“The speaker may choose better words and examples for future events,” she added, “but it is not wrong to expect that others will at least have a charitable interpretation of a speaker’s attempts to convey difficult truths.”
Smith then addressed von Hildebrand calling West a “sex enthusiast,” saying it was “a strange term to use in a piece that is presented as a philosophical critique.”
“Von Hildebrand tells us that her husband’s key word in his books was ‘love,’ not ‘pleasure.’ She thus seems to suggest that the key word in West’s works is ‘pleasure.’ But West stresses that the key to the Theology of the Body is the theme of ‘self-gift.’ Why not take him at his word?”
Speaking on West’s controversial reference to the Easter Candle as a phallic symbol – “again, an issue that is in no way central to his presentations,” Smith noted – the professor argued that nonetheless “this view is held by some respectable liturgists.”
Smith also discussed the debate surrounding whether or not dwelling on the details of Christ’s birth displays an inordinate curiosity.
“Von Hildebrand’s response to West’s likening the birth of his son to the birth of Jesus is curious. She believes it is incorrect to think that Mary may have expelled a bloody placenta. Pregnant wombs have placentas,” Smith wrote. “Did not Mary’s? Would it be wrong to think it might have been bloody? Christ’s body was covered with blood when he died, was it not? Scripture itself makes reference to Mary’s womb and breasts; is the placenta really so objectionable that it could not be mentioned?”
In her closing remarks, Smith said “I have undertaken this response to von Hildebrand’s essay only with reluctance, since I greatly admire her and I know she seeks only to do good.”
“I truly think von Hildebrand has been misled by others to focus on fairly tangential works, such as column on a play (which she has misread) and a book review, rather than to do the careful work of critiquing West’s more formal material and to adopt a tone toward a fellow faithful Christian apostle that is not characteristically hers.”
“She seems to find what she perceives to be the frosting on the cake so distasteful that she cannot even get to tasting the cake itself.”