. . . has already lasted a few days too long. For those who haven’t followed it, here’s a summary: Christopher West is a Catholic theologian who has popularized Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. On ABC’s Nightline last week, he dared to try to understand the hypersexualization of America, as symbolized by Hugh Hefner. Can’t have that, said the blogosphere: The only appropriate response to the naming of Hefner is “boo, hiss,” or, to continue with Orwell, “doubleplus ungood.” Random example here. A good, brief defense here. (An intelligent conservative criticism of West’s ideas, by the way, can be found here.)

West, like John Paul II, is trying to cope with the results of original sin in a creative way. The brokenness of man is manifested in many ways, to be sure, but in our times the obsession with sex (both pro and anti) is surely one of the most conspicuous. The Theology of the Body, in its various articulations (including West’s), is a praiseworthy attempt to think outside this box. One of my own favorite attempts is the ancient Buddhist fable about the two monks on a long journey. They are about to cross a river and they encounter a woman who is also trying to reach the other side, but really struggling. The older of the two monks says, ”Here, climb up onto our shoulders and we’ll get you across.” She climbs up, they make it across, she thanks them profusely, and the monks continue their journey. For the next three hours, the younger monk is seething. Finally, he explodes: “You scoundrel! You know we are not allowed to touch women!” The older monk looks at him with infinite patience, and says: “I put her down three hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”

Our culture, too, is carrying, a lot of baggage. And Christopher West is on the right track in trying to help us deal with it.