{"id":3096,"date":"2013-01-23T11:43:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-23T16:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2013-01-23T11:43:07","modified_gmt":"2013-01-23T16:43:07","slug":"theologian-christopher-west-on-his-new-book-the-difference-between-true-human-desire-and-superficial-lust-the-positive-power-of-art-and-a-spiritual-lesson-from-planes-trains-and-automobiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/01\/theologian-christopher-west-on-his-new-book-the-difference-between-true-human-desire-and-superficial-lust-the-positive-power-of-art-and-a-spiritual-lesson-from-planes-trains-and-automobiles.html","title":{"rendered":"Theologian Christopher West on his new book, the difference between true human desire and superficial lust, the positive power of art and a spiritual lesson from &#8220;Planes, Trains and Automobiles&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What People Want.<\/strong> Christopher West is a well-regarded teacher, writer and theologian who is, perhaps, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Faiths\/Catholic\/2004\/08\/Telling-Lies-With-The-Body.aspx\">best known for making the dense scholarship of Pope John Paul II\u2019s <em>Theology of the Body<\/em> accessible to a wide audience<\/a>. He&#8217;s also the founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecorproject.org\" target=\"_blank\">The Cor Project<\/a>, a non-profit group created to encourage positive culture through the \u201c<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/beliefs-and-teachings\/how-we-teach\/new-evangelization\/\">New Evangelization<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.christopherwest.com\/about\/\">From his website:<\/a> <em>West has been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on the Theology of the Body and sexual ethics since the late 1990s, having served on the faculties of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, The Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, and as a visiting professor at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2004 he has served as a research fellow and faculty member of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tobinstitute.org\/\">Theology of the Body Institute<\/a> near Philadelphia. His courses there continue to draw clergy, religious, and lay people from around the globe. He also serves as a visiting faculty member of Saint Therese Institute of Faith and Mission in Bruno, Saskatchewan, Canada.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>His website also noted that for all his titles and accomplishments, his most important roles are that of husband and father five children.<\/p>\n<p>In his new book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/book\/fill-these-hearts\/id536973429?mt=11\">Fill These Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing<\/a><\/em>, West tackles the importance of human sexual desire and the role that culture, including pop culture, can play in channeling that desire toward positive growth.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Fill These Hearts by Christopher West\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lRCV2jAapAY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong>JWK: <\/strong>What motivated you to write <em>Fill These Hearts<\/em> and what is the primary message you hope readers take from it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHRISTOPHER WEST:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been in dialogue with a team of creative thinkers and artists for several years. \u00a0We\u2019ve all been impacted by art and music as much as by our study of theology.\u00a0 We were especially inspired by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/holy_father\/john_paul_ii\/letters\/documents\/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists_en.html\">Pope John Paul II\u2019s <em>Letter to Artists<\/em><\/a>, in which he insists that the Gospel cannot be effectively presented without the help of art. That was the inspiration for a live event we put together called <em>Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing<\/em>.\u00a0 We incorporate live music (Indie folk-rock act Mike Mangione and the Union), movie clips, YouTube videos and other artistic works into a contemporary exposition of the Gospel. \u00a0This book is named after that live event and tries to take the same approach in written form.<\/p>\n<p>The message I hope readers take away is simply this: There is a banquet that corresponds to the hunger we all feel inside.\u00a0 Life, yearning, suffering, love, our cry for intimacy and union \u2013 all begin to make sense when the Church\u2019s teaching is properly framed and presented as the beautiful invitation that it is.\u00a0 It\u2019s an invitation to an eternal \u201cwedding feast,\u201d where a bliss and ecstasy awaits us beyond what we can think or imagine. This message desperately needs to be shared because, for lack of it, we are turning to so many false promises of happiness and fulfillment in the world today. And they lead to suffering, disillusionment and despair.