After moving to Italy in 1856, Teofil Lenartowicz, inspired by the great Italian art and supported by the best Florentine artists of the time Giovanni Dupré and Enrico Pazzi, began studying sculpture. Lenartowicz’s sculptures were always connected with literature: his work shows howone influenced the other. It is no accident that his style as a sculptor has been called ‘poetic’ by the critics. The Polish immigrant was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance, and especially by the art of Lorenzo Ghiberti. At the same time, he never forgot about Polish folklore, which played a significant role in his artistic vision. One of the most impressive examples of this intersection of influences is the bas-relief The Holy Workers, complemented by a poem bearing the same name.
In the course of his pontifi cate John Paul II delivered over 200 speeches to research workers, students, senates and chancellors of universities on various forums. As the research worker he always cared about the good of the university which he regarded as the masterpiece of culture for the sake of research efforts undertaken by it which include particular aspects of the reality and the didactic and educational activity which serves the entire mankind and the future of the young generation.
Indeed John Paul II addressed his speeches, letters and proclamations to Catholic universities but the subjects touched by him have an universal character, that is to say they relate to all universities. In the present study it has been treated of the most important aspects of the activity of the university. First of all the university ought to serve the truth. The pope considers the truth to be the greatest value from which all other values originate and to which they aim; every truth comes from God who is the Highest Truth.
John Paul II insists strongly on the ethical dimension of scientific research, especially in the subject of biogenetics and bioethics, since all scientific researches have to serve the good of the man and his development and also the respect of dignity of the human. As according to John Paul II modern universities become more and more dehumanised, therefore he insists on the restitution of their humanistic visage since the man and his good have to be the fundamentals of all knowledge. Two further arguments exposed by the pope refer to the neccessity of interdisciplinary research for the sake of fragmentation of particular scientific areas and their results, as well as the need of their synthesis and high qualifications of the professor’s staff who on the one hand have to deepen their specialistic knowledge and have to be the real authority for the young people. The university not only teaches but also educates.
Storia della spiritualit cristiana sotto il aspetto metodologico
Sommario
L’oggetto della storia della spiritualit lo studio dell’esperienza dell’uomo nella sua relazione con Dio come Essere Assoluto, che si attua e sviluppa nel corso dei tempi. la trascendenza a permettere allo spirito umano di mettersi in contatto con l’Assoluto e in tale caso si pu parlare della storia di spiritualit giudaica, musulmana, buddista, induista e ovviamente cristiana. La storia della spiritualit come disciplina scientifica nata agli inizi del XX secolo, la sua importanza incresciuta grazie allo sviluppo delle scienze storiche soprattutto della storia della Chiesa e della teologia. Il suo constante sviluppo attestano molte ricerche scientifiche, periodici, specialistiche edizioni enciclopediche, dizionari. La storia della spiritualit cristiana analizza e cerca di dare la spiegazione della relazione che l’uomo sperimenta nel suo contatto con Dio Uno e Trino, che si rivelato pienamente in Ges Cristo. Essendo di sua natura una disciplina scientifica interdisciplinare usa metodi adatti per arrivare alla verit. La costatazione, la descrizione e l’interpretazione dei fatti, di cui si occupa la storia della spiritualit, ha un valore enorme per la cultura umana.
The main task of the paper is to analyse pope Benedict XVI’s social teaching on poverty as introduced in the encyclical letter ‘Caritas in veritate’. While the methodo-logical language of the papal teaching is anthropological and theological in character, the document uses its own interdisciplinary approach that is characteristic of Catholic Social Teaching. Consequently such a Christian reflection on social issues like pover-ty, inequality, marginalisation and globalisation can be compared with other social fin-dings. In the global context the pope identifies growing economic inequalities but also the advantages of cooperation within the global economy. The analysis also discerns the theories of social development that are convergent with the papal social diagnosis. Finally, comparing the pope’s social teaching with some studies in economy, sociolo-gy and political sciences, the author of the paper examines the possibility to construct an interdisciplinary link between Catholic Social Teaching and other social sciences.
Culture, Literature, Society. Interdisciplinary Character versus Methodology of the Contemporary Theological Research
Summary
Culture, literature and social life are the "living space" of the contemporary man. They can also be "theological loci" (loci theologici), i.e. loci, in which faith can be born, is, or/and disappears. Both Theology and Catholic Social Science, using different methods and in different aspects, investigate these processes and attempt that, through faith, everything which composes everyday life, becomes more understandable for contemporary man.
This paper is a reflection on the contemporary methodology of theological and social research in the context of the interdisciplinary nature of science. Thus, it attempts to answer the question how starting from different premises, Theology, through research of culture, specifically of contemporary art and literature, and Catholic Social Science, through research of the moral condition of social life and drawing inspiration from each other, can and should serve the faith of man in particular conditions and challenges of a fast-changing reality.
The first step of both sciences is an attempt of comprehension: who it is, to whom the Word is directed. These are a specific seismograph registering of all types of "rockbursts" of times and places. The second step is seeing culture, literature and social life in their prophetic function, which consist in "meeting out justice" to time and place, to consciences and people. The third one is searching for the meeting and merging places of the human word and the Word of God. In every step mentioned above there is a creative interaction between Theology and Catholic Social Science.
Postulated in this article the complementarity of Theology and Catholic Social Science gives hope, that contemporary man is able to elaborate uniform and organic conception of knowledge in order to reach inner unity (cf. Fides et ratio, 85).