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The Analysis of Scientific Work by Female Theologians in Croatia, Published from 1990 to 2015, In Relation to the Ecclesiastical Aspect of Remembrance and Expectation
No full textNakon Drugoga vatikanskog koncila, na tragu promjena u Crkvi, žene se, uz druga područja aktivnosti, bave istraživanjem te daju svoj specifičan znanstveni teološki doprinos Crkvi.
S obzirom na društveno-političke promjene od 1990. godine i u Hrvatskoj se znanstveni teološki rad ponovo vrednuje na sveučilišnoj razini te među istraživačima teolozima ima sve više teologinja. Cilj rada je vrednovati znanstveni teološki rad teologinja u Crkvi u Hrvatskoj od 1990. do 2015. godine pod ekleziološkim vidom sjećanja i očekivanja i učiniti ga vidljivim kroz analizu njihovih teoloških radova.
Teorijski dio rada na temelju relevantne literature istražuje pojmove sjećanje i očekivanje, a zatim se u drugome dijelu pomoću njih analiziraju znanstveni radovi teologinja u Hrvatskoj. Znanstveni radovi teologinja u Hrvatskoj do sada nisu bili istraživani pod vidom njihova doprinosa sveukupnoj teološkoj misli. Ovaj rad ukazuje na njihovu brojnost i raznolikost, a specifičan vid sjećanja i očekivanja pod kojim su radovi obrađeni ukazuje na njihovu relevantnost za sveukupno razumijevanje Crkve u Hrvatskoj. U kojoj mjeri ih se zaista i uvažava ostaje otvoreno pitanje.
Rad je podijeljen u četiri poglavlja. U prvom poglavlju, pod naslovom Značenje pojmova sjećanje i očekivanje, o pojmovima se govori odvojeno s obzirom na jezičnu razinu, filozofsku upotrebu te druga područja unutar kojih se njihovo problematiziranje pokazuje relevantnim na kraju XX. i početku XXI. stoljeća.
U drugom poglavlju, naslovljenom Sjećanje i očekivanje u Svetom pismu i u dokumentima Drugog vatikanskog koncila, pojmovi sjećanje i očekivanje se i dalje promatraju odvojeno, ali sada u kontekstu Svetoga pisma i dokumenata Drugoga vatikanskog koncila. U Starom je zavjetu razumijevanje pojmova sjećanje i očekivanje povezano s razumijevanjem vjere. Izraelski narod sjeća se Božjih obećanja i očekuje njihovo ispunjenje. U novome zavjetu za razumijevanje pojmova sjećanje i očekivanje ključan je događaj Isusovoga života, muke, smrti i uskrsnuća. Euharistija je spomenčin u kojemu sjećanje sadrži dodatnu dimenziju i nije samo prisjećanje povijesnoga događaja već je otajstvo, dok je očekivanje zbog Uskrsnuloga Krista eshatološki obilježeno. Zadnji dio ovoga poglavlja donosi pregled upotrebe pojmova sjećanje i očekivanje u dokumentima Drugoga vatikanskog koncila.
Ekleziološki vid sjećanja i očekivanja naslov je trećeg poglavlja, koje problematizira razumijevanje smisla i značenja sintagme ekleziološki vid sjećanja i očekivanja, a temelji se na dokumentu Međunarodne teološke komisije Odabrane ekleziološke teme povodom dvadesete obljetnice zatvaranja Drugog vatikanskog koncila. Navedeni dokument referira se na prvo, drugo, treće i sedmo poglavlje Dogmatske konstitucije o Crkvi Lumen gentium. Prvo se u radu prikazuju navedena poglavlja na temelju postojećih hrvatskih komentara radi kontekstualizacije, a nakon toga se prikazuju dijelovi samoga dokumenta Međunarodne teološke komisije koji za tumačenje Crkve kao naroda Božjeg upotrebljavaju pojmove sjećanje i očekivanje. Oni se unutar dokumenta pojavljuju zajedno i koriste kao sintagma koja zbog povezivanja s Isusom Kristom ima ekleziološko značenje. Iako suvremeni teolozi, poput Petera De Meya, govore o nadilaženju metafora koje se upotrebljavaju za Crkvu, zbog nedostatnosti riječi kojima bi se opisala stvarnost koja nadilazi horizontalna tumačenja, ekleziologija je i dalje u traženju najbližih formulacija. U ovome radu se ukazuje da je metafora naroda Božjeg – koja je prevladavala na Drugom vatikanskom koncilu, a nakon Druge izvanredne sinode biskupa 1985. godine bila potisnuta u drugi plan metaforom zajedništva (communio) – i dalje korisna za pojašnjenje sveukupne stvarnosti Crkve. Upravo sintagma sjećanje i očekivanje te pitanja koja se njome otvaraju upućuju na stvarnost naroda Božjeg kao žive metafore za 21. stoljeće. U posljednjem dijelu ovoga poglavlja navedena su tri teološka primjera u kojima se prepoznaje problematiziranje odnosa sjećanja i očekivanja: Karl Rahner, Johann Baptist Metz i Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Na temelju istraženih materijala formulirani su kriteriji ekleziološkoga vida sjećanja i očekivanja, koji će u sljedećem poglavlju poslužiti kao ključ čitanja tekstova.
U četvrtom poglavlju, naslovljenom Analiza znanstvenih radova teologinja, na početku se opisuje metodologija i tijek istraživanja, zatim se pojašnjava u kojem smislu se u radu koristi pojam teologinja te se donosi prikaz u kojemu se za 33 teologinje navode osnovni podaci o njihovim znanstvenim radovima. Komparativna analiza znanstvenih radova napravljena je s obzirom na područja: filozofija, Sveto pismo, povijest kršćanske literature, dogmatska teologija, moralna teologija, pastoralna teologija, liturgika, crkvena povijest, kanonsko pravo, religijska pedagogija i katehetika, socijalni nauk Crkve te skupina radova interdisciplinarnog područja. Sintezom rezultata analize znanstvenih radova teologinja dobiveni su uvidi koji ukazuju na to da su teologinje u različitim teološkim disciplinama indirektno problematizirale odnos sjećanja i očekivanja, a samo u nekoliko područja je samo sjećanje ili samo očekivanje bilo objekt istraživanja. S obzirom na brojnost znanstvenih radova teologinja, mora se vrednovati njihov doprinos razumijevanju Crkve jer su teme kojima se bave izazovne, često interdisciplinarne, a nerijetko i međunarodno relevantne s obzirom na objavljivanje na stranim jezicima.After the Second Vatican Council, and following the undergoing changes in the Church, women, among other activities, undertook research, and began their specific scientific and theological contribution to the Church. Due to social and political changes that began in 1990 in Croatia, scientific theological contributions have again been valued at the university level, and an increasing number of female theologians have engaged in scientific work. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the scientific theological work of female theologians of the Church in Croatia in the period 1990 – 2015, in relation to the ecclesiastical aspect of remembrance and expectation, and to make it visible through the analysis of their theological scientific work. The theoretical part of the thesis, on the basis of relevant literature, examines the terms of remembrance and expectation. Then, in the second part, these terms are used for the analysis of the work of female theologians in Croatia. Scientific work of female theologians in Croatia has not yet been examined in the context of their contribution to the overall theological science. The thesis points to its abundance and variety, and the specific aspect of remembrance and expectation which guided their analysis points to its relevance for overall understanding of the Church in Croatia. To what extent has this contribution been acknowledged, remains to be seen. The thesis is structured into four chapters. In the first chapter The meaning of the terms remembrance and expectation, the terms are examined separately from the linguistic and philosophical points of view, and from the points of view of other areas in which their elaboration has become relevant at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. The second chapter Remembrance and expectation in the Holy Scripture and the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the terms remembrance and expectation, are also examined separately, but in the context of the Holy Scripture and the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In the Old Testament, the understanding of the terms remembrance and expectation is related to the understanding of the faith. The people of Israel remembers God’s promises and expects their fulfilment. In the New Testament, the key to understanding the terms remembrance and expectation is the life of Jesus, his suffering, death and resurrection. The Eucharist is a memory-act in which remembrance has an additional dimension, not only that of the remembrance of a historical event, but also that of a mystery, while expectation, due to the Christ Resurrected, has eschatological characteristics. The last part of this chapter gives an overview of the use of the terms remembrance and expectation in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.
The third chapter Ecclesiological aspect of remembrance and expectation, raises a debate about the understanding of the sense and meaning of the construct ecclesiological aspect of remembrance and expectation, and ensues from the document of International Theological Commission Select Themes of Ecclesiology on the Occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Closing of the Second Vatican Council. The document refers to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th chapters of the Dogmatic constitution of the Church Lumen gentium. The thesis first presents the above-mentioned chapters on the basis of the existing Croatian commentaries for the purposes of contextualisation, and then presents parts of the document of the International Theological Commission that use the terms remembrance and expectation for the explanation of the Church as The People of God. In the document these terms appear together, and the phrase assumes ecclesiastical meaning due to its relation to Jesus Christ. Although contemporary theologians, such as Peter De Mey, talk about relinquishing metaphors used for the Church, the lack of words to describe the reality that surpasses horizontal explanations, compel ecclesiology to continue searching for the closest formulations. The thesis argues that the metaphor of the People of God, which prevailed in the Second Vatican Council, and which was put aside by the metaphor of community (communion) after the Second Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 1985., is still useful for explaining overall reality of the Church. The phrase remembrance and expectation, and the questions it opens, are the ones that point to the reality of the People of God as the living metaphor for the 21st century. The last part of the third chapter introduces three theological examples that open the debate about the relation between remembrance and expectation: Karl Rahner, Johann Baptist Metz and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Based on the researched content, the criteria of ecclesiastical aspect of remembrance and expectation have been formulated, and used as the key for reading of the texts. The fourth chapter The Analysis of scientific work of female theologians begins with the description of methodology and the research process, then gives explanation to the term female theologian in the sense used in the thesis, and the overview of the basic information about the scientific work of 33 female theologians. The comparative analysis of their scientific work has been done on the basis of their field: Philosophy, Holy Scripture, the History of Christian Literature and Christian Teaching, Dogmatic Theology, Moral Theology, Pastoral Theology, Liturgics, Church History, Canon Law, Religious Education and Catechetics, the Social Teaching of the Church, and includes also interdisciplinary scientific work. The synthesis of the results ensuing from the analysis of scientific work of female theologians provides insight into the fact that in a range of disciplines in theology, female theologians indirectly dealt with the relation of remembrance and expectation, and remembrance or expectation was the object of research in only a few disciplines. Taking into consideration the quantity of the scientific work of female theologians, their contribution to the understanding of the Church needs to be acknowledged, because of the often challenging and interdisciplinary nature of the themes they tackled, and because of their international relevance, supported by the publishing of their work in foreign languages
"Accept the one whose faith is weak" (Rom 14:1) : Exegesis on Rmans 14
No full textAutorica u ovom radu istražuje tekst Rim 14. U analizi upotrebljava povijesno-kritičku metodu. Cilj istraživanja je razumijevanje pojmova jaki i slabi u vjeri i njihova identifikacija, otkrivanje čimbenika koji utječu na njihovo otuđenje unutar zajednice te razrada Pavlove upute dane 14. poglavljem. Budući da je 14. poglavlje Poslanice Rimljanima sastavljeno od perikopa 14,1-12 i 14,13-23 rad je podijeljen na dva poglavlja. Oba poglavlja sadrže pet jednako strukturiranih potpoglavlja u kojima se iznosi delimitacija, tekstualna kritika, diskurzivna semantička analiza, lingvističko-sintaktička analiza i egzegeza perikopa. Prvo poglavlje pokazalo je da se perikopa 14,1-12 bavi odnosima unutar zajednice, specifično između članova koje Pavao naziva slabima u vjeri i članova koje naziva jakima. Zbog različitih uvjerenja u pogledu konzumacije hrane i svetkovanja dana među članovima zajednice dolazi do sukoba i narušenih odnosa. Pavao ih opominje i poziva na međusobno prihvaćanje. Drugo poglavlje rada pokazuje da se Pavao u perikopi 14,13-23 poglavito obraća jakima. Potiče na prihvaćanje slabih te ukazuje da je kršćanska sloboda vezana uz odnos prema Bogu kojim se određuje međusobno vladanje. Rezultati istraživanja Rim 14 pokazuju da pozadina problematike jakih i onih koji slabe u vjeri stoji u suprotstavljenom shvaćanju opravdanja po vjeri u odnosu na obdržavanje židovskoga Zakona. Takvo shvaćanje najprije se vidi u činjenici da Pavao određenu skupinu članova rimske zajednice naziva sintagmom koja opisuje njihov proces slabljenja u vjeri a koja se razumijeva kroz poveznicu s Abrahamom u Rim 4 gdje je prikazan kao lik jake vjere i stavljen kao uzor rimskim kršćanima. Zatim po uvjerenjima rimskih kršćana koja se odnose na pitanja konzumacije hrane i svetkovanja posebnih dana čiji su ključ razumijevanja redci 14,14.20. U njima Pavao tvrdi da je sve čisto te time ukazuje da se prijepori vode zbog djela zajednice koja i dalje nastavlja s praksom židovskog zakona. Pavlov nagovor unutar 14. poglavlja također uvodi u misao opravdanja po vjeri kada podsjeća članove zajednice na kršćanski identitet i pragmatično djelovanje. S obzirom na navedenu problematiku smatramo da je poslanica prvenstveno prigodni spis koji odgovara na konkretne probleme rimskih kršćana podijeljenih na slabe ili judeokršćane i jake ili poganokršćane. Zbog toga što je Pavao zaokupljen problemom slabih i jakih većim tekstualnim opsegom smatramo da je problem bio većega razmjera i da je postojao veći broj članova zajednice, premda ne i većina, koji je naglašavao obdržavanje židovskih odredbi.Introduction
In this paper, the author investigates the text of Rom 14 through the historical-critical method. The aim of this research is to understand the terms of strong and weak in faith and to identify them, discover the factors influencing their alienation within the community, and interpret Paul’s exhortation given in this chapter. Since the Rom 14 consists of two pericopes 14:1-12 and 14:13-23 the paper is divided into two chapters. Both chapters contain five equally structured subchapters in this order: delimitation, textual criticism, semantic discourse analysis, linguistic-syntactic analysis, and exegesis of pericope.
