{"podcast":{"title":"Ask Christopher West","slug":"ask-christopher-west-240572","podcast_index_feed_id":240572,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/10343b5d0/podcast/rss","website_url":"http://askchristopherwest.com","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/43397364/43397364-1769628946857-91bb7fb83372e.jpg","author":"Theology of the Body Institute","episode_count":394,"summary":"Since the early 90's, author and speaker Christopher West has devoted his life to spreading John Paul II's revolutionary teaching on human life, love, and sexuality: The Theology of the Body. His beloved wife Wendy, mother of their five children, has served as his confidante, friend, and support through these long years of ministry. In this podcast, Christopher and Wendy combine their wisdom to tackle the toughest questions dealing with vocation, sexuality, marriage, and the Catholic faith.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-13T16:20:14.046390+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ask-christopher-west-240572"},"episode":{"title":"Eight miscarriages echo Mary's grief, Is polygyny Biblical?, and When period cramps prompt masculine wishes. | ACW386","slug":"eight-miscarriages-echo-mary-s-grief-is-polygyny-biblical-and-when-period-cramps-prompt-masculine-wishes-acw386","published_at":"2026-05-25T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ask-christopher-west-240572/eight-miscarriages-echo-mary-s-grief-is-polygyny-biblical-and-when-period-cramps-prompt-masculine-wishes-acw386","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ask-christopher-west-240572","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/juan-arregun5/episodes/Eight-miscarriages-echo-Marys-grief--Is-polygyny-Biblical---and-When-period-cramps-prompt-masculine-wishes---ACW386-e3joega","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO2810575599.mp3","summary":"Questions answered this episode: I hope you can help connect the dots with something stirring in my heart. In your Marian mystery course, you discussed when the Bible mentions Jerusalem, it's ultimately a reference to Mary, and how a woman opening herself to conception participates in Mary's Fiat. Since then, I've suffered eight miscarriages. On Palm Sunday, hearing Jesus was entering Jerusalem, I felt intense pain. Given the Jerusalem-Mary connection, I thought of my children whose innocent bodies faced death in my womb, reflecting on Mary holding her innocent Son's body. Are these connections appropriate? If Jerusalem represents Mary, why did Jesus enter there to die? How do we connect this to the hope of resurrected life? I've recently come across a couple conservative Protestant guys, one a pastor, arguing in favor of polygamy—specifically, polygyny. It got me thinking about why we no longer practice this. They're not arguing to make it standard, but rather to allow it as one of three moral options for some people, alongside celibacy or traditional monogamous marriage. One argument they made is that God never changes. Since saints in the Old Testament practiced this, they argue it is not intrinsically sinful like homosexuality. I realize polygamy can lend itself to a lot of abuse. But, could there be situations where it could be a legitimate God honoring option? If not, why not and is polygamy sinful? I'm a 31-year-old single woman. Is it sinful to wonder what it would be like to be a man? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being a woman. However, it's easy to get frustrated dealing with a monthly period, pain, and PMS. Half of each month feels thrown out of whack, and sometimes I think it would be easier to be a man. I don't want to change my body or gender; I just get f…","meta_description":"Questions answered this episode: I hope you can help connect the dots with something stirring in my heart. In your Marian mystery course, you discussed wh…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3976,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ask-christopher-west-240572/episodes/eight-miscarriages-echo-mary-s-grief-is-polygyny-biblical-and-when-period-cramps-prompt-masculine-wishes-acw386/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ask-christopher-west-240572/eight-miscarriages-echo-mary-s-grief-is-polygyny-biblical-and-when-period-cramps-prompt-masculine-wishes-acw386.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}