Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II's Theology of the Body by Carl Anderson

Description: Called to Love by Carl Anderson, Jose Granados Now in trade paperback! From Anderson, chairman of Knights of Columbus, and Fr. Jose Granados, a thoughtful, accessible work on the beauty of love and the splendor of the body, inspired by Pope John Paul IIs Theology of the Body.A thoughtful, accessible work on the beauty of love and the splendor of the body, inspired by Pope John Paul II.Christianity has long been regarded as viewing the body as a threat to a persons spiritual nature and of denying its sexual dimension. In 1979, Pope John Paul II departed from this traditional dichotomy and offered an integrated vision of the human body and soul. In a series of talks that came to be known as "the theology of the body," he explained the divine meaning of human sexuality and why the body provides answers to fundamental questions about our lives.In Called to Love, Carl Anderson, chairman of the worlds largest catholic service organization, and Fr. Jose Granados discuss the philosophical and religious significance of "the theology of the body" in language at once poetic and profound. As they explain, the body speaks of God, it reveals His goodness, and it also speaks of men and women and their vocation to love. Called to Love brings to life the tremendous gift John Paul II bestowed on humanity and gives readers a new understanding of the Christian way of love and how to embrace it fully in their lives. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography CARL ANDERSON, New York Times bestselling author, is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Knights of Columbus. He held various positions of the Executive Office of the President from 1983 to 1987, was a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and has taught at the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome. FR. JOSE GRANADOS is assistant professor of patrology and sytematic theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Review "Carl Anderson and Father José Granados write with a clarity, beauty, and intelligence that make these pages a joy to read. But its the content that makes this book so important. In a culture that increasingly devalues human life, this is a compelling, wonderfully readable reflection on the theology of the body and the meaning of human love and sexuality. I highly recommend it."—The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia Review Quote "Carl Anderson and Father Jos Excerpt from Book Chapter I The Body Manifests the Person WE BEGAN OUR JOURNEY OF REFLECTION IN THIS BOOK with John Paul IIs identification of the key difference between man and the rest of the visible creation: "The rushing stream cannot wonder... but man can wonder!" (RT, 8). This wonder, we went on to see, is called forth by the richness of our experience of life-especially by the experience of love. Our task now is to ponder the indispensable role the body plays in this many-faceted experience of wonder. Experience and Meaning We all face the temptation to let lifes current carry us along-to "go with the flow" without any resistance. But if we simply let a flood of experiences wash over us, we are in danger of losing the meaning of our lives. A recent survey of teenagers in Southampton, United Kingdom, revealed that this danger is anything but purely theoretical. The respondents, it turned out, possessed only a limited vocabulary to express the emotional quality of their response to the world. These teens suffered from what has been called "affective illiteracy": the inability to grasp and express the meaning of the experiences generated in us by our encounter with the world around us. It isnt enough, then, simply to let our experiences wash over us. We need to plumb their depth. This exploration isnt a matter of "sampling" as many possibilities as we can, or of ratcheting up the volume of our existence, but requires us to ask ourselves questions such as these: Are we capable of distinguishing between experiences that build up our happiness and experiences that tear it down? Are we able to discern in our experiences something like a compass for our lifes journey? In a word: Are we capable of perceiving the meaning of our experiences? We tend to put experience and meaning in separate boxes. We have already seen why this wont work. When man experiences the world, he necessarily experiences himself in the process. For the same reason, mans experience of the world always involves an at least minimal search for the meaning of his life. The sight of a majestic mountainscape doesnt just reveal the wonder of creation; it also affords us an opportunity to lay hold of our innate capacity for beauty and wonder. Since the question of man emerges from our contact with the world, experience always goes together with a search for meaning. Even the refusal to embark on this search is an answer to the question of meaning. We had the experience, we missed the meaning And approach to the meaning restores the experience In a different form. These lines from T. S. Eliots poem "The Dry Salvages" underscore the point that meaning is not foreign to experience. Quite the contrary, meaning is an integral part of experience. So much so, in fact, that meaning makes our experience properly human in the first place. John Paul IIs insight into this unity of meaning and experience guided his reflection on the theology of the body, which begins with an effort to recollect the authentic "feel" of mans experience in light of its deepest meaning. In a word, the pope guides us through the labyrinth of our lives using the golden thread of what he calls "original experiences." So what is an "original experience"? The Original Experience John Paul II invites us to seek the true depth of our experience. Actually, it is Christ himself who first entrusted this task to us. When the Pharisees asked him, "Is it lawful to divorce ones wife for any cause?" (Matt. 19:3), he didnt list minimum sufficient grounds for divorce, but went instead to the heart of the matter: Is it really possible to love another person forever? The Pharisees clearly assumed that the answer was no. This assumption reflects their (and our) hardness of heart, and it speaks volumes about mans alienation from the root of his experience of love. Christ came to retrieve and fulfill this