Between Patriotism and Nationalism. Seen from the Perspective of Central Europe Fr

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Between Patriotism and Nationalism. Seen from the Perspective of Central Europe Fr Between Patriotism and Nationalism. Seen from the Perspective of Central Europe Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz 1. Two different meanings of the term “state” The French like to repeat after Albert Camus: “Mal nommer les choses, c’est ajouter aux malheurs du monde”. [1] Stimulated by this saying, I would like to slightly clear the foreground of our discussion on nation-state and nationalism. First of all, it is about the meaning of the term “nation-state”, which sometimes is erroneously identified with the “state of one nation”. The experience of everyday life prompts us to say that the state is a natural creation, or, in other words, that man is naturally created for life in the state. Aristotle already expressed this by describing man as a zoon politikon, political animal, or – more accurately – created for life in the polis. We encounter terminological difficulties here: can the word polis be replaced in this formula by the term “state”? In fact, the Stagirite had in mind a relatively small and autarkic political community. Only such a community, in his opinion, could be sustainable, effective in governance and able to fulfil its mainly ethical tasks towards citizens. In English, polis is usually translated as “city-state”, though Cicero gave its meaning through the Latin civitas. The problem is not outdated as we have difficulty using the same term “state” in the context of various political entities such as the Principality of Monaco, Vatican City, the Roman Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the United States of America, especially since the very names of the last two appear to suggest that the “state” is only a part of them. When will the dynamically changing European Union stop being called an international organisation and be called a state? In Western languages we generally use terms derived from the Latin status, such as: l’état, lo stato, der Staat, the state. Although the term status belongs to classical Latin, the current meaning of these words is relatively new and was formed only during the Renaissance debate held in the northern Italian republics.[2] The Latin status means, among other things, attitude, condition, position, meaning, location, circumstances, a state of affairs or lifestyle.[3] The person of the King was entitled to a special, higher status (status regis), royal dignity, which in itself was seen as a force organising public life and ensuring government efficiency. The good state (condition) of the king and his kingdom was also often prayed for. After all, the task of the king and his officials was to care for the optimum statum rei publicae. Finally, the term status appears to describe the various political forms described by Aristotle (status unius, status paucorum, status popularis). Niccolò Machiavelli in Il Principe[4] uses the word in this sense when he affirms that: Tutti gli stati, tutti è dominii che hanno avuto e hanno imperio sopra gli uomini, sono stati e sono o repubbliche o principati. Lo stato in Machiavelli also means territories under the prince’s authority, whose state he should maintain in its entirety, possibly joining new states. The prince should also control all the authorities and institutions existing in the regnum or civitas, and thus the apparatus of governance, which in time is also referred to as stato. Finally, lo stato is the state itself as an independent political community, and Machiavelli also applies this term to ancient Sparta or Rome. The author of The Prince therefore uses this concept in his work in both a traditional and a new meaning, somewhat invented by himself. In some languages, the old sense has survived in phrases such as, for example, “reason of state”, “state of possession” or “third state”. A new meaning was adopted in the language of political philosophy very quickly, and, in the mid-eighteenth century, the independent political formations worthy of it were commonly defined states.[5] Terminological changes were closely related to the transformation that political institutions underwent at that time. Absolutist tendencies resulted in a centralisation of power, and thus the abolition of local centres of authority derived from the feudal system of complex loyalty, under which, for example, the king of one kingdom could be, as a prince, a subject of the monarch of another kingdom. The concept of sovereignty operating under the theory of absolutism did not allow any division of power (Jean Bodin). Only one centre of power could exist on one territory.[6] This was accompanied by the formation of a bureaucratic apparatus – efficient, hierarchical, impersonal, based on formal neutrality, subordinated to instrumental rationality, but also having its own interests. With time, heads of states also became part of it, reduced to the role of hired officials on a state salary, whose task was to implement the will of the nation (the sovereign) expressed in the law. Separation - 1 - of the ruler from the state institutions took place, including the ruler’s property and the state treasury. A state army and police were formed. A new perception of the role of the ruler in the state put the question about the subjectivity of people living in a given territory: were they subjects of the king or citizens of the state? The issue of loyalty followed: should they obey the king or the crown? In the negative aspect, this is about treason: is it treason on the part of citizens if they act against the interests of the ruler or against the interests of the state? There is also the issue of the secularity of the state and law, which we used to associate with the John Locke concept of tolerance. Quentin Skinner, however, draws these ideas from the tradition of a secular absolutism, which is associated with Thomas Hobbes. Secular absolutism, according to him, not only was not able to tolerate competing centres of secular power, it did not tolerate religious power either.