Have you heard of "Theology of the Body"? It's a teaching of the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II that seeks to explain man's relationship with God and with himself and with his fellow man. It attempts to describe true love and the purpose for our physical bodies, and how we serve our fellow man with our bodies. To this end, JPII's writings and the various studies based on it have done a fair job doing just that, for anyone who is interested.
Those who have been personally affected by Theology of the Body revere JPII, adore Christopher West, and the teaching is their answer to all the trouble and strife in the world. They carry it on their person like the Bible. They feel like the enlightened few who have been released from the shackles of the world into the freedom of true sexuality as God created it. All the silly relationship drama can surely be solved by this teaching! If only people knew how to truly love! It's revolutionary!
Theology of the Body is…
It could not exist – could not, could not, could not – if God did not exist. Even if the theology is based on the existence of a fake god, it must have a god. It must be the study of something. Theology of the Body is the study of the particular aspect of God we call Love.
And so I propose that something cannot be an example of Theology of the Body. Theology of the Body is a collection of definitions and ideas, trying to comprehend the vastness of God. So how can a movie be an example of Theology of the Body? The writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas are an example of theology. And you could say that something you do every day is an example of a concept that Saint Thomas described. You could say that making your friend dinner is an example of a concept that Theology of the Body describes. But dinner is not an example of Theology of the Body. It's an example of love.
The two Disney movies Tangled and Frozen have been pointed to as examples of Theology of the Body. Not only is this as silly as saying that a tree is an example of Saint Thomas Aquinas' theology, but it is unreachable by many. And pointless. It is simply sufficient to point out that the characters in the movie demonstrate an example of true love.
This may seem, to many, to be a pointless nuance, an insignificant distinction. But people are so eager to grasp onto anything incredible, they sometimes miss the simple mark they aim for – in this case, love.
But it is also sad. Merely associating that teaching to those movies seems, to me, to rather dumb down the depth of the reality. Theology of the Body is not only about willing to go to great risks for our fellow man. Theology of the Body is a magnificent study to better understand who we are in light of God, and it is no simpler than God Himself.
Theology of the Body is…
- a collection of definitions
- a drawer full of descriptions
- a balanced view of sexuality, somewhere between never-ever-ever and always-whenever-however
It could not exist – could not, could not, could not – if God did not exist. Even if the theology is based on the existence of a fake god, it must have a god. It must be the study of something. Theology of the Body is the study of the particular aspect of God we call Love.
And so I propose that something cannot be an example of Theology of the Body. Theology of the Body is a collection of definitions and ideas, trying to comprehend the vastness of God. So how can a movie be an example of Theology of the Body? The writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas are an example of theology. And you could say that something you do every day is an example of a concept that Saint Thomas described. You could say that making your friend dinner is an example of a concept that Theology of the Body describes. But dinner is not an example of Theology of the Body. It's an example of love.
The two Disney movies Tangled and Frozen have been pointed to as examples of Theology of the Body. Not only is this as silly as saying that a tree is an example of Saint Thomas Aquinas' theology, but it is unreachable by many. And pointless. It is simply sufficient to point out that the characters in the movie demonstrate an example of true love.
This may seem, to many, to be a pointless nuance, an insignificant distinction. But people are so eager to grasp onto anything incredible, they sometimes miss the simple mark they aim for – in this case, love.
But it is also sad. Merely associating that teaching to those movies seems, to me, to rather dumb down the depth of the reality. Theology of the Body is not only about willing to go to great risks for our fellow man. Theology of the Body is a magnificent study to better understand who we are in light of God, and it is no simpler than God Himself.
As I explained more succinctly to a friend:
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned about what some people are beginning to do with Theology of the Body by associating it with movies, particularly romantic ones. For one thing, Theology of the Body better explains man's relationship with God, with himself, and with others. The God part is crucial but often left out. For some, Theology of the Body is becoming a new Bible. They view everything in this teaching, rather than viewing everything from its object of study: Love itself. It is better to say that a movie contains examples of true love, which is much more accessible for most people, than declaring that a movie contains Theology of the Body. It would then make sense to add, "JPII explained it this way…." Unfortunately, the hype is focused on how awesome TOB is, rather than on how awesome its subject matter is. I’m concerned that the actual concept is being lost in all the terminology. Furthermore, it’s beginning to sound, to the casual observer, rather like, “It’s in line with Church teaching! Catholics can watch it!” Or else that it was intended to propagate JPII’s teaching. I do know that most people don’t mean to be like that, and you may not agree with my nitpicking. But Theology of the Body is truly beautiful and I’m afraid of it being dumbed down unnecessarily. I also don’t like the increasing tendency to use “Theology of the Body” and “love” interchangeably when discussing art that contains the beautiful truth of love. There is a difference and I think it should be preserved.