Aquinas and the theology of the body: the Thomistic foundations of John Paul II's anthropology

Abstract

As a Catholic priest born in 1978, the year of three popes, I lived much of my young life during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Like many priests my age, John Paul became for me a shepherd larger than life and a model for my own priesthood. Only after I entered seminary studies and later the Order of Preachers did I come to realize the significance of his pontificate for so many people in the church and in the world. How could one not grow in admiration of him? Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, was perennially present in my home growing up, since my mother had a devotion to him (for reasons I still do not quite know). But when I began to study Aquinas in seminary and later as one of his brother Dominicans, my devotion both to him and to his teaching grew. This book grew out of a genuine affection for these two great saints and a real conviction that their thought is more connected than is often suggested.