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| The Love That Satisfies :
Today, the term “love” has become one of the most frequently used and misused words, a word to which we attach quite different meanings. We speak of love of country, love of one’s profession, love between friends, love of work, love between parents and children, love of neighbor, and love of God. Amid this multiplicity of meaning, however, one love in particular stands out: the love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness. This would seem to be the very epitome of love: all other kinds of love immediately seem to fade in comparison (Deus Caritas Est, n.2). The Love that Satisfies focuses on this last kind of love—the love that promises such happiness but so often leads to despair; the love that seems to be the epitome of all love but which relatively few people find in a measure that satisfies. Why should this be the case? Why is the love between man and woman so attractive and illusive, demanding and rewarding, restrictive and liberating, painful and ecstatic, messy and beautiful, maddening and fulfilling? Our world is saturated with sex but remains starved for love. Why? Perhaps, as Waylon Jennings put it, we’re “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places, lookin’ for love in too many faces.” Where, then is the right place and whose, then, is the right face in which to look for love? By reflecting on key passages from Pope Benedict’s grand encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, this book explores these and many other questions with the goal of pointing all who read it toward the love that satisfies. Those who give the pope’s message the attention it deserves will discover that the Catholic Church – despite all the supposed anti-sex sentiment – has a vision of sexual love far more glorious than anything Sigmund Freud, Hugh Hefner, Britney Spears, or Howard Stern could dream of or imagine. Theology
of the Body for Beginners:
Is there a way out? For such a time as this have we been given Pope John Paul II and his “theology of the body.” Based on the words of Jesus, John Paul II’s 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 Pope’s profound scholarship often intimidates the average person. In his previous book, Theology of the Body Explained, Christopher West offered a more detailed, five-hundred page commentary on John Paul II’s theology of the body. Here, he provides a short and popular summary of the Pope’s revolutionary teaching. Theology of the Body for Beginners explores the profound interconnections between sex and the deepest questions of human existence, including:
How can we experience the love we long for in the depth of
our hearts? Good News About Sex and Marriage:
"`Heart speaks to heart' was a motto of John Henry
Newman, and that is just what Christopher West's book does.
It taps into the desire we all have for deep spirituality and
an integrated life; he draws from his own remarkable life experience
and his theological training to shape answers to the most sublime
and some of the most gritty questions spouses are likely to
have. Those who adopt the principles of this book will have
much happier marriages." Book
$11.95 Theology of the Body Explained
"This book will be of enormous pastoral value to those
seeking to put forth the Church's liberating teachings on sexuality.
Reading John Paul's text directly can be quite daunting for
those without a background in philosophy and theology. This
is what makes this book so exciting--it succeeds in "translating"
the Holy Father's insights into a much more accessible language." "This is a book rich in substance for the serious
scholar, but accessible and rewarding for the average reader
as well--an excellent resource from one of our most insightful
and committed Catholic authors." Book
$29.95 © Christopher West. All rights reserved. |
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