Romans 14:1-12
The first chapter shows that pericope 14,1-12 deals with relationships within the community, specifically between the members that Paul calls weak in the faith and the members he calls strong. Due to different beliefs regarding food consumption and the celebration of the day, there are conflicts and disturbed relationships among community members. Paul admonishes them and calls for mutual acceptance.
Romans 14:13-23
The second chapter of this research paper shows that Paul in pericope 14:13-23 mainly addresses the strong. He encourages the acceptance of the weak and points out that Christian freedom is linked to a relationship with God that determines mutual behavior.
Conclusion
The results of the study of Romans 14 show that the background to the problem of the strong and the weak in faith lies in the opposing understanding of justification by faith in relation to the observance of Jewish law. Such an understanding is first seen in the fact that Paul names a certain group of members of the Roman community with phrase weak in faith that describes their process of weakening in faith which is understood through a connection with Abraham in Rome 4 where he is portrayed as a figure of strong faith and set as a model for Roman Christians. Then according to the beliefs of Roman Christians relating to issues of food consumption and the celebration of special days whose key to understanding are verses 14:14.20. In them, Paul claims that everything is pure, thus indicating that the controversy is over the part of the community, which continues to practice Jewish laws. Paul’s exhortation within chapter 14 also introduces the thought of justification by faith when he reminds community members of Christian identity and pragmatic action.
Given the above issues, we consider that the Epistle to the Romans is primarily an occasional letter that responds to the specific problems of Roman Christians who are divided into weak in faith or Jewish Christians and strong or Gentile Christians. Because Paul was preoccupied with the problem of weak-strong situation in a larger textual scope, we believe that the problem was larger in scale and that there were a large number of community members, though not the majority, who emphasized observance of Jewish laws
The conversion of Edith Stein - a path towards the true essence of a person in the light of the Science of the cross
No full textNamjera ovog istraživanja je razmotriti cjelokupni egzistencijalni put Edith Stein, kako bismo razumjeli predstavljaju li njezini koraci prihvaćanja Isusa Krista posljedično, i u kojem smislu, progresivno razvijanje njezina najautentičnijeg osobnog bića. Područja kojima je Edith Stein posvetila svoje zanimanje, pritom u cijelosti ulažući svoju snagu, vrlo su raznovrsna. Ako je njezino traganje za istinom prije obraćenja Bogu bilo popraćeno stalnim nemirom, iskustvom milosti i prianjanjem uz vjeru, njezine su snage našle temelj postojanog mira, jedinstva i integriteta. One usmjeruju naš pogled na duboke izvore iz kojih je ona crpila životnu snagu. U istraživanju ispitujemo njezinu osobu i njezino antropološko razmišljanje iz različitih uglova. Biografsko-kritičkom metodom dan je široki prostor smislenim vezama koje povezuju sva iskustva koja je ona proživjela i u kojima je živjela. Obraćenje započinje od iskustva Istine, koje joj je otkrilo istinu i o njezinom vlastitom postojanju. Otuda se razvija cijeli preostali egzistencijalni put. Nadalje, analitičko-deskriptivnom metodom istražujemo njezinu antropološku viziju, koja nam osvjetljava put koji je ona sama nastojala slijediti, i to iz fenomenološke, teološke i mistično-duhovne perspektive. Slijedeći sintetičko-kritičku metodu, izloženi su i aspekti koji predstavljaju njezin direktni doprinos na moralnom području. Iz spoznaje Edith Stein o složenoj strukturi ljudskog bića, koja je sama po sebi bremenita smislom, proizlazi jezgra usko povezana s temeljima moralne teologije. Zajedništvo s Bogom Isusa Krista je omogućilo visoki stupanj razvoja snaga Edith Stein prema entelechii, principu razvoja koji je prisutan na osoban način u svakom ljudskom biću. Budući da je svaki pojedinac jedinstveni djelić slike Isusa Krista u čijem čovještvu svaka osobna individualnost pronalazi mogućnost razvoja, čovjek nosi u sebi upisan poziv prema konstantnoj slobodnoj konformaciji čovjeku-Bogu Isusu Kristu. Stoga je Scientia crucis uvjet i put do osobnog autentičnog bića.What motivated the undertaking of the present study of Edith Stein's conversion is her personage. Her life expresses breadth, unity, and depth of view. The correspondence and penetration between life and thought is her characteristic. She lived in a historical moment of particular complexity, serious tensions and increasing threatening conjunctures, which highlight her significance. Edith Stein poses herself before us as an example of the integration of tensions, the assumption of the load that these bring and the suffering they require. In front of the constant trend that follows the walk of man and mankind of partiality looking at history, our own and of others, the temptation to exclude aspects that instead constitute it and give it a true interpretation, our author stands out for her passion for the truth, be it about herself, as about the lives of others. The life of Edith Stein becomes a vector of humanity that draws on original depths, where unity is constituted by the wholeness of experiences, by what she called the flow of consciousness as a phenomenology, which welcomes all experiences and continuously updates them as all significant, which increasingly reveals the person to himself. Born and raised amongst the Jewish people, her manner and thinking reflects her origins, which can be summarized as a unique and passionate search for the truth. We seek to understand how her passion for the truth and her earning for the full meaning of life have found perfect congruity in knowing and recognizing Jesus Christ. We want to understand, in what sense Edith Stein felt that the Cross of Christ and the Scientia derived from the reality of the Cross was recognized by her as a way to the authenticity of her being. This is a goal that has to pass through a person’s human structure to whom Edith had dedicated her greatest effort in philosophical research since her youth. We have structured the present study starting from the definition that Edith Stein gives of Scientia crucis, the science of the Cross in her last work. There, she defines it as truth, both real and active, a vital principle placed as a seed deep within the interior of every person and which constitutes its uniqueness. A active principle that tends to expand from the inside out, from the depth to the outside, involving and forming the whole person according to the truth of its being. We have thus considered Edith Stein's conversion as a progressive and continuous approach to this truth that has totally formed her, trying to recognize and highlight her most significant nodal passages. In delving into the search for the deep connections of the spirit that marked her individual path, she guided and safeguarded us from taking steps that would reduce her figure. In fact it was important that one could investigate her eclectic existence, keeping in mind all the complexity: her Jewish origins, her youthful distancing from the faith of her forefathers, her passion for philosophical research, her openness to deep relationships, the existential need to belong to her people and to her time, the choice of a life consecrated to God in the world up to the walls of Carmel and her death in Auschwitz. We let ourselves be guided by Edith Stein herself. If we accept that the Scientia crucis is a vital reality placed as a seed in the intimacy of each one of us then this has the potential to lead every human life to its fullness. Edith herself has introduced us to the need to open the door to the inner path and to remove existing obstacles, so that a person can recognize in himself this seed that is the truth of his own being. Therefore, we have undertaken our research, carrying it out essentially under this epistemological-cognitive aspect. In the first chapter, the whole course of Edith Stein's existence was considered, looking for deep movements of the spirit present in the course of the events. On the basis of sources such as her autobiography and letters, as well as other writings that could reveal her personal maturation, we have tried to grasp aspects and events that seemed crucial to us and directly connected with the progressive opening towards her most authentic inner self. We stated that the deepest steps towards maturity were made precisely in correspondence with painful existential experiences. In the midst of them Edith experienced the intervention of a strong hand that saved her. She recognizing it as the divine presence of a Present, Almighty God, truly able to completely support her as she had never experienced before, and able to give her strength from a source from which she was not aware of until then. Under the sign of the Cross the whole of her subsequent existential path unfolded until the fulfillment of the gift of herself to Auschwitz. To understand the existential passages, they have been of great help to us authors who have deepened, not only rationally the knowledge of Edith's life, but who have done it in an empathic way, looking for deep connections of meaning. The existential aspect addressed in the first chapter received further expansion and deepening in the second chapter when we dealt with her phenomenological contribution to the study of the cognitive capacity of a person, considering its limits. Here, above all, using her phenomenological texts, we have acquired a vision of the structure of the person, of peculiarities with respect to other beings, which highlighted how the most peculiar dimension of the human being is the dimension of the spirit, understood as that which must form the body, acting through the center of the personal soul. The emerged dimension is that of individuality, due to the active principle, which she called Kern or core of the soul, which directs each formation in a truly personal way, marking its steps towards maturity. Edith does not understand the core in the sense of determinism, but rather as a possibility. To support or not one's own core, to listen to it or ignore it, to position oneself on the surface of own soul or in its depths, this is and remains a question of the freedom of the person for Edith. Thus through personal freedom the human being prepares himself to accept grace or not. Faced with the reality of the limit which, due to the fallen nature, marks every human existence, the third chapter brought the anthropological integrations that Edith received with her adherence to faith. Due to it, a person is given back the possibility of penetrating into the authentic meaning of things which intellect alone had not been able to grasp the reality of, and thus also the reality of his own being. The path of formation of the soul takes place according to Jesus Christ, the fullness of humanity and way towards the progressive conquest of that unique part of participation in His entire image, that each person has received as a gift, a task, and a responsibility. At this point, the question arose regarding the individual identity of Edith Stein, who became Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Edith recognized that the choice of becoming a Christian placed her in a new identity context and revealed a new name, a new essence. What then guarantees the unity of life between before and after conversion? It was necessary to address the question of Edith Stein's individuality by trying to clarify how the progressive union of the person with God takes place, as well as if and how the personal individuality continues to be present. Edith Stein showed us how the relationship of the union of the person with God involves human capacities to the maximum, purifying them as through fire, and thus transforming the person. It has been clarified that the purification that concerns the life of the one who responds to God is a necessary passage to reach the authenticity of his own being, where authenticity is the individual Christ-like form. This is why it is a passage like through the night, the darkness, because of the senses, intellect, will, and memory must become capable of rising from this world to recognize the ultimate truths and enter into the Life of God. We concluded our research by dedicating the second part of the final chapter to highlight the aspects that can better contribute to the reflection on the foundations of morality starting from the existential path and the reflection of Edith Stein. From the present research some aspects of Edith Stein's conversion have emerged that we would like to underline: 1. We have come to the realization that Edith Stein's conversion truly corresponds to the journey made towards her most authentic personal being, which has come to its fulfillment thanks to the acquisition of the Science of the cross. This touches upon an ontological level, as the conversion has revealed to her a deeper understanding of her own authentic being and vocation, to which she had access to thanks to the knowledge of herself gained in God. It also illuminates the anthropological level, since Edith Stein has found, thanks to faith, the light that completed the picture of what is authentically human. The acquisition of the Science of the cross also touches on the existential level as it presents itself as a path of integration of the polarization and tensions of life. This was the way through which Edith came to acquire that breadth, unity, and depth that her life expressed. 2. In the consideration of the journey of conversion made by Edith Stein, more than the aspect of the sinfulness of her previous life which moreover Edith does not neglect, emerges more prominently the fullness of truth found in Christ, from which she felt drawn to new life. The ontological clarity received by the living relationship with God resulted in a very high active potential of moral response. In fact, due to the possibility of using freedom to place oneself at the center of the deepest personal interiority, a person can see the birth of decisions and actions corresponding to the call of the human being, which is a vocation to the gift of self in love. 3. It is not secondary to point out that Edith Stein belonged to the Jewish people and that at a time in her life had distanced herself from the faith of her forefathers. During the course of study we have found elements that we can trace back to her Jewish origins: a passionate search for the truth, and in it a distinctly realistic approach to the knowledge of reality, never settling for answers that are not deeply verified and founded, which would reduce the meaning of things; Edith's perspective is a radically positive view on creation and on the human person, so much so that her youthful way of thinking about the human condition, profound and noble, remains a valid foundation for subsequent theological and mystical knowledge; she considers freedom a constitutive and an inalienable element of the human being, indispensable for him to respond to his vocation to love; understanding that the spiritual dimension is the one which characterizes the human Edith succeeds in maintaining a profound unity between human and divine: the deeply accepted human is ready to bring God. Edith Stein expresses a profound balance between personal identity and belonging to the community, individuality, and relationship. 