The abyss, force, chaos, eros, animality and even bestiality, are fundamental aspects of human beings that neither philosophy not theology can safely ignore. We need to question today "in a way that responds to the needs of our time" (Vatican II) the meaning of "this is my body." To say "this is my body," whether in the context of the intimate erotic dialogue of a wedded couple, or the gift of God in the eucharist, does not simply send us back to subjective experience of "the flesh." It is a cultural problem as well as one of religious belief. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52). "Hoc est corpus meum" has shaped all our culture as well as our modernity.
