After having clarified the concept of secularization and outlined its problems, the author gives an overview of the different causes of secularization and points out that the forces driving the process of secularization have Christian origins. On this basis, in the third part of the article, the author describes and lays the foundation for a new attitude for the Church towards secularization, necessary both for being able to convert herself to the gospel and to evangelize people in the world today. One of the most important parts of this attitude is respect for the autonomy of every human person, intrinsically related to respect for the dignity of every person. The end of the article, looking to the future, points out the consequences of such an attitude towards the discussion of some burning questions in the Church.

Artykuł poświęcony jest problemowi legitymizacji obecnych w dyskursie Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego w Polsce wypowiedzi na temat gender i praw reprodukcyjnych z lat 2012–2017. Jego celem jest rekonstrukcja sposobów, w jakie przedstawiciele Kościoła uprawomocniają swoje stanowisko we wspomnianych polach dyskursywnych oraz odpowiedź na pytanie o rolę, jaką pełni wykorzystanie zróżnicowanych legitymizacji o charakterze religijnym i świeckim w kontekście obecności Kościoła w sferze publicznej. Prezentowane dane są wynikiem jakościowej analizy treści dokumentów Konferencji Episkopatu Polski oraz publicznych wypowiedzi polskich biskupów, takich jak: wywiady w mediach, kazania, wystąpienia konferencyjne. W warstwie teoretycznej i metodologicznej artykuł odwołuje się do założeń perspektywy społecznego tworzenia rzeczywistości (Berger i Luckmann), koncepcji dyskursywnego konstruowania legitymizacji (van Leeuwen) oraz założeń SKAD (the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse).

This article consists of two parts. The first part summarizes using informal language Wolniewicz’s understanding of the idea of God which he expressed in the language of formal logic. It demonstrates that Wolniewicz’s position was founded on antinaturalism, i.e. the conviction that nature is a fragment of a larger reality while man partly transcends the natural reality. The second part of the article is an attempt at capturing the intuitions behind Wolniewicz’s idea of God as an impersonal power which is not identical with Providence though. It is argued that this view is a consequence of the characteristic traits of Wolniewicz’s personality. This explanation is consistent with Wolniewicz’s understanding of human nature. In the analysis that ensues reference is made to Wolniewicz’s private correspondence.

The article is a topic outline of the theology of the Church’s unity. It shows the spectrum of contemporary reflection on this attribute of the Church mentioned in the Nicene-Con-stantinople Symbol (credo in unam Ecclesiam). The reflection includes biblical categories, especially the idea of koinōnia/communio, emphasizing the Trinitarian basis for unity of the Church, and its concrete means – bonds of unity. Among these means of unity, particular attention is paid to the bond of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance, nota-bly the universal ministry of Christian unity. Individual Churches (denominations) have different visions of unity, but also these concepts are the subject of ecumenical dialogue. The most recent ecumenical vision on the Church, including its unity, is the document of the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order, Towards a Common Vision of the Church (published in 2013). Christian Churches involved in the contemporary ecumenical dialogue are aware that the unity of the Church is a reality given and set, yet incomplete and imperfect, so to speak “on the way”. In this sense they can express their spero in unam Ecclesiam.

The Christian laity is called to the ministry of evangelization in the Church and for the Church. In this work, basic ecclesial communities play an important role, because they are forming disciples of Christ and preparing them to bear testimony to the Gos-pel in the world. The communities have been initiated in the Church of South America and are centres of evangelization as a true expression of ecclesial communion (ChL no. 26). They also express the preferential option of the Church for the poor, because they are often created by people deprived of fair access to material goods and live on the margins of society. In the activities of basic ecclesial communities, the poor evan-gelize themselves first, feeding on the Word of God, to make it a source of inspiration for life and action. At that time, the poor are becoming subjects of evangelization, when they recognize the proclamation of the Good News of salvation as their task, not only with words but also through the testimony of life. The transmission of the Gospel occurs in interpersonal encounters in which the attitude of believers in Christ urges people to adopt Christian values and imbue in them the culture created by them.

Ecclesiologie fondamentale

Sommaire

L’auteur s’interroge dans cet article sur la gense, la nature et la structure méthodologique de l’ecclésiologie fondamentale. Il démontre que l’originalité de cette discipline théologique consiste en l’exploration de la conscience que l’Eglise a d’ellememe sous l’angle de la crédiblité. Cette exploration doit avoir un caractre rationnel et empirico-historique et non confessionnel-dogmatique ou confessionnel-apologetique. A la fin le pére Seweryniak consacre ses réflexions aux modes de l’argumentation dans l’ecclésiologie fondamentale (viae: paradoxae, notarum, historica, aujourd’hui encore: dialogica, communionis, ethica) et ses thmes principaux.

