According to Professor Czesław S. Bartnik, the scopes of both faith and culture are analogous to the human phenomenon. At the beginning, there is an individual person – hence both the faith and individual culture (microculture); then the specific community appears, and with it also the common culture (macroculture) as well as the community faith. Usually, culture is understood as an action that makes a person become more human (active aspect of culture). According to Bartnik’s personalism, the aspect of experience, any reception of the world (passive aspect of culture) should be added. The same dimensions can be seen in the experience of faith (active and passive). There is a correlation between faith (religion) and culture: religion defines culture, and culture defines religion (whereas culture is “earlier” in man than religion). The article shows that they both constitute a kind of dyad which leads to personalization of the human being (who nowadays is constantly threatened with unbelief and anti-culture – depersonalization). The culture–faith dyad is subject to the laws of history, and may assume various forms during its course. Former cultures used to be almost entirely built on natural faith in God although they had their atheist element, too. Currently, we already have an epoch of culture that strives to take an entirely atheist shape, however, even this culture does not exist without a religious (or pseudo-religious) form. However, the culture-faith dyad does not become disintegrated.

The article’s subject discusses Stefan Wyszyński’s personalist concept of Christians’ involvement in culture. In this context, the author’s attention was drawn to how the extent to which a personalist’s main assumptions may constitute to the basis for shaping culture, especially when regarding contemporary cultural reality. The analysis of culture carried out in the above article presents the discussed issues regarding a calling addressed to every human being. Placing it with the “realities of earthly life” emphasizes that in creative cultural activity, one should see the proper way of realizing the fullness of the human personality in the temporal and supernatural dimensions. Moreover, highlighting such elements as the human person, family, Nation, state, the international community, culture, economy, and politics understood in an integral way, as well as the Church proclaiming the universal message of salvation, the personalist concept of culture displays a praxeological character, rooted in a particular human existence and oriented towards the creative-redeeming dimension of human life.

Obserwujemy obecnie radykalny odwrót od wiary w naukę. Dlaczego antynaukowe tezy stały się tak popularne i co wpłynęło na to, że przestaliśmy ufać akademii?

Najbardziej znaną częścią zakładu Pascala jest argumentacja kończąca się tezą o opłacalności postawienia na istnienie Boga. Autor Myśli przedstawił także sposób pełnej realizacji zakładu: po zaakceptowaniu racjonalności zakładu konieczne jest podjęcie regularnych praktyk religijnych. Dopiero wówczas osoba może zdobyć wiarę i z nadzieją oczekiwać zbawienia. Artykuł przedstawia propozycję Pascala oraz różne jej interpretacje. Przedyskutowane zostały także najważniejsze zarzuty wiążące się z drugą częścią zakładu.

The pontificate of Pope Francis, both in documents and in practice, takes on a pastoral character, emphasizing the evangelizing dimension. The encyclical Veritatis gaudium likewise presents the educational and academic mission of the Church from the same perspective. This paper provides a presentation of the Pope’s postulates understood as a new paradigm for Church education, resulting from a new cultural and social context. Pope Francis’ project is set in the more than fifty-year perspective of the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, in particular Sapientia christiana, the document which has been governing the activities of theological faculties since 1979. Four criteria that ecclesial studies should demonstrate are indicated: a) the Christocentric kerygma building the ecclesial community, with an option for the poor, b) encounter and dialogue, characterized by authentic interaction on the level of religions and cultures, c) inter- and transdisciplinarity, which provide a tool for linking the academic achievements of all disciplines in the perspective of the transcendent Christian revelation, d) integration of academic centers which practice ecclesiastical studies and their collaboration with institutions of different religious and cultural traditions, with a view to an adequate diagnosis of global world problems and their resolution.

