When I first discovered John Paul II’s “theology of the body” (TOB) in 1993 – a collection of 129 talks on human love in God’s plan – I knew that I was holding a revolution in my hands. I also knew I would spend the rest of my life studying it and sharing it with the world.

A few months ago, Pauline Books and Media released a long awaited “critical edition” of the TOB, freshly translated by biblical scholar Michael Waldstein. This brightly polished edition of the TOB has only increased my appreciation for John Paul II’s dazzling, mystical vision of the human person and reinvigorated me to continue promoting and teaching it.

Among this new edition’s many improvements, perhaps most exciting is the inclusion of six undelivered talks never before translated in English. Waldstein discovered them in the Vatican archives as part of his research.

Wow – new undelivered material from John Paul II on the theology of the body!!?? To somebody like me (a TOB “geek”) that’s like Indiana Jones discovering the lost ark or the holy grail. And the contents of these never before translated talks – mostly on the Song of Songs and the Book of Tobit – truly are a treasure. They fill in a critical gap in the previous editions of TOB.

With this column I begin a series of reflections on the new insights of John Paul II’s “hidden” talks on the Song of Songs. My reflections are based on the recently completed, new edition of my book Theology of the Body Explained (to be released by Pauline in September, 2007).

Why is the Song of Songs the favorite biblical book of the mystics? Why have the saints written more commentaries on the Song of Songs than on any other book in the Bible? Because the erotic poetry of the Song provides a language – certainly inadequate, but in the experience of many of the greatest saints, the least inadequate – for expressing the burning passion of God’s love and the experience of union to which all are called with God. God’s eternal plan, as the mystics often put it, is to “marry” us – to live with us in an eternal union of love that the Bible compares to a marriage.
Thus, the fact that Sacred Scripture celebrates erotic love should not surprise us. If it does, it seems an indication that we have been influenced more by Manichaeism (a heresy that views the body as evil and opposed to “spiritual things”) than by an authentically Christian/incarnational view of the world.

Christians should be the first to recognize that the erotic themes of the Song of Songs contain, as John Paul II wrote, an “essential sign of holiness” (TOB 109:2). Sadly, because of the tenacious grip of Manichaean attitudes, many Christians have difficulty putting “sex” and “holiness” in the same sentence. While that may be understandable in a pornographic culture like ours, we must work to reclaim the holiness of the body and of spousal love. Prayerful reflection on the Song of Songs can help.

Holiness does not reject the body. Holiness, instead, as John Paul affirmed, is what enables us to express ourselves deeply with our own bodies, by making a gift of our bodies as did Christ. It is in our bodies, the Pope insisted, that men and women feel the call to holiness (see TOB 19:5). In fact, the original spousal unity of man and woman – “naked without shame” (Gen 2:25) – is the sure sign, according to John Paul, that “holiness has entered the visible world” (TOB 19:5).

Through the witness of the lovers’ duet in the Song of Songs, we come to understand that the body “speaks” a language of divine love, of holiness. Not only does it speak – the body sings. And it not only sings, but it sings the greatest of all songs – The Song of Songs.

Or, at least, it is meant to do so. Sin introduces a sour note to the song. The good news is that Christ comes into the world to restore the true Song in our hearts precisely by redeeming our bodies. We’ll continue our reflections on the Song of Songs in part II of this series.