4. Her empathic approach, considered a sui generis cognitive act, seems to be of considerable importance. Empathy, as understood by Edith, does not cancel differences, yet it does not create conflict. In fact, it allows each person to be what he is, without reducing the uniqueness of each individual, drawing from each other mutual enrichment. We see it as a way of meeting and peace. Expanding empathy to the relationship with Christ, we understand that the source of unity of Edith's life draws on the mystery of Christ. The mysteries of His life are inextricably linked to one another. And this unity rebounds over the life of Edith Stein and reveals that it is a question of the mystery of Christ in her, who gathers her from within. Asking what aspects are awaiting further study and further research regarding the profound movements that have marked Edith Stein's steps towards conversion, an open field to the investigation would include more in-depth study of the influence that thinkers close to her, such as Adolf Reinach, Hedwig Conrad Martius, and Erich Przywara, had on her. As well as that of her spiritual father, Abbot Walzer, who was spiritually very close to her. In her last years outside of Carmel, she met and lived in friendship with the couple Maritain. We believe that the aspect of authentic friendship that bound Edith to these people had a profound influence on her spiritual movements. A point that seems to deserve to be developed, is to face on the basis of the philosophical and theological-mystical anthropology of Edith Stein a complete foundation of the presuppositions of moral theology. Her anthropology, which recognizes Kern as a vital principle internal to the soul and the presence in it of God himself, would illuminate the invitation expressed by the Second Vatican Council, which expected that moral theology would clarify the call of the faithful to bear fruit for the life of the world. The aspect of individuality seems particularly noteworthy and a starting point for further study, as developed by Edith Stein. Such a concept of individuality expresses the uniqueness and unrepeatability of every human person created by God. The completely personal relationship that He has towards every person grounds the ultimate dignity of every human being and opens him to the possibility of the full and authentic development of his being. We believe that this understanding of the individuality and the concept of the bottom of the soul could constitute a valid and solid help to illuminate, for example, an extremely topical subject such as that of addictions, being able to guide to understand them, despite their diversification, as the expression of a lack of openness to one's personal being, and thus of a lack of fullness of life, which instead inhabits every human interiority. We realized that Edith Stein is fully inserted into the panorama of the XX. century. We could say that she is among those who with their existence and openness to the Spirit have prepared the conditions for the Second Vatican Council. An element that confirms its significance and relevance is also the choice of the Church to proclaim Edith Stein Copatroness of Europe. Her capacity for grounded and balanced views between the individual and the community, the constant maintenance of polarizations that the differences create, the look that rises from this earth, without however forgetting at all the concrete situations, make her particularly current and significant today, and invite to draw on to her reflections and her life experience. Her testimony, above all of how she experienced the personal answer in the greatest darkness, becomes a guarantee of truthfulness: even the most difficult situation, which seems without openness and without hope, finds in Edith a sure guide to cross any existential darkness following the Cross
The main features of Aleksandar Menj's ecumenism and their contemporary applicability
No full textOva disertacija posebnu pozornost posvećuje glavnim značajkama ekumenizma Aleksandra Menja i njihovoj primjenjivosti u suvremenom kontekstu. Aleksandar Menj promatra Crkvu kao jedinstvenu po otajstvu u Kristu, s Kristom i po Kristu, te po trojedinom Bogu i na taj način ostvaruje jedinstvo jedne i čitave Katoličke (saborne) Crkve. Za njega je ovo uzajamno priznanje moguće samo onda ako su kao prvo, ova čitava Crkva i njezino otajstvo zaista prisutni u svakoj mjesnoj (biskupskoj) Crkvi koja slavi euharistiju; te ako se, kao drugo, ovo jedinstvo i istost uza svu kulturnu različitost i mnogobrojnost izražava spominjanjem i drugih patrijarha (biskupa) u euharistijskom slavlju međusobno povezanih Crkava. Rad je podijeljen u šest poglavlja. U prvoj cjelini koja je svojevrstan uvod u temu prikazuje se povjesno-društveni kontekst u vrijeme djelovanja Aleksandra Menja. Potom se predstavlja duhovni profil ruskog teologa Aleksandra Menja i mišljenje svjedoka njegove vjere. Druga cjelina prikazuje ekumenizam u suvremenoj crkvi i dosadašnje predložene modele poimanja tog jedinstva. Treća cjelina predstavlja izvorni materijal i sav ekumenski potencijal misli i djela Aleksandra Menja i sintetizira ga u jedinstvenu ekumensku viziju oca Menja. Kompariranjem sa dotadašnjim ekumenistima ruske pravoslavne crkve potvrdila se originalnost ove vizije. Četvrti dio istražuje mogućnosti primjene ekumenske vizije oca Menja u Rimokatoličkoj crkvi i pokazuje se da je Menjov ekumenski model u velikoj mjeri zajednički u bitnim crtama s izkazanim stavovima i djelovanjem novijih papa Pavla IV, Ivana Pavla II, Benedikta XVI i Franje. Zadnji dio, zaključno je prikazao model ujedinjenja koji se može izvuči iz Menjove ekumenske vizije koji počiva na dijalogu, poštivanju individualnosti svakog čovjeka, svake kulture kao bogatstvo samog kršćanstva. U zaključku pokazat će se je li i u kojoj mjeri ekumenska vizija oca Menja podobna kao jedinstveni model za ujedinjenje kršćanskih crkava i zajednica.This work mainly focuses on the feature of Christian unity in the works of Aleksandar Men, a Russian presbyter who sees the Church as unique in its mystery in Christ, with Christ and after Christ and the Trinity which contributes to the unity of one and whole Catholic Church. According to him this mutual confession is possible only if, firstly, this whole Church and its mystery are really present in every local (episcopal) Church which celebrates the Eucharist and secondly, if this unity and equality is expressed by mentioning other patriarchs (bishops) in the Eucharistic celebration, despite the cultural diversity and multiplicity. This work is divided into six parts. The first unit serves as a form of introduction bringing the historical and social context in the time when theologist Aleksandar Men lived, followed by his spiritual profile and opinions of the witnesses of his faith. The second unit shows the original material and all ecumenic potential of Aleksandar Men’s thoughts and actions and synthesizes it in a unique ecumenic vision of father Men. Comparing this vision with former ecumenists of the Russian Orthodox church confirmed its originality. Comparison with the present situation in Church makes up the following three chapters. It firstly introduces the ecumenical attitude in the Orthodox Church with variations in the relationships of different currents and then analyses the relationship of the Othodox Church towards father Men’s figure, work and ecumenic vision. The fourth unit explores pervasion of father Men’s ecumenic vision with ecumenic thoughts in the Roman Catholic Church showing that Men’s ecumenic model is largely common (in the important thoughts) to the attitudes and work of the newer popes – Paul IV, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. The fifth unit describes ecumenic dialogue with Protestant Churches and other Christian communities and the diversity in their ecumenic attitudes that father Men’s ecumenic vision could bridge. The final, sixth unit, presents a model of unification that can be based on Men’s ecumenic vision which lies on dialogue, respecting each person’s individuality and viewing every culture as richness of Christianity. This last unit concludes that the ecumenic vision of father Men is suitable as a unique model for the unification of the Christian churches and communities
The Croatian community of marriage encounters in the light of the pos-council theology regarding marriage and family
No full textTeološko – znanstveno promišljanje o braku i obitelji percipira današnje stanje braka i obitelji u Crkvi i svijetu, osobito gledajući pomoću crkvenih dokumenata. Uvažavajući smjernice Hrvatske biskupske konferencije nastoji se pomoću dokumenata uvesti ili oživjeti oni oblici pastoralne skrbi koji će obuhvaćati cjelokupni obiteljski pastoral. Na tome je tragu i ovaj doktorski rad koji pod naslovom Hrvatska zajednica Bračnih susreta u svjetlu postkoncilske teologije o braku i obitelji istražuje doprinos zajednice Bračnih susreta pastoralu baraka i obitelji. Rad je strukturiran u četiri poglavlja. Prvo poglavlje, oslanjajući se na povijesno – pastoralni kontekst, donosi povijest nastanka novoga pokreta u Katoličkoj Crkvi u Španjolskoj prije Drugoga vatikanskog koncila. Kronološki se prati širenje i unutarnji razvoj strukture te metode rada pokreta koji ima u cilju obnovu bračnih parova, svećenika i redovnika po sakramentima ženidbe i svetoga reda, te obnoviti Crkvu, društvo i svijet. Drugo poglavlje na početku sažimlje pretkoncilsko ozračje s obzirom na nauk Crkve o sakramentu braka, da bi zatim analizom koncilskih i postkoncilskih dokumenata, kao i dokumenata koje je izdala Hrvatska biskupska konferencija, podastrlo postkoncilski nauk o braku i obitelji. Središnji je dio rada posvećen metodologiji kojom Hrvatska zajednica Bračnih susreta provodi vikend programe s bračnim parovima, svećenicima, redovnicima i redovnicama, ali i u novije vrijeme i sa zaručnicima. Analiza metodologije obuhvaća i formacijske stupnjeve za nositelje i protagoniste izvorne ideje osnivača Bračnih susreta Gabriela Calva. Četvrto poglavlje u fokusu istraživanja ima samu Hrvatsku zajednicu Bračnih susreta te njezin doprinos pastoralu braka i obitelji u Hrvatskoj. Istraživanje je potkrepljeno kritičkome analizom kvantitativnih arhivskih podataka promatrajući pastoralno djelovanje od 1976. godine do 2019. godine. Analizira se i provedeni anketni upitnik s koordinatorima pojedinih lokalnih zajednica Bračnih susreta s ciljem uvida u stanje samih lokalnih zajednica i njezine uključenosti u druge crkvene i društvene subjekte koji promiču pastoralni rad i skrb za brak i obitelj.The doctoral dissertation titled Croatian Marriage Encounter Community In The Light of The Marriage And Family Post-Council Theology covers a rather unresearched subject on the Croatian Marriage Encounter Community (CMEC), especially emphasizing the Marriage Weekend (MW) methodology. This is the programme the Community offers not only to the married couples for their matrimonial life and unity renewal given by the Sacrament of Matrimony, but also to the priests, monks and nuns, aiming at renewing the Church, society and the world, having in mind the marriage and family teachings of the Church.
The paper has four chapters. The first chapter gives the historic overview of the Marriage Encounter (ME) movement beginnings in Spain and its first activities in America. The second chapter states the marriage and family theologic view and teachings according to the pre-Council (the Second Vatican Council) and post-Council documents, as well as the documents on marriage and family published by the Croatian Bishop Conference. In the the third chapter the theologically scientific analysis is being used as it surveys the Marriage Weekend methodology in view of the post-Council marriage and family teachings. The last, fourth, chapter deals with the Croatian Marriage Encounter Community as one of the marriage and family factors in pastoral activity in Croatia from its beginning to this day.
In the first chapter, titled History of Marriage Encounter, the historic overview of the Marriage Encounter Movement beginning in Spain is being presented, along with its ideas and expansion in the world. All the Secound Vatican Council documents in varying degrees report on the importance of the faithful lay people’s role in the Church renewal and apostolate. However, it has been known, as well as confirmed in this disertation, that the faithful lay people had been involved in the Church renewal even before the Second Vatican Council. The emergence of many communities throughout Europe testifies to that point, including the Marriage Encounter movement, whose methodology brings the news to the pre-Council pastoral activities – matrimonial spirituality.
History of the Marriage Encounter (ME) begins in Spain in the 1940’s on the initiative of a young married couple, Jaime Ferrer and Mercedes Escola, along with the Jesuit priest, father Gabriel Calvo. They start organizing conferences for married couples, emphasizing the married couple’s spirituality, experience sharing and mutual dialogue. All those efforts would enable the
couples renew their unity by the Sacrament of Marriage they entered into and live the sacramental mercy as well as join in the apostolate of the Church and the world renewal. In order for the couples to get the high-quality guidelines for mutual and christian life, the conferences become weekend – encounters with guiding teams. The guiding team includes a married couple and a priest. Weekend – encounters have a well organized structure and methodology based on the teachings of the Church and soon are called Encuentro Conyugal / Marriage Encounter, while in the whole world the movement becomes known as Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME).
The second chapter is a short overview of the marriage and family theology which follows the Church teachings from its beginnings to the Second Vatican Council and the post-Council documents, based on the sacramental matrimony and the insolubility of marriage. Special emphasis is put on the theologically-pastoral differentiation of the pre-Council and post-Council marriage and family atmosphere.
Pre-Council teaching about marriage, after the teaching according to saint Augustine, emphasizes the three benefits of marriage: children (procreation), fidelity and sacrament, while everything else is secondary. The analysis of the Second Vatican Council document and the post-Council theology has shown that the sacramental matrimonial teaching has deepened in the light of the modern society new awareness and needs, noticing a novelty in a different approach to the matrimony, in the essence of marriage, as well as in the role and mission of the spouses in the Church and the world. Following the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, the shepherds of souls of the Church in general and in Croatia issued certain documents on marital and family subjects at their sessions after the Council. The most important document on the marriage and family pastoral activities in the Croatian Church is The Directorate for the family pastoral activity in the Church in Croatia, which in the present-day Croatian Church represents the synthesis of the existing experience, activities and theological judgement. The Ducument gives the guidelines to the pastoral staff, as well as to the families on how to become active pastoral factors, able to accomplish the planned pastoral programmes.
Theologically-pastoral reflexions, as well as the marriage and family documents produced by the Church, aim at paving the new ways of the pastoral activity on the national, diocese/archdiocese and parish level, alongside the existing ones. One of them is Croatian Marriage Encounter. The third chapter of the disertation gathers information on its methodology in the light of the post-Council on these fundemental documents: Marriage Encounter Weekend Draft, Weekend Overview. Supporting Document for Understanding of the Marriage Encounter Weekend Draft, Marriage Encounter Article of Association, The Apostolate Guidelines and Speeches (given at the meetings), as well as the methodology of Gabriel Calvo, which hasn’t been changed in its essence since the first weekend held in 1961 in Spain. Ater the detailed analysis of the Marriage Encounter (ME), it has been concluded that ME doesn’t consider itself a family community, but a movement for the Church and the world renewal by the matrimonial and holy orders sacraments.
