Alumnus Scholar Authors New Guide to JPII’s Theology of the Body

Alumnus scholar Dr. Michael Waldstein (’77) has authored a new book, Glory of the Logos in the Flesh: St. John Paul’s Theology of the Body. Published by The Catholic University of America Press, the work is designed to serve as a practical guide to the 129 lectures on human sexuality that Pope St. John Paul II gave between 1979 and 1984.

In Glory of the Logos in the Flesh, Dr. Waldstein draws upon his classical training to help readers better understand the late Holy Father’s masterwork. The first of its three sections, designed for entry-level readers, provides a map of John Paul II’s text as well as a summary of each paragraph. The second part reflects on the breadth of reason (logos) in Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Physics, and the Gospel of John — in contrast to the narrowing of reason found in Luther, Bacon, and Descartes. Finally, in part three Dr. Waldstein shows how this breadth of reason is at work in John Paul’s dialogue with St. Thomas, St. John of the Cross, Kant, and Scheler.

A professor of theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Dr. Waldstein previously authored Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, an authoritative and highly acclaimed translation of the Theology of the Body based on a long-missing outline of the works, which Dr. Waldstein discovered among the Holy Father’s papers in the John Paul II archives at Rome’s Casa Polacca.

Dr. Waldstein holds a masters in philosophy from the University of Dallas, a licentiate in Scripture from the Pontificium Institutum Biblicum in Rome, and a doctorate in New Testament studies from Harvard Divinity School. Next Friday he will present a lecture at Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus, God is One but not Alone: The Trinity in the Gospel of John.