Myśl Wincentego Granata wobec problemów współczesności

The aim of the article is to present relevance of the personalistic Granat’s thought in the context of contemporary social challenges. In the article, I analyze the topic of Christian humanism in Granat’s thought. I point out that he saw the sources of this concept in man’s aspirations to learn the full truth about himself. Granat saw the final answer to these desires in the relation of man and the sense of his existence to the person of Christ. I also consider Granat’s opinion about the role of the Catholic church today. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Granat clearly emphasized the deep spiritual and apostolic dimension of the Church, pointing out that the Church is above all the Mystical Body of Christ. Therefore, the fundamental task of the Church is to unite God’s children around Christ. The Church also has a duty to proclaim to man that he cannot understand himself without Christ. The Church accomplishes these goals by administering the sacraments and moderating interreligious dialogue. I consider the issue of peace in his philosophical refl ection as well. According to Granat the source of peace is God. Man drawing his strength from his closeness with God can contribute to peace through mutual respectful relationships. At the state level the key role is played by the concern of each country for the common good and international cooperation in this field. In conclusion, I formulate summarizing remarks.

Jesus and the University

This chapter asks why faculty at Catholic universities hardly ever find in Jesus an intellectual resource for their academic work. It explores how within Catholicism the theological reality of Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection have consequences for all the academic disciplines. It revisits the tension of Jerusalem (faith) and Athens (reason) and argues that that tension is creative but should never be dichotomized. It also traces the development of Christian humanism, the power and current shape of secularizing forces, the challenges presented by scientism and postmodernism, and the resources within the Catholic intellectual tradition to respond to those challenges: faith and reason, community, and a sacramental sense.

Responsibility

This chapter explores the importance of moral responsibility in Reinhold Niebuhr’s thought, which in turn allows the reader to interpret his work within the wider compass of Christian humanism. While Niebuhr’s ethics never showcased the concept of responsibility in the way other thinkers did during his time, he nevertheless insisted that the moral capability of responsibility is basic to human dignity. Utilizing the distinction Max Weber made between two forms of ethics, the chapter suggests that moral responsibility constitutes the ‘form’, rather than the ‘norm’, of Niebuhr’s anthropological project. Niebuhr’s project can be seen as an attempt to retrieve the lost insights of the Reformation regarding sin and grace within the historical condition of modern life initiated by the Renaissance. This orientation in Niebuhr’s work bears some of the features of Christian humanism. The final section discusses how Niebuhr’s theological and ethical vision can contribute to Christian thinking in our time.

METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL TEACHING OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Orthodox social doctrine as a discipline is formed without the elements of scholastic thinking that are characteristic of Catholicism. This is due to the fact that social doctrine in Orthodoxy is thought of as an expression of tradition, not the teaching of the church. Also, the methodology of the social doctrine of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was significantly influenced by the fact that the initial principle for all reflections was the value of the dignity of the individual. The absolutization of this value has made it possible to create a Christian humanism that opposes the ideological extremes of modern cultural wars, including the abuse of the idea of human rights. The ROC uses methodological anti-scholasticism in the construction of social doctrine to legitimize the ideas of Orthodox fundamentalism. Against this background, the social doctrine of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is becoming a worldview alternative, critical to the development of Ukrainian theology and education.