Marriage Encounter Community (MEC) has got four fundemental keystones: original weekend, married couple teams, structure, community. Marriage Encounter Weekend or the Original weekend is the main event for each married couple, priest, monk and nun. Ideas introduced by each person’s life experience are intended to renew the matrimonial love of the couples participating at the Original weekend, as well as renew the priests’ dedication by the holy orders sacrament and renew the monks’ and nuns’ dedication promised by their vows of obedience. The dialogue in pair is the basic means of the Marriage Encounter Weekend. It is the key of true communicaton which enables not only a closely-knit action of the two people, but also the sound functionig of the human nature. The Marriage Encounter weekend managers are the team couples (a couple married in the Catholic Church in cooperation with a priest) who share their experience through the ‘speeches’ at the Original weekend. By doing so, they testify, evangelise and participate in the apostolate. The team couples are the carriers of the community structure from the worldwide level to the lowest level of the local communities. This structure covers many services and duties that make possible leading and managing the whole Movement, meeting high standards within a developed framework. The analysis of the Marriage Weekend (MW) methodology confirms the thesis that Croatian Marriage Encounter Community (CMEC) by its structure and methodology enables the continuous monitoring of married couples.
The fourth chapter of the doctoral disertation, titled Croatian Marriage Encounter Community as one of the marriage and family pastoral activity factors in Croatia, reports on the family pastoral activity development in the Republic of Croatia, emphasizing the historical development of the Croatian Marriage Encounter Community and its marriage and family pastoral activities. Based on the Community archive data, the quantitative data of the Marriage Weekend participants since its establishment to this day have been presented in relation to separate dioceses, as well as the current state and the activities of the Community. A survey has been taken among the coordinators of the local communities. The data analysis is being interpreted in accordance to the paper’s main thesis, which is: give a historic review of the Marriage Encounter (ME), examine and present the methodology of the Marriage Weekend (MW) achievements, using the scientifically-theoligical analysis with reference to the post-Council marriage and family teachings and confirm the hypothesis linked to the beginnings and activities of the Movement not only with reference to the post-Council documents, but also to the marriage and family pastoral documents in Croatia. Based on the processed data, it has been concluded that the Croatian Marriage Encounter Community successfully uses the prematrimonial pastoral methodology and it is open to the cooperation with other church and society subjects in achieving its goals. The Community is also one of the bigger and better organised Catholic associations in Croatia, with the firm structure, good organisation, clear goals and elabotated methods of work
Theological - BIoethical Evaluation of Constitutional Court Decisions on Abortion
No full textPobačaj kao aktualna višedimenzionalna problematika društva nalazi se u fokusu zakonodavno-pravne, biomedicinske, filozofske, teološke, ali i socio-političke perspektive. Zakonodavno-pravno uređenje načinom regulacije pobačaja otvara pitanja početka ljudskog života, pravnog subjektiviteta nerođenog djeteta i njegovog temeljnog prava na život, prava žene na izbor, samoodređenje i privatnost. Nacionalno zakonodavstvo Republike Hrvatske razgraničenje prava na život i prava na samoodređenje uređuje zastarjelim Zakonom o zdravstvenim mjerama za ostvarivanje prava na slobodno odlučivanje o rađanju djece iz 1978. godine. Temeljem sedam prijedloga za pokretanje postupka ocjene suglasnosti Zakona s Ustavom, Ustavni je sud Republike Hrvatske donio Rješenje broj U-I-60/1991 i dr. od 21. veljače 2017. s Izdvojenim mišljenjem. Disertacija donosi analizu spomenutih dvaju dokumenata iz teološko-bioetičke perspektive iz koje se promatra i vrjednuje kontekst nastanka Zakona, njegovo poimanje dostojanstva čovjeka, prava djeteta i žene. Analizi zakona prethodi istraživanje međunarodnog i europskog zakonodavnog okvira koji uređuje pravni status djeteta i majke, kao širi globalni kontekst unutar kojeg je nastajao Zakon koji nije slijedio dosege međunarodnog prava spomenutog konteksta. U aktualnom društvenom trenutku revidiranja zakonsko-pravnog uređenja, rad teološko-bioetički vrjednuje Rješenje Ustavnog suda i Izdvojeno mišljenje na kojemu se temelji izložena ustavno-pravna argumentacija, formalno-logička i znanstvenobiomedicinska argumentacija obrazloženja, čime donosi novost teološke misli spram važnog općedruštvenog problema. Kvalitetno pravno uređenje kompleksnog pitanja pobačaja moguće je tek razumijevanjem spomenutog fenomena u izvornom kontekstu biomedicine i embriologije na čijoj se artikulaciji znanstvenih spoznaja temelji evaluacija pobačaja kao čina i njegovih moralno-etičkih implikacija. Istraživanjem spoznaja biomedicine i embriologije rad donosi plauzibilne potvrde nastanka ljudskog života, odnosno početka novonastalog organizma posve nove genetske strukture u trenutku začeća. Teološko-bioetička perspektiva iznosi moralno vrjednovanje pobačaja kao nedopustivog prekida započetog ljudskog života, posredstvom analize dokumenata učiteljstva Crkve. Pogled na ljudski život i dostojanstvo ljudske osobe, pritom se artikulira iz pozicije kršćanske antropologije koja počiva na Svetom Pismu i učiteljstvu Crkve. Čovjek je u vizuri teološke antropologije stvoren na sliku Božju, posjeduje neotuđivo dostojanstvo ljudske osobe od početka života do prirodne smrti te je svaki čin koji to negira isto, protivan dostojanstvu njegove osobe.Abortion as a current multidimensional issue of society is the focus of legislativelegal, biomedical, philosophical, theological, as well as socio-political perspectives. Legislative regulation, through its method of regulating abortion, raises questions about the beginning of human life, the legal subjectivity of the unborn child and its fundamental right to life, the woman's right to choice, self-determination and privacy. The national legislation of the Republic of Croatia defines the delimitation of the right to life and the right to self-determination by the outdated Act on Health Measures for exercising the Right to Free Decision-making on Childbirth (further AHM), since 1978. On the basis of seven motions for initiating the procedure of reviewing the conformity of the Act with the Constitution, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia issued Decision No. U-I-60/1991 et al., dated February 21, 2017, with Separate Opinion. Dissertation Theological-Bioethical Evaluation of Constitutional Court Decisions on Abortion provides an analysis of the above-mentioned two documents from a theologicalbioethical perspective which gives review and evaluation of the context of the origin of the Act, its understanding of human dignity, the rights of the child and woman. In evaluating the Act on Health Measures and the Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, this work brings the novelty of interpretation and evaluation of the problem of abortion in the original contexts in which the matter and issues are located. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the theological-bioethical evaluation of constitutional court decisions seeks to explore, through four sections, three basic and key areas in which the phenomenon of abortion is determined, and in which discussions are articulated. The legal aspect tends to shed light on the socio-legal context that fuels the legal framework on abortion. The imperative of the biomedical aspect is through the knowledge of biological-scientific disciplines, to explore the biological truth about the beginning of
human life, which is articulated through philosophical-bioethical principles. Finally, the moral - theological aspect seeks to evaluate the same truth about the beginning of human life in the light of the theology of the Church and the Divine Revelation of Jesus Christ. The conceptual division of the aforementioned areas followed the structure of the topic research, which was divided and rounded into three thematic units. The Legislative Thematic Unit is structured in two parts, the first part of which aims to clarify the understanding of Croatian national legislation offered by AHM, where the key of the research is to focus on the international regulation of abortion, ie the legal status of the human embryo within that framework, which existed at the time of the passage of the disputed law. The research in this section seeks to consider arguments that will verify or refute the hypothesis that relevant international community documents protecting fundamental human rights and freedoms miss the definition of key elements such as the beginning of human life or the legal status of a child. By not defining the aforementioned elements, international documents leave a great deal of space for individual interpretation by particular legislators, thus allowing for the inconsistency of international legislation. The issue of abortion, regulated by the legal framework, is concentrated precisely within the definition of the concept and scope of human rights. The inherent human rights and freedoms, based on human dignity, are inviolable and inalienable to every human being. The dignity of the human person is base for all fundamental rights, of which the priority has the right to life, which is a prerequisite for the exercise of all other rights, such as the right to self-determination, privacy and family life. The research in the indicated direction had the intention of clarifying the relation between the dignity of man in legislative stipulations governing the legal subjectivity of a person and the range of reach of his natural right. Does the human embryo have a legal personality, that is, whether the human embryo is the owner of the rights? Defining the concept of a human being decides to what extent and in what way legal subjectivity is guaranteed by legal regulation. The peculiar framework of legal status gives international law by declarations and conventions, but the final legal framework is nevertheless left to the national legislator. The goal of researching international documents is to understand how international and European legislation defines a human being, how it defines a human embryo and whether it defines it at all, and finally what is entailed and protected by the concept of a child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, based on the United Nations Resolution,
the Declaration on the Rights of the Child, which is the benchmark and reference point in the disputes and proceedings of international and national courts, was imposed as a starting point. An analysis of the international and European legal contexts attempts to articulate the legal status of the child, especially the unborn child or unborn human being, as international legal terminology most commonly calls it. The same legal status of the child is observed through the legal practice of the European Union, through its documents and pragmatic solutions that outline the correlation between the rights of the child and the rights of women, which are visibly and constantly pushed into the confrontational framework. The conflict of rights to the right to life, as a fundamental right inherent to every human being and the right to self-determination and privacy, is the subject of controversy, debates, and interpretation at the international level. Exploring the level of guarantee the right to life and its implementation in the legislation starts with the interpretation of the Convention provisions, in particular through the authentic Council of Europe guidance. The international and European legislative framework summarized the understanding of the context within which Croatia's national legal solution to the abortion issue developed. The aforementioned indulgence of the defining of the terms and their delineation by the national legislature is a matter of research of the second chapter of the work, as well as the extent to which the legal regulation, conditioned by the social order of the systemic authority, have remained immune to the said international legislative reach. The second part of the first thematic unit presents the interpretation and analysis of the AHM as a meritorious Croatian law and the Constitutional Court's Decision, as new guidelines and stages in changing the legislative framework. The research focused on understanding the structure of the law at issue, its provisions, and measures, as well as its definition of human rights and the definition of abortion. Understanding the context of the creation of the AHM and the constitutional-legal framework within which it was formed is a turning point that explains the many concerns about the regulation of abortion in 1978. On this basis, the interpretation of the Constitutional Court decisions in 2017 and the explanation of the Constitutional Court's Decision were upgraded. The analysis covered the proceedings of the Constitutional Court, the complaints of the petitioners for initiating the procedure of conformity assessment with the Constitution, consulted scientific opinions of relevant experts, considered relevant documents and provisions of the Constitution, as well as selected comparative model of selected examples of European case law. The articulation of legal argumentation, the interpretation of the concept of the formal-legal approach of the Constitutional Court, and the establishment of a concept that questions the argumentation of the Constitutional Court's decisions have opened up new perspectives for considering the issue. In the context of the constitutional approach to the Decision and the evaluation of its argumentation, the intervention of Constitutional Judge Miroslav Šumanović, who delivered a dissenting opinion within the said Decision, was a valuable judgment. Therefore, one of the aims of the research is focused on the conceptualization of Šumanović's argumentation and its verification, through aspects of constitutional arguments, formal-logical sequences and scientifically biomedical evidence. It is a fact that has directed the exploration of another thematic unit of work into the original context of biological matter itself, into the field of biomedicine viewed through the optics of bioethics. This conception approaches the evaluation of critical issues from a bioethical point of view on abortion, and above all seeks to investigate and evaluate the same points of dispute within the legal framework offered by the AHM. The bioethical evaluation of abortion from the perspective of biomedicine draws conclusions from research that has used scientific methodology and insights into biomedicine and embryology in the field of abortion. The research is aimed at defining the biological characteristics of the human embryo, its developmental and genetic characteristics that determine biologically the beginning of human life. Furthermore, bioethical critique, operating through philosophical categories, questions the human embryo as a human being and discusses the human embryo in the context of speaking about the human person and his individual beginning. The articulation of philosophical arguments on the aforementioned issues remained consistent with the philosophical scientific method, and only philosophical argumentation was used in this part of the paper, while the theological answer, although often used by the philosophical method, was included in the next section of the doctoral thesis. Furthermore, from a biomedical perspective, abortion is primarily seen as a medical intervention through pragmatics and methods of abortion, then as an act that has moralethical implications by internal dichotomy and is valorized in the context of human rights speech. Bio-embryological scientific knowledge plausibly confirms the emergence of a new unique genetic material by connecting gametes of opposite sexes. Coupling the sperm nucleus with the egg nucleus produces a zygote, which is the initial cell of a newly created organism with a completely new genetic structure. It is a key element that determines the beginning of a new individual human life, and at the same time forms the corpus of another hypothesis that will be verified based on the scientific facts of embryology. Some other elements are included that accompany the act of abortion, either as its direct or implied consequences or as the right not to participate in its execution. The paper briefly addresses the psychological dimension of a woman affected by abortion, indicating briefly pre-natal and post-traumatic trauma. The speech about the right to not participate in the abortion act briefly raised the issue of the conscientious objection from the perspective of medical ethics, which is a complex separate topic, but it is also an indispensable element in the articulation of the problem of abortion. The third thematic unit, or the fourth part of the doctoral thesis, presents the theological - moral dimension of the complex issue of abortion, which, from the position of moral theology, values the exposed matter. In doing so, it brings the theological-bioethical perspective of contemporary challenges that are imposed by the moral code of contemporary society. The theological-moral evaluation of the abortion phenomenon has included a more detailed evaluation and the way it is regulated in Croatian legislation and justified in the framework of the Decision. Preliminary research has established the hypothesis based on the knowledge of biological - embryological sciences about the beginning of life which concludes that genetic material created by the conception is an individual human being, a person in the developmental stage. The interruption of the developmental phase signifies the end of individual life, that is, theological evaluation considers abortion the murder of an unborn man. Explaining the position of the Christian view of man seeks to clarify the truth about the dignity of the human person, about the dignity of a woman who is deeply morally threatened by the problem of abortion, and about intentional abortion as an act. The analysis of the documents of the Church gives an overview of human life as well as the articulation of contemporary theological discourse on the issues of the beginning of life, conception, abortive contraception and abortion. The teaching of the Church, especially after the Second Vatican Council, brings to the researcher the full range of documents of the Church dealing with the subject of human dignity, thereby articulating the uniform and continuous speech of the Roman popes and choirs of bishops. Christian anthropology, which rests on Scripture, the teaching of the Church, and enriched with contemporary bioethical and medical knowledge, brings a coherent contribution to contemporary debate and proposes the concept of a vision of a human person who inherits his dignity from conception to natural death. The last section of the research evaluates the Act of the Health Measures and the values it promotes and protects along with the Decision of Constitutional Court from the moral and theological perspective. While acknowledging the moral aspect of the judgement, the metods applied in the interpretation of the Constitution and the position that the Constitutional Court takes in the explanation of the Decision, this paper seeks to expound a theological view with a reflection on the processing of this delicate matter. The evaluation also refers to the theological implications of the given decisions and attitudes, as well as the repercussions they may have in the long term. The hypothesis from the field of the moral and theological evaluation of the Decision recognizes the Constitutional Court as the supreme interpreter of the Constitution of Republic of Croatia, and a social arbitrator which in the matter of abortion has uncritically positioned itself by the moral relativism opposed to the Croatian Constitution, it withholds the right to interpret the constitutional categories and thereby creates the environment for the legislator, which from the perspective of the moral theology is ethically doubtful
Ecumenical dimension in the work of Josip Turčinović
No full textJosip Turčinović je rođen 30. rujna 1933. godine u Sv. Petru u Šumi, školovao se u Sv. Petru u Šumi, Kopru, Pazinu i Zagrebu. Najveći dio njegova života i rada vezujemo za Zagreb; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet na kojem je poučavao, izdavačku kuću Kršćanska sadašnjost kojom je ravnao te crkvu Ranjenog Isusa u kojoj je slavio euharistiju i propovijedao. U ovom doktorskom radu prikazano je Turčinovićevo angažiranje za djelo ekumenizma kao pokreta među kršćanskim Crkvama i njegov doprinos ekumenskom ozračju u Katoličkoj Crkvi. Slijedeći poticaje Drugoga vatikanskog koncila ostavio je neporeciv trag u teologiji, u kulturi dijaloga i pomirljivosti, pripravljajući time put budućim naraštajima. Nadalje, prikazana je njegova ekumenska teologija i narav njegove ekumenske misli u cjelini kao i njezin značaj za budući ekumenski dijalog. U svjetlu nauka Drugoga vatikanskog koncila i suvremene teološke misli u Katoličkoj Crkvi u radu je pokazan početak, ili još bolje rečeno izvor, poticaju i razvoju Turčinovićeva teološko-znanstvenog interesa za ekumensku tematiku i njezin potencijal u pogledu primjene za budući ekumenski dijalog između, danas još uvijek, nepotpuno sjedinjenih kršćanskih Crkava. Doktorski rad je strukturiran u tri glavna poglavlja uz uvod, zaključak i bibliografiju.