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong>JWK:<\/strong> <\/strong>How did\u00a0Christianity become known as a repressive, anti-sex religion?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW:<\/strong> It\u2019s ironic when you think about it \u2013 the religion of the Incarnation, the religion of God \u201cin the flesh,\u201d has a reputation for being opposed to bodily things like sex.\u00a0 What happened here? I think we can admit that a deep ambivalence about the body and its functions \u2013 particularly its sexual, genital functions \u2013 is a not a limited Christian phenomenon, but appears as something universal. I think it\u2019s even fair to say that integrating body and soul, sexuality and spirituality, is in some way <em>the<\/em> human challenge.\u00a0 How do we reconcile our highest spiritual aspirations with our bodily appetites? \u00a0Rejecting the body and sexuality as something evil is an easy way out of the dilemma.\u00a0 In fact, John Paul II said such an approach is a \u201cloophole\u201d to avoid the requirements of the Gospel. The Gospel calls us to the integration of spirituality and sexuality, and that\u2019s hard work. When properly understood, Christianity doesn\u2019t <em>demonize<\/em> the body. It <em>divinizes<\/em> the body. The body itself is raised in Christ to the highest heights of heaven. Christians themselves are desperately in need of recovering this fundamental and challenging truth.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><strong>JWK:<\/strong><\/strong> <\/strong>Does the Church sometimes contribute to that image by appearing to focus too much attention on contraception and gay marriage?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW:<\/strong> We are very confused about the basic purpose and meaning of sex as a culture. In light of that confusion, we shouldn\u2019t be talking <em>less<\/em> about these issues. We should be talking <em>more<\/em> about them. Much is at stake. Questions about sexuality touch on the very core of our humanity and have to do with the very survival of the human race. Our sexual choices, for good or for ill, really do determine the kind of world we live in.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><strong><strong>JWK:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <\/strong>How can the Church utilize a sometimes antagonistic media to better explain its positions regarding sexual matters?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW:<\/strong> It\u2019s really difficult to communicate the richness and breadth of Church teaching in a sound-bite culture. But I think we can begin by inviting people to a sense of wonder at \u201cthe gratuitous beauty\u201d of the human body and of human sexuality, to use an expression from John Paul II. When you see how beautiful a flower is, for example, you don\u2019t want to trample upon it. Perhaps we treat sex so casually and carelessly in our world today because we\u2019ve lost a sense of awe and wonder before so great a gift and mystery.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>JWK:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <\/strong>You say in the book that \u201cwithout destiny, there is no morality,\u201d and then you relate this to the classic \u201cgoing the wrong way\u201d scene from <em>Planes, Trains and Automobiles<\/em>. Can you elaborate on the idea of destiny and morality?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW:<\/strong> I <em>love<\/em> that scene \u2013 John Candy and Steve Martin are driving down the wrong side of the highway and a driver on the other side is screaming: \u201c<em>You\u2019re going the wrong way<\/em>!\u201d\u00a0 John Candy responds obliviously: \u201cOh, he\u2019s drunk. How would he know where we\u2019re going?\u201d Aren\u2019t we the same way with the Church, especially when it comes to sex? But maybe the Church, just like that other driver, sees something we don\u2019t see. The point with destiny and morality is this: Think of the McDonald\u2019s nearest to your house. If that\u2019s your destiny, but you drive in the opposite direction, someone could rightly say, \u201cYou\u2019re going the wrong way.\u201d But if you\u2019re just out for a random drive, there is no right or wrong way to go.\u00a0 In the biblical vision, sexual love is a \u201cgreat mystery\u201d that is meant to reveal divine love.\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s meant to point us to heaven. Sexual morality, in this sense, is all about making sure that it does.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Going the Wrong Way - Planes, Trains &amp; Automobiles (5\/10) Movie CLIP (1987) HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_akwHYMdbsM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>JWK:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <\/strong>How can individual Christians better express their values to a society immersed in a pop culture that mocks them and condemns them as intolerant?