The final guest lecture of the Academic year was an outstanding talk by Dr. Craig Carter, Professor of Religious Studies at Tyndale University College in Toronto, entitled:  “An Evangelical Appreciation of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.” 

Faculty, students, and friends of OLSWA packed St. Mary Hall on April 30 to hear the fascinating talk given by this Evangelical professor who has a great admiration for the late John Paul II.  Dr. Carter, who in the last few years has become familiar with the Theology of the Body, John Paul II’s profound teaching on the meaning of the human person and love, has begun teaching the Theology of the Body to his students at Tyndale.  

 
For Dr. Carter and his students, interest in the Theology of the Body stems from a few factors, namely the recognition that:  1. The sexual revolution has had a profound impact on our society and on man himself—evidenced by the same-sex marriage debate;  2. There has been a Liberal Protestant capitulation to the sexual revolution ( as seen, for example, in the adoption of a liberal position on homosexuality);  3. The Evangelical churches present a weak theology of marriage.  In John Paul II’s teaching, Dr. Carter found “the most profound contribution to Christian thought about marriage and sexuality since St. Augustine.”  Dr. Carter described the tremendous response his students had to the study of the Theology of the Body.  The students were surprised by how “biblical” and “Evangelical” John Paul II was, for the whole teaching on “Human Love in the Divine Plan” is Christocentric and consists of profound exegesis of key passages on marriage and consecrated celibacy found in the Scriptures, such as Gen 1 and 2, Matt 19, and Eph 5.

In his lecture, Dr. Carter gave an overview of the texts on Christian marriage found in Evangelical circles, many of which are either not very theological or substantial, and often accept the contraceptive mentality characteristic of the sexual revolution.  He explained that Evangelicals are presented with an alternative:  Either accept the sexual revolution and its corresponding ideology and anthropology, or reject the sexual revolution and its errors but without a strong alternative world view offered by Evangelicals in the area of marriage and family.  In the Theology of the Body (TOB) Carter finds an answer to this dilemma—an answer that offers the liberating truth of the vision of man and human love created by God.  For Dr. Carter, the TOB is “a biblical theology of the human body as the basis of a theological anthropology set in the context of the salvation history narrative of Scripture organized around creation, fall & redemption.”  Carter also explained that for John Paul II, natural law and Scripture speak the same truth and that “in the congruence we can find the depth of the theology of marriage.”  He recognizes that the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality is not only respectful of the natural law, but it is deeply theological and scriptural. 

This confluence between natural law and Revelation has repercussions for the teaching on contraception.  If there is a convergence between what the body means on the natural level, and its meaning on the theological level, there are consequences/repercussions as to the morality of contraception and a contraceptive mentality.   He concludes:  Should Evangelicals re-think the contraceptive mentality in light of the same-sex marriage debate?  Yes.

OLSWA appreciated Dr. Carter’s enthusiasm for the great contribution of John Paul II, Dr. Carter’s learned understanding of the TOB, and his willingness to engage in fruitful dialogue with Roman Catholic Christians. 

Dr. Craig Carter’s Bio is below, and his blog entry on OLSWA can be found at: 
http://politicsofthecrossresurrected.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-i-spent-my-weekend.html

Dr. Carter’s areas of specialization include systematic theology, especially the tradition stemming from Karl Barth; Christianity and culture, especially the thought of H. Richard Niebuhr, John Howard Yoder and Lesslie Newbigin; and the history of Christian perspectives on war and peace.  Recently he has been drawn to the writings of St. Augustine, Dostoeveski, Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. 
 
Dr. Carter obtained his PhD at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, 1999, his MDiv. at Acadia Divinity College in 1983, his BA (Hons.) at Mount Allison University in 1979 and his AA Diploma at Atlantic Baptist College in 1976.

He served as a pastor for seven years in Baptist churches in Prince Edward Island and Moncton, N.B., and has taught philosophy and religious studies at Atlantic Baptist University. From 1995-2000, he served as Vice President and Academic Dean at Atlantic Baptist University. From 2000-2004, Dr. Carter served as Vice President and Academic Dean of Tyndale University College and led the process of obtaining provincial permission to offer the BA degree. Since 2004, he has moved into full-time teaching. Dr. Carter has published a number of articles in books, journals and dictionaries and also has published two books: The Politics of the Cross: The Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder (Brazos Press, 2001) and Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective (Brazos Press, 2006). Dr. Carter teaches the core courses: “Introduction to Christian Theology” and “Christianity and Culture,” as well as electives in theology and ethics. Dr. Carter is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Evangelical Theological Society and the Karl Barth Society of North America.