Christopher West’s ideas on sexuality ignore ‘tremendous dangers,’ Alice von Hildebrand says

  • Thread starter Thread starter buffalo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

buffalo

Guest
Christopher West’s ideas on sexuality ignore ‘tremendous dangers,’ Alice von Hildebrand says

Denver, Colo., May 12, 2009 / 12:48 am (CNA).- Renowned Catholic thinker Dr. Alice von Hildebrand has criticized Theology of the Body speaker Christopher West, saying his approach has become too self-assured. She criticized his presentations as irreverent and insensitive to the “tremendous dangers” of concupiscence.
Also cautious of West’s remarks on his recent interview with ABC television were Mary Shivanandan and Fr. José Granados, both Catholic authors and theologians.
The news segment showed him calling for Catholics to complete “what the sexual revolution began.” He also described “very profound” historical connections between Hugh Hefner and Pope John Paul II.

more…
 
I couldn’t agree with her more. I know a lot of people like West but I have always found his presentation of ToB to be very silly and unhelpful. He is trying too hard to be hip and makes himself sound really silly. It is like a teacher trying to connect with his students by using really outdated slang.
 
Yeah, I was a little surprised by what he said in that ABC interview. I think he’s maybe gotten off track a bit.

I’ve always preferred Fr. Loya and his group of speakers and their approach over West’s.:twocents:
Tosk said:
I couldn’t agree with her more. I know a lot of people like West but I have always found his presentation of ToB to be very silly and unhelpful. He is trying too hard to be hip and makes himself sound really silly. It is like a teacher trying to connect with his students by using really outdated slang.
Click to expand...
Ah yes this is it, trying to be hip,and trying to hard to be. Eh. I’ll pass.
 
I, personally, have been truly transformed by the message of ToB as presented by Christopher West. Maybe many (and I dare say millions) respond to his style because he speaks in the vernacular of a generation bomarbarded with sexual hysteria. Having grown up in a home with a father addicted to pornography and a history of sexual abuse within my family, including molestation by a priest, molestation by an uncle, molestation by a sibling, the message of hope and redemption in God’s plan for our lives and the transforming power of Christ without mincing words so as not to offend propriety (that flew out the window the minute I was born into my family) is nothing less than refreshing.

I have never heard or read anything against the teaching of the Magisterium. That would be a serious offense to what I hold dear. Trying to be hip, was it? Not so much a problem.

There are all kinds of people in the world, n’est-ce pas?

I’ve also heard presentations by Fr. Loya, and enjoy his commentary very much.

I have used to curriculum for Theology of the Body for Teens from Ascension Press, and feel they do a very good job presenting the material to reach kids whose sexual education/experience is guided by television. To have one young girl break down in tears because she is exhausted from having to act like she doesn’t care when kids in the hall talk about their latest conquest form the night before is truly hearbreaking. Of course, we’re all a littl heartbroken, no matter what age.

I started a thread on Christopher West’s response to the interview
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=336970

Peace in Christ,
Teri
 
As a young person, I too have been transformed by Christopher West’s approach to ToB. I loved it and have continued to follow his books/CD’s in order to help others. Which I have personally seen many of his CD’s do wonders for others too.

Having seen/heard the majority of his series on ToB, it amazed me how ABC could tape 8 hours of Christopher West and come up with the 7 mins that they did. Making him look like a “Catholic Sex Guru”. He was very misrepresented as much of our other catholic ideas have been by mainstream media. He immediately put up a number of corrections on his site. (christopherwest.com/page.asp?ContentID=118)

As far as the Hefner thing… this is an exert from his correction announcement:

"Christopher’s point to the ABC correspondent was that the Theology of the Body is the true cure for the disease that Hefner diagnosed. These distinctions were lost in the seven-minute piece that ABC presented, which indicated that Christopher considers Hefner a “hero” of his—an absurd statement to anyone familiar with Christopher’s books and presentations. "

But alas, I hope that people from this forum would realize how much media portrays Catholic beliefs poorly. I pray that no one…ESPECIALLY great Catholics from this forum judge him by his interveiw, but rather looks deeper into it before passing judgement.

Christ’s Peace
Cymonk
 
One more thought…if it took 8 hours of taping ToB to find 7 mins worth of footage they could take out of context… then I’d say Christopher did a great job.
 
I have only a passing familiarity with West’s teachings, but I wouldn’t read too much into the way ABC portrayed Christopher West, his quotes or even what he teaches. Afterall, media distortions of Catholic teachings are legion and their treatment of the subjects are typically superficial and leave out a lot of things.

ChadS
 
I have been to a few of Christopher West’s conferences and just recently saw the ABC interview in question. It did indeed try to make him sound crazy. If you haven’t been to a Christopher West conference and heard the entire message, and in context, with explanations you need to hold off before coming to a conclusion. His teaching on the Theology of Body is controversial because the Theology of the Body in controversial. I respect Dr. Van Hildebrand but even in her interview she said only knew the gist of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body… well then I think she needs to study it more before she assumes what it does or doesn’t say.

People can take Christopher West the wrong way, if they don’t pay attention or hear the full message. But I’ve never heard anything from him, heard in the proper context, that was in any way contrary to Catholic Teaching.
 
cymonk said:
One more thought…if it took 8 hours of taping ToB to find 7 mins worth of footage they could take out of context… then I’d say Christopher did a great job.
Click to expand...
Amen. IMHO, it could’ve been much worse.

