Apophatic prayer, Longing for a same sex person from my past, Husband with a closed heart after porn addiction | ACW344
Ask Christopher West
Theology of the Body Institute
4.9 • 549 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Questions answered this episode:
- How does Theology of the Body relate to the apophatic tradition of imageless, silent prayer? If we're meant to go beyond concepts and detach even from meditation, how can a theology so rooted in the body inform contemplative prayer?
- Though I'm happily married, I still feel haunted by a deep emotional bond with a female friend from my past. Why does this longing persist, and how can I find freedom from it?
- My husband has been sober from porn for 8 years, but his heart remains closed off. After nearly 39 years of marriage, where can we find the outside help and healing we still need?
Resources:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Theology of the Body Institute, this is the Ask Christopher West podcast. |
| 0:16.2 | Well, hey everybody. |
| 0:17.7 | Hello, listeners. |
| 0:18.8 | Welcome to another episode. |
| 0:22.0 | It's your turn to say something, Wendy. |
| 0:28.4 | Yes, absolutely. |
| 0:29.7 | I paused, and I thought you were going to, like, join in with her. |
| 0:33.1 | You did say hi to everybody. |
| 0:34.9 | But then I said something else, and I thought you were going to say something else. Keep it going. Keep else. Keep it going. Keep it going back and forth. I was just like, okay, what's next? Well, here's what's next. Okay. And you don't know it, and I do. That's probably why I had that look on my face. I am. Looking at a picture of us sitting on my desk, which I've had on my desk for years and years. Okay. Because it's a very old picture. You and I are in our 20s. |
| 0:56.9 | That's a very old picture. |
| 0:55.1 | You and I are in our 20s. |
| 0:56.7 | That's a long time ago, like 30 years ago. |
| 1:00.5 | And when I look at this picture, I think, gosh, Wendy looks so young. |
| 1:09.4 | But I don't think, gosh, I look so so young because somewhere in my brain I still think I look |
| 1:16.6 | it's not you haven't changed just I have yeah it's like you're right it's like that's I know this is |
| 1:25.3 | not true I'm certain if if people looked at this picture, you probably, a lot of people wouldn't even recognize me. |
| 1:34.0 | Like, I'm so young. I look like a kid. We were newly married. |
| 1:38.2 | And I look like a kid. I think this is, was this picture, here, I'm now going to show it to Wendy. |
| 1:43.4 | Was this picture taken in St. Louis on our way to Colorado? |
| 1:48.1 | Oh my goodness. |
| 1:48.6 | Am I right about that? |
| 1:50.7 | Um. |
... |
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