One of the things I like about my Christian faith is that it includes physicality. God came and dwelt with us in a physical body. Some of Jesus's miracles involved physical things - food, wine, healing. When he was raised from the dead, he was raised with a physical body. We are not just spirit, and kind of abstract. It seems like we are called to ( Read more... )

In his General Audience of December 19, 1979 Pope John Paul II continues his discussion of the meaning original nakedness, and in particular what we can discern about man's not feeling shame in the consciousness of that nakedness. In order to understand this, it is important to know what the experience of shame really is. The Holy Father asserts ( Read more... )

It's been over two months since my last post in this series, but I would like to resume the reflections on Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. If anyone is interested in the series but has not been following up to this point, they are all tagged, so hopefully that can help. Up to this point in his General Audiences on the Theology of the ( Read more... )

In his General Audience of November 21, 1979, Pope John Paul II gives his final discourse on the meaning of original unity within the greater Theology of the Body. He reminds us once again that he continues to examine and reflect upon these passages from Genesis because Christ Himself, in answering the Pharisees question on divorce, appealed to “ ( Read more... )

In his General Audience of November 14, 1979 Pope John Paul II gives his second of three discourses within his greater Theology of the Body on the meaning of original unity. He expounds on what it means for the “definitive” creation of man to consist in the unity of two beings. The unity denotes, above all, the identity of human nature. The ( Read more... )

In the General Audience of November 7, 1979 Pope John Paul II continued his series of discourses on the Theology of the Body by beginning his reflections on the meaning of the original unity of man and woman as it is demonstrated by the second account of creation in Genesis. In the first account there is no mention of the period of original ( Read more... )

In this post we will conclude the discussion of John Paul II’s reflections on the meaning of man’s original solitude in his General Audiences of October 24, 1979 and October 31, 1979. In these two audiences he teaches about how the original solitude of man led to an awareness of the meaning of his own bodiliness, and how the solitude amidst the ( Read more... )

Beginning with the General Audience of October 10, 1979, Pope John Paul II begins his reflections on the meaning of man’s original solitude as it is conveyed in the second account of creation in Genesis 2. These discourses on solitude will make up three audiences, which I will likely treat in two separate posts. This post will deal exclusively ( Read more... )

In this post we will look at Pope John Paul II’s General Audience of September 26, 1979. In this audience again the Holy Father continues to build a solid foundation upon which he will build this theology of the body. He continues to explore the creation account of Genesis 2, and speaks about how the redemption of the body offered by Christ serves ( Read more... )

As I mentioned previously, I’m going to begin a running commentary on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. This post will serve as a simple introduction, as I’m sure many people are not aware of this work by the late Bishop of Rome. In the Roman Catholic Church, every Wednesday around midday the Pope will greet an audience of tens of thousands of ( Read more... )