The article is devoted to the philosophical and theological thought of Karol Wojtyła, i.e., John Paul II, who in his considerations gave a lot of attention to European issues, including the spiritual heritage of Europe, to European Christianity in its two varieties, i.e., Latin and Byzantine, and to the relationship between European unity and the pluralism of national cultures. We discover the proper sense of Wojtyła’s European thought by referring to his inspiration with the theology of spirituality, which was the future Pope’s first research experience. His vision of Europe is based on personalistic philosophy, thanks to which these considerations take a universal form. The key to understanding universalism is personalistic hermeneutics, owing to which we perceive the source of universality in man understood as a person. However, Wojtyła’s universalism has two faces. It is universalism in the literal sense, thanks to the personalistic perspective. In the axiological layer it also takes the form of Christian or European and in a way also Eurocentric universalism, which is related to the perception of Europe as a depositary and promoter of universal values of Christianity.
In the article, we present Polish Catholicism as an example of folk religion. As a result of a complicated political history, the Catholic Church became not only the depositary of Christian faith and morality, but also the mainstay of Polish national identity, shaped during the partitions in opposition to Russian Orthodoxy and Prussian Protestantism. It was then that Polishness became a stereotypical synonym of Catholicism. The stereotype of a Pole—a Catholic was consolidated. In Poland, as a predominantly agricultural country, folk religiosity was shaped, appealing to the sphere of ideas and emotions of the rural population or of those of rural origin settled in urban centres. This form of piety was reinforced by Polish Romanticism with its folk preferences. Romanticism, although often inconsistent with Catholic dogmatics, took root in Catholic circles. Its legacy is the messianism present in the Polish collective consciousness, which is also dear to many Catholic thinkers and clergymen. Poland, tormented under partitions, plagued by numerous wars, national disasters, betrayals, and harm caused by neighbouring nations, became an allegory of Christ suffering on the cross. This suggestive image appealed to the mass imagination of Poles, and the Catholic Church became its transmitter. The contemporary face of the Catholic Church in Poland was formed in the times of so-called real socialism, when the Church and its hierarchy once again became defenders of traditional Polishness and Polish national identity, opposing atheisation and the construction of a new identity based on Soviet models. For over three decades, the leader of Polish Catholicism was Stefan Wyszyński, the Primate of Poland, who became a promoter of folk piety, including, in particular, the Marian cult. Through the massive mobilisation of Polish Catholics united by common religious practices, he successfully prevented the secularisation of Polish society that affected other communist states. That is why, forty years after his death, Wyszyński can be considered the architect of contemporary Polish Catholicism with its dominant ritual form of piety and a nationalist trait.
The paper is dedicated to the methodological approach of Andrzej Jan Chodubski (1952-2017), one of the most prominent Polish political scientists and co-creator of political science at the University of Gdansk. His attitude could be defined as humanistic. He used in his researches and reflections a method called civilizational interpretation. This method gives a holistic and integral perspective which could be useful also for political science and political practice.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), as a widespread health threat, has triggered an increase in health-related behaviours, both pro-and anti-health, especially with regard to diet and physical activity. One of the factors modifying the intensity of such activities may be the religious doctrine and religiosity with which a person is associated. A total of 1502 people (1147 women) from countries that feature one dominant religion, took part in the study. Participants represented Sunni Islam (Egypt, n = 798), Roman Catholicism (Poland, n = 443) and Orthodox Christianity (Romania, n = 261). The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Eating Attitudes Test and the Inventory of Physical Activity Objectives were used in the study. Fear of COVID-19 is associated with engagement in pro-health activity, although not to such a significant extent as might be expected. The type of religion in question was revealed to moderate this relationship, but the intensity of religiosity was not found to serve as a moderator.
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