Welcome to Catholic Exchange’s Theology of the Body Channel!
We are truly excited and honored to present to you John Paul the Great’s glorious vision of God’s plan. His Theology of the Body is a bold proclamation of love and life, the goodness of humanity, and the ability of God to fulfill every desire of the human heart.
What is the Theology of the Body (TOB)? From the outset, it is a series of 129 short talks delivered by John Paul on the Wednesdays when he was in Rome between 1979 and 1984. It is a catechesis on the meaning of human embodiment and the call to make a gift to other. The catechesis can be read on-line here . (A word of caution: the link above provides translations of the original talks from the Italian. Many translators used multiple phrases of certain concepts that can make reading difficult even to highly trained theologians. A better translation in print is entitled The Theology of the Body: A New Translation Based on the John Paul II Archives. Presented by one translator, Michael Waldstein, it includes section headers, a glossary of terms, and a 128-page introduction that provides a background on John Paul’s thought, enabling the reader to engage the text in a profound way. It can be purchased here.)
But What Does TOB Mean?
In a nutshell, as our motto proclaims, “the invisible is made visible through the physical. The entire physical world speaks of the grandeur of God, and it is through the physical world that the invisible God is revealed to us. Yet, as John Paul says in TOB, the human body is one of the greatest revelations of God:
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 (TOB 19:4).
Seen in and through both the male and female body, the mystery of God is most gloriously revealed to the world. How? Through the Person of Jesus Christ, we come to discover that the Trinity is an eternal exchange of Persons, and in our masculinity and femininity, we visibly express this reality. It is by giving and receiving gifts to and from one another that we fulfill the purpose of our existence.
Unfortunately, the world has forgotten the meaning of the human body. In doing so, many are living out their sexuality contrary to the way it was originally intended to be lived. Because our sexuality is essential to who we are as human beings, if not lived correctly, sexuality will not be experienced as something life-giving and fulfilling, but as something empty and painful. This is testified to and confirmed in the many wounds of our culture. More so, if person does not come to terms with his own sexuality, he will be lost and he will experience his own life as not making sense.
As John Paul teaches that, “human bodiliness and sexuality [is] absolutely fundamental for understanding man, who from the Ëœbeginning’ is in search of the meaning of his own body. This meaning stands at the very basis of the theology of the body” (TOB 21:1). Catholic Exchange’s TOB channel is dedicated to plunging into the mystery of the human person, especially through an unveiling of the mystery of the body and the great gift of human sexuality.
What makes this site so unique is that all the contributors are dedicated to unpacking the great gift of the Deposit of Faith (all of the teachings of Jesus Christ given to the Apostles) through the lenses of TOB. Although faithfully adhering to orthodox Roman Catholic teaching, we will be exploring many of the contemporary issues involving the body and sexuality that have not yet been formally defined by the Magisterium. Because so many are living in a world without the full truth about love and life, we must speak a language that our culture understands, while holding fast to the Truth as proclaimed by the Catholic Church. It is in this tension that we hope to fulfill the great commission by engaging the modern world, speaking to their deepest desires for love, and inviting them enter into the glorious journey for life that Jesus Christ has prepared for them.
If you are ready to enter into this journey, click below and read our mission and an explanation of how this channel is organized. We are glad you are here! Go to TOB Mission.
