Update: I just spoke with my husband who just heard from personal friends of Christopher West who asked for prayer for West and his family. He’s evidently under personal and spiritual attack in addition to the professional critique he’s received. Please note that while I advocate a healthy and humble dialogue about this controversy, uncharitable remarks or attacks of a personal nature are unacceptable, which, as Fr. Geiger aludes to when he talks about “lock ‘n load comboxing.”

While Mark Shea has closed court  on the Chrisopher West/ Nightline controversy (though he admits not having read Christopher West’s work), Father Angelo Geiger, F.I., guest blogs on the Dawn Patrol with a reasoned criticism of West’s portrayal of Theology of the Body with no little admiration for his work. He begins with a review of the current debate context:

“It is likely to turn into something like a Harry Potter debate: the Chris West Haters vs. the Chris West Groupies. Eventually we won’t even remember the real issues at hand.”

His main criticisms center around what appears to be a discontinuity hermeneutic of West’s presentation of TOB, a “concupiscence light” approach–underestimating our weakness in the area of sexuality, and an apologetic approach that doesn’t dig deeper into a catechetical and contemplative approach.

“Is my interpretation of West a bit facile? But this is the problem with trying to popularize a work of deep theology and philosophy. It is not even clear to me whether West is engaged in apologetics or catechesis. The two are not the same thing. Apologetics is a kind of preamble to catechesis that elicits the assent of faith in respect to difficult truths by way of arguments that are easily understood and appealing to someone who has no basic understanding of revelation. Catechesis is sacramental preparation or ongoing education, based on faith already elicited.”

Again, while I am grateful for West’s work in spreading the Gospel with Theology of the Body, I have seen a lot of CW “groupies” who show a real infatuation with Theology of the Body. They’ve experienced an initial conversion, perhaps, but they’ve not dug deeper, and often times continue to make grave mistakes in their spiritual and relational lives. Surely this is not completely West’s fault, but I think we as well as West have take a close look at these criticisms, and do a serious examination of conscience on TOB and our own lives.

Perhaps we’ll see that we’re in a balanced and thriving place, but perhaps we have a lot of room to grow…and suffer.

What do you think?

Update 2: A very reasonable response from Jimmy Akin supportive of West.