Faith and culture remain closely connected. Faith that does not become a culture is not the belief of the original. Nevertheless, we can observe two behavioral and confrontational and cooperative models over the history of these two relationships. Confrontation is a kind of cultural opposition to faith. Cooperation is aimed at comprehensive cooperation. The article analyzes the history of these relations which together with the new person’s awareness of the Church was able to develop a new concept of culture through which the Church will not only try to remove accommodation but also try to root in the world. Doing that, Church doesn’t forget about the evangelizing nature of the culture and communicative character of faith. Faith in Christ can be a source of culture with a C hristian profile, however, the point of departure for culture will always be human and not faith. The task of Culture is to express who a person is. Emphasizing this anthropology that portrays a man as a cultural centre goes hand in hand with presenting the human person as a picture of God. The above statement is the summit of personalistic anthropology and the source of the greatest human dignity. In this way, anthropology and Christology are as close as possible to each other.

The article describes the Roman Catholic understanding of the ecumenical dialogue as stated in the Decree on ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council and in further documents of the RC Church. This ecumenical dialogue may be conducted only among Christian Churches and Church Communities as it aims the restoration of full visible unity of Christians.

The dialogue should primarily lead to the common rediscovery of the truth, and never to any kind of establishing the truth, of elaborating it or reaching the compromise. The true dialogue has nothing to do with negotiating the common position, where each party wants to force oneself upon another and to make the less concessions possible. This is because we cannot reduce the requirements of the Gospel to any kind of necessary minimum, a common basis recognized by all the churches and ecclesial communities.

Such a dialogue contains its inner dynamics, its existential dimension. The truth is personal, as Christ himself is the Truth, so the search for unity belongs to the proper essence of being a Christian. So the ecumenical dialogue is “an imperative of Christian conscience” (John Paul II), so it is something that inevitably ought to be taken and accomplished by Christians.

The ecumenical dialogue however is not the goal for itself. Neither it is only mutual recognition of Christian Communities or even common prayer. The common aimis the restoration of full visible unity of divided Churches. On the way of ecumenism we cannot limit to the prayer or the ecumenical dialogue. On the contrary – we should develop all the possible ways of collaboration, because unity of action leads to the full unity of faith. Neither the unity nor uniformity of doctrine or churchly traditions, but only the unity in one faith is the far-reaching goal of the ecumenical dialogue.

The documents of the RC Church give also clear hints how to lead the ecumenical dialogues: the dialoguing parties must be expert in theology, seeking the truth, not a victory, moving from easier topics to the more diffcult ones, trying to use the language free of polemical connotations.

Before the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church didn’t lead any offcial ecumenical dialogue, what didn’t mean the lack of any ecumenical encounters. The first ones, however, were unoffcial and did not engage the offcial Church authority. Widespread engagement in the ecumenical dialogues in the time of popes Paul VI and John Paul II can be justly perceived as a direct fruit of the Second Vatican council and its Decree on ecumenism.

During the decades the commissions of dialogue have already elaborated thousands of pages of common statements and agreed declarations. The Churches must be however aware, that without strong effort of reception of these documents in their midst, the fruits of the dialogues will have no infuence on the reconciliation of Christians in one faith.

Even if there may be some kind of deception because of slowness of ecumenical process, we can be certain that meetings in the dialogue enabled Christians of various Churches an Church Communities to grow towards full, visible unity wanted by our Lord for His disciples.

The article presents Martin Luther’s teaching on justification in the context of its soteriological and anthropological consequences, which at least on the verbal level are defined by the terms imputatio and deificatio. The basic presentation of the main aspects of this teaching is preceded by an outline of the historical background of its formation, where both the dispute over indulgences and the mystical inspirations of Luther’s theology played a significant role. The Wittenberg Reformer comprehended justification both as attributing to the believer the righteousness of Christ and as a close union with Him. This unity, whose image is marriage, consists in the commercium sacrum between man and Christ. The participation of a believer in the righteousness of Christ manifests itself as a kind of “transition” into Christ. In this sense, the existence of the justified person becomes an “ecstatic” existence, extra se, that is in God, resulting as a new – divinized (vergottet) – life.

