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This is such an insightful and well done essay. Stimpson's book on Theology of the Body explained the relationship of the body and soul that blew me away. I love how you brought that in and shared it through St. John and Rochester.

The connection to fairy tales is interesting because the Beauty and Beast category (often called the Bridegroom tales) features a frightening animal (pig, boar, etc.) in which the heroine (Beauty) must look beyond to find the soul of the animal. In de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast, a conversation reveals this conflict (which as you aptly describe):

"You are very obliging," answered Beauty, "I own I am pleased with your kindness, and when I consider that, your deformity scarce appears."

"Yes, yes," said the Beast, "my heart is good, but still I am a monster."

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Thank you so much! I also love Stimpson. And fairy tales provide such richness, don't they?!

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What a beautiful piece. I've thought recently that the transformation of the Prince (in Beauty and the Beast) into a (physically) hideous creature was the greatest gift he could have been given. It allowed him to become good, and then: beautiful, both body and soul.

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Thank you! And what a profound additional insight: that the greatest gift to the prince was for his external self to become beastly, so that his internal self could become princely…I’ll be thinking on that for a while. Fairy tales truly are a source of profound depth.

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@faithkmoore would love this! Excellent read

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