Concealing to Reveal: Modesty in Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body

Responding to a need in the sphere of serious academic scholarship to address the topic of modesty, this paper delves into that theme. It examines the use and importance of the term ‘modesty’ in relation to comparable words, providing a definition of modesty that is useful for further theological discussion. It then incorporates Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body as a helpful tool in understanding the concept of modesty. Finally, this paper concludes with some implications this theological exercise entails, both for the particular sphere of sexual morality, and the broader spectrum of anthropological questions such as the ramifications this theology has when applied to the social/political arena