The paper outlines the Catholic and the Evangelical standpoint on the primate’s function served by the Bishop of Rome and its origin. The controversy revolves around the key phrase, iure divino and iure humano, which points to the divine or human origin of the primacy. In the Catholic perspective, Jesus Christ brought the Church into existence and provided this institution with permanent structural elements: primacy and apostolate. This thesis, considered an imperative of faith, is based on the texts of the Gospel which underscore the primacy of Saint Peter the Apostle among the Twelve and in the early Church. According to the Catholic ecclesiology, it was not only a private privilege enjoyed by Peter but a permanent element of the structure of the Church, which received the formal status of a dogma at the First Vatican Council. From the outset, the Reformation has assumed that primacy is an element shaped in the course of the historical development of the Church. The ecumenical dialogue between Catholicism and Lutheranism led to the establishment of a standpoint veering towards the consideration of the origin of primacy as a matter of lesser consequence. This step was taken in order to underscore the communal dimension of the Church, with its important function in unifying Christianity and presenting it to the world. The basic premise giving credence to this function is its foundation in the Gospel.

The main aim of this article is to present necessary relations between the Bible (and biblical studies) - understood as a source of theology - and theology. At the beginning the author has shown a wide historical perspective of the main problem, which is changes in the ways of understanding the Bible and theology and relations between them. Than he has said about some modern ways of resolving this difficult problem, mostly from methodological perspective. He included also the reality of the Divine Revelation, the Church and her Tradition.

Religion has two functions: a social one (it consolidates a group of followers) and a personal one (psychological). In modern times, the social function of religion has been taken over by ideologies. Socialism is one of such ideologies. The creators of Marxism called their version of socialism scientific socialism, but their vision of the course of history (‘from capitalism to communism’) has become the foundation of a new religion and a new church. The author calls this church ‘Marxo-Leninism’. The text shows similarities between the Catholic Church and the Marxo-Leninism (or the Stalinist church), as well as the analogies between the Jesuit order and the ‘Len-Party’ (i.e. the Leninisttype party).

Wola Justowska has long been thought of as the most attractive urban villa district of Krakow. A timber church from the XVI century that had originally been built in Komorowice Śląskie was relocated here in the year 1948, subsequently burning down a fire in 1978 in unknown circumstances. It had been rebuilt soon after, only to be set on fire a second time in 2002. After discussing numerous ideas and locations of its reconstruction, the design team developed a final version of its design, which featured the reconstruction of the church in its original location – in accordance with the will of the residents of Wola – which had been preceded by appropriate landscape analyses. The design calls for the reconstruction of the timber church in a slightly modified manner and placing it upon a concrete plinth, which is to be partially sheltered by the varied terrain around it. The aim of this idea was similar to that of the initial reconstruction, namely, to reconcile the form of the historical building that is to be reconstructed with the modern needs of the parish.

The article discusses the category of the option for the poor, by answering four key questions: 1) What is the option for the poor?; 2) Who are the poor?; 3) Why the option for the poor?; 4) How to opt? The category of the option for the poor emerged in Latin America at the turn of the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, as the fruit of an audit of faith and the personal, communitarian, social and ecclesial life . The author defines the category according to the teaching of the bishops (Medellin and Puebla), to John Paul II and Latin-American theologians . He highlights the need for clarifying the meaning of poverty and the poor, specifically of the current theological understanding of these concepts . He then describes main theological reasons of the option for the poor: God’s plan of salvation; the theology of creation; human dignity; the mystery of sin; the phenomenon of poverty as a place of proving the fundamental statements about God and Jesus Christ; an ecclesiological significance of the option for the poor. In the last part of the paper the author quotes the Polish translation of the so-called The Pact of St. Domitilla Catacombs, which illustrates one of more promising ways of implementing that option in both personal and ecclesial life.

”The 500th anniversary of the Reformation for the Orthodox Church is not a special reason for joy, because that was another division in the Church” – Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) said. Although it concerned the relationship between Luther and the Western Church, its reference became the Orthodox Church, in which Luther sought primary teaching and ecclesiology. The proof of this was the Leipzig dispute, during which the primacy, liturgy, structure of the Church, the teaching of justification and purgatory, Luther confronted with the teaching of the Orthodox Church. If Luther saw in the Orthodox Church a framework for his reform, why did he not decide to convert to the Eastern Church? Karmires, emphasizing Luther’s great knowledge of the Orthodox Church, claims, however, that it had only a superficial character, lacking empirical knowledge. He also concludes that Luther neither wanted nor accepted Orthodoxy because of his affection to the mentality of the Western Church and to scholastic theology as well.

