anthropology of john paul ii
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Anthropology of John Paul IITRANSCRIPT
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THE CHRISTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY OF
JOHN PAUL II: AN OVERVIEW [1]
by Fr Thomas McGovern
Over the past twenty years of his pontificate, John
Paul II has deepened our understanding of the
Gospel message in many ways. Yet it is perhaps in
his discussion of Christian anthropology that the
former Archbishop of Krakow has made his most
original contribution to theological discourse. [2]
The Church in the twentieth century has responded
with greater sensitivity to the anthropological
dimension of theology. This has not happened byaccident. Particular philosophers and theologians
made valuable contributions to this enterprise which
found expression in the documents of Vatican II,
especially in the pastoral constitution on the Church
in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, and the
decree on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae.
[3]
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Vatican II was the first council of the Church to
affirm a detailed Christian anthropology. The need to
do so arose as a response to the materialisticconception of man which has dominated much of the
twentieth century. This climate of materialism was
fueled by three main currents. In the first place there
was the materialism of modern science. The
experimental method tended to the view that, since
only what can be measured is real, only material
reality exists. At the human level, advances in
biology, influenced by the theory of evolution, had
led to a depreciation of the spiritual dimension of
man.
Secondly, the influences of the Marxist
philosophy of materialism, in a tyranny withoutprecedent in human history, brought misery and
death to countless millions. Finally, a more subtle
materialism which has drugged the spirit of man,
and which is expanding rapidly, is the practical
materialism of the West. This is the fruit of the rapid
development of technology, creating a wealthy
society driven by consumerism. This society
measures progress solely in terms of material wealth,
and effectively reduces the practice of politics to the
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maintenance of favorable economic conditions. The
driving principles of this rapidly expanding practical
materialism are the primacy given to individualsubjective rights, and the dominance of a liberal
capitalistic outlook indifferent to social
responsibilities at a global level.
It was these negative influences that inspired
attempts to construct a more adequate Christiananthropology. Here it is only possible to mention a
few of the major contributors to this project. In
Crossing the Threshold of Hope John Paul II refers
to the contributions of two Jewish thinkers, Martin
Buber (1878-1965) and Emmanuel Lévinas
(1906-95), who had drawn on the personalist
tradition of the Old Testament and had influenced his
own thinking. [4] In Buber’s perspective, man is a
being made for relationships at three levels – with
his fellow man, with the world, and with God. [5]
Other philosophers such as Gabriel Marcel(1889-1973), Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), and
Emmanuel Mounier (1905-50) made their own
individual contributions to this
personalist
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philosophy. Indeed it has been pointed out that the
distinction which Marcel made between ‘being’ and
‘having’ had a profound influence on theanthropology of Vatican II as well as on the thinking
of John Paul II. [6] Other valuable insights were
added by the Gottingen Circle of Edmund Husserl
(1859-1938), Max Scheler (1874-1928), and
Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977).
These personalist philosophies did not constitute a
complete system, but rather expanded the framework
of traditional Christian philosophy with a more
profound exploration of the reaches of the human
spirit. As John Paul II himself explains:
One cannot think adequately about man without
reference, which for man is constitutive, to God.
Saint Thomas defined this as actus essendi
(essential act), in the language of the philosophy
of existence. The philosophy of religion expresses
this with the categories of anthropological
experience. The philosophers of dialogue, such as
Martin Buber and the aforementioned Lévinas,
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have contributed greatly to this experience. And
we find ourselves by now very close to Saint
Thomas, but the path passes not so much throughbeing and existence as through people and their
meeting with each other, through the “I” and the
“Thou”. This is a fundamental dimension of man’s
existence, which is always a coexistence. [7]
These insights of personalist philosophy are basedon the light of Revelation – on the doctrine of man
made to the image and likeness of God and on the
Trinitarian theology of relationships. These were
some of the insights and strands of thinking which,
added to traditional philosophy, gave impetus to the
articulation of a Christian anthropology in Vatican II
and subsequently in the magisterium of John Paul II.
The Anthropology of Vatican II
The first part of Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,
gives a brief but complete statement of the Christian
doctrine about man. The early drafts contained three
chapter headings as follows: ‘The Dignity of the
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Human Person’ (nos.12-22), ‘The Community of
Mankind’ (nos.23-32), ‘Man’s Activity in the
Universe’ (nos. 33-39). It is of interest to note,however, that at the insistence of one Cardinal
Wojtyla, a fourth chapter was added on ‘The Role of
the Church in the Modern World’ (nos. 40-45),
which is a summary of the first three chapters.
