[Book Review]: At the Heart of the Gospel

At the Heart of the Gospel:

Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization.

Christopher West

Image Books, 2012

Christopher West, a very well known speaker and writer on the Theology of the Body, wrote this book in 2012 after taking a significant amount of time away from speaking and writing. This time away, he explains in the endnotes, was as a result of over-exerting himself in teaching on the theology of the body. In this book, he returns from the sabbatical with a 200 page summary of his teachings in a detailed explanation of the way that the body can be re-claimed for the new evangelization. This book is also, in many ways, a response to the many, sometimes very harsh, criticisms he has received over the years. 

I have always been a fan of West's work and speaking, and I particularly enjoyed reading this book. In this work, West sets about explaining, in good detail, many of the main aspects of his teaching, which all come from the beautiful Theology of the Body of John Paul II. As West explains, his goal in writing this book is "that all who read this work will enter more deeply into the 'great mystery' that lies at the heart of the Gospel and come away all the more compelled to 'go into the main streets and invite everyone to the wedding feast' (Mt 22:9)" (p.6). For me, that was the great beauty of this work: it not only presents many of the main points of John Paul II's teaching, but it does so in a way that it encourages all readers to use this teaching to reach out to others and present them with the Gospel message. 

In the way that West has been known for (and also widely criticized for) doing, he presents the Christian ethos, or worldview, as the remedy to the world's two extremes. Whether it is materialism versus spiritualism, puritanism versus sexual deviancy or idolatry versus iconoclasm, West explains that the proper answer to the two extremes is always the Incarnation. "The Incarnational view of reality--the authentically Christian view--," he says, "recognizes that, for man, there is no reaching the 'higher' without pondering the 'lower'" (p.56). This is the basis for the work of John Paul II, which was continued by Pope Benedict XVI, that West has spent his life's work explaining: the mystery of the incarnation gives a particular value to the human body that we as Christians cannot ignore. As John Paul II said in his audience on Feb. 20, 1980 (TOB 19:4 in the most common translation) "the human body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine." This statement by John Paul II, which is more or less a thesis statement of his 129 weekly audiences now known as the Theology of the Body, is in many ways what West is trying to show in his work: the human body shows us a particular part of the Lord's relationship to His people which we cannot see if we ignore the body. 

If you are someone who has grown critical of the work of Christopher West, this book would be important for you to read, as he gives a particular glimpse into his motives that you won't find elsewhere. With more poise than one might expect, West responds to his critics through his theology, but also by explaining his personal faults. While not backing down from his arguments, West spends much time in his footnotes explaining his errors in explanation and the way they affected the response to his work. West uses this criticism as the springboard to see where his explanations may have been wrong and led people away from the truth, repeatedly apologizing for any time when pride or zeal may have hindered his ability to teach properly. If you are one of those who was once offended by anything West said, take the time to read this book and its footnotes, and I think your opinion of him or his teaching will improve.

As you might guess from reading my review, I strongly recommend this book. If you have never been exposed to John Paul II's Theology of the Body, this book is for you (don't stop with this book, keep learning about this wonderful teaching, but this would be a fine place to start). If you are vaguely familiar with the Theology of the Body but would like to know more, or would like to see how it all applies to our lives, this is for you. If you are very familiar with the Theology of the Body, this book is for you as it will inspire you to use TOB as a springboard for the new evangelization, and it will help you to concretely see what all you have learned means. 

This book was a fairly easy read, but don't rush through it; take the time to carefully read this book and learn more about the way that the Lord has shown Himself to us through our experience of the body. To end with a quote from Gaudium et Spes which John Paul II took as a sort of anthem in his discourses on the body, we can see that with its spousal imagery the body (speaking particularly about Ephesians 5, where Paul tells us that the love of man and wife reflects the love of Christ and the Church) "reveals--in a particular way--man to man himself and makes his supreme vocation clear" (GS 22). I encourage you to learn more about the way that the human body shows God's love, allowing that to reveal to you more of yourself as well as your supreme vocation, that of being loved by God as a precious son or daughter. 

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books." This book is written by very well known author and Theology of the Body speaker Christopher West; if you want to learn more about him or find his other books you can visit his website at http://www.christopherwest.com/, and you can also read a bio of him here. You can find more info about this book from Random House publisher's website here; you can read the first chapter of this book here. The direct link to purchase this book from his website is here. You can also check out more book reviews I've done by clicking the "My Library" tab or clicking on this.