What is Theology Of the Body?
 | And let them be for signs.....
Theology Of the Body is the working title of 129 Wednesday Papal Adresses given by Pope John Paul II from 1979 to 1984. Theology of the Body (sometimes abbreviated to TOB), is the study of how God reveals Himself to us through the human body.
It illuminates the creation story of Genesis and how the relationship between man and woman acts a sign towards God relationship between Himself and humanity.
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It addresses such questions as:
- What is the meaning of life?
- Why does it feel like something is missing from my life?
- Who is God?
- Why are men and women so different?
- Why did God make us like this?
- What is our purpose in life?
- What is God calling us to do?
- What is the purpose of marriage?
- What makes a good marriage?
- How do we get to Heaven ?
| And behold, it was very good ...
In the fall of 2006 a new translation of John Paul II's addresses was released under the title Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. |
Unlike the previous text that was translated by many persons and assembled afterward, this entire text has been translated by one person, Michael Waldstein. This seems to have given the work a more even tone and appears to be much more of what Pope John Paul II originally intended in his writing.
On the cover, Michaelangelo's depiction of the creation of man (see above) shows God's outstretched arm towards man and man's mutual reaching towards God. Tucked in God's left arm is Eve, God's response to Adam's distaste of solitude.