U uvodu doktorskog rada predstavljamo status quaestionis istraživanja teme i donosimo obrazloženje metodologije rada.
Prvo poglavlje predstavlja, u bitnim crtama, životni hod Josipa Turčinovića. Naime, ono što smatramo značajnim za razumijevanje i smještaj Turčinovića u slijed vremena pitanje je njegove formacije tj. njegovo školovanje, njegovi odgojitelji i profesori, iz čega je razvidno da je okružje u kojem se Turčinović oblikovao bilo: okružje obrazovanja i okružje odgoja. Time se pokazuje kakvo je bilo ozračje u kojem je rastao odnosno pokazuje se korijenje – obrazovanje i odgoj.
Drugo poglavlje doktorskog rada predstavlja i vrednuje ekumensko djelovanje Josipa Turčinovića na Katoličkom bogoslovnom fakultetu u Zagrebu te njegov pokretački i organizatorski rad na ekumenskom području koji je – s pravom se može reći – uvijek bio na način suradnje. S obzirom da je riječ o razdoblju kada i sam postaje predavač na spomenutom Fakultetu u ovom poglavlju je pokazano što je Turčinović od zatečenoga slijedio a što mijenjao u obrazovnom i formativnom sustavu u kojem se kao teolog oblikovao.
Treće poglavlje doktorskog rada analitički vrednuje Turčinovićeva ekumenski relevantna djela kao i ostale publikacije s ekumenskom tematikom u okviru kojih se, kao pouzdana datost, pokazuje da je Turčinović namjerno i svjesno odabrao ekumensko područje kao okosnicu svoga života i djelovanja i u tom kontekstu njegovo angažiranje u nadilaženju postojećih problema gdje on upravo ekumenizam vidi kao rješenje. On se uvijek i u svemu držao pravca zvanog dijalog. Turčinovića se ovdje predstavlja kao jednoga od vodećih teologa svoga vremena koji je, slijedeći poticaje Drugoga vatikanskog koncila (1962.-1965.), ostavio neporeciv trag kako u teologiji jednako tako i u kulturi uopće, napose kulturi dijaloga. U ovom su poglavlju također predstavljene glavne odrednice i obilježja ekumenske teologije Josipa Turčinovića, njezina aktualizacija, bibliocentričnost i kristocentričnost kao bit ekumenizma a sve je prožeto stvarnim ekumenskim duhom gdje se kao temeljno polazište pokazuje Turčinovićevo zauzimanje za čovjeka kao osobu i sve ono što čovjeka zaokuplja u stvarnom, konkretnom životu. Ovo poglavlje predstavlja i narav Turčinovićeve ekumenske misli u cjelini te njezin značaj za budući ekumenski dijalog.Josip Turčinović was born on September 30th 1933. in Sveti Petar u Šumi, in central Istra. He received his education in Sveti Petar u Šumi, Kopar, Pazin and Zagreb. For the most part, his life and career will forever be linked to Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology, Kršćanska sadašnjost publishing firm and the Wounded Christ Church in Zagreb.
This dissertation focuses on the theological, publishing and public benefit work by the professor of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, Josip Turčinović, PhD, from the purely ecumenical standpoint, from the time of his birth in 1933. till his passing in Zagreb in 1990.
Josip Turčinović was one of the leading Croatian theologians , leaving an undeniable mark on theology and culture in general. His contributions to the culture of dialogue, collaboration and search for peaceful solutions lead the way for future generations, securing his ecumenical profile and legacy. Furthermore, he was a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb while also heading the Ecumenic theology department, along with being an expert on the history of religion and Croatian culture in general. Considering the environment and the region in which he operated, we can say that he was a brave theologian who focused on finding peaceful coexistence between Christian churches and trying to reflect the ecumenic thought on both the religious and social level.
Considering the topic of this dissertation, the first chapter contains the biography of prof. Josip Turčinović with some key moments of his life laid out in chronological order to fully present us with his life's journey. Keeping the goal of this research in mind, along with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the modern theological viewpoint of the Catholic church, it was important to place prof. Turčinović clearly within the confines of time. This is crucial, because it makes a very obvious point of establishing the origins of prof. Turčinović's desire to pursue the knowledge of ecumenical teachings. It also shows his ecumenical growth and the way he reflected it onto both the religious and social level. Considering he was a very distinguished individual, both within the Church hierarchy and as an important figure of Croatian culture that has not been properly and systematically researched, we were open to explore that in more detail and present it through two periods of Turićinović's life, one representing his educational development and the other his development as a person. By exploring these periods we present the origins of his scientific interests.
If we consider the value and level of practical contribution of prof. Turićinović to the ecumenic thought in general, we find it to be of great importance to keep all aspects of his life and work completely clear and precise. Finally, his formation, both as a person and as a priest, turned out to be an authentic prism through which we could fully understand his ecumenic dimension and his placement within time. His environment certainly had a significant impact on his development as a theologist. Keeping in mind that Josip Turčinović is primarily a Catholic priest, it is worth showing in which types of circumstances his formation in that area came to be. Two determining factors turned out to be especially important for his development as a person and as a priest. Those factors were culture and faith, both omnipresent within the Catholic church and crucial for understanding prof. Turčinović.
The second chapter of this dissertation focuses on the second period of Josip Turčinović's life, the period in which he became a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, thus changing his environment. The reason for exploring these new circumstances in more detail is to determine which aspects of his earlier education and up-bringing he decided to change. An important role belongs to his professors who were his frequent collaborators in pushing forward the presence of dialog on every level of social life in the spirit of council rebuild of Croatia, so we also dedicated a part of this chapter to this very topic. His academic career at the Catholic Faculty of Theology started in January of 1964. and ended in october of 1990. The broad spectrum of his ecumenic and scientific interests is best conveyed through the sheer number of many different subjects which he taught during his academic days.
Furthermore, in this chapter we wanted to shine a light on Turčinović's contributions to ecumenism in general. He was a person whose impact was always substantial in
theology, literature and culture. We presented him as a well-intentioned man of the Church, who was always guided by the principal of dialogue and also as a theologist who, inspired by the Second Vatican Council (1962.-1965.) which centered heavily on ecumenism, intentionally chose ecumenism as the focus of his interest. It needs to be pointed out that although Turčinović was involved with all the Council activities, this dissertation explores and evaluates his work through the prism of ecumenism and also presents certain pre and post-Council activities to highlight his involvement. If we take into account the socio-political circumstances and structure, which had a massive impact on the Catholic Church at the time, the importance of Turčinović's work in that context, the significance of his long term vision and even courage in some of his initiatives is immeasurable. Here we would like to highlight the founding and the importance of the publishing firm Kršćanska sadašnjost, considering the fact that the Catholic press was controlled at the time, with its spectrum of topics being extremely narrow. Kršćanska sadašnjost was headed by Turčinović,making him the spark in all of the firm's endeavors while also being the chief editor which allowed him to shape the firm's ecumenic profile and activity, shaping ecumenism in Croatia in the process. It is once again worth to note his academic career at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb and his contribution to Faculty's goals as a theological-scientific institution by being the chief editor of two major libraries of Kršćanska sadašnjost, Volumina Theologica and Analecta Croatica Christiana, since the time he became an assistant at the Department of Eastern Divinity in January 1964 until the time of his passing in 1990.
Prof. Turčinović's devotion to progress and the reputation of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb is best reflected not only on his collaboration with his colleagues and professors, especially Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić, Vjekoslav Bajsić and Ivan Golub, but also in his representation of the Faculty on ecumenical conferences of theological faculties from Ljubljana and Belgrade and many other international congresses. There he proved himself to be an excellent lecturer with a keen sense of importance, synthesis and meaning. His contribution to theological studies is evident through many different viewpoints and in the second chapter, we chose to focus on his efforts to start the theology rebuild based on the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council, making him ahead of his time in recognizing the importance of such process. In this chapter we established the
lines in between which the life and work of Prof. Turčinović was taking place. This meant getting back to the origins of Christianity and accepting the world as is, providing hope and salvation. For the theologian Turčinović, the Second Vatican Council was a crucial moment in time, a defining moment that will determine the future. If we take into consideration the socio-economic circumstances during which the Council took place, it was necessary to point out the very brave approach of Prof. Turčinović in the implementation of Council conclusions, where he played a vital role in moving forward the culture of dialogue and ecumenism in this part of the world. We can conclude that all of his contributions were based on the culture of dialogue and collaboration, especially with his professors at the time, and that his academic work greatly contributed to the reputation of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb.
The third chapter, the central chapter of this dissertation, evaluates analytically all of Turčinović's significant published ecumenic work and the publications with ecumenic topics while acknowledging the fact that prof. Turčinović intentionally chose ecumenic field as the focus of not only his life's work but his life itself, using ecumenism as a solution and a tool for overcoming obstacles. His scientific and publishing work spans a wide variety of topics , with some of the more notable ones being his publications on theological controversies of the 17th and 18th Century, which demonstrate his keen understanding and viewpoint on the relations of East and West through the entire 18th Century. Furthermore, Potom, his contribution to further development of the modern post-council thought is more than clear, most notably through his revision of the translation and the content and graphic classification of the Second Vatican Council Documents (Koncil 1, Zagreb 1970). We tried to fully determine, from the historical and Church standpoint, Prof. Turčinović's theological work right after the Second Vatican Council was concluded, and became an inescapable factor in understanding his thought process, his practical approach and also the effort to spread the message of the Council onto theological and liturgical level, sending it also to the Catholic priests and the Catholic community in general.
In addition, this chapter introduces main determinants and characteristics of Josip Turčinović's ecumenic theology , its actualization, biblio centricity and christocentricity as the essence of ecumenism, and in the core of everything – the interest in each and every person alongside with their desires in life, intervowen with ecumenic spirit. This chapter also presents the overall nature of Turčinović's ecumenic thought in its entirety and also the importance and the impact it has for the future ecumenic dialog, in an effort to unite the now unfortunately still divided Christian Churches.
