Questions about Christopher West's Work

So I am interested in reading more about the Theology of the Body.  Naturally, one can't do an internet search on that topic these days without the first twenty results all being about Christopher West.  Yet, my personal experience has been that whenever I mention his name to serious, faithful Catholics with degrees in moral theology, they tend to cringe.  At best, though, all you can drag out of them as an explanation of the basis for their reaction is this:  "Theology of the Body isn't all about sex."  So, hoping that my few remaining readers can engage in some thoughtful and respectful critique of this popular author and speaker, can someone identify for me the core concerns people have with Christopher West's popularization of the Theology of the Body?  Please leave your comments below and abide my request to be respectful.  I'm also not looking for any criticism that revolves around his style of writing, personality, popularity, etc.  In other words, tell me if there is a substantive concern about the theology he is teaching.

Comments

[Christopher DeMars]

One of my biggest concerns about Christopher West's writing on TOB is that it is writeen to a very specific audience: 13-20 year olds. His specific audience dictates his writing style, language, and examples. Christopher West does not argue these points, in fact he goes further by claiming an evangelistic mission to bring TOB to the young people of America - specifically, to enlighten young people about their sexuality in terms of how God made them, and to give them the tools to work within God's Divine plan.

This is a good and laudable goal. I praise West for taking on the mission as he has done. The problem comes in when people outside of West's intended audience use West's work as their sole source for TOB. The primary argument I hear is that TOB is unapproachable by the average American, so they use West because he is more easily understandable. But West does not present the entirety of TOB - he olny presents the parts relevant to his mission and goals. Thus West is not a complete commentary of TOB.

Additionally, West uses the English translation as his source, which is not necessarily the best translation (although the new version is much better.) There is so much more to TOB in the original Italian that gets lost in translation.

[Joe C]

The book I have by West is Good News about Sex and Marriage. For me, it was too basic. I already knew the basics of the teaching and was willing to accept them. But, I needed to see the beauty of JPII's theology and so I need to read JPII.