The question about theology is, indeed, the question about the cognitive role of faith, a mutual relationship between faith and mind, as well as cultural, social and existential consequences of accepting or eliminating faith in the cognitive (scientific) process. While developing in the space of thought, theology seeks rational arguments speaking in favour of God’s answers to existential questions. In his publications and teachings J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI gives much attention to these issues, as they are particularly topical and important for the contemporary civilisation. He teaches that faith releases the mind (makes it independent, non-ideologized), opens it to the truth, the learning of which constitutes the key objective of all scientific research. Recogni-tion of the priority of gifts, God’s grace, who makes Himself known through his Word and actions is an important pre-requisite for theological cognition. Ultimately, it has a christological sense: Son knows His Father and wants to reveal the Mystery of God. As scientia fidei, theology has got potential to give relational and holistic character to cognitive actions, thus made them acquire sense transcending their temporary use-fulness. Theology, faithful to the Church, contributes to the development of the world and men in the deepest meaning of the word – it leads to salvation, finding fulfilment in God Himself.

Mesjanizm jako ogólna idea wywodzi się z religii. Idea ta może jednak w różny sposób przekładać się na poszczególne swoje elementy składowe. Nie wszystkie te elementy muszą zawsze występować razem w poglądach danego myśliciela czy artysty, którego jesteśmy skłonni uznawać za mesjanistę. Dla przykładu, mesjanizmowi narodowemu nie musi towarzyszyć wiara religijna, a jeśli towarzyszy, nie musi być ortodoksyjna. Dlatego niektóre z koncepcji polskich mesjanistów mogą być nawet ze sobą sprzeczne pod względem szczegółowych konsekwencji, wydobywanych z ogólnej idei mesjanizmu. Dla zobrazowania wielości stanowisk zostają przypomniane i skomentowane wybrane koncepcje „mesjanizmu poetów” (A. Mickiewicz, J. Słowacki, Z. Krasiński, C. Norwid) i „mesjanizmu filozofów” (J. Hoene-Wroński, A. Cieszkowski, K. Libelt, B. Trentowski).

The Moral Theology

Summary

The study of the principles of the pursuance of a certain scientific discipline is related over all to the question of its identity, its specificity and that is why also of its separateness from other disciplines. This methodological reflection is very essential for maintaining the unity of the scientific discipline but also for its correct and easier pursuance. When the moral theology is concerned it is particularly essential today because contemporary discussions about postcouncil restoration of this discipline have resulted in the new research for the status of this discipline.

The concern about the identity of the moral theology should be connected with the concern about the future development of this discipline. It depends on the one hand on a better, fuller and more and more integral recognition and utilization of the specific Christian sources. On the other hand it depends also on a bolder utilization of the sources in general as well as also these non-theological which are connected over all with a development of the human sciences. It must not be forgotten that the moral theology as a separate discipline of the scientific reflection on the Gospel, guarding its status as a normative science, can 'cannot be reduced to a body of knowledge worked out purely in the context of the so-called behavioural sciences. The latter are concerned with the phenomenon of morality as a historical and social fact; moral theology, however, while needing to make use of the behavioural and natural sciences, does not rely on the results of formal empirical observation or phenomenological understanding alone' (Veritatis Splendor 111). The aspiration for the development of this scientific discipline can not take no account of the fundamental truth that it still remains the theological discipline, it means it is the science springs from the faith and it is fundamentally connected with the salutary mission of the Church.

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 article The Influence of the Bible on Civilization (The Bible and Natural Sciences) shows us the importance of the Holy Bible in relation to the forming of Western civilization. The Bible is at the foundation of the heritage of European civilization. Written down during the period of almost 1500 years, it contains truths that concern all fields of life, both on the individual and the social level. As a work of literature it had its role, together with the civilization of Ancient Greece, in the origins of sciences. Science and religion are two very important elements of human culture. All reflections on the subject of the genesis of the world have their roots in these two basic aspects of seeing reality. Everything that exists needs an explanation of its origin. Thus the basic question that gave the beginning to philosophy was the question of the human being about himself and about the Universe. The relation of the science of creation, originating from the biblical description showing God as giving existence to everything, came into conflict with the empirical description of the beginning of the Universe and man in it. The questions that Latin civilization took from Greek philosophy and Christianity, based on biblical foundations, were transformed during the course of history to a conflict between science and faith, which began with the Copernican revolution and the Galileo issue. It had its greatest inflammation in the 19th century, as the result of the discoveries in the field of bio- logy, mainly connected with the theory of evolution of C. Darwin. One of the basic aspects of this conflict is the question of the origin of the world, which issue is, so to say, a natural place of meeting of theology with natural sciences. This conflict began as a result of trying to discover the essence of God's message contained in the Bible, by natural sciences. This discovering was an interpretation of the inspired text in relation to the eternal truth and to cultural variables, and also to civilization frames.

