3. What Is It?
A biblical & iconic
anthropology which
highlight’s the body’s
capacity to give &
receive personal love at
any age and in any state
of life.
8. ToB and Reading Scripture
Method of Reading
scripture
Veritatis splendor, nos.
6-8
Commenting on
Matthew 19:12-22
The invitation to find
oneself in the text
9. Content
The Springboard: Matthew 19: 3-9
Some Pharisees approached him, and tested
him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce
his wife for any cause whatever?" He said in
reply, "Have you not read that from the
beginning the Creator 'made them male and
female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to
his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one
flesh. Therefore, what God has joined
together, no human being must separate."
They said to him, "Then why did Moses
command that the man give the woman a bill
of divorce and dismiss (her)?" He said to
them, "Because of the hardness of your
hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your
wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful) and
marries another commits adultery."
10. Creation / Original Innocence
The indissolubility of marriage = the catalyst
“The beginning”
Creation as gift
The focus on the Yahwist account—a narrative (“subjective”)
Original experiences embedded in our revealed theological
prehistory
Relation to present day experience
11. Creation / Original Innocence:
Solitude
“the Lord God then took the man and settled
him in the garden of Eden” (Gen. 2:15).
The body expresses the person.
12. Creation / Original Innocence:
Solitude
“The man gave names to all . . .
the animals” (Gen. 2:19)
13. Creation / Original Innocence:
Solitude
“It is not good for the
man to be alone” (Gen.
2:18)
14. Creation / Original Innocence:
Unity
“God then built into
a woman the rib he
had taken from the
man” (Gen. 2:22)
“…in the divine
image He created
him. Male and
female He created
them” (Gen. 1:27)
The Spousal
Meaning of the Body
15. Sex: Union and Procreation
The Language of the
Body
“Be fruitful and
multiply. Fill the Earth
and subdue it” (Gen.
1:28). “Adam knew his wife
and she conceived and
bore a son, saying I have
conceived a man with
the help of the Lord”
(Gen. 4:1).
16. Creation / Original Innocence
Original Solitude (Genesis 2:16-21)
--Self-consciousness & self-determination (2:16-17)
--death and immortality
- The Body Expresses the Person: “I”
Original Unity (Genesis 2:22-24 [1:27])
- The “originality” of men and women
--somatic homogeneity/ double solitude
- The “spousal meaning of the body”: “I—Thou”
- Marriage covenant and the Trinity as communio
personarum (cf. LF, no. 7)
-Marriage as the Heart of the Civilization of Love
Original Nakedness (Genesis 2:25 [vs. 3:7])
- The “language of the body” (cf. Gen 4:1) –”to know”
--motherhood & fatherhood
- Communion leads to community: “I—Thou—We”