It is also important to mention the year 1975, the time when liturgy was being adapted to Croatian language. Turčinović is seen here as one of the more established authors of liturgy books. That same year he visited the 10th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council In Rome where he, along with certain professors from the Catholic Faculty of Theology, managed to secure the 'free' translation rights for all the theological literature. According to the Roman Department of Liturgy, Josip Turčinović is considered to be one of the most successful liturgy publishers among the Catholic nations. Within this chapter, through evaluating the contribution to the ecumenical thought in general, we asked ourselves one significant question: How important is ecumensim for today's theology and can the Turčinović's ecumenic thought help us as a framework for the future of ecumenic dialogue between still divided Christian Churches?
In conclusion we would like to point out the following: 1) Considering the unique geographical and cultural position of Croatia, being torn between the Christian East and the West, along with many ad antra conflicts within the Church itself which resulted in many significant historical events such as the East-West Schism in the 11th Century and the Reformation of the 16th Century, it is safe to assume that these circumstances enabled the emergence of many brave theologists such as Josip Turčinović who were in permanent search for the peaceful solutions to many divisions; 2) Keeping in mind Turčinović's broad recognition and his interreligious affinity, his ecumenical work, guided by the culture of dialogue, is of immense significance for the relationships between different Christian Churches at the time and the Catholic Church itself; 3) We believe that the ecumenical theological thought and the ecumenical work of Prof. Josip Turčinović contributed greatly to the ecumenical atmosphere in the Catholic Church; 4) The turning point and the beginning of the new age of ecumenism for the entire Christian world was introduced by the Second Vatican Council (1962.-1965.) shining a spotlight on the new ways of evangelization, initiating the rebuild of the previously in place structure. In that sense, the Council requires a step forward towards ecumenism and dialogue with the religions of the world, and it is precisely the post and pre-Council period that defined Josip Turčinović's theological legacy, making his role in this entire ecumenical moment in time crucial and unavoidable. He was among the leading theologists during these ecumenical developments, whose endeavors even than showed the future path of ecumenical activity in Croatia and things to come.; 5) The fundamental starting point of Turčinović's theological work was determined by his ecumenically relevant literary work in which he, both critically and theologically contemplates the essence of ecumenism, the historicity and critique in regards to this region in particular. It is also clear that the source for his understanding of ecumenical theology comes from the Scripture and that he uses the ideal of Jesus Christ as a role model and an guideline for his ecumenical work; 6) Considering a broad recognition of Prof. Turčinović and his willingness to understand and respect anyone who might be considered different, we can talk about, with a high degree of certainty, of his involvement with finding the solution in a substantially tense period of time, both in a religious and socio-political sense, which he finds in ecumenism; 7) The activity of Josip Turčinović during especially difficult and complicated times, both in a religious and sociological sense, is undeniable and invaluable. Guided by the culture of dialogue he was involved with religious life in a more direct way. We can say that through collecting and examining the relevant documents regarding Josip Turčinović a conclusion arose that Prof. Turčinović contemplated heavily to find the solution and overcome the barriers between Christian Churches, only to find a promising one in the ecumenical principles of positive approach and the culture of dialogue, not solely on a theoretical theological level but also through applying it to everyday life
Theologycal and critical interpretation of spiritual atheism of André Comte - Sponville
No full textDuhovni ateizam u novije vrijeme zauzima sve više prostora u javnom diskursu te donosi novu paradigmu življenja duhovnosti. Takva tendencija, razrađena u filozofiji pojedinih autora, povlači za sobom nove naglaske antropologije i humanizma, u kojima se naglašava obrana ljudskog duha od iluzija koje donose religija i vjera u Boga. Jedan od tih autora je poznati francuski filozof i ateist André Comte-Sponville. U svojim dijelima, od kojih posebno izdvajamo knjigu Duh ateizma. Uvod u duhovnost bez Boga, obrađuje tri ključna pitanja: Možemo li se lišiti religije? Postoji li Bog? i Kakva duhovnost za ateiste? Njegov je ateizam obilježen kršćanstvom u kojem je odgojen te u tom duhu zagovara vjernost kršćanskim vrijednostima kao što su moral, milosrđe i ljubav. S druge strane, vjeri pretpostavlja nevjeru, a nadi očaj, obrazlažući da vjera i nada čovjeka otuđuju od njega samoga i od sadašnjeg života. On donosi svojih šest argumenata zašto ne vjeruje u Božje postojanje i zašto vjeruje da Bog ne postoji. Na takvim temeljima nastoji izgraditi duhovnost koja je pridržana svakome, neovisno o njegovu religijskom opredjeljenju. U toj razradi naslanja se na kršćanske vrijednosti i budističku filozofiju duhovnoga života. Ovaj doktorski rad podijeljen je u dva velika dijela od kojih prvi, Filozofski koncept duhovnosti bez Boga Andréa Comte-Sponvillea, donosi interpretativno-analitički prikaz duhovnosti bez Boga kako to razumijeva Comte-Sponville, a drugi Teološko-kritička interpretacija duhovnosti bez Boga, sadržava njeno teološko-kritičko promišljanje. Unutar dva osnovna dijela, namjera nam je prikazati i teološko-kritički ispitati temelje na kojima Comte-Sponville gradi moguću duhovnost – život duha, slobodnu od religije i Boga. Sukladno tome rad sadržava osam poglavlja koja se protežu kroz oba dijela rada. Nakon uvoda i kratke biografije o autoru, prvo poglavlje Uvod u razumijevanje duhovnog ateizma uvodi nas u tematiku duhovnog ateizma koji zahtijeva istražiti na koju se tradiciju i autore takav ateizam naslanja te unutar kojih ga ideja možemo prepoznati u svom idejnom začetku. To poglavlje zahtijeva istaknuti i posebnost duhovnog ateizma koji, makar proizašao iz tradicionalnog razumijevanja ateizma, donosi i svoje novo gledište u razumijevanju svijeta i čovjeka. Sintagma »duhovni ateizam« uključuje interpretaciju ateizma Comte-Sponvillea koji nastoji kroz svoj ateizam razvijati ideju duhovnosti bez Boga i religije te unutar toga okvira iznijeti i moguće razumijevanje svijeta i čovjeka. Drugo poglavlje Ključne ideje duhovnog ateizma unutar argumenata za Božju opstojnost našeg analitičkog prikaza ima svrhu prikazati argumente o Božjoj opstojnosti. Comte-Sponville iznosi šest argumenata kojima potkrepljuje svoj ateizam u njegovu negativnome i pozitivnome značenju riječi. Treće poglavlje Ključne ideje duhovnog ateizma Andréa Comte-Sponvillea u trima teologalnim krepostima, nakon argumenata, donosi njegovu osobnu interpretaciju teologalnih kreposti koje uključuju čovjekov odnos spram Boga. U njegovu razumijevanju vjere, nade i ljubavi također prepoznajemo ključne ideje njegova ateizma. Četvrto poglavlje Duhovnost duhovnog ateizma je analitički prikaz duhovnosti bez religije i Boga koja nas zaokuplja u prvom redu kao ideja, a potom i kao moguća praksa. Duhovnost koja želi biti slobodna od religije i Boga daje snažnu kritiku pokušaju da se duhovnost i religija poistovjete. Drugi dio, koji uključuje teološko-kritičku metodu, počinje petim poglavljem Teološkokritički pristup negativnom ateizmu Andréa Comte-Sponvillea u kojemu se bavimo prvim trima argumentima koji, kako drži Comte-Sponville, opravdavaju njegov ateizam u njegovu negativnome značenju. To su: prvi argument - Ontološki, kozmološki i fizikalno-teološki; drugi argument – Slabost iskustva Boga; treći argument – Nerazumljivo objašnjenje. Šesto poglavlje Teološko-kritički pristup pozitivnom ateizmu Andréa Comte-Sponvillea pristupa drugim trima argumentima koji su prema Comte-Sponvilleu opravdanje njegova pozitivnoga ateizma. To su: Četvrti argument - Prekomjernost zla; Peti argument – Osrednjost čovjeka; Šesti argument – Želja i iluzija. Peto i šesto poglavlje uključuju temeljito proučavanje ovih argumenata, nezaobilaznu povijesnu razradu tih pitanja kao i samu Comte-Sponvilleovu interpretaciju. Sedmo poglavlje Teološko-kritičko iščitavanje interpretacije teologalnih kreposti Andréa Comte-Sponvillea kako to i sam naslov naznačuje, u ključu teološko-kritičke metode, razmatramo i ispitujemo interpretaciju teologalnih kreposti vjere, nade i ljubavi. ComteSponvilleova mudrost koja polazi od vjernosti i očaja naspram vjere i nade, pokazuje veliki izazov za teološko razumijevanje ovih kreposti. Na tragu tog izazova tražimo ispitati je li njegova kritika vjere i nade opravdana, i kao kritika i kao temelj za duhovnost bez Boga. Osmo i posljednje poglavlje, Teološko-kritički pristup duhovnosti bez Boga, u ključu teološko-kritičke metode, donosi razmatranje o pitanjima duha i duhovnosti koji se kreću od pitanja izvora i uvira duha. To je ono što zahtijeva istraživanje, na tragu Comte-Sponvilleove filozofije života duha, i teološko-kritičko vrednovanje s obzirom na temelje na kojima stoji duhovnost bez Boga. Ovaj sažet pregled upućuje na složenost pitanja kao i izazov za teologiju. Argumenti za Božju opstojnost nisu izvor vjere nego njezino razumno opravdanje. To je ono što ćemo braniti u ovome radu. Također, teologalne kreposti svoje nadahnuće nalaze u Objavi koje uprisutnjuju vjernikov odnos s Bogom. To je i ključ njihova razumijevanja koja, smatramo, ne predstavlja otuđenje za čovjeka te, na tragu Comte-Sponvilleove kritike, to nastojimo i pokazati. Takav izazov je rado prihvaćen kao put dijaloga i uzajamnog propitkivanja o smislu duha i duhovnosti u kontekstu naših tema.Spiritual atheism is recently becoming more prominent in the public discourse, thus bringing a new paradigm in living spiritually. This tendency, developed as part of the philosophy adopted by certain authors, results in emphasizing anthropology and humanism which bring forward the protection of human spirit against the illusions brought by religion and faith in God. One of these authors is a famous French philosopher and atheist André ComteSponville. Among his works we especially single out the book The Spirit of Atheism. In the Introduction to Spirituality without God, he addresses three major questions: Can we get rid of religion? Does God exist? and What type of spirituality for atheists is there? His version of atheism has a stamp of Christianity he was raised in, which makes him loyal to Christian values such as morality, mercy and love. On the other hand, he puts unfaith above faith, despair above hope, explaining that faith and hope alienate a person from their true self and the present life. He presents six arguments why he doesn’t believe in the existence of God and why he believes that God does not exist. This is the basis for the spirituality he is trying to build, the spirituality
that would fit anyone regardless of their religious beliefs. In the process, he relies on Christian values and Buddhist philosophy of spiritual life. This doctoral thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part, Philosophical Concept of Spirituality without God by André Comte-Sponville, is an interpretative and analytical presentation of spirituality without God according to Comte-Sponville. The second part, Theological and Critical Interpretation of Spirituality without God, is a theological and critical reflection on the same topic. It is our aim to present and theologically and critically examine the basis on which Comte-Sponville is building this spirituality – the life of the spirit, free from religion and free from God. Accordingly, this thesis comprises eight chapters throughout these two parts. After the introduction and a short biography of the author, the first chapter, Introduction into the Understanding of Spiritual Atheism, leads us into the topic of »spiritual atheism« by examining the tradition and the authors this type of atheism is based on and the framework of ideas it originates from. This chapter also puts an emphasis on the distinctiveness of »spiritual atheism« which, although deriving from the traditional understanding of atheism, brings up a new point of view to understanding the world and human beings. The phrase “spiritual atheism” includes the interpretation of the Comte-Sponville atheism; through his form of atheism, he tries to develop the idea of spirituality without God and religion and within this framework of ideas he offers a possible understanding of the world and human beings. The second chapter of our analytical presentation, Essential Ideas of Spiritual Atheism within the Arguments for the Existence of God, has a goal to present the arguments for God’s existence. Comte-Sponville presents six arguments that corroborate his version of atheism in the positive and negative meaning of the word. After these arguments, in the third chapter, Essential Ideas of Spiritual Atheism of André Comte-Sponville in Three Theological Virtues, he presents his personal interpretation of theological virtues which includes man’s relationship with God. The essential ideas of his version of atheism can be recognized in his understanding of faith, hope and charity. The fourth chapter, Spirituality of Spiritual Atheism, is an analytical presentation of spirituality without religion and without God, presented primarily as an idea and then as a possible practice. Spirituality that aims to be free of religion and God is a strong critique of an attempt to identify spirituality and religion. The fifth chapter, Theological and Critical Approach to André Comte-Sponville’s Negative Atheism, is the beginning of the second part of this thesis. By using a theological and critical approach, we deal with the first three arguments that, according to Comte-Sponville, justify his atheism in its negative meaning. These are: the first argument – Ontological, cosmological and physiotheological; the second argument – Weakness of experience of God; the third argument – Incomprehensible explanation. The sixth chapter, Theological and Critical Approach to André Comte-Sponville’s Positive Atheism, addresses the other three arguments which, according to Comte-Sponville, justify his positive atheism. These are: the fourth argument – Excessiveness of evil; the fifth argument – Mediocrity of man; the sixth argument – Desire and illusion. The fifth and the sixth chapters are a thorough study of these arguments and an unavoidable historic elaboration of these questions. They also offer the interpretation given by Comte-Sponville himself. In the seventh chapter, Theological and Critical Reading of the Interpretation of Theological Virtues by André Comte-Sponville, we use (as suggested by the title) a theological and critical method of studying and examining the interpretation of theological virtues, faith, hope and charity. The wisdom of Comte-Sponville that is based on faithfulness and despair as opposed to faith and hope proves to be a great challenge for the theological understanding of these virtues. By accepting this challenge, we aim to examine if his critique of faith and hope is justifiable, both as a critique and as a basis for spirituality without God. The eighth chapter, and last, Theological and Critical Approach to Spirituality without God, presents, using a theological and critical method, a reflection on the matters of spirit and spirituality concerning the questions of the source and confluence of spirit. This is the real objective of the research and a subject to a theological and critical evaluation regarding the basis for the spirituality without God. This concise overview indicates the complexity of the
