Christopher West has taken his message of biblical sexuality to four continents, nine countries and 150 U.S. cities. He is a research fellow and faculty member of the Theology of the Body Institute.
He recently visited Focus on the Family and took a few minutes to talk with CitizenLink.
1. What is the Theology of the Body?
Theology of the Body is a collection of 129 talks by the late John Paul II. It's a thoroughly biblical reflection — over 1,000 verses of Scripture — to give us the biblical vision of our creation as male and female. Why did God create us as male and female? Why does He call the two to be one flesh? What is God's plan for marriage? It's not just for married people. If you have a body, this theology applies to you.
2. You have said that if the task of the 20th century was to rid itself of the Christian sexual ethic, the task of the 21st must be to reclaim it. Explain what you mean by that and what that might entail for Christians.
The 20th century began with a Victorian prudishness. This is not a healthy approach to the body. In the span of 100 years, we went to the other extreme, where there's just this blatant indulgent of lust. We live in a pornographic culture. The result has been a culture of death and degradation. We are killing 4,000 babies a day in this country. The root of this problem is really of a sexual nature: We are failing to understand God's glorious plan for human sexuality.
It is the sexual relationship that builds families. Families build neighborhoods. Neighborhoods build communities. Communities build cities. Cities build states, and states build nations. And nations shape the world. When the union of man and woman is distorted, it will build a very distorted culture. When the union of man and woman is founded on these biblical principles, it will build a culture of love and life.
If we are to build a true Christian culture, we must reclaim the Christian sexual ethic. What is needed is a bold, biblical vision that demonstrates the beauty of God's plan for human sexuality and the joy of living it.
3. We see countless policy battles that promote the further normalization of homosexuality in American society. How does this message relate to homosexuality?
This teaching, Theology of the Body, is founded on the words of Christ, when the Pharisees come to Jesus to question Him about man and woman's relationship. Jesus says, "Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of our hearts, but in the beginning, it was not so." Those words — "in the beginning, it was not so" — are critical if we are to understand the biblical vision of sexuality. If there's anything we can say about homosexuality, it's this: "In the beginning, it was not so. Haven't you read, that in the beginning, God made them male and female and called the two to become one flesh?" Theology of the Body is a reflection on God's design for the union of the sexes. We can understand what His plan is by looking at what He created.
Whatever our sexual distortions might be, whether it's homosexuality or anything else, Christ can redeem us. He can heal us. He can empower us to be the men and women we're really created to be.
4. How has a misguided or muddled understanding of human sexuality led to cultural breakdown, particularly in the policy realm?
If our society has a cancer, we have to treat that cancer at the cellular level. What's the fundamental cell of society? It's the family. What is the nucleus of the cell? What is the very core of the family? What's the origin of the family? The intimate embrace of a husband and wife. That's where babies come from. This is not only a biological truth, it's a theological truth. It points to God and his mystery of love and his plan for our lives. If that nucleus, if that cell, is harmed, is distorted, is diseased, the whole body, the whole civilization, will be diseased. Restoration of God's plan for marriage and family is critical if we are to rebuild civilization.
Rick Santorum, former senator of Pennsylvania, said it well — In the political world, there is a battle for two different visions of happiness. One says this: Happiness will come when we separate sex from its most natural consequence: the family. A whole system of issues and public policies and laws are founded upon on safeguarding this vision. The other vision: Human happiness comes from the most fundamental building block of our relationships, which is family, from the link between the sexual embrace and procreation.
Anyone out there who embraces those sacrifices can also attest that real, genuine human happiness comes from embracing those challenges, from embracing those bonds that unite us. We need to fight for laws, for public policies, that safeguard that interconnection of sexuality, marriage and family life.
5. The culture often appears to be corrupt and depraved beyond redemption. Do you see hope for cultural change?
The world is looking pretty grim; it's looking pretty dark. But the darker it gets, the brighter the light shines. We as Christians, we are people of great hope, because we know that death is not the final word. There is also resurrection. I believe that there will be a collapse of this culture of death, if it takes its natural course. From the ashes will rise up a culture of life.
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