Indeed, according to Cardinal Garrone, who had
overall responsibility for putting the document
together, this fourth chapter was drafted by the
Archbishop of Krakow himself. [8]
Chapter I is a very evocative reflection on the
dignity of the human person in the light of his
creation in the image and likeness of God. It is also a
rich discourse on the vocation of man, the
significance of human freedom and the nature of
conscience. The christological conclusion at the end
of this chapter (no.22), which has been repeated so
often in the magisterium of John Paul II, is perhapsthe best known passage of the whole document:
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In reality, it is only in the mystery of the Word
made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes
clear ... Christ the new Adam, in the veryrevelation of the mystery of the Father and of his
love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to
light his most high calling ... Human nature, by
the very fact that it was assumed, not absorbed,
in him, has been raised in us also to a dignity
beyond compare. For, by his incarnation, he, theSon of God, has in a certain way united himself
with each man. [9]
This positive affirmation is, of course, qualified by a
description of the darker side of man’s
history – the
damage which sin has done to his very nature, and
the consequences of this for his relationship with
God and his fellow men. [10] Without the revelation
of Christ it is not possible to understand man fully.
Rather this very revelation is the deepest source of
wisdom about man, his nature, and his destiny.
The second chapter tells us one of the most
important truths about ourselves: ‘If man is the only
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creature on earth that God has wanted for its own
sake, man can fully discover his true self only in a
sincere giving of himself’[11] (no.24). This capacityfor a relationship with God and with others is a
reflection of the inner relational life of God himself
which is the Trinitarian communion of the divine
Persons. It is of particular importance for
understanding the personal vocation to holiness of
every man and the
evangelizing mission of the
Church.
Anthropology of Karol Wojtyla
Most people are already familiar with the significant
stages and events in the life of the Holy Father asstudent, seminarian, priest, university professor,
bishop and cardinal. His pastoral concern and
philosophical interests led him to write Love and
Responsibility – the work which reveals his
distinctive anthropological perspective. This wasfirst published in 1960, two years after he had been
appointed auxiliary Bishop of Krakow. It is a
profound meditation on human sexuality, love and
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marriage. Here his philosophical and theological
convictions combine with his pastoral concern for
the formation of young people in chastity and theirpreparation for marriage. It is here too that he
articulates most clearly the ‘personalist norm’
which is fundamental to his anthropology, and which
is a constantly recurring theme of his papal
magisterium. [12]
Around this time also, in preparation of for Vatican
II, he proposed that it would be opportune for the
Council, in light of the aggressive advance of the
varieties of materialism, to emphasize the
transcendent spiritual order and the uniqueness of
human personal existence in the created world. In
other words, he concluded, ‘it is appropriate to
delineate the question of Christian personalism’.
[13] His experience of the brutality of the Nazi
occupation as a student and seminarian, and, later, of
the tyranny of Communist oppression, gave him aunique perspective on the fundamental truths about
man that needed to be proclaimed and defended by
the Church. In his own words:
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The two totalitarian systems which tragically
marked our century - Nazism on the one hand,
marked by the horrors of war and theconcentration camps, and communism on the
other, with its regime of oppression and terror – I
came to know, so to speak, from within. And so it
is easy to understand my deep concern for the
dignity of each human person and the need to
respect human rights, beginning with the right tolife. This concern was shaped in the first years of
my priesthood and has grown stronger with
time’. [14]
The Acta of the Council record that he made five
contributions to the document on religious freedom
( Dignitatis Humanae), and students of the history of
this document affirm that it was deeply influenced
by the Christian personalism of the Archbishop of
Krakow. [15] At the third session of the Council, in
September 1964, quoting St John’s text, ‘The truthwill set you free’ (8:32), he requested that the
relationship between truth and freedom should be
emphasized more strongly, even to the point of
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affirming that there can be no freedom without truth.