matter and the challenge it represents to theology. The arguments for the existence of God are not the source of faith, but its rational justification. This is the theory we will defend in this thesis. Also, theological virtues find their inspiration in the Revelation which demonstrates a believer’s relationship with God. This is also a key to their understanding, as it does not represent alienation for the individual which we try to prove through Comte-Sponville’s critique. This challenge is gladly accepted as an opportunity for dialogue and mutual examination of the meaning of spirit and spirituality in the context of our topics
History of the monastery of the dominican pinzochere of St. Martin in Split
No full textSAŽETAKPovijest zajednice dominikanskih trećoredica u samostanu sv. Martina u Splitu središnja je tema ovoga rada, koji je podijeljen na dva dijela. U prvome se donose razjašnjenja termina specifičnih za tematiku kojom se rad bavi (rekluze, picokare, manjurice, mantelate), potom se prikazuju razlozi i načini nastajanja i nestajanja picokarskih zajednica na području današnje Splitske metropolije, donosi se povijesni pregled zajednica dominikanskih picokara na tom području s posebnim osvrtom na samostane sv. Mihovila u Splitu, sv. Vinka u Starom Gradu na Hvaru i sv. Mihajla kraj Stona te na lik i djelo dominikanske trećoredice Ozane Kotorske, prve hrvatske blaženice. U drugom dijelu rada iznosi se detaljni kritički prikaz povijesti samostana sv. Martina u Splitu, podijeljen u dvije cjeline: prva obuhvaća razdoblje od najstarijega spomena rekluza uz crkvicu sv. Martina 1343. do priključenja samostana Kongregaciji sv. Anđela čuvara 1905. godine, a druga cjelina obuhvaća povijest samostana u sastavu rečene Kongregacije. U radu se dokazuje da su uz crkvicu sv. Martina prvo živjele rekluze, a potom picokare koje su se najkasnije potkraj 15. ili na početku 16. st. priključile Trećemu dominikanskom redu. Prateći kronološki slijed, analiziraju se usponi i padovi ove zajednice i čimbenici koji su na to utjecali. Kako je samostan 1905. ušao u sastav novoutemeljene Kongregacije sv. Anđela čuvara, kritički se analizira uloga samostana kod utemeljenja Kongregacije, a potom se kronološki izlaže njegova povijest usastavu Kongregacije do 21. stoljeća. Pritom su posebna poglavlja posvećena filijalama sestara dominikanki utemeljenima u Splitu između dvaju svjetskih ratova, filijali koja je utemeljena u samostanu splitskih dominikanaca nakon Drugoga svjetskoga rata i ulozi samostana sv. Martina kod gradnje današnjega samostana sv. Katarine Sienske na splitskim Škrapama. Na kraju rada donosi se popis samostanskih poglavarica, popis preminulih članica samostana i statistički podatci o samostanu –sve to za razdoblje od 1905. godine do 21. stoljeća.The central topic of this work is the history of the monastery of St Martin of the Dominican Sisters in Split. Even though it is the oldest monastery of Dominican Sisters in the Croatian lands with a continuous existence, it has not drawn the attention of scholars to date, leaving its history completely unstudied. This prompted us to devote ourselves to researching its history, i.e. the archival data that would shed light on it. The material preserved in the monastery of St Martin (testaments and personal documents of individual nuns, monastery property documents, documents about the litigations conducted by the monastery, official monastery documents, account books, monastery chronicles, and records of canonical visitations), dating from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, was particularly important for this effort. We have found valuable data in the archives of the Congregation of Holy Guardian Angels in Korčula (material on the Dominican Sister communities in Split and individual Sisters who were active in that city, documents of the Congregation chapters, the Congregation chronicle, registry books and official documents of the Congregation’s General Administration), the Archives of the Croatian Dominican Province in Zagreb (registers of the Dalmatian Dominican Province), the Archdiocesan Archives in Split (registers of episcopal visitations and the relevant documents in other archival fonds), and the archives of the Dominican Brothers’ monastery in Split (chronicles, minutes of monastery Council sessions, debtors’ ledgers, and lists of members of the Third Order). Of particular importance in Dubrovnik are the manuscripts of Fra. Serafin Maria Crijević, preserved in the library of the monastery of St Dominic, and the documentation on the pinzochere and their communities in the area of today’s Diocese of Dubrovnik, preserved in the diocesan archives. Also important are the death records, whose microfilms are located in the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb. We critically analysed and valorised the sources found in these archives and the data contained therein. Next, we used the narrative method to present and critically display the data we have obtained as well as the conclusions we have drawn from it.Even though the central topic of this work is the history of St Martin’s monastery, we considered it necessary to place this history within a broader context. To prevent the research from taking too long and to keep the results from exceeding the frame of one work, we limited the broader context to the area of today’s Split Ecclesiastical Province, where we examined the history of exclusively Third Dominican Order nuns from the Middle Ages to the 21stcentury. We have divided this work into two parts. At the beginning of the first one, we have clarified terms specific to the topics we are dealing with here (recluses, pinzochere, mantellate) because they are no longer in everyday use and thus not self-explanatory. Next, we have shown the reasons and ways individual pinzochere communities in the area of today’s Split Ecclesiastical Province appeared and disappeared, and presented an overview of their history in the context of social and ecclesiastical events. We have devoted special attention to the monasteries of St Michael in Split, St Vincent in Stari Grad on Hvar, and St Michael near Ston. These three monasteries were chosen because they represent three specific ways of life of the Dominican pinzochere and thus serve as a good research sample. The monastery of St Michael is a classic example of a pinzochere community in urban surroundings. Its beginnings stretch to the 14thcentury, when the first recluses were mentioned next to the little church of St Michael. When their number grew, they took up the more moderate way of life characteristic of the pinzochere and, in time, joined the Third Dominican Order. The community ended with the death of its final member, Anđela Barić, in the 19thcentury. The monastery of St Vincent in the Old Town was established around 1500 for the pinzochere and was located outside the urban area; it ceased to exist towards the end of the 17thcentury. At first independent, in time it joined the Third Dominican Order. The monastery of St Michael, established in 1550, was located on St Michael’s hill near Ston, and is specific because it is the only community of Dominican pinzochere whose precise dates of establishment and dissolution are known. In addition, being located on a hill outside the urban area, it was the only female Dominican hermit community in the Croatian lands. The community ceased to exist in 1984 with the death of its final member, Hozana Šutalo, who was also the last Croatian pinzochera. Her death marked the end of the pinzochere consecrated way of life in the Croatian lands. In addition to these three specific pinzochere communities, we believed it necessary to refer to the life and work of the Third Dominican Order nun Ozana Kotorska as an example of the transition from the way of life characteristic of the recluses to the way of life typical of the pinzochere. In addition, this Dominican recluse became the first female Croatian Blessed in 1927, and this alone makes her life deserving of a brief overview in this work. Furthermore, in time, several followers gathered around her, and we believe that this is how the community of Dominican pinzochere, which thematically fits into the broader context of this work, developed.With the first part of the work, we have set down the broader context necessary for examining the role of the Dominican pinzochere in ecclesiastical and social happenings. We have devoted the second part to the history of the monastery of St Martin in Split, which we have followed from the first mention of recluses next to the church of St Martin, though their transformation into a community of pinzochere and its accession to the Third Dominican Order, to the reforms in the early 20thcentury and its accession to the Congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels, created in 1905 by the unification of the communities of Dominican pinzochere in Šibenik, Split, and Korčula. We have divided the history of the monastery of St Martin into two large parts: the first encompasses the period from the first mention of the recluses next to the church of St Martin to 1905, when the monastery became a part of the Congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels, while the second part covers the history of the monastery as part of the mentioned Congregation from 1905 to the early 21stcentury. Studying historical sources, we have determined that the first mention of nuns next to the church of St Martin does not date from 1372, as has been claimed till now, but from 1343, and also that the claims that Dominican cloister nuns were the first residents of the monastery of St Martin, preceding the Third Dominican Order nuns, are false. In our work, we have proven that the recluses were the first to live next to the church of St Martin, followed by the pinzochere, who joined the Third Dominican Order in the late 15th or early 16th century at the latest. Based on the records of episcopal visitations, we have also determined that Archbishop Marco Antonio de Dominis granted them the church of St Martin in the early 17thcentury. We have analysed the rises and falls of this monastic community and the factors that influenced them in a chronological order. As the monastery became part of the newly established Congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels in 1905, we have also analysed the hitherto unknown role of the monastery in the establishment of the Congregation. Next, we have chronologically presented the history of the monastery within the frame of the Congregation, devoting separate chapters to the subsidiaries of the Dominican Sisters established in Split between the two world wars, the subsidiary established in the monastery of the Split Dominicans after World War II, and the role of the monastery of St Martin in the establishment and building of the monastery of St Catherine of Sienna in Split’s Škrape district. At the end of the work, we have included a list of the monastery heads, a list of the deceased members of the monastery, and statistical data on the monastery –all for the period from 1905 to the 21st century. The primary goal of this work is to offer a critical overview of the history of the monastery of St Martin, placed in the broader context of the history of Dominican pinzochere in the area of the Split Ecclesiastical Province. In doing so, we have shed light on the role of the Dominican pinzochere in ecclesiastical and social events and shown how they, reading the signs of their time, shaped their way of life and types of apostolate. The monastery of St Martin was placed into this broader picture; like most other pinzochere communities, it appeared as an answer to the need of medieval women who wanted to become nuns, but could not find a monastery in which they could achieve their spiritual calling. In such circumstances, the first recluses settled next to the church of St Martin; they would give up their place to the (Dominican) pinzochere who, in order to secure their survival, would accede to the Congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels in 1905. Members of this Congregation live in the Monastery of St Martin above the Golden Gate of Diocletian’s Palace to this day
Political Theology in the 20th Century : Carl Schmitt and Johann Baptist Metz
No full textDoktorski rad Politička teologija 20. stoljeća: Carl Schmitt i Johann Baptist Metz obrađuje doprinos dvojice, po političku teologiju posljednjeg stoljeća, neizostavnih mislilaca. Pomoću induktivno-deduktivne, kritičko-analitičke i sintetičke metode, ovaj rad opisuje razvoj njihovih modela političkih teologija kao odgovor na povijesno-društvene promjene 20. stoljeća.
Prvo poglavlje posvećeno je „staroj“ političkoj teologiji Carla Schmitta. Kronološki prateći najvažnije Schmittove publikacije, prvo poglavlje dotiče ključne koncepte „stare“ političke teologije, Schmittovu metasociološku i metajuridičku kritiku stanja liberalnog društva, Schmittov utjecaj na političku teoriju danas, kao i teološku protureakciju na njegovu teologiju kroz kritiku Erika Petersona. Drugo poglavlje obrađuje novu političku teologiju Johanna Baptista Metza od neposrednog pokoncilskog razdoblja do danas. Kronološki prateći razradu sržnih pojmova, kritičko-dijalektičkog pristupa i tema nove političke teologije, opisuje se kako Metz vidi autentičnu vjerničku praksu u suvremenom svijetu. Ovo poglavlje iznosi i prigovore Metzovu teološkom projektu oslanjajući se na uvide Josepha Ratzingera. Treće i posljednje poglavlje ispituje kakav stav su Schmitt i Metz imali jedan prema drugome, komparativno analizira „staru“ i novu političku teologiju te primjenjuje profil političke teologije 20. stoljeća koji proizlazi iz te usporedbe na situaciju liberalne demokracije na početku 21. stoljeća, kao i na pontifikat pape Franje. U zaključku, politička teologija, koja ispituje odnos vjere i svijeta, ključna je pri rješavanju „temeljnog hermeneutičkog problema teologije“, posebno u cilju otvaranja društva transcendenciji.Doctoral thesis Political Theology of the 20th Century: Carl Schmitt and Johann Baptist Metz examines the oeuvre of two, for the political theology of the last century, indispensable thinkers. Using an inductive-deductive, critical-analytical, and synthetic method, this paper describes the development of their models of political theology in response to historical-social changes of the 20th century. Political theology starts with the dilemma how should the Church as a community of believers be positioned according to the structures of political power formed in the Enlightenment tradition of a strict division of state and religion which is indifferent to the requirement of the belief that one's private and public life must be in accordance with God's will. Therefore, political theology approaches the issue of faith in the world, considering the history of the world at the same time as the history of salvation. Therefore, this type of theological discourse does not deal with abstract conceptual elaborations, but rather examines the actual state of socio-political life in relation to transcendent.
