Procreation and the Spousal Meaning of the Body: A Thomistic Argument Grounded in Vatican II

482 Pages·2017·2.72 MB·English

by  Angel Perez-Lopez

Procreation and the Spousal
Meaning of the Body
A Thomistic Argument Grounded in Vatican II
Angel Perez-Lopez
2
PROCREATION AND THE SPOUSAL MEANING OF THE BODY
A Thomistic Argument Grounded in Vatican II
Copyright © 2017 Angel Perez-Lopez. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations
in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any
manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf
and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Pickwick Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-4982-9256-6
HARDCOVER ISBN: 978-1-4982-9258-0
EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-4982-9257-3
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Names: Perez-Lopez, Angel.
Title: Procreation and the spousal meaning of the body : a Thomistic argument
grounded in Vatican II / Angel Perez-Lopez.
Description: Eugene, OR : Pickwick Publications, 2017 | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-4982-9256-6 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-4982-9258-0 (hardcover)
| ISBN 978-1-4982-9257-3 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex—Religious aspects—Catholic Church. | Marriage—Religious
aspects—Catholic Church. | Catholic Church—Doctrines.
Classification: BX1795.S48 P47 2017 (print) | BX1795.S48 P47 (ebook)
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 02/28/17
3
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations, References, and Technical Terminology
Introduction
Part I: Conciliar Framework
Chapter 1: Marriage and Christian
Responsibility
Chapter 2: The Kraków Document
Chapter 3: Continuity between Vatican II and
Humane Vitae
Chapter 4: Anthropology of Love
Part II: Spousal Meaning of the Body
Chapter 5: In God’s Image
Chapter 6: Original Experiences
Chapter 7: Why Spousal?
Chapter 8: Redemption of the Human Heart
Chapter 9: Fulfillment and Eschatological
Anticipation
Part III: Procreation
Chapter 10: Conjugal Common Good
Chapter 11: In the Sphere of Marriage’s
Sacramentality
Chapter 12: The Inseparable Connection: In
Defense of Conjugal Love
Selected Bibliography
4
With gratitude to my parents for their Christian witness
5
Acknowledgments
T
his book is the conclusion of a project that began many years ago, in
1998. Yet, it was not until 2012 that I published its philosophical
substratum and I announced the possibility of elaborating this present
theological work. Over all these years, many more people than I can list
here have contributed to it in one way or another. Nevertheless, I would
like to offer a special word of gratitude to my brother, Fr. Israel Pérez
López, with whom I have had the pleasure to discuss in much detail the
entire contents of this book. I am grateful for his reassuring insights and
for his critical reading of the original manuscript. I am also thankful to Fr.
Antonio Malo for his insightful comments and for providing the
endorsement. I would like to express my deep gratitude, as well, to Fr.
Stephen Brock and Fr. Robert Gahl for their endorsements. To Mary
Justice, I am grateful for patiently proofreading the entire book more than
once. I would also like to thank some of my colleagues at Saint John
Vianney Theological Seminary who read some parts of this book or
discussed some of its contents with me: Fr. William Breslin, Dr. Susan
Selner-Wright, Sister Esther Mary Nickel, Fr. Luis Granados, and Fr.
Andreas Hoeck. During my years in Rome, Fr. Sławomir Szkredka helped
with some Polish texts and questions that I had at the time. His help is still
very influential in my own work and I also want to express my sincere
gratitude to him. Of course, despite the assistance of all these people, none
of them can be held accountable for the defects of my argument or
presentation. They remain entirely my own.
6
Abbreviations, References, and Technical
Terminology
AAS Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
ACV Acta et Documenta Concilio Oecumenico.
AP Karol Wojtyła, The Acting Person.
CA John Paul II, Centesimus Annus.
Cántico John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle.
CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Contra Faustum Augustine, Reply to Faustus the Manichean.
DA Karol Wojtyła, El don del amor.
De Civitate Dei Augustine, The City of God.
De Commendatione Thomas Aquinas, De commendatione et partitione
Sacrae Scriptura.
De Ente. Thomas Aquinas, De Ente et Essentia.
De Principis Naturae Thomas Aquinas, De Principis Naturae ad Fratrem
Sylvestrum.
De Malo Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de malo.
De Moribus Ecclesiae Augustine, Of the Morals of the Catholic Church.
De Potentia Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de potentia Dei.
