Former Evangelicals, now Eastern Orthodox, "interpret" John Paul II's great work
6/18/2003 3:27:59 PM
Sam and Bethany Torode are talented and intriguing. Envoy interviewed them last year about Open Embrace: A Protestant Couple Rethinks Contraception(Eerdmans), their elegant and often insightful little book on NFP and contraception. At that time they were still Evangelical Protestants, at least technically (if one can say so), but were attending an Orthodox church. I was struck by their humility, intelligence, and maturity.
Those same qualities have now led to Body and Gift, the first book (of four) in a series of short, simplified interpretations of Pope John Paul II's magnificient, but often daunting, Theology of the Body. Handsomely produced (and with an introduction by Christopher West), it promises to make the Holy Father's reflections on creation, sexuality, marriage, and gender accessible to a much wider audience. You can read an excerpt from the first book to get a feel for the writing and approach.
The Torodes are now members of the Eastern Orthodox Church [I misspoke in my original post and said "Catholic"] and are examples, I think, of true ecumenism. Yes, I certainly wish they would have become Catholic, but I am glad to see they are using their talents to reach Catholics and other Christians with truths that our society and culture desperately need.
