Theology of the Body for Beginners

Broken families, abortion, AIDS, internet pornography, sexual abuse scandals, homosexual marriage; our Church and our world are in the midst of a profound sexual crisis. Is there a way out?

For such a time as this have we been given St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Based on the words of Jesus, St. John Paul II’s famous reflections on the body and sex take us to the root of the modern crisis and chart the path to an authentic sexual liberation. Yet the saint’s dense scholarship often intimidates the average person.

In his previous book, Theology of the Body Explained, Christopher West offered a more detailed, six-hundred-page commentary on St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Here, he provides a short and popular summary of the saint’s revolutionary teaching while answering big questions like:

• What is the meaning of life?
• Why did God create us male and female?
• Why is there evil in the world and how do we overcome it?
• How do we attain true happiness on earth?
• What kind of joys await us in heaven?
• How can we experience the love we long for in the depth of our hearts?

The first edition of Theology of the Body for Beginners (2004) quickly became an international best-seller. This freshly revised and expanded edition is based on Dr. Michael Waldstein’s much improved translation of St. John Paul II’s catechesis.

New for this edition:

• All quotations have been updated with the new translation.
• Key insights discovered through Dr. Waldstein’s access to the St. John Paul II archives have been incorporated.
• The outline of the text has been substantially reorganized to reflect the newly discovered outline of St. John Paul II’s original manuscript.
• St. John Paul II’s “hidden” and previously untranslated addresses are summarized.