The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

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• Bill B said...

  You have put your finger on something that I find difficult to understand about John Paul II’s project with the Theology of the Body, Gerald. The scriptural text is concise and not very descriptive:

  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Gen 3:7

  Can you elaborate on your (and JP II’s) point that this knowledge is to be equated with shame? And on a related point, can you comment on your experience as a pastor as to whether youth today truly feel shame associated with nakedness in any meaningful way?

  Bill

  07/10/12 9:37 AM | Comment Link

• Gerald Hiestand said...

  Hi Bill,

  Not sure how much help I can add here. I think Gen 3.7 and 3.10 (“I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself”), both point to sexual shame being the motivation behind Adam and Eve’s desire to hide themselves, and thus is related to the “knowledge” that became available to them when their eyes were opened. The connection in the text seems clear to me.

  JP II notes that the shame of the man and the woman is relative to each other. In other words, the man is ashamed in the presence of the woman, and the woman in the presence of the man. it’s a relational, “reciprocal” shame. This reciprocal shame “compels them to cover their nakedness, to hide their own bodies, to withdraw from man’s sight what constitutes the visible sign of femininity, and from woman’s sight what constitutes the visible sign of masculinity.” (28:1). In other words, the spousal meaning of the body is withdrawn from the other. This is what sin does–it causes us to quit loving the other in self-giving love. So it would seem that the “knowledge” to which they became privy, was the fact that, in cutting themselves off from God, they were no longer oriented toward self-giving love. And thus they became ashamed of their sexuality, precisely because our sexuality is specifically and uniquely designed for self-giving love.

  Regarding your second question, I do think that youth today still (despite the best efforts of our culture) feel a sense of shame regarding nakedness. Standards are looser, but not completely gone, from what I can tell. No teen (male or female) would genuinely enjoy being completely exposed before a group of their peers. We have to work hard at overcoming the sense of vulnerability and shame that attends being naked in public.

  07/11/12 2:45 PM | Comment Link

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