[16] How often would we hear him repeat the same
thesis, especially in his encyclical VeritatisSplendor! [17] In his intervention on 22 October
1965, at the final session of the Council, he
requested that the text of Dignitatis Humanae should
underline a basic theme of Christian personalism –
man’s responsibility in relation to the
truth. If
freedom and responsibility are not situated in the
context of their truth, there is a danger of favoring
religious indifferentism. [18]
Wojtyla’s role in the emergence of Gaudium et Spes
was even more significant. [19] His longest and most
important contribution was on 24 September 1964,
when he addressed the question of the manner of
communication and dialogue with modern culture.
It is appropriate that the Council speak in such a
way that the world see we teach not only in an
authoritative way, but that we seek together with
it a just and balanced solution to the difficult
problems of human life. The question is not
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whether we already know the truth well, but
rather how to enable the world to find the truth
and make it its own. [20]
The influence of his contributions was such that, as
we have already noted, he was asked to draft the
fourth chapter of the first part of Gaudium et Spes on
‘The Role of the Church in the Modern World’. In
Crossing the Threshold of Hope he refers to hisparticipation in the Council debates ‘as a unique
occasion for listening to others, but also for creative
thinking’. [21] He also records his debt of gratitude
to Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac for the
encouragement they gave him to pursue his
particular line of thought. [22]
Cardinal Wojtyla also contributed to the 1969, 1971,
and 1974 Synods of Bishops – and
most incisively
to the latter which was concerned with
evangelization. As Cardinal Koenig, the emeritus
Archbishop of Vienna, commented: ‘Everybody
knows that, by an express decision of Pope Paul
VI, Wojtyla was the real author of Evangelii
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Nuntiandi , which obviously was revised and
touched up by the Holy Father as was his
custom.’ [23]
Consequently, when he was elected to the papacy in
1978 he carried with him the experience of varied
intellectual influences; but his own reflection was
invariably focused on anthropological issues. This
derived from his immersion in Thomisticphilosophy, his use of the phenomenological method
to capture and describe the richness of spiritual
experiences, his personalist perspective on human
flourishing, and his primary theological focus on the
Incarnation as the key to the nature and destiny of
man. [24]
One of the great themes of the papacy of John Paul
II is the articulation of the true nature of the human
person as a being made to the image and likeness of
God. Again and again he returns to this theme in his
magisterial writings, especially in his encyclicals
Centesimus Annus (1991), Veritatis Splendor (1993),
and Evangelium Vitae(1995). It is clear, too, that he
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is willing to draw on the resources of the
phenomenological method to manifest in all its
splendor the depths of the human spirit, and toclarify such fundamental topics as conscience, moral
judgment, the mystery of freedom and responsibility,
and the possibility of obtaining access through these
manifestations of the human spirit to the very core of
the person. His Love and Responsibility is a brilliant
example of this approach, leading to profound
insights into the nature of human sexuality, love and
marriage. [25]
Like all students of his time, he was well formed in
the philosophical principles of Thomist theology,
accepting fully St Thomas’ definition of the person
as a subject of intellectual and volitional actions. His
philosophical approach, however, enabled him to
study a dimension of the person not developed in
Thomist ontology – the creative aspect of human
action and interpersonal relations. Descriptiveanalysis of human experience through the
phenomenological method allowed him deepen his
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understanding of the person as a being who entrusts
himself to God.[26]
Anthropology of John Paul II
From the beginning of his pontificate John Paul II
has taught that the truth about man is to be found in
Christ. In his homily at his installation as pope, he
encouraged the world not to be afraid of Christ,since Christ alone knows what is in every man. ‘I
ask you … I implore you’, he said, ‘allow Christ
to speak to man.’[27]
Little by little an expansion
of themes from Gaudium et Spes became a regular
feature of his magisterium. In his very first
encyclical, Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), theconciliar document is referred on at least seventeen
occasions. Indeed we could say that the phrase from
Gaudium et Spes, ‘Christ fully reveals man to
himself and brings to light his most high calling’
has become the theme of his pontificate. [28]
Later he would himself point out that, in the
encyclicals Redemptor Hominis and Dives in
Misericordia (1980), he was trying to explicate the
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content of this idea from Gaudium et Spes, taking
account of the anxieties and expectations of his
contemporaries. Writing about this encyclical fifteenyears later, he says that
The Council proposed, especially in Gaudium et
Spes, that the mystery of redemption should be
seen in light of the great renewal of man and of
all that is human. The encyclical aims to be a great hymn of joy for the fact that man has been
redeemed through Christ – redeemed in spirit and
body. [29]
The central idea is that the Redemption, the task of
salvation which the Church carries out in the world,consists in helping man to discover the full truth
about his being and this truth is to be found only in
Christ.