Das Vernunftelement, das dem Glauben zugeordnet ist, den Glauben auch sucht, ist gegenwärtig – zwar nicht so deutlich, wie es früher war – ausschließlich in der philosophie präsent. Denn gegenwärtig beeinfusst dieses element den Glauben von den unterschiedlichen Bereichen der allgemein dominierenden Wissenschaften her. Die neueste Geschichte des Verhältnisses zwischen kirche und Wissenschaft ist durch kongresse, Symposien und tagungen, die einen interdisziplinären charakter haben, geschrieben. In den Begegnungen bemühen sich theologen im gemeinsamen Gespräch mit den repräsentanten der Human- und naturwissenschaften um größere Harmonie zwischen den jeweiligen Wissenschaften. Die Absicht des Artikels ist die Analyse der Verlautbarungen der kirchlichen Lehre von papst pius iX (1792–1878) bis zum papst Benedikt XVi (*1927). Besonderes werden die Ansprachen des papstes Johannes paul ii (1920–2005) an die Mitglieder der päpstlichen Akademie zum thema: im Verhältnis der kirche zu Wissenschaft bzw. naturwissenschaft analysiert. Solche interesse seitens des kirchlichen Lehramtes spricht die Anfrage der profanem Wissenschaften, die neben ihren ständigen Spezialisierungen auch für die Weisheitsdimensionen der wissenschaftlichen forschungen offen bleiben. Das Verfahren bewegt sich in drei Schritten. Zuerst wird die unmöglichkeit eines Widerspruchs zwischen christlichen Glauben und Wissenschaft dargestellt (1). Dann wird auf das fundament für die Gespräche zwischen kirche und Wissenschaft – die gegenseitige Anerkennung der Autonomie zwischen der irdischen und ewigen Ordnung – hingewiesen (2). Zum Abschluss werden nachkonziliare Dokumente, die auf die kooperation zwischen kirche und Wissenschaft hinweisen, analisiert. Als resultat wurde nachgewiesen, dass die kirchliche Lehre eindeutig auf eine evolution der Öffnung der kirche auf Wissenschaft zeigt. Die nachkonziliare Dokumente weisen nicht nur auch auf eine Möglichkeit und notwendigkeit der Zusammenarbeit zwischen kirche und Wissenschaft, sondern auch beschreiben einige Bedingungen dieser kooperation. Es geht in dieser kooperation in ersten Linie um die Suche nach der Wahrheit und gegenseitiges erkennen.

Artykuł podejmuje kwestię przenikania się dyskursów o homoseksualności z osobistym doświadczeniem osób, które rozpoznają w sobie pragnienie homoerotyczne. Dotyczy on mężczyzn, którzy zdecydowali się na formację kapłańską, a później odstąpili od studiów seminaryjnych i dziś deklarują się jako homoseksualni lub biseksualni, w większości jako rzymscy katolicy. Pokazuje, że mężczyźni ci na etapie przystępowania do formacji i w jej trakcie ulegali nie tylko wyobrażeniom o homoseksualności kształtowanym przez Kościół rzymskokatolicki, ale także wyobrażeniom obecnym w szerszej przestrzeni dyskursywnej, które w Polsce ostatnich dekad dynamicznie się zmieniały. Związane z seksualnością samorozumienie uczestników badań wchodziło zatem w różne, specyficzne dla danego momentu historycznego, związki z odczuwanym przez nich powołaniem i funkcjonowaniem w społeczności seminaryjnej.

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.

Exegesis of Matthew 16:13-20, made in the light of historical and doctrinal terms occurred after 70 years in Judea, in which the evangelist Matthew was presented with its Judeo-Christian Church, indicates clearly existing in the text emphasis and related them to universalist objectives . They primarily guided him to define the saving message of Jesus the Risen of being Christological and Ecclesiological, in the final version edited by himself, in the Gospel of the Kingdom at the turning point for the fate of the Palestinian Church. The scene from Caesarea Philippi is edited in a manner which allows Peter to run his church in the Hellenistic world in order to gain complete doctrinal confidence that the same power of binding and resolving in heaven and on earth which he received from Jesus Simon Barjon to exercise it in the land of Israel, is also possessed by Simon Peter to celebrate it with the same saving efficiency in the lands of the heathen. Without this doctrinal certainty, it would probably be impossible to guarantee its further Judeo-Christian existence in the world of ethnochristians and gentiles.