Theology of the BODY? Isn’t theology about God, who has no body? How can the body have a theology? And what does it have to do with my life?
When I started speaking on the Theology of the Body, I heard many questions like this. I still hear them. In fact, if I listen very closely, I can hear some of you asking them right now.
St. John Paul II said that Christian theology lacked an “adequate anthropology” — an adequate understanding of man. Not man as flesh and bones, but man as created by God. He said that just as studying a work of art teaches us about the artist, studying God’s highest creation, human persons, teaches about God and our relationship with him and each other.
And that is when theology gets interesting to me — when it helps me understand myself, my life and my relationships with God and the people around me.
The book of Genesis says, “In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). What does this tell us? We’ve already discussed that every human person is created in his image, carrying that incredible dignity. And that the only appropriate response to a human person is love. But we learn here that there are two very different, distinct ways to be created in his image.
Why did he create us as male and female? I mean, obviously, those variations in organ structure are crucial for the continuation of the species. But is that all? Is it all just a convenient method of reproduction?
Let’s go back to Genesis. When Adam first beheld Eve, he said, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). Finally, God had sent him another person to give himself to in love. And he loved her instantly, recognizing her dignity as created in God’s image and loved by him.
But one can assume that it didn’t take long for him to notice that Eve was different. The physical differences would have been apparent immediately, what with them both being naked and all. But there were also deeper differences. Like the first time they had a problem. Adam most likely dealt with it by retreating to his cave to close the door and think about his problem, emerging when he had found a solution. Meanwhile, Eve, if she was anything like me, wanted to talk about her problem. And talk. And talk. And Adam, hearing her talk about her problem, assumed she was ready to solve it, so he “helpfully” offered suggestions. To which Eve most likely responded, “I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do anything. I just need to roll around in this problem for a while, if you don’t mind.”
Male and female are two very different ways of being human, with biological differences that go far beyond a couple of organs. Every single chromosome of a man’s body is different from every single chromosome of a woman’s body. We have different skeletal, muscle and hormonal systems. And, most interesting to me, the structure of our brains is different, which explains a lot.
Now, bear with me here because I am a theologian, not a medical professional. But I have learned that one key difference between the male and female brains is that the corpus callosum, the connection between the two halves of the brain, is much larger in women than in men. “Cool,” the women are saying. “It’s good to have a large corpus callosum, right?” It is neither good nor bad. It is just different. The way my layperson’s mind has always understood it is that our feelings are on one side of our brains, and what we’re doing is on the other. Men, with that narrower connection, can keep their feelings more compartmentalized. Meanwhile, we women, with that superhighway connecting the two halves, are constantly being interrupted by our emotions.
That is basically true, although the full reality is much more complicated.
St. John Paul II wrote about how women’s brain and hormonal structures give us certain relational gifts. Science backs this up. Studies have been done where photos of faces are shown to men and women. Women are much more likely to accurately identify a person’s emotional state based on their facial expressions.
So, when would these gifts come in handy? When would it be helpful to identify emotional state based on facial expression? Well, how about when dealing with a pre-verbal baby? And when would it be nice to be physically strong and compartmentalize emotion? Perhaps when hunting wild boar to feed the mother and baby who are back in the cave?
These tendencies are primitive, meaning they go way back to the basics of human survival. Women’s bodies conceive and nurture new life, which puts them in closer proximity to those babies and makes them more vulnerable while their attention is focused on the baby. Men’s strength and ability to compartmentalize places them in the natural role of protector.
St. John Paul II wrote extensively on the “feminine genius” — the specific gifts that women bring to the world by virtue of the way we are created. Frankly, I wish he had also written about the “masculine genius” because I like men a lot, and I am fascinated by the unique gifts that they bring to the table. Gifts like calm, rationality, strength, protection and so many others. Masculinity is only toxic when distorted, just as distorted femininity becomes toxic, which we will discuss later when we look at the fall of Adam and Eve.
It is important here to warn against stereotypes. Yes, male and female are profoundly different and have different gifts. But each person is also utterly unique, and the gifts they bring will manifest in different ways. St. John Paul II was clear that the family needs both male and female gifts. But the world also needs both. The business and political worlds need both male and female gifts. When women enter domains traditionally dominated by men, they bring a new perspective, balance and set of gifts. And vice versa.
According to St. John Paul II, it is all part of a much bigger picture. He said that the physical points to deeper realities in God’s creation. Consider this: God is not one Person, but three — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existing in a “spiration of love.” In the Trinity, the love of the Father and the Son constantly brings forth the Spirit. Just as God is fundamentally a relationship of love, so we most accurately reflect his image when we love. The fact that he created two different ways of being human and that those two ways “fit together” on every level — physically and emotionally — tells us that we are created not for isolation but for unity.
We’ll talk more about that next time.
