Theology of the Body 2014/08/31

I'm surprised that it has been more than three months since I've made a post on the Theology of the Body. Recent excerpts have dealt with the point that our resurrected bodies will transcend marriage (the supreme bodily expression of our call to a communion of persons), but there will still be a self-giving. And God will give himself to us completely.

"Jesus argued for the resurrection based on Old Testament Scriptures and the power of God, but his ultimate testimony was his own resurrection. …

"Because of his direct experience of the risen Christ, the resurrection became a centerpiece of Paul's teachings. The resurrection is the foundation of Christian belief, Paul argues. …

"In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul buildson Jesus' words in the Gospels, offering a profound meditation on the resurrection. … Paul agrees that the body, as we experience it, is weighed down by sin, but he uses this to argue for the resurrection:

But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' … The body that is sown is  perishable, it is raised imperishable: …it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. (1Cor. 15:[35; 42-44])

…

"Paul's synthesis is rooted in a total view of humanity, from creation to the fullness of redemption. According to Genesis, the creation of man is an enlivening of matter by spirit. Also according to Genesis, the body became subject to corruption and death because of the Fall. … Even so,  the body contains and reveals hope, like the hope of a woman in labor awaiting the promise of new life.

"Christ's resurrection confirms the promise of the redemption of the body. … [W]e can look forward to the day when 'the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God' (Rom. 8:21). …

"Redemption is the way to resurrection. The coming resurrection will complete our redemption in Christ."