Man and Creation
Christian anthropology has two basic points of
reference, each of which is a divine initiative. The
first is the mystery of creation in which man is made
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‘to the image of God’. The other is the mystery of
Christ who, as we have seen, reveals man fully to
himself. This is the anthropology of the Incarnationand the Redemption. The Christian definition of man
has thus a point of departure and a point of arrival.
Between these points the mystery of sin intervenes
with the Fall and its consequences for man’s
personal response to God.
After John Paul II had completed Redemptor
Hominis, in preparation for the upcoming Synod of
Bishops on the topic of the Christian family in
October 1980, he devoted the traditional Wednesday
catechesis to the exposition of his thinking on
human sexuality and marriage. Over a period of five
years, from September 1979, he would provide a
profound theological reflection on the themes of
chastity, marriage and celibacy in the context of the
‘nuptial meaning of the body’. [30] Here he drew
on the creation accounts in Genesis, Christ’steaching on marriage and celibacy, and the Pauline
corpus covering the same areas. In his exegesis of
the relevant scriptural passages, he brings to bear not
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only the findings of traditional Christian
hermeneutics, but also the anthropological insights
of Vatican II and the personalist philosophy he hadalready elaborated in Love and Responsibility.
Traditional theology tells us that man is made to the
image of God because he possesses the faculties of
intellect and will. In his analysis of the creation
accounts, John Paul II insists that a capacity forrelationship with God is of the very essence of man.
God’s invitation to a shared life is a gratuitous,
unmerited gift to man who from the beginning was
made capax Dei. In these reflections, John Paul II
offers many insights about the nature of human
identity, the manner in which man is distinguished
from the rest of creation by the reality of human
work, and the relational mode of his personal being
which manifests itself on three levels – with God,
with the world, and with others through a
communion of love and self-giving.
These are some of the basic principles of ‘the truth
about man’ to which John Paul II frequently refers.
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But the implementation of this truth cannot be
achieved without the moral energy that comes from
God through participation in the divine life of grace.Only in the Church can one find this wisdom about
man, and, at the same time, the gift of divine grace
which renders possible a life in accord with this
vision.
Human Work and Temporal Realities
By God’s will, knowledge of the world and the
progressive dominion of its resources is achieved
only through human work. Faith guides and
stimulates this effort, but it cannot substitute it. This
is a consequence of the Church’s recognition of thelegitimate autonomy of temporal things. Human
affairs have their own proper laws which God did
not reveal to us with the principles of the faith. The
discovery of these laws is essentially the role of the
laity. As Gaudium et Spes points out:
Let them be proud of the opportunity to carry
out their earthly activity in such a way as to
integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific
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and technical enterprises with religious values,
under whose supreme direction all things are
directed to the glory of God...it is their task tocultivate a properly informed conscience and to
impress the divine law on the earthly city. [31]
Man needs the society of others not just to live and
nourish himself but, above all, to develop as a
person. ‘Creating the human race in his ownimage and continually keeping it in being, God
inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the
vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility,
of love and communion. Love’, as
John Paul II
reminds us, ‘is therefore the fundamental and
innate vocation of every human being.’ [32]
But
man is called to love in his unified totality, in soul
and body. Christian revelation recognizes two
specific ways of realizing this vocation of the human
person to love – either through marriage or through
the specific commitment to celibacy. Both vocations,John Paul II affirms, are expressions of the full truth
about man as created to the image of God. [33]
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Nevertheless, love is not just an inclination of
spontaneous affection towards others. It is to will the
good of others, and to give oneself to them in anunselfish way because the perfecting of love requires
self-giving. John Paul II has repeatedly recalled
those words of Gaudium et Spes: ‘If man is the
only creature on earth that God has wanted for
its own sake, man can fully discover his true self
only in a sincere giving of himself.’ [34] And he
highlights these ideas again in his Letter to Youth
and in his document on the Christian family. [35]
Marriage and the Family
Throughout his papacy, John Paul II has givenparticular attention to the question of marriage and
the family. The concerns of Love and Responsibility
are repeatedly echoed through his pontificate,
starting with his extensive catechesis on ‘the nuptial
meaning of the body’, through Familiaris Consortio,his Letter to Families [36], his many addresses on
the topic to interest groups, and, always, during his
pastoral visits. He sees the family as the nucleus of
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the ‘communion of persons’, as the place where
this communion can be realized naturally in its most
committed way. It is here that each one is firstwelcomed and appreciated for what he or she truly is
– a unique person, and not in view of their social or
economic function.
