Part 1 of Book I is aptly named Beginnings, since it begins where Pope St. John Paul II also begins his anthropology commonly called Theology of The Body.
In the first half of Part I, the reader is introduced – by showing rather than by telling – to the Ethos of Redemption, the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of the characters to repair the rupture between body and spirit. These characters begin their journey of understanding marriage and vocation by spiraling with St. John Paul from Original Solitude to making a sincere Gift of Self, to understanding in a greater way who they are: male and female incarnate. We see that this discovery is not made as a solitude but as a Communion of Persons.
In reading these books, so beautifully illuminating John Paul II’s own works, we are united with the struggles and triumphs and the joy of discovering the Trinity’s majestic work in created man. We ache with a young man as he discovers a deeper understanding of love as sacrifice and gift of self, just as Tobit loved Sarah and “share(d) in her lot.” We feel shame and sweetness along with a young woman as she learns that the body has a language that can either speak of “use” or love. We painfully follow another young man as he seeks what all men seek; to understand the dignity of the human person and his elusive search for what being loved for his own sake means. And we join the characters as they learn to understand the dignity of every human person even if the world would say they don’t deserve it. We feel the “break of solitude” of Adam and Eve as a young man wakes to find his beloved at his side. We stand with a young woman who, like Mary, weeps over a body. Does the body have a value? Is it worth saving?
Adventures in the Great Mystery, like Theology of the Body, is more than simply a book. It is a journey to discovery of these and many more concepts and doctrines, as well as answers to many integral questions, which so beautifully explain our calling as man and woman in relation to each other and to God. As Book I continues, we continue the journey, discovering more about these and many other concepts and doctrines.
For a list of other topics covered in Book I, click here. For information on leading discussions about the Theology of the Body in Book I, click here.
Adventures in the Great Mystery 