7Divorce. Broken families. Sexual abuse. Addiction. Pornography. Same-sex "marriage." Gender issues. Everywhere we look, we find more and more confusion about the most fundamental truths of human life. As we lose our basic understanding of the meanings of man, woman, marriage, and sex, the question becomes ever more urgent: What does it mean to be a human being?

Against this backdrop, St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body appears as a bright light in the darkness. His writings go straight to the heart of what it means to be fully human--but they are often difficult for most of us to grasp easily.