It is love which creates this community of persons.
In Redemptor Hominis John Paul II wrote that
Man cannot live without love. He remains a being
that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is
senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does
not encounter love, if he does not experience it
and make it his own, if he does not participateintimately in it. [37]
He repeats this refrain in Familiaris Consortio,
insisting that it applies primarily and especially
within the family. [38] This is surely one of the Holy
Father’s deepest and most important anthropological
convictions, expressing succinctly a whole program
for family formation at both the philosophical and
theological levels. For John Paul II, the future of the
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Church and society hinge on the stability of the
family. It is not surprising, then, that he has invested
so much of his immense intellectual and spiritualenergy in the promotion and the defense of the
family unit. For him the family is the first and most
important school of life and of love; and this
uniquely stabilizing influence is the principal service
that it offers to society and the Church.
It is the first and irreplaceable school of social
life, an example and stimulus for the broader
community relationships marked by respect,
justice, dialogue and love.
The family is thus … the place of origin and themost effective means for humanizing and
personalizing society: it makes an original
contribution in depth to building up the world, by
making possible a life that is properly speaking
human, in particular by guarding and
transmitting virtues and ‘values’.
Consequently, faced with a society that is running
the risk of becoming more and more
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depersonalized and standardized and therefore
inhuman and dehumanizing, with the negative
results of many forms of escapism – such asalcoholism, drugs and even terrorism – the family
possess and continues still to release formidable
energies capable of taking man out of his
anonymity, keeping him conscious of his personal
dignity, enriching him with deep humanity and
actively placing him, in his uniqueness andunrepeatability, within the fabric of society. [39]
This a powerful statement of the indispensable role
of well-adjusted families for building up a healthy
and stable society, in which divine and human rights
are respected.
Human Development
The Christian anthropology of John Paul II has very
practical implications for human development on the
religious, social and cultural planes. For him the
Christian faith is a source of truth and of life, and
thus theological reflection can therefore offer a great
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service in the configuration of cultural, social and
political life.
Man is endowed with a creative capacity which
enables him to from a culture or a human
environment which is the result of human work, and
which has both a spiritual and a material component.
According to John Paul II, it is culture which
humanizes man; culture is the medium throughwhich the person becomes more fully what he is
called to be. Indeed part of man’s vocation ‘to
dominate the earth’ is the economic and cultural
development of society. [40]
Nevertheless, experience indicates that humanintervention does not always yield positive results.
Many cultural and social developments of the
present century, rather than fostering genuine human
development, have had a dehumanizing effect on
man because of the particular moral and economic
climate created by the guiding institutions of society
– social inequalities, ethical problems created by the
misapplication of technology, especially in the areas
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of human sexuality, and the enormous economic
imbalances between nations.
Authentic human development has to be judged
from the standpoint of whether it leads to conditions
which facilitate human flourishing at its deepest
levels. John Paul II bases his analysis of such
development on the accumulated wisdom of the
Church’s social teaching. But a key element in histheological and moral assessment of human
development is the ‘being’ and ‘having’ binomial
first articulated by Gabriel Marcel. [41]
Human Work and Social Priorities
Through work, human culture is formed and grows.
