What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be created, male and female, in the image and likeness of God? What does the body and human sexuality teach us about who we are, how we should live our lives, and our call to communion with God and with one another?
Through this 10 hour course, you will have the opportunity to take an aerial tour of the Theology of the Body (TOB) from start to finish, covering all the key concepts, and unpacking the Catholic understanding of human sexuality and the human person. The TOB is a comprehensive Bible study on the question of what it means to be human, created male and female in the image and likeness of God — St. John Paul II’s “catechesis par excellence,” as Michael Waldstein says.
If you have never read the TOB, this study can equip you with an understanding of the key concepts and a life-changing TOB lens for viewing your faith and the world, your identity and your vocation — and it can help prepare you to dive into the text. If you have already read the TOB, this study could serve as an opportunity to reflect on the key themes more deeply.
Encountering the Theology of the Body fundamentally changed my life — it gave me new eyes to see my own identity, to see other people, and to see God through the lens of the human body, as a sign that reveals our call to love through self-gift. The TOB isn’t just about human sexuality and human love, but how reflecting on our being created, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, brings us before the “mystery hidden in eternity from God.” (TOB 19:4)
The human experience of love has in itself a dynamism that refers beyond the self, it is the experience of a good that leads to being drawn out and finding oneself before the mystery that encompasses the whole of existence.
This is why Michael Waldstein calls the TOB a “John-Pauline lens for reading Catechism.” Come, join me, and let’s journey together to understand the mind of a saint, to see the human body, the human person, as St. John Paul II did.
Course Outline
This course is spread out over 10 sessions:
- The Desire for God
- Christ Appeals to the Beginning
- The Spousal Meaning of the Body
- The Man of Concupiscence
- The Redemption of the Body
- Christ Appeals to the Resurrection
- The Dimension of Covenant and Grace
- The Dimension of Sign
- He Gave Them the Law of Life as Their Inheritance
- Beauty and the New Evangelization
Each session is an hour long, but most weeks I will be able to stay a bit longer for additional Q&A.
TOB101 Spring/Summer 2020
Where: The course will be taking place online using Moodle (website) and Jitsi Meet (video conferencing — test it out here).
Jitsi Meet can be accessed using your web browser (Chromium recommended, but Firefox works too), or with an Android or iOS application.
When: May – July 2020
I’m offering two sections (10 ssssions each) for the course in Spring/Summer 2020:
- Group A: Mondays 5-6pm EDT — May 25; June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; July 6, 13, 20, 27
- Group B: Tuesdays 8-9pm EDT — May 26; June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; July 7, 14, 21, 28
Price: PWYC (suggested: $20)
The course is currently being offered on a pay what you can basis. The suggested contribution is $20 CAD — and any amount helps to make this course possible. However, you can take the course for free, or pay as much or as little as you’d like from 0 to ∞!
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Blaise Alleyne, MTS
Blaise graduated from Regis College at the University of Toronto in 2019 with a Master of Theological Studies, and has also taken three courses with Christopher West through the Theology of the Body Institute. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in 2009, with a major in computer science and minors in English and philosophy.
Blaise has been speaking at conferences and to non-profit organizations and community groups on technology, bioethics, music, theology, and non-profit strategy/governance across Canada for over 10 years He ran a 10-week faith study on St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body at the Newman Centre at the University of Toronto for several years, and has spoken on the Theology of the Body at parishes, campus chaplaincies, high schools and other events across the GTA. Read more…