Theology of the Body

To Be Imitators of God & To walk in Love

Robert Colquhoun 23.2.06
 What is Theology of the Body?
• Collection of 129 audiences by John Paul II
dealing with sex, marriage, chastity, celibacy,
ethos of the heart, Church, contraception,
morality, Biblical exegesis, every human and
Jesus Christ.
• Life Transforming message that transcends and
counteracts societal trends. Not just a teaching
on sex and marriage but a whole way of doing
theology.
 What Theology of the Body
(TOTB) is all about
• Deepest desires of human heart- way to
experience happiness and freedom
• Desire for loving communion
• Truth for God’s original design for human
sexuality
• Origin, history and destiny of humanity
• Sacramental Nature of Marriage
 What Theology of the Body
(TOTB) is all about
• Is there a purpose to life?
• Why were we created male/female? Does it
really matter if we are one sex or the other?
• What exactly is love?
• Is it possible to be pure of heart?
• Why were man and woman called to communion
in the beginning? What does the marital union
say about God and his plan for our lives?
 Essential Teaching of TOTB
• The body, and it alone is capable of
making visible what is invisible: the
spiritual and the divine.
• The Sacramental nature of human
sexuality- it makes present what it
symbolises.
 Why does our society need the
message of TOTB?
• In the UK 167,000 marriages end in
Divorce each year.
• 800,000 children are in no contact with
their father.
• In UK 186,400 induced abortions each
year (and rising).
 How Important is the Body in
Christianity?
• Extremely! The Incarnation and Resurrection
show that God tried and tested his own designs
and brought them to perfection.
• Christianity lies between the extremes of
materialism and Manicheeism.
• Human Person in Image of God (Gen. 1.26).
• Recognition of our own mortality (Gen 3.19)
• We believe in the resurrection of the body.
 General Principles of TOTB
• No one can use another person as a means to
an end (eg utility or pleasure)
• The opposite of to love is to use (not hate)
• Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of
every single person
• Family has the mission to guard, reveal and
communicate love. Future of humanity passed
by way of family.
• Body speaks a language that wants to totally
give itself to others.
 General Principles Of TOTB
• Chastity is a moral virtue and gift of the
Holy Spirit. Under the virtue of
temperance, integration of sexuality
leading to unity of the bodily and spiritual
being.
• Chastity is not abstinence.
• Celibacy can be a way of loving God with
an undivided heart.
 General Principles of TOTB
• Why is marital sex between a man and woman
morally good?
– It is free, total, faithful and fruitful way in which
persons image the love of the three person God.
– It is a communion of life and love. It is an example of
the total gift of self (Lk 17:33).
– It foreshadows the unity of God and man in heaven,
as a sign to all of the eternal bliss that awaits us.
 The fallacy of Consumer Sex
• Treating sex as a commodity is a gross
violation of the great gift God has given us
(eg pornography, prostitution, IVF, sale of
family planning/equipment devices).
• Be suspicious of anyone attempting to
make a profit out of anything to do with
sexual intercourse!
 Summary of Ephesians
• Lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you
are called (4:1-2)
• Do not go on living the empty headed life that
the Gentiles live (4:17-8)
• Be imitators of God… and work in love, as Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us (5:1-2)
• Among you there must be not even a mention of
sexual impurity in any of its forms or greed (5:3)
 Summary of Ephesians
• Be careful of the lives you lead (5:5)
• Be subject to one another out of reverence
for Christ (5:21)
• Husbands love their wives as Christ loved
the Church (5:25)
• A man never hates his own body (5:29)
 Theology of the Body is the
New Sexual Revolution
• Young generation found out the hard way- hook
ups, safe sex and safer sex did not give us the
love that we craved for.
• Romance without regret does exist. One must
be prepared to sacrifice.
• The peace and joy that comes from chastity is
worth more than the pleasures of the world.