My favortie line:
“If God is Love, and we kick God out of the bedroom, then what’s going on in the bedroom? Whatever it is, it ain’t love.”👍
 
You have to read Christopher’s clarifications on the interview. It was highly skewing of the actually message.

And yes, Christians are called to complete the sexual revolution. Remember, the sexual revolution started out of an ache and resistence to puritanism. The motivation is not wrong, the results are.

So, taking what he said in context, if you heard the 10 minutes before he got to that statement, you would understand what he was talking about. he is in no way saying that Christians should be part of anything having to do with lust. He is saying we should answer the questions properly instead of ignoring them altogether.

I have been to the TOB institute for 3 different weeks of classes and I can attest that Christopher isn’t “trying to connect”. He is absolutely genuinely sincere in how he talks. If you knew him personally, you would see this even more so. He is extremely prayerful and has a huge prayer support behind everything he does.
 
While I’m not a huge CW fan I believe her issues deal more with generational semantics than true theology.

Just because people talk openly about sex, something they didn’t do in her generation, doesn’t men they are being irreverent about it. It’s ok to talk about it… not talking about it is much worse in today’s society.

Joe
 
I also like West’s approach.

The mere fact that he approaches sexuality with a sense of joy and wonder, as opposed to shame is a huge step forward for both theology and evangelization. Of course the root of this positive attitude comes from JPII, who deserves a lot of the credit.

But, I think the message that a married Catholic couple can, and should, have a wonderful sex life is something that needs to be shouted from the rafters, especially in today’s society.

God Bless
 
We all know how media works: always trying to find something to scandalize. Unfortunately here in Germany (or probably in Europe in general) TOB isn’t really known. I stumbled upon it on the internet around christmas time and I dare say it changes my life (I just took the first steps on a long road), every day a little more as I understand it better. And Christopher West, who isn’t only a charismatic speaker but also has a reputable academic background does a great job in explaining TOB. Both in colloquial talks and in very dense commentaries.

Dangers arise when things are taken out of context. Maybe it was a mistake to agree to a 7 minute feature about TOB, but other than that I don’t see any problem with Christopher West. I see a problem with our media on one side and the lack of competence to deal with media on the other side.

Hope you understand what I mean, my english is far from being perfect.😊
 
Thanks for sharing, Hedwig! I thought your English was pretty darn good:D

Peace,
Teri
 
buffalo said:
Christopher West’s ideas on sexuality ignore ‘tremendous dangers,’ Alice von Hildebrand says

Denver, Colo., May 12, 2009 / 12:48 am (CNA).- Renowned Catholic thinker Dr. Alice von Hildebrand has criticized Theology of the Body speaker Christopher West, saying his approach has become too self-assured. She criticized his presentations as irreverent and insensitive to the “tremendous dangers” of concupiscence.
Also cautious of West’s remarks on his recent interview with ABC television were Mary Shivanandan and Fr. José Granados, both Catholic authors and theologians.
The news segment showed him calling for Catholics to complete “what the sexual revolution began.” He also described “very profound” historical connections between Hugh Hefner and Pope John Paul II.

more…
Click to expand...
:eek:

Sounds like someone needs to take his meds…
 
Sailor, way to play into ABC’s hands. Ignore the 7 minute soundbite and check West out. He’s legit.

As for what he said about Hugh Hefner, he might have said it differently. America DID have a past that was choked with almost Manichean ideas about sex (vaguely dirty somehow, a necessary evil at best…) Hugh Hefner was partially so successful precisely because he identified this warped perception and mocked it mercilessly.

As GK Chesterton would say (paraphrase) “Reformers are generally right about what is wrong, but almost always wrong about what is right.”
 
I agree that I would not judge Christopher West by the 7 min ABC interview. Give a listen to one of his full presentation.
 
Even to mention Hugh Hefner and the Catholic church in the same interview…

Here’s how they do things:

(Any Catholic in any media interview): Satan is a fallen angel and works through divisiveness, which is not representative of Church teachings.

Media headline: Catholic spokesman claims Satan is representative of Church teachings
 
I think it is bizarre that Christopher West believes Hugh Hefner started Playboy out of some benign “ache” that resulted from puritanism. Hugh Hefner started Playboy because he knew he could make tons & tons & tons of money based upon the explotation of women and by appealing to the basest desires of men.

And honestly, how bad was puritanism? It’s not as if society didn’t reproduce during that time. Indeed, most couples, Catholic or not, ended up having nine/ten children. Hardly an indicator that nothing was going on in the bedroom.

The sexual revoluation occurred because women wanted “freedom” from bearing children. Once the pill went on the market, it started the all sex, all the time mentality because it gave the false perception you could have sex without consequences.
 
People can take Christopher West the wrong way, if they don’t pay attention or hear the full message. But I’ve never heard anything from him, heard in the proper context, that was in any way contrary to Catholic Teaching.
Click to expand...
true true. nothing he has written or said is contrary to Catholic teaching. He’s just not my ‘style’, is all. I’m sure he’s done countless good for other people. I grew up in a home where talking about sex, in it’s proper context, wasn’t taboo at all. So maybe this is why, since I’m well versed the do’s and don’ts and all that jazz, I appreciate the spiritual aspect that Fr. Loya brings to the TOB discussion. not that West doesn’t do that as well, I just prefer Fr. Loya’s delivery.

I’m sure te media had their way with his words, I don’t expect any less.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top