De Perfectione Thomas Aquinas, De perfectione spiritualis vitae.
De Trinitate Augustine, The Trinity.
De Veritate Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de veritate.
De Virtutibus Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de virtutibus.
Dichos John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love.
DH Vatican II, Dignitatis Humanae.
DS The Sources of Catholic Dogma.
DV Vatican II, Dei Verbum.
DVi John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem.
7
EG Francis, Evangelii Gaudium.
FC John Paul II, Familaris Consortio.
FR John Paul II, Fides et Ratio.
GS Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes.
HD Karol Wojtyła, El hombre y su destino.
HV Paul VI, Humanae Vitae
In de anima Thomas Aquinas, In Aristotelis Libros de Anima
Commentarium.
In Duo Praecepta Thomas Aquinas, In Duo Praecepta Caritatis et in
Decem Legis Praecepta Exposition.
In Ethic. Thomas Aquinas, Sententia libri Ethicorum.
In Meta. Thomas Aquinas, In libros Metaphysicorum expositio.
In Sent. Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum super libros Sententiarum.
KD Karol Wojtyła, “The Foundations of Church’s Doctrine concerning the
Principles of Conjugal Life.”
LG Vatican II, Lumen Gentium.
Llama John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love.
LR Karol Wojtyła, Love and Responsibility.
MD John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem.
MH Karol Wojtyła, Mi visión del hombre.
Noche John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul.
OC Karol Wojtyła, Osoba i Czyn.
OT Vatican II, Optatam Totius.
PC Karol Wojtyła, Person and Community.
PL Patrologia Latina.
PDV John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis.
Q. De anima Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de anima.
RH John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis.
RMis John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio.
SC Vatican II, Sacro Sanctum Concilium.
8
ScG Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles.
SR Karol Wojtyła, Sources of Renewal.
ST Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae.
Subida John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel.
Super De Trinitate Thomas Aquinas, Super Boethium De Trinitate.
Super I Cor. Thomas Aquinas, Super Primam Epistolam ad Corinthios
Lectura.
Super II Cor. Thomas Aquinas, Super Secundam Epistolam ad Corinthios
Lectura.
Super Eph. Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolam ad Ephesios Lectura.
Super Ga. Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolam ad Galatas Lectura.
Super Heb. Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolam ad Hebraeos Lectura.
Super Io. Thomas Aquinas, Super Evangelium S. Ioannis Lectura.
Super Matt. Thomas Aquinas, Super Evangelium S. Matthaei Lectura.
Super Phil. Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolam ad Philipenses Lectura.
Super Rom. Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolam ad Romanos Lectura.
Super I Tim. Thomas Aquinas, Super primam Epistolam ad Timotheum
Lectura
TOB John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them.
UD John Paul II, Uomo e donna lo creò.
VS John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor.
When I speak of the “theology of the body,” I refer to John Paul II, Man
and Woman He Created Them. The Italian original can be found in
Giovanni Paolo II, Uomo e donna lo creò. Unless otherwise indicated, I
will follow Waldstein’s translation. I will also follow his way of citing this
work. TOB stands for the theology of the body. It will be followed by two
numbers: the first indicates the audience and the second the paragraph
number. Hence, TOB 1:1 refers to the first paragraph of the first audience
contained in Man and Woman He Created Them. I will only cite the page
number in this work when referring to parts of the book that are not the
actual audiences, parts like the index, introductory studies, etc. To be
9
consistent with John Paul II’s language, unless otherwise indicated, “man”
refers both to male and female. For the most part, I have used the available
English translations of Wojtyła’s works. However, I have also consulted
the original Polish, especially for The Acting Person. Whenever the
English translation is altered throughout the paper, I will offer the Polish
text in brackets and refer in the footnote to the Polish third critical edition
of Wojtyła’s work, Osoba i Czyn. I have always consulted the original
Latin text of the magisterial documents cited throughout this book.
However, unless otherwise indicated, I have followed the translations
found at www.vatican.va. Similarly, I have consulted the original Latin for
Thomas Aquinas’s works. However, unless otherwise indicated, I have
followed the translations listed in the bibliography.
10