<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW:<\/strong>\u00a0 The subtitle of my book is <em>God, Sex, and the Universal Longing<\/em>. We have to start with what\u2019s universal \u2013 the \u201cache,\u201d the longing, the thirst we all feel as human beings for \u201csomething more.\u201d I think a lot of people confuse Christianity with what I call the \u201cstarvation diet gospel\u201d \u2013 a dry list of rules that really has nothing to offer the deepest hunger of our hearts. So rarely is Christianity properly framed as the divine response to the deepest, most wild desires of the human heart. And if it\u2019s not, the culture\u2019s \u201cfast food gospel\u201d \u2013 the promise of immediate gratification of our hunger \u2013 starts to look very attractive. As I say in my book, if the only two choices for my hunger are starvation or greasy chicken nuggets, I\u2019m going for the nuggets. If it\u2019s a contest between \u201cstarvation\u201d and \u201cfast food,\u201d the fast food wins. But if it\u2019s a contest between fast food and the true \u201cwedding feast\u201d that Christ promises, the wedding feast wins. We can better express our values as Christians in this world by leaving all judgmentalism behind, and by \u201cgoing into the main streets and inviting everyone to the wedding feast,\u201d just as Jesus said.<br \/>\n____<\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/holy_father\/john_paul_ii\/letters\/documents\/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists_en.html\">Pope John Paul II\u2019s <em>Letter to Artists<\/em><\/a>: <em>Society needs artists, just as it needs scientists, technicians, workers, professional people, witnesses of the faith, teachers, fathers and mothers, who ensure the growth of the person and the development of the community by means of that supreme art form which is \u201cthe art of education\u201d. Within the vast cultural panorama of each nation, artists have their unique place. Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favour of the common good.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The particular vocation of individual artists decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labour without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a \u201cspirituality\u201d of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. What People Want. Christopher West is a well-regarded teacher, writer and theologian who is, perhaps, best known for making the dense scholarship of Pope John Paul II\u2019s Theology of the Body accessible to a wide audience. He&#8217;s also the founder of The Cor Project,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,9,13,1257,714,22,24,25,1015],"tags":[3850,35,3862,3858,3856,3861,3860,3852,3859,3854,3853,3855,3849,3857,3851],"class_list":["post-3096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-feminism","category-gay-issues","category-media","category-movies","category-music","category-vatican","tag-planes","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-contraception-and-gay-marriage","tag-fill-these-hearts-god","tag-john-paul-ii-institute","tag-mike-mangione-and-the-union","tag-pope-john-paul-iis-letter-to-artists","tag-pope-john-paul-iis-theology-of-the-body","tag-sex-and-the-universal-longing","tag-st-john-vianney-theological-seminary","tag-the-cor-project","tag-the-institute-for-priestly-formation-at-creighton-university","tag-theologian-christopher-west","tag-theology-of-the-body-institute","tag-trains-and-automobiles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Theologian Christopher West on his new book, the difference between true human desire and superficial lust, the positive power of art and a spiritual lesson from &quot;Planes, Trains and Automobiles&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/01\/theologian-christopher-west-on-his-new-book-the-difference-between-true-human-desire-and-superficial-lust-the-positive-power-of-art-and-a-spiritual-lesson-from-planes-trains-and-automobiles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Theologian Christopher West on his new book, the difference between true human desire and superficial lust, the positive power of art and a spiritual lesson from &quot;Planes, Trains and Automobiles&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. 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What People Want. Christopher West is a well-regarded teacher, writer and theologian who is, perhaps, best known for making the dense scholarship of Pope John Paul II\u2019s Theology of the Body accessible to a wide audience. He&#8217;s also the founder of The Cor Project,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/01\/theologian-christopher-west-on-his-new-book-the-difference-between-true-human-desire-and-superficial-lust-the-positive-power-of-art-and-a-spiritual-lesson-from-planes-trains-and-automobiles.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2013-01-23T16:43:07+00:00","author":"John W. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3098,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions\/3098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}