The presented paper describes the phenomenon of secularisation and secularism in the culture of Western Europe, and attempts to identify its sources. The first point of the paper, The meaning of secularization and secularism, explains secularisation as a social process in which religion or, more strictly, religious institutes, religious behaviour, and religiously inspired conscience, are gradually losing their control over many fields of social activity such like education, arts or politics. Secularisation can be labelled as a philosophy of life “as if there were no God”, or a kind of ideology that tries to justify not only the very fact of secularisation but declares it a source and norm for human progress and demands the proclamation of man’s absolute autonomy in shaping his own destination. Among many philosophers who have influenced development of secularisation and secularism two stand out: R. Descartes (second point) and F. Nietzsche (third point). In the philosophy of Descartes one can identify at least four sources of modern secularism. These are: his concept of philosophy, theory of cognition with the resulting departure from classical concepts of truth and rationality and development of alternative ones, Cartesian metaphysics and the arguments for the existence of God and his concept of the nature of God evolving from those arguments. The last part of the article presents Nietzsche’s move away from the faith in Christian God and his turn to atheism. At least three fundamental causes for Nietzsche’s radical autosecularisation can be discerned: the emotional religion of his home, his disbelief in the authenticity of the Bible and his growing familiarity with the philosophy of Schopenhauer.

Interpreting the Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son and the Loving Father (Luke 15:11–32), J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI shows the essence of the biggest problems of modern (particularly Western) society. The younger son’s journey to remote places, far from his father, symbolizes the fundamental gap between the present and God, which - although promising a happy and independent life – turns out to debase him. Blind questioning of the existing order (including the order of Creation!), an apotheosis of variability and a priori assumption of the new-over-the-old superiority, inevitably lead to confusion, with relativism becoming a “moral” reference and criterion for every action. Finally: bitterness and a protest generating violence, emptiness looking for satisfaction in drug-induced ecstasy, men seen as destroyers and enemies of nature. The only solution is a spiritual battle and metanoia – a return to the Father.

Joseph Ratzinger binds together the triptych “theology – the university – science” by the common issue of a search for the truth and the service to the truth. Theology is being done “in the Church and with the Church”, it belongs to the Church and depends upon her. Thus, theology is ecclesial in its essence, it teaches not in its own name but on behalf of the Church.

The ethos of the university – particularly of a Catholic university – consists in the common witness to the truth and in forming the transcendent dimension of man. Thus, the service to the human person is expressed by the university in developing “a new humanism” as a response to cultural and spiritual desires of the humankind. The mission of the university is not only its service to knowledge but also to the education, which means bearing witness to the truth that has been found.

According to Benedict XVI both theology and the university with science should know how to unite the two ways of knowing – faith and reason into one common tone, with its unique enhancing of reason. In a characteristic way Ratzinger gives special attention to rationality which leads to the ultimate Truth.

In 2020, in Poland, a national commemoration of two eminent religious philosophers was celebrated: it was dedicated to the memory of Friar J.M. Bocheński O.P. and Pope St. John Paul II. In the paper, I recapitulate fundamental ideas of The Logic of Religion (1965) by the former author and sum up the key issues of the doctoral thesis The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross (1948) by the latter. I also mention St. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Grammar of Ascent (1870), because in Polish translation this book is entitled A Logic of Faith. In order to compare those heterogeneous conceptions of religious faith I reach out to logical semiotics, and using its tools I try to find a symbolic meaning of religious speech that could be accepted equally by religious thinkers and by non‑believers. I propose to understand religious speech as having not only literal sense, and not only a metaphysical meaning, but also, as I claim, the power to activate values that guide human behavior. I hope this is a conciliatory proposition because it places semiotics on a neutral footing among religious dogmas. In this perspective, mysticism can be described as a pragmatic aspect of language that emerges when a user refers to a transcendent reality.