root of love, and he therefore replies to the Pharisees by telling them to reread the creation accounts in the book of Genesis. He thus invites his questioners to recover the depth of their experience in the mirror of Gods original intention for human love. John Paul II takes Christ at his word. As we know, Genesis presents two different accounts of creation, and John Paul II devotes considerable attention to both. Lets start with his reflections on the first narrative (Gen. 1:1-2:3), which lights up the true shape of our experience of everyday life in the blaze of Gods Word. The biblical text unfurls the rich tapestry of creation with all of its color and variety. It places man at the summit of the whole created world and underscores his special privilege of being made in the image and likeness of God. The words "image and likeness" signal the overture to the covenant between God and man in the Bible. They tell us that from the beginning man is the one to whom God addresses his Word and whose special status lies in his capacity to answer this divine call. The Bibles affirmation of mans dignity as the "image and likeness of God," which comes at the end of the first creation account, calls for further commentary, because it still leaves open how man is meant to respond to the Creator. Answering this question is the job that falls to the second creation story (Gen. 2:4-3:24), which can thus be seen as the natural continuation of the first. After weve listened to the creative voice of God in the first account, we perceive mans answering voice in the second. The second creation narrative enables us to rediscover the inner experience through which we are to respond to the Creators call. In other words, the second creation account shifts the point of view of the story: Now its man who speaks and reveals his interior world. This account doesnt just observe man from the outside; it presents the human journey of wonderment from mans own point of view. By putting us in mans shoes as he was in the beginning, the second creation account unfolds the "original experiences" we spoke of just now. John Paul II sums up these experiences under the three headings of "original solitude," "original unity," and "original nakedness." Before going on to describe these original experiences, though, we should stop to ask ourselves whether we really can describe them, or even have any access to them at all. How can anyone retrieve events that supposedly took place at the very dawn of history? Even if we could do so, we would still face a further difficulty: Arent the original experiences John Paul II describes permeated by a purity and innocence sin has extinguished in our hearts? How can experiences belonging to a sunken past help us attain happiness here and now? Fortunately, mans original experiences of the beginning have in fact never been totally lost. Two images help illustrate the abiding presence of the beginning in the midst of our everyday reality. The first image comes from J. R. R. Tolkiens The Silmarillion, which opens with a "creation myth" that compares Gods creative design to a piece of music. As Tolkien goes on to relate, Melkor, the dark angel, becomes jealous of Gods creative power and tries to introduce a discordant note of his own into the celestial orchestra. Yet, as God reminds Melkor, even this disharmony cannot destroy the pattern of the original music. On the contrary, even Melkors rebellion will be woven (against his intention) into the final master theme all creation will sing to Gods glory. Similarly, we can compare the three original experiences John Paul II refers to with a primordial music that, while distorted through sin, has never completely been destroyed by it. If we listen inattentively, we will hear only noise. If, however, we keep silent and turn our ear to the hidden pattern beneath the noise, we can still discern the original melody that reflects the Creators wise design. Actually, its only because the original harmony still resonates in the background that we can hear the dissonance as the disruption it is. Another way of putting this is that the original experiences are not "original" only in the sense that they happened at the beginning of human history. We call the original experiences "original" because they lie at the basis of every other experience and provide the theme for every other music we compose with our lives. Our use of "original," then, has the same double meaning as the Greek word archZ, which signifies both a temporal beginning and the foundations of a building. This leads us to the second image that illustrates the continuing accessibility of mans original experiences. As the facade of Saint Peters Basilica was being cleaned recently in preparation for the Jubilee of the year 2000, the workers were surprised by the green color of the marble surrounding the central windows. Some even thought that the chemical agents used to clean the building were destroying the marbles original color. Consultation of the original plans for the basilica, however, brought to light that this green was indeed the true color of the stone. Its just that it had been covered in grime for so long that no one could recollect its original appearance. A similar grime builds up over our attitude toward life. As children, we live close to the original experiences of Adam and Eve, but as we grow up their freshness is progressively polluted by layers of routine and mechanization. The French philosopher Gabriel Marcel once said that we are the bureaucrats of our own existence, who have buried our original contact with life under mountains of paperwork and procedures that impair our capacity to discern the human drama lying beneath them. If Marcel is right, then the child is closer to mans original experiences, but the Details ISBN0770435742 Author Jose Granados Short Title CALLED TO LOVE Language English ISBN-10 0770435742 ISBN-13 9780770435745 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 233.5 Imprint Bantam Books Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Year 2012 Publication Date 2012-07-31 AU Release Date 2012-07-31 NZ Release Date 2012-07-31 US Release Date 2012-07-31 UK Release Date 2012-07-31 Subtitle Approaching John Paul IIs Theology of the Body Pages 272 Publisher Random House USA Inc Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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