In Laborem Exercens, John Paul II distinguishes
between the objective and subjective dimensions of
work .The objective aspect is the product that is
created by work. The subjective dimension is the
imprint that work leaves on man. Man realizes and
perfects himself when he works well – he grows as a
person when he applies order, attention, creativity
and ambition to his work. [42] He also becomes
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more human because he provides a service to others
through his work:
Work is a good thing for man – a good thing for
his
humanity – because through work man not
only transforms nature, adapting it to his own
needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human
being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a
human being’. [43]
Thus the value of each kind of work ‘is judged
above all by the measure of the dignity of the
subject of work, that is to say the person, the
individual who carries it out .’ [44]
Because the correct criteria are often not applied in
the evaluation of work, this can have negative
consequences for the social economy. John Paul II
does not offer a particular social theory, much less a
utopian solution, for the social economy. However,
from his analysis he offers a few fundamental
principles in Laborem Exercens: a) the priority of
work over capital (nos.12, 13): b) the primacy of
men over things (nos. 12,13); and c) the primacy of
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the subjective value of work over its objective value
(no.6). In addition, in Redemptor Hominis, he had
already affirmed the following principles: d) thepriority of ethics over technology; e) the primacy of
persons over things; and f) the superiority of spirit
over matter. [45] This is the order of priorities
which, according to John Paul II, derives from a
Christian anthropology and is therefore fundamental
for building up a social environment worthy of man.
[46]
Ethical Aspects of Development
In Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, looking at the prevailing
social conditions of the world in 1987, the Pope hadno doubt that from the point of view of the
principles enunciated above, the global impression
of human development presented a negative picture.
In this encyclical he speaks about the disequilibrium
between North and South, inequalities withincountries, illiteracy, hunger, the appearance of a
‘fourth world’ on the margin of developed societies,
and concludes that conditions have become
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significantly aggravated. [47] After analyzing the
causes of this situation, he goes on to give a detailed
presentation of what constitutes authentic humandevelopment in Chapter IV. He points out that one of
the greatest injustices of the contemporary world is
the contrast between a wealthy minority and the
majority who possess so little. [48] The evil, he says,
lies not so much in the possession of so much
material wealth as in the cult of ‘having’, which
leads to an inversion of the human and social
priorities already outlined. [49]
Speaking about the evangelization of culture to an
audience of university people in Chile in 1987, he
developed this point more fully:
A process of reflection is necessary, which leads to
a renewed diffusion and defense of the
fundamental values of man as man, and in
relation to other persons and to the natural
surroundings in which he lives. Therefore I
earnestly encourage you to present a correct
image of a culture of being and behaving. ‘All
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man’s “having” is important for culture, is a
factor creative of culture, but only to the extent
which man, through his “having”, can at thesame time “be” more fully a man in all the
dimensions of his existence in everything that
characterizes his humanity’ (Address to
UNESCO, 2 June 1980, no. 7). A culture of being
does not exclude having: it considers it as a
means to seek a true integral humanization, insuch a way that ‘having’ is put at the service of
‘being’ and ‘behaving’. [50]
The inherent contradictions in processes of
development which focus only on the economic
dimension are more clearly apparent today. [51]
John Paul II offers a much more demanding criterion
of development.
Development, he tells us, cannot consist only in the
use, dominion over and indiscriminate possession of
created things and the products of human industry,
but rather in subordinating their possession,
dominion and use to man’s divine likeness and to his
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vocation to immortality. This is the transcendent
reality of the human being. [52]
From this perspective, development must have an
ethical and not merely a technical dimension – it has
a clear moral character. [53]
In Reconciliatio et Poenitentia John Paul II had
already pointed out how sin caused a rupture in
man’s relationship with God, his fellow men, and the
created world. The consequences of personal sin for
society reflect the interior disorder in man. This is
why, he says, we can speak of personal sin and
social sin, the latter being the accumulation and
concentration of many personal sins ‘of those whoare in a position to avoid, eliminate or at least
limit certain social evils but who fail to do so out
of laziness, fear or the conspiracy of silence,
through secret complicity or indifference’. [54]
Man’s vocation expresses itself in the fulfillment of
responsibilities to neighbor. When these
responsibilities are overlooked, offense is given to
God and there are negative consequences which
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extend beyond the brief life span of the individual.
[55]
Human Solidarity
After adverting to the fact that the obstacles opposed
to the integral development of man are not properly
economic or material ones, but rather moral
considerations, he concludes that these difficultiescan only be overcome by decisions which are
essentially moral. [56] People have to root out of
their lives the ‘all-consuming desire for profit’ and
‘the thirst for power with the intention of
imposing one’s will on others’. For Christians this
calls for a real conversion of heart, and thesubstitution, with the help of divine grace, of an
attitude of self-giving to others. Thus human
solidarity ‘is a firm and persevering
determination to commit oneself to the common
good’ in relations between individuals and nations;[57] it ‘is the path to peace and at the same time
to development’. [58] For John Paul II, ‘solidarity
is undoubtedly a Christian virtue ... In the light of
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faith it seeks to go beyond itself, to take on the
specifically Christian dimensions of total gratuity,
forgiveness and reconciliation.’ [59]Then one seesone’s neighbor, not only as a human being with his
or her own rights, but as a child of God, even if he or
she is an enemy:
Awareness of the common fatherhood of God, of the
brotherhood of all in Christ, and of the presence andlife-giving action of the Holy Spirit will bring to our
vision of the world a new criterion for interpreting it.
