Customer Reviews

Body and Gift: Reflections Jn Creations (Pope John Paul II's)

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Sam Torode has done a tremendous service to Christian thinkers (and anyone interested in Biblically-based philosophy, Christian or not) with his translation of Pope John Paul II's theology of the body into everyday English.

The result is not dumbed-down or simplified. The people who publish the "Complete Idiot's Guide to..." books are not going to co-opt this title. Rather, Torode's translation yields clarity and aids in understanding.

My generation (I'm 25) is searching for things of eternal significance, for the ideas and principles based on the wisdom of ages, things our parents and grandparents seemed to forget. Torode has made the Pope's commentary accessible and clear in language that contemporary Americans will understand and still find intellectually engaging.

Can't wait for the next installment in the series!

John Paul II's Theology of the Body is broken up into 6 "cycles" and "Body and Gift" covers the first cycle. The subject of the first cycle is Original Man: man's experience before the Fall (eating the apple, that is, not the season).

There are 23 chapters in the book and most chapters are only about 2 pages long (the book is 50 pages long). Churches are encouraged to reprint individual chapters in their bulletins. While the short chapters are nice if you are just reading the book casually, I think some of the ideas need to be fleshed out more to fully appreciate them. Just when you get introduced to an idea, the chapter ends.

However, the book is still outstanding as an introduction to the first part of the Theology of the Body. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading the other books in the series.

Highly recommended, especially for a Roman Catholic readership, Body And Gift: Reflections On Creation presents the words and wisdom of Pope John Paul II's speeches, seamlessly adapted into a series of essays by Sam Torode, concerning love, sexuality, and the human person. A simplified presentation of the pope's fifteen-minute talks which condenses the critical, core issues into a direct and unambiguous message, Body And Gift is an unparalleled work of insight and spiritual pondering.