The first chapter provides an overview of Carl Schmitt's "old" political theology. Schmitt analyses fundamental legal concepts such as sovereignty, legitimacy of the state, foundations of constitutive law, political rights and obligations of citizens, as well as the role of the Church in socio-political order. In addition to these juridical topics, it deals with the very nature of the concept of political, as well as with the inner contradictions in modern politics, which gives rise to an insightful critique of liberal democracy. Carl Schmitt is not a theologian, but a jurist who distinguishes the "spirit of the law" as opposed to the "letter of the law", thus touching on a metaphysical worldview that underlies the political order and collective self-understanding of society. His political theology emphasizes the importance of relationship with the transcendent for the state and society and, in the entelechial sense, for the human existence. This then also determines how the state should be governed. His critique of law and politics exposes the reasons for and consequences of the deviation of modern socio-political practices from this fundamental principle of forming a political community. Reading through Schmitt's most important publications, this chapter deals with his core concepts: a) the sociology of juridical concepts, by which Schmitt establishes the analogy between theological notions and legal concepts and thus explains the process of secularization; b) the personal sovereign as the "mortal god" who decides on the "exception"; c) the Church as a "complexio oppositorum" on which its universality and holistic approach to man are based; d) the principle of substantive and personal representation of transcendence; e) the concept of the political as an expression of one's self-consciousness, sovereignty and will to survive; f) Man’s "dangerous" nature that resists a simplistic binary moral classification; g) as well as historical analysis of liberalism on which he bases his critique of the modern state and society. Inspired by Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, Schmitt presents his decisionalist view of the state based on personal sovereignty as a secularized theological notion of God's sovereignty over the cosmos. That is why the authority and power of the state are embodied in the person of the sovereign who, like a "mortal god", has jurisdiction over every aspect of social life, including religion. The sovereign has a "monopoly on the political" in order to legitimately make crucial political decisions in "exceptional" situations to guarantee the political unity of the people. The sovereign intervenes beyond the established legal framework and that is why his actions are a secularized analogy of divine interventions into the world outside the laws of nature. The sovereign thus protects society from the chaos of the Hobbesian "state of nature" and in the theological sense acts as a "catechon", a representative of God's power in history, delaying the cataclysm of the Apocalypse. In other words, in Schmitt's political theology socio-political reality reflects the theological reality. For this reason the function of the Church is to support and legitimize the sovereign, who has jurisdiction over religious issues, because the ruler, by his function of "catechon", is the defender of the faith, a kind of anointed instrument of God in the manner of the Old Testament kings of Israel. Schmitt's view of sovereignty is meant to show how it is not possible to dispel God's demand for obedience, despite the secularization and liberal neutralization of the theological-moral aspect of political authority. Public life and political activity are not exempt from the moral-theological decision of "for" or "against" God. It is a fundamental theological-political challenge for any political order. Given the historical context of the Weimar Republic, Schmitt's political theology could also be described as a negative reaction to the anthropological optimism of modern liberalism which promotes the depoliticization of society while ignoring the threat of totalitarian political ideologies in domestic politics and in the international community. At the time, Schmitt was concerned about the possibility of the outbreak of the communist revolution and the imperialist pretensions of Soviet Russia. Schmitt's political theology can thus be seen as a project of preserving the existential seriousness of that political and awareness of the importance of personal subjectivity and initiative in making crucial political decisions against the increasing trend of neutralizing the political. Schmitt is concerned about the immanentistic tendency present in liberalism, which reduces the political to an administrative instrument for management of public affairs and social needs without regard for the existential importance of the political. If the intensity of association and dissociation among people is intense enough, it enables the creation of a united political entity, the State. In other words, the political is about survival, making a crucial decision that makes the difference between life and death for the whole of society. Schmitt points out the origin of politics in theological concepts to emphasize the inevitable existentiality and totality of the political and why a crucial political decision made by Man can never be substituted by legal fiction of the "social contract", which today is regarded as the founding act of the state. Schmitt's concept of political is, therefore, a starting point for his critique of liberal bourgeois society and how it chooses to govern itself through parliamentary democracy. Schmitt recognizes liberal emancipation of the individual through the institution of personal freedoms and political rights limits the power of the state and privates religion, which then neutralizes the theological-metaphysical foundation of political authority. Liberal emphasis on personal morality and economic rationality deprives the political of its specific meaning. Through such neutralization of the political, social existence loses the existential intensity that links it to transcendence. Schmitt's criticism of liberalism is based on his "stasiological" understanding of the totality of the political, which represents Man’s complete freedom and limitlessness. Because of their "dangerous" nature, this absolute freedom always results in conflict between men. However, in the Trinity it is manifested as "stasis", a paradox incomprehensible to the human mind because it means simultaneously perfect unity and differentiation within God, who should be undivided in himself. This is why Schmitt's political theology emphasizes the influence of Christianity on European civilization, culture and politics. Religion must co-operate with the sovereign, legitimizing his rule, to secure political unity, prevent a fratricidal war, and provide protection against external enemies. In so doing, the sovereign performs a catechonian function and ensures order, peace and security against the threat of the apocalyptic chaos of the apolitical "natural state" which is nothing more than "the war of all against all". The second chapter elaborates on the new political theology of German Catholic theologian Johann Baptist Metz. This theological project, in many ways radically different from previous versions of political theology, began during the 1960s, in the optimistic atmosphere after the Second Vatican Council. Metz abandons the idealistic-transcendental paradigm of mainstream theology and develops a new "post-metaphysical" approach to theology, which is sensitive to influence of the socio-historical conditions on the perception and practice of faith in the world. Crucial intellectual influences on Metz from this period are Karl Rahner, Theodor W. Adorno, Ernst Bloch and Walter Benjamin. The initial phase of Metz's work put forward in the Theology of the World, presents a positive appreciation of secularization understood as a consequence of the historical impact of Christianity on the world. Furthermore, Metz argues in favour of an eschatological orientation of theology, since the existential focus on the future is the hallmark of modernity. In addition, he defines the task of a socio-historically sensitive theology: to deprivatize the faith and to redefine the relationship between faith and the world as a relationship between theory and practice, understanding of faith and practical living of faith in the world, in order to critically deal with the legacy of the Enlightenment. For Metz, to privatize faith means one willingly blinds oneself to the influence of the socio-historical context on understanding of religion, as well as its influence on society and history, and especially on the human subject himself. Metz does not promote the relativization of Man as the subject of society and history by absolutising socio-historical context, nor the individualistic understanding of the Christian's responsibility for the world as in idealistic theological systems. An integral element of this initial draft of the new political theology is the corresponding vision of the Church. The challenge of actualizing the relationship between faith and the world requires the institutionalisation of faith. Creating a critical awareness of prejudices, different beliefs and structures of plausibility in a society that impedes the successful proclamation of the Gospel needs an institution dedicated to promoting and preserving the faith. The task of the new political theology is to develop such an understanding of the ecclesiastical institution that would enable the Church to be an "institution of critical freedom in faith". In his second book, Faith in History and Society, Metz further elaborates on his concept of a new political theology as a practical fundamental theology whose focus is on Man as the subject of history and society. He emphasises "the primacy of praxis" as simultaneously the core of the Christian faith understood in terms of "the imitation of Christ" and the point of encounter with the Enlightenment guided by the principle that the critical mind strives to become practical. Metz promotes abandoning the neo-scholastic direct conflict strategy with modernist trends in order to facilitate a critical-dialectical dialogue with the legacy of the Enlightenment. The project of new political theology also touches on issues of sensitivity to suffering, confronts the problem of idealism in contemporary theology, and broadens its perspective beyond the experience of European bourgeois culture. Metz presents his theological project as authentic Christian hermeneutics which operates through three practical categories of importance in today's historical and social circumstances: memory, narrative, and solidarity. Further elaboration of the new political theology as a political theology of the subject in which "Christology stands under the primacy of praxis" is a consequence of Metz rejecting classical ahistorical metaphysics, which assumes an unproblematic relationship between the truths of the Christian faith and the unspoken cosmological notions of the world. Equally important was the introduction of memoria passionis as a Christological axis of his theological project. The memory of Christ's passion and death encompasses the pervasive experience of suffering, and the resurrection emphasizes the messianic aspect of the Christian faith: the eschatological promises of peace, justice, and prosperity, even for those who have been victimized and forgotten. It also allows faith to be interpreted intelligibly to the modern worldview based on the ideal of emancipation. This allows the new political theology to correct and complement the legacy of the Enlightenment. The universal experience of suffering contained in memoria passionis, the resolution of which is anticipated in the eschaton, doesn't allow one to worry only about the future, neglecting the history of suffering. To think in such a way is a feature of evolutionary rationality adopted by modern political ideologies. Metz expresses his awareness of this through the "theodicy question", which cannot be resolved in history and so manifests as an apocalyptic consciousness – as an expectation of the end of history. This, according to Metz, fosters an active sensitivity to the suffering in history, thereby fulfilling a core requirement of new political theology as a practical fundamental theology: authentic universal solidarity. Metz, therefore, rejects any justification of forgetting the suffering in history in this age of "cultural amnesia". He calls for the revival of Israel's "anamnetic spirit" with its "weak" structure sensitive to crises in history, which cannot neglect or forget the suffering of others. Holocaust-like disasters have implications for history and require a new way of doing theology. That is why the new political theology is "theology after Auschwitz", because it addresses the forgetfulness of modern society fascinated by the idea of aestheticized freedom regardless of the other’s suffering, so it can shape the mission of the Church accordingly.
The Church is called to become a global moral authority and to promote the dignity of Man proclaiming the eschatological hope of salvation. This proclamation, however, should be a synthesis of the deposit of faith and historical experience expressed through the memory of others' suffering. Metz seeks to complement the universalist expression of modern humanism with the biblical culture of "acknowledging others in their otherness" for the purpose of articulating a "worldwide program of Christianity in the pluralism of religions and cultures". Such a theological perspective also promotes "obedience to the authority of those who suffer" as a practical response to the half-hearted and insufficient application of Enlightenment ideals due to socio-political practice based on the "anthropology of domination". Building on his critique of socio-political life based on „will to power“, Metz promotes an "anthropological revolution", a synthesis of morality and politics in a non-totalitarian way, which involves re-examining all prior perceptions about politics, as well as aestheticization of Europe's moral and political importance in the world. The purpose of the new political theology is to emphasize Christian responsibility and concern for the world, to promote empathy and solidarity as the initial human reaction to suffering which precedes every political idea, philosophy of history and society, or even theology. That is why the focus of the Church and contemporary theology should be "formulating faith in categories of resistance prepared for suffering and change" against the prevailing postmodern indifference and the ever-present desire for political power even at the cost of one’s own humanity. Metz also uses the term "mysticism of the eyes wide open" to communicate a view of authentic Christian praxis in the world. Eyes wide open for the suffering of others and against the self-deception that immunizes oneself from the sensitivity to others' suffering and the demand for solidarity. The third chapter provides a comparative analysis of both political theologies outlined in the previous two chapters and makes out the profile of 20th century political theology that emerges from this comparison. First, observing the reactions Carl Schmitt and Johann Baptist Metz had on the different concepts to their respective political theologies from the few remarks that can be found in their publications, one can see what they thought of one another. Schmitt refers to Metz's new political theology only once, in Political Theology II., where he presents Metz's choice to formulate his project as political theology as a confirmation of his sociology of juridical concepts. Schmitt interprets Metz according to his political theology in service of an argument to refute Eric Peterson's claim how Christian theological conception of God as the Trinity precludes the creation of any kind of Christian political theology. Metz, however, mentions Schmitt several times, but does not engage in a systematic analysis of his "old" political theology. His remarks are also incidental, short in substance and largely confined to several points: Schmitt's political theology falls under political romanticism and right-Hegelian political philosophy; his critical attitude toward the Enlightenment was shaped by French traditionalism; his decisionism should be viewed in the historical context of the Weimar Republic; the sociology of juridical terms could be understood as a "theological" aspect of Schmitt's political theory. As always when he mentions Schmitt, Metz is keen to point out the difference between the new political theology and the "old" political theology. In this he may have succeeded best in the essay On the Catholic Principle of Representation. There he asserts how his theology speaks of the political powerlessness and non-identity of the suffering and marginalized, whose suffering stands as a reminder of the absence of the Messiah and the expectation of Christ's return, while Schmitt declares the ethos of political power through the representation of the presence of the glorious and risen Christ in the person of the sovereign. Secondly, the comparison itself of these two political theologies looks at the political and theological aspect separately and identifies touchpoints between them. This paper sought to avoid a simple binary systematisation which only recognizes the similarities and differences between Schmitt and Metz. Starting with the political aspect, the desire was to show how both political theologians, one by virtue of his sociology of juridical concepts, and the other by calling for the temporalisation of metaphysics, sought to change the accepted understanding of the relationship between faith and the world, religion and politics, Church and state. In doing so, they rely on the ontic category of danger embedded in their anthropologies in order to express the tension between an orderly, civilized life in society and unpredictable existence "in the state of nature". Schmitt sees Man himself as "dangerous" because of his absolute freedom and limitlessness, which implies a likelihood of conflict. Society is a voluntary renunciation of the fullness of freedom to achieve security and co-operation. However, the ever-present threat of violence does not disappear but is transmitted to the level of international relations, because the potential for conflict now manifests itself as a conflict between sovereign states. Metz, however, emphasises the universality of suffering in history, the cause of which he sees in the "anthropology of domination", an expression of Augustinian "will for power", thus distorting the true meaning of solidarity as the true foundation of human society. From the comparison of Carl Schmitt's "old" political theology and Johann Baptist M