Beyond human and natural bonds, there is discerned
in the light of faith a new model of the unity of the
human race, which must ultimately inspire our
solidarity. This supreme model of unity, which is a
reflection of the intimate life of God, one God in
three Persons, is what we Christians mean
by the
word ‘communion’. [60]
Christian solidarity has, then, for John Paul II, an
important part to play in the realization of the divine
plan for the individual and for society, both at
national and international levels.
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Man the ‘way of the Church’
The mission of the Church is one which is both
human and divine, converting men into children of
God and teaching them how to live as brothers in the
same family. Consequently, the way the Church can
and ought to intervene in the world is through
offering the wisdom she has drawn about men from
divine revelation. Guided by Christ she brings themystery of God to men and in the process reveals
man to
himself; she enables him to understand the
meaning of his existence and opens up to him the
entire truth about his destiny. [61]
The anthropology of John Paul II is essentially aprogram of evangelization. This is because the
Church is in possession of the truth about man, the
evangelized man, the converted man who has put on
Jesus Christ, and who receives from the Holy Spirit
the charity to enable him love his own kind. It is nota human anthropology, but a vision of man as God
wants him to be. The human and the divine are
united in Christ and each one is called to imitate
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Christ. For this reason ‘the Church’s social teaching
is itself a valid instrument of evangelization. As
such, it proclaims God and his
mystery of salvationin Christ to every human being and, for that very
reason, reveals man to himself.’ [62]
Thus, from the above considerations, we see that
there is a profound connection between
evangelization and true human development.Because of this, evangelization has always been
accompanied by human social initiatives which are
an external witness of the preaching of salvation.
Thus missionary efforts have invariably
been
accompanied by the setting up of educational and
medical facilities. This demonstrates that salvation is
not only spiritual, but that it also has to bring about a
Christian configuration in the social and political
dimensions of existence. [63]
ConclusionChristian anthropology is grounded on fundamental
guiding principles about man, his history, and his
destiny. In response to the dechristianization of the
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West through different forms of materialism, the
Church wishes to propose and activate a new
evangelizing dynamic. Recent philosophical andtheological reflection has provided the Church with
new insights and ideas which have facilitated a novel
and vibrant restatement of the principles of Christian
anthropology, especially as presented by Vatican II
and in the magisterium of John Paul II. These
principles can be summarized as follows: First, man
is the image of God; this is the fundamental truth
about the human person and the point of departure
for all subsequent reflection on him. Second, Christ
revealed man to man; he is the way and the truth for
every human person. Third, the communion of loveof persons is a reflection of the inner life of the
Blessed Trinity. This is the
point of departure for
understanding the nature of the nuclear Christian
family which is a microcosm and model of an
authentic human society. Finally, man attains self-
fulfillment in the giving of himself to others; this is
the Christian conception of man’s calling and the
basis to organize a better society which can only be
achieved through charity.
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These are the basic principles of ‘the truth about
man’ so often articulated by John Paul II. But the
implementation of this truth cannot be achievedwithout the moral energy that comes from God – the
divine life of grace. Only in the Church can one find
this wisdom about man and, at the same time, the
power of the grace to live up to this vision.
FOOTNOTES
[1] I am very grateful to Dr Gerald Hanratty of the
Department of Philosophy, University College,
Dublin, who read through a previous draft of this
paper.
