Have you ever wondered why there are two sexes? Why not three? Or more? Or, for that matter, why are there sexes at all? Couldn't God have created as many people as he wanted without the seemingly messy process of sexual reproduction? Theology of the Body for Beginners explains the deep, theological meaning behind sex and gender as they point to broader truths about the reasons for our existence, our proper relationship to God and each other, and our understanding of God's plans for our eternal future.
St. John Paul II, pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978-2005, gave a series of 29 lectures on the topic of the theology of the body during the tenure of his papacy. You can find English translations of these talks, but many say his original discourses can be challenging to understand due to his dense writing style. Thankfully, Christopher West wrote this book to make Pope John Paul II's theology accessible to the layperson.
Essentially, the theology of the body is the idea that our bodies, both male and female, have been created and designed to draw us into divine communion with God, painting a picture of Christ as the bridegroom and his people, the Church, as the bride. The sacrament of sexual union between male and female is described as a physical expression of the eternal mystery of God's love for humans who were created in his own image. Just as Christ gave of his own body at the crucifixion, so do men and women give of their bodies to each other through sexual intercourse. These ways of describing sex as they relate to God may be familiar to someone of the Catholic faith, but this protestant girl found them to be new and interesting food for thought.
There was a fascinating section in chapter 2 that likens the divine communion of the persons of the Trinity to the sexual union of husband and wife and the love and progeny that proceeds from them. At first, these types of sexual comparisons can seem jarring. Still, West does an excellent job of explaining the theological reasoning for his positions and encourages the reader to think more deeply about God and his plan for the redemption of humanity.
There are only a few paragraphs on what the author describes as "homosexuality" and hardly anything about transgenderism. The book is not really meant to address those topics specifically. There is one somewhat short chapter on singleness (and therefore celibacy), but it includes a rather interesting discussion of the Catholic Church's celibacy requirement in the priesthood and its belief that Joseph and Mary remained celibate throughout their marriage.
The final three chapters focus on Christian marriage. These chapters offer a Christ-centered focus on the redemption of the cross, which forces a high view of the sacrament of marriage. Essentially, West is saying that if we hold a low view of our marriage commitment, we are demonstrating a low view of the value of Christ's marriage proposal to us on the cross. He calls on husbands and wives to forego any hint of marital lust in favor of unselfish love, looking to Christ as our example.
The final chapter almost exclusively argues for the Catholic position that all contraception other than "Natural Family Planning" is immoral. As a non-Catholic, this chapter was revelatory in my understanding of the reasons behind the Catholic position, even though it did not sway my views to the contrary. There were a few other small parts that I disagreed with, such as the catechismal statement that the "Son of God became man so that we might become God" and the veneration of Mary that surfaced several times. Still, overall, I very much enjoyed this book. It increased my understanding of the "why" behind the "what" of the male-female relationship and the sacrament of marriage. I came away with a higher view of marriage and its relevance to my relationship with Christ. My favorite quote from the book summed up Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body this way: "Our bodies tell the story that God loves us, wants to marry us, and wants us to 'conceive' eternal life within us."
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