in the lives of men and women around the world through an array of outreach and educational offerings,

A Quote from John Paul II on Man and Love

"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus". The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer", and if God "gave his only Son "in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life". Redemptoris hominis, 10. (Click here to read more)

In this study...

1. We will look at key passages from theology of the body so as to follow the theological of the gift of sexuality.

2. We will reflect on the key verses in scripture that the Theology of the Body examines and interprets

3. We will as briefly and effectively as possible do these things to make for a concise engagement with this teaching that still reveals its key aspects (including in the following) and beauty. 

   1. The Nuptial Meaning of the Body

   2. Sin and Shame

   3. The Redemption of the Body

   4. The Resurrection of the Body

   5. Celibacy and Virginity

   6. Marriage

   7. Humane Vitae (Human Life)

The Full Text of all Theology of the Body Audiences can be found here.

Quotes about Theology of the Body

“The Theology of the Body is the Church’s answer to the great heresy of our time, the Sexual Revolution.”

-Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College

“… a kind of theological time-bomb set to go off with dramatic consequences.” It “has barely begun to shape the Church’s theology, preaching, and religious education. When it does, it will compel a dramatic development of thinking about virtually every major theme in the Creed.”

-George Weigel, Author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II

“It would be hard to argue that there is a presentation of human sexuality that is more beautiful or more faithful to Scripture.” John Paul II “illuminates for all believers … that [our creation as male and female] … connects us to a mystery that is far larger and more profound than each of us can fathom.” John Paul II’s teaching “helped me see how profound Christianity is in answering the deepest questions we all have about who we are and how we are called to relate to others and to God.”

-Glenn Stanton, Focus on the Family

“I predict that Protestants, especially evangelicals, will embrace the Theology of the Body in greater and greater numbers in the years ahead … those who do will come to an understanding of sexual morality that is grounded in divine revelation … If the church can recover that kind of sexual morality, then I think the church will be in the position to launch the second sexual revolution that John Paul longed for and sought to prepare the way for.”

-Dr. Craig Carter, Tyndale University College and Seminary

"The great merit of John Paul II's Theology of the Body is precisely the depth of its Biblical engagement and its effort to wrestle with the entire Biblical vision of human sexuality." 

- Dr. David Schindler, editor of the English critical edition of the Theology of the Body.

"Marriage is the real vocation crisis in the United States... We have a vocation crisis to life-long, life-giving, loving, faithful marriage. If we take care of that one, we'll have all the priests and nuns we'll need for the Church." 

- Cardinal Timothy Dolan, highlighting the Theology of the Body's emphasis on the vocation of marriage.

"The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it." - A quote from the Theology of the Body itself (19:4), which a commentator calls John Paul II's "thesis statement" for the work.[3]

"Christian ethos is characterized by a transformation of the human person's conscience and attitudes... such as to express and realize the value of the body and sex according to the Creator's original plan." - Another quote from the Theology of the Body (45:3), highlighting its call for a redeemed view of human sexuality.[3]

These quotes praise the Theology of the Body for its profound and revolutionary teachings on the theology of the human body, sexuality, and marriage, seen through the lens of God's original plan for human beings.[1][3]

Citations:

[1] https://catholicquotations.com/theology-of-the-body/

[2] https://www.hli.org/resources/theology-of-the-body-quotes/

[3] https://tobinstitute.org/top-three-favorite-quotes-from-saint-john-paul-iis-theology-of-the-body/

[4] https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/vocations/theology-body-quotes

[5] https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/29840348-theology-of-the-body-in-simple-language

Structure of the Catechesis

Section 1: The Words of Christ - Who we are: an Adequate Anthropology

Part 1: Christ Appeals to the "Beginning"

Catechesis on the Book of Genesis (TOB 1-23; Sep 1979 – Apr 1980) - Original Man: the state of his body at the begiing of its existence

1. What is meant by “Beginning?” (1-4)

2. The meaning of Original Solitude (5-7)

3. The meaning of Original Unity 

4. The meaning of Original Nakedness

5. Man in the dimension of gift

   1. The Spousal Meaning of the Body

   2. The Mystery of Original Innocence

6. “Knowledge” and procreation (Gen 4:1)

7. [Conclusion: an integral vision]

Part 2: Christ appeals to the Human Heart

Catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount (TOB 24-63; Apr 1980 – May 1981) - Redemption of the Heart and Historical Man

a - The Body in the State of the Sinful Nature of Man (24-43)

1. In the light of the Sermon on the Mount

2. The man of concupiscence

   1. The Meaning of Original Shame

   2. Instability of the Union

   3. The Corruption of the Spousal Meaning of the Body

3. Commandment and ethos

   1. "Do not commit adultery"

   2. "Whoever looks to Desire..."

   3. "Has Committed Adultery in the Heart..."

b - The Body in the State of Redeemed Nature (44-63)

4. The “Heart” – accused or called?

   1. Condemnation of the Body?

   2. The "Heart" under suspicion?

   3. Eros and ethos

5. The ethos of the Redemption of the Body

6. Purity as “life according to the Spirit”

7. The Gospel of the Purity of Heart – yesterday and today

8. Appendix: the ethos of the body in art and media

Part 3: Christ Appeals to the Resurrection

The Resurrection of the Body & Christian Virginity (TOB 64 – 86; Nov 1981 – Jul 1982)

1. The resurrection of the body as a reality of the “Future World” 72 The Body in the State of Glorified Nature

   1. The Synoptic Gospels: "He is not God of the Dead but of the Living"

   2. Pauline Interpretation 1 Corinthians 15:42-49

2. Continence for the Kingdom of Heaven

   1. The Words of Christ in Matthew 19:11-12

   2. Paul's Understanding of the Relation between Virginity and Marriage - 1 Corinthians 7

[Conclusion of Part 1: the Redemption of the Body]

Section 2: The Sacrament - How we are to live

Part 1: The Dimension of Covenant and of Grace

The Sacramentality of Marriage (TOB 87 – 102; Jul – Dec 1982)

1. Ephesians 5:21-33

   1. An Introduction and Connection

   2. Detailed Analysis

2. Sacrament and mystery

3. Sacrament and “Redemption of the Body”

   1. The Gospel

   2. Ephesians

Part 2: The Dimension of Sign

(TOB 103-117; Jan 1983 – Jul 1984)

1. “Language of the Body” and the reality of the Sign

2. The Song of Songs

3. When the “Language of the Body” becomes Language of the Liturgy (Reflections on Tobit)

Part 3: He Gave Them the Law of Life as Their Inheritance

Reflections on Humanae vitae (TOB 118 – 133; Jul 1984 – Nov 1984) - Love and Fruitfulness: The Pastoral Care of the Marriage and Family

1. The ethical problem

2. Outline of Conjugal Spirituality

[Conclusion]