[2] There have been several commentaries on theanthropology of John Paul II, which include the
following: Rocco Buttiglione, Karol Wojtyla: The
Thought of the Man who became John Paul II , New
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York, 1997; K.L. Schmitz, At the Center of the
Human Drama, Washington, 1993; Andre Frossard,
Be Not Afraid!: Interviews with John Paul II, London, 1984; Ronald Lawlor, The Christian
Personalism of John Paul II , Chicago, 1982; George
W. Williams, The Mind of John Paul II: Origins of
his Thought and Action, New York, 1981; Juan Luis
Lorda, Antropología del Concilio Vaticano II a Juan
Pablo II , Madrid, 1996 (I wish to acknowledge my
indebtedness to this source for several insights). A
reading of Karol Wojtyla’s Love and Responsibility,
London, 1981, however, and his long series of
catechesis on ‘the nuptial meaning of the body’ as
John Paul II, is essential to get a feel for hisanthropology, both in terms of content and
methodology. The catechetical series has been
published in four volumes by St Paul Editions,
Boston, as follows: Original Unity of Man and
Woman: Catechesis on the Book of Genesis (1981);
Blessed are the Pure of Heart: Catechesis on the
Sermon on the Mount and the Writings of St Paul
(1983); Reflections on Humanae Vitae: Conjugal
Morality and Spirituality (1984); The Theology of
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Marriage and Celibacy: Catechesis on Marriage
and Celibacy in the Light of the Resurrection of the
Body (1986). Essential reading would also includeencyclicals such as Redemptor Hominis (1979),
Laborem Exercens (1981), Solicitudo Rei Socialis
(1987) and Centesimus Annus (1991); the Apostolic
Exhortations Familiaris Consortio (1981) and
Christifideles Laici (1988).
[3] Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (GS ) (The
Church in the Modern World, 1965) and Dignitatis
Humanae (Decree on Religious Freedom, 1965).
[4] John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope,
London, 1994, pp 35, 36, 210.
[5] Cf.
P. A. Schilpp, The Philosophy of Martin
Buber, La Salle, Illinois, 1967, p. 341.
[6] Cf. Lorda, p. 45.
[7] John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope,
pp 35-36 (italics in the original).
[8] Cf. 30 Giorni, March 1985, p. 18.
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[9] GS 22.
[10] ‘For when man looks into his own heart he
finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and
sunk in many evils which cannot come from his
good creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God
as his source, man has also upset the relationship
which should link him to his last end; and at the
same time he has broken the right order thatshould reign within himself as well as between
himself and other men and all creatures’ (GS 13).
[11] GS 24.
[12] Cf. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold , p.200.
[13] Karol Wojtyla in Acta et documenta Concilio
Oecumenico Vaticano II Apparando, I: 2, pp
741-742.
[14] John Paul II, Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth
Anniversary of my Priestly Ordination, London,
1996, pp 66-67 (italics in original).
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[15] Cf. Lorda, p. 105.
[16] K. Wojtyla in Acta Synodalia, III: 2, pp
530-532.
[17] John Paul II, Veritatis Splendour (VS ), 6
August 1993.
[18] K. Wojtyla in
Acta Synodalia, IV: 2, pp
292-293.
[19] The Acta Synodalia indicate that he made six
contributions to the discussion of this document : III/
5, pp 298-300;
pp 680-3; III/7, pp 380-2; IV/2, pp
660-3; IV/3, pp 242-3; IV/3, pp 349-50.
[20] K. Wojtyla in Acta Synodalia, III: 5, pp
298-300.
[21] Cf. ibid., p. 158.
[22] Cf. ibid., p. 159.
[23] F. Koenig, Iglesia, ¿a donde vas? Sal Terrae,
Santander (Spain), 1986, pp 54-55.
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[24] Cf. Lorda, p. 112.
[25] It has been commented that Paul VI’s reading
of Love and Responsibility had a significant
influence on his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, in 1968.
Cf. Janet E. Smith, ‘John Paul II and Humanae
Vitae’ in Why Humanae Vitae was Right: A Reader,
San Francisco, 1993, pp 229-33; Paul Johnson, Pope
John Paul II and the Catholic Restoration, AnnArbor, Michigan, 1981, pp 32-33.
[26] Cf. Lorda, pp 112-23.
[27] John Paul II, “The Inauguration Homily,”
Origins 8:20 (November 2, 1978): 308.
[28] GS 22. In his most recent encyclical, Fides et
Ratio, John Paul II says this specific text from
Gaudium et Spes ‘is profoundly significant for
philosophy’, and that it ‘serves as one of the
constant reference-points of my teaching’ (Fideset Ratio, 60, 14 September 1998).