[7] In a way, this was also required by Machiavelli’s separation of politics and morality. Finally, the private and public spheres of life were separated. As a result of the whole process, nowadays in political science the term “state” has two different meanings: 1. Broad – we call “state” everything that meets the requirements of a threefold definition containing the necessary coincidence of three components: people, territory and power (Georg Jellinek). In this sense, this term only defines a form capable of accommodating various political creations, with different variations of territory, people and the power related to them. 2. Narrow – we link the definition of state (lo stato) with a form of political organisation that has developed in modern times. According to this approach, the earlier ways of organising collective life deserve at most the name “pre-state” (Gianfranco Poggi). According to the first usus, in translations of classical works such as Plato’s ########, Cicero’s De re publica or St Augustine’s De civitate Dei, in some European languages (not in English) we encounter the word “state”, which may suggest to the reader that the subject matter of the considerations contained in those works is not #####, res publica or civitas, but a modern state. Other terms, such as imperium or regnum, often disappear in translations. The second usus associates a certain degree of the structuring of society with the term “state”, finding its expression in the form of specific features and institutions whose presence is considered a sine qua non condition of the existence of the state.[8] These institutions are subjected to very dynamic metamorphoses, which can be interpreted that only the “latest generation” products deserve the name of state in the above sense, while those that do not keep up with the changes are denied the name of state. We use the term “state” in two different ways: broad and narrow. We certainly deal with the first when we use this term in relation to political pre-Renaissance forms, and with the second when we think of a modern state along with its extensive state apparatus. Undoubtedly, such a state is national when it is inhabited only by one nation. On the other hand, we also give a double meaning to the concept of nation. At one time, we understand the nation as a historical reality, while at another, as a political and ideological construct. In the first meaning, we tie it in some way with ethnicity, while in the second, this relationship is almost completely dissolved. This way, a paradox occurs: if we adopt the ethnic definition of a nation, then in fact nation states do not exist in the “pure” sense. There is no totally homogenous society. If we accept the political definition of a nation, then every state is a nation state. I propose to follow this second trail, i.e. to apply the term “nation- state” to the modern way of organising the political community, and therefore whenever we speak about a state in a narrower sense, adding the adjective “nation” does not change anything. This is common practice. After all, every political creation which fulfils the three-part definition, but which is not an international organisation, is currently called a (nation-) state, regardless of how many nations or ethnic groups inhabit it. Moreover, if the European Union is transformed from an international organisation into a federal state one day, it would have to become a federal nation-state, only if it does not become an empire, as Ulrich Beck points out (Germany has created an accidental Empire)[9]… 2. The post-Cold-War world The second issue that requires clarification concerns the accuracy of the belief that once – i.e. after the Second World War – international organisations were more significant actors in international relations than today.
Recommended publications
  • Landscapes of Korean and Korean American Biblical Interpretation
    BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION AMERICAN AND KOREAN LANDSCAPES OF KOREAN International Voices in Biblical Studies In this first of its kind collection of Korean and Korean American Landscapes of Korean biblical interpretation, essays by established and emerging scholars reflect a range of historical, textual, feminist, sociological, theological, and postcolonial readings. Contributors draw upon ancient contexts and Korean American and even recent events in South Korea to shed light on familiar passages such as King Manasseh read through the Sewol Ferry Tragedy, David and Bathsheba’s narrative as the backdrop to the prohibition against Biblical Interpretation adultery, rereading the virtuous women in Proverbs 31:10–31 through a Korean woman’s experience, visualizing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and demarcations in Galatians, and introducing the extrabiblical story of Eve and Norea, her daughter, through story (re)telling. This volume of essays introduces Korean and Korean American biblical interpretation to scholars and students interested in both traditional and contemporary contextual interpretations. Exile as Forced Migration JOHN AHN is AssociateThe Prophets Professor Speak of Hebrew on Forced Bible Migration at Howard University ThusSchool Says of Divinity.the LORD: He Essays is the on author the Former of and Latter Prophets in (2010) Honor ofand Robert coeditor R. Wilson of (2015) and (2009). Ahn Electronic open access edition (ISBN 978-0-88414-379-6) available at http://ivbs.sbl-site.org/home.aspx Edited by John Ahn LANDSCAPES OF KOREAN AND KOREAN AMERICAN BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION INTERNATIONAL VOICES IN BIBLICAL STUDIES Jione Havea Jin Young Choi Musa W. Dube David Joy Nasili Vaka’uta Gerald O. West Number 10 LANDSCAPES OF KOREAN AND KOREAN AMERICAN BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION Edited by John Ahn Atlanta Copyright © 2019 by SBL Press All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • John Paul II and Children's Education Christopher Tollefsen
    Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy Volume 21 Article 6 Issue 1 Symposium on Pope John Paul II and the Law 1-1-2012 John Paul II and Children's Education Christopher Tollefsen Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp Recommended Citation Christopher Tollefsen, John Paul II and Children's Education, 21 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 159 (2007). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol21/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JOHN PAUL H AND CHILDREN'S