Joshua Walker's Reviews > Theology of the Body for Beginners: Rediscovering the Meaning of Life, Love, Sex, and Gender

Theology of the Body by Christopher West is a careful examination of St. John Paul’s II work “Theology of the Body”. In this work, West uses John Paul’s work as a guide for highlighting the sexual questions found in today’s society. John Paul’s work is held with high regard in the catholic community and his teachings are paramount in developing a Christian sexual ethic. In the first chapter, West seeks to define what the theology of the body is. He claims that the body is more than biological, but is theological. This point will be the foundation for the entire book. Each chapter builds off the previous one and uses the body’s theological significance to draw a worldview. The first chapter also discusses the body in more detail. It states that the body has high significance and that your body is a part of who you are, he will later allude to this in the chapter highlighting the return of Christ. Chapter One also introduces an analogy that is used throughout the rest of the book’s entirety. The “spousal analogy” describes the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church. This section states that God is madly in love with His people and wants to marry them. This does not indicate that your body is divine by any means, “but it is the most powerful sign of the divine mystery in all creation”. Chapter Two addresses the creation of the body. In this chapter, West seeks to address the creation account in Genesis 1-3 and highlight the origins of the body and the significance linked with it. Chapter Three builds off of the previous chapter by discussing the redemption of the bodies that come with their fall and origin. This chapter addresses the carnal desires the body longs for and tends to cave into primarily sinful ones. The body can either give in to such desires or eliminate them, both of which may not be the correct response. West suggests looking at the desires for their original purposes and asking God to help us see them from that perspective. For example, lust traditionally leads to sinful actions or annihilation of the desires. He suggests that we should see lust for what it is, a desire of hunger for love, which can ultimately only come from God. Chapter Four addresses the resurrection of the body. There will come a point when a percentage of humanity, those who have accepted Christ as Lord, will be rejoined to their body. Soul and body will rejoin and reside in the New Heaven. The spousal analogy will be completed when the bride is truly joined with the groom for an eternity. Chapters five through eight highlight sex in a scandalous way. I would say that the second half of the book is not for a younger audience. He highlights sex and the union between a man and a woman. These chapters primarliy address this question; “Does what we’re doing with our bodies truly image God’s free, total, faithful, fruitful love or does it miss the mark?” This is a great question!
There were some really good components in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed West’s examination of marriage and its significance. He does a great job highlighting the purpose of marriage and its role in the New Earth. I found that his explanation has helped me develop a better understanding of biblical marriage. There were several moments during my reading where I was in disagreement. I believe that West took some lengthy liberties in his exegesis of scripture. He makes a statement that the imagery may be scandalous but has biblical roots. I agree that his imagery is scandalous, but I am not sure that he is correct in saying that it has biblical roots. I struggled to see some of his images of God and His love for His people.