programs FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONAL WOMEN

Women 35 and under

theology of the body

A summer series of discussion classes on human sexuality and the gift of love

In this in-depth lecture and discussion series, we will explore how the human body expresses the vocation of each person to lovingly give of herself or himself. By engaging with St. John Paul II’s Man and Woman He Created Them, a series of Scriptural and philosophical reflections on human sexuality, we will see how Trinitarian love provides the ultimate foundation for the gift of self in both marriage and celibacy. After a brief philosophical and theological orientation, we will focus on Chapter One, “Christ Appeals to the ‘Beginning,’” which contains St. John Paul’s reading of the Genesis story, to investigate concepts like original solitude and original unity; original nakedness and innocence; and the human person considered in the dimension of “gift” according to the plan of God.

Reading Materials: There are multiple versions of this work out there. We will be using the translation of Michael Waldstein (Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 2006; ISBN: 0-8198-7421-3). Within fair use laws, key sections of the text will be made available for class participants. It is recommended but not necessary to purchase your own copy of the book for private reading and study