Stop reducing Theology of the Body to "Catholic sex ed"

I thought I understood Theology of the Body.

But then I met the man who coined the term: an Austrian theologian named Michael Waldstein.

Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, the painting you are apparently obligated to use when discussing Theology of the Body

Dr. Michael Waldstein came to Franciscan University when I was a senior in college. I had the privilege not only of taking his class on Theology of the Body but also of having him as my senior thesis advisor on the topic.

John Paul II never used the term “Theology of the Body.” Dr. Waldstein came up with the term as a subtitle for his translation of John Paul II’s manuscripts. To him, it meant “understanding God through how He created man.”

Unfortunately, the term has taken on a new meaning.

We’ve reduced Theology of the Body to sex

The popular understanding of Theology of the Body focuses almost entirely on sexual ethics: avoid lust, stay chaste, keep sex in marriage, don’t contracept, etc.

More sophisticated presenters will also talk about how marriage is a positive good (rather than a list of do’s and don’ts). That’s good, but it’s only part 2 out of 6 parts in the book. There are five other major sections we seldom discuss.

The key to Theology of the Body is found in Ephesians 5:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her […] For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25, 31-32

Notice what Paul does. The great mystery isn’t marriage itself. The great mystery is Christ and his Church. Marriage is the image. Even though Theology of the Body includes sex and marriage, it goes beyond that. It is a discussion of who man is, what he was made for, and how God is revealed through that.

Marriage is a foundation, not an end

John Paul II structures his work around three stages:

1. Man in the beginning - What we were in Eden before the fall

2. Man in history - What we are now, dealing with concupiscence and redemption

3. Man in heaven - What we will become in the resurrection

Marriage was perfect before the Fall, broken after we sinned, but now takes on a new meaning restored by Christ.

Most Theology of the Body content focuses on stage two—historical man struggling with lust and trying to live out marriage faithfully. That’s the “don’t watch porn, understand your spouse” material.

We spend almost no time on stages one and three. We barely explore what marriage was like before the Fall or what happens after the Resurrection, the time where “none are married nor given in marriage.”

When we miss those topics, especially the Resurrection, we miss the full picture.

In the Resurrection, each saint will be completely united not to their spouse, but to God through Jesus Christ. Celibate men and women live out that union now by making promises of celibacy. Marriage is an analogy for that union by the faithful love between spouses.

Celibacy is an analogy for heaven and marriage is an analogy for celibacy.

Marriage is an image of what a celibate heart experiences in relation to Jesus. A celibate person has married Christ, but their union is deeper and more real than a union between a husband and a wife.

Marriage is the foundation of a hierarchy that ascends to heaven.

But it’s not the destination.

Some think that diminishes marriage, but John Paul disagrees. A foundation doesn’t lose dignity by supporting something greater. Since we all come from a mother and a father, marriage is supposed to be how every person—including future celibates—understands faithful love. Marriage and family life are the school where we learn what it means to give ourselves completely to another person.

But marriage points beyond itself. It points to celibacy. And celibacy points to heaven.

What We Lose

When we reduce Theology of the Body to Catholic sex ed, we lose the vision of celibacy as a gift. It becomes an afterthought—a weird quirk of Catholicism. We lose the connection between marriage and heaven. We lose the understanding that the meaning of our bodies goes beyond talking about “smoking hot wives” and “why Catholics have better sex.”

John Paul II gave us a complete vision of human embodiment from Eden to Heaven. We’ve taken one rung of that ladder and called it the whole thing.

It’s time we move past the trendy TOB and move to the more substantial vision of man John Paul II intended.

For next week’s Sunday Edition, I’m going to break down the full structure of Theology of the Body.

(Plus it’ll be short enough to read in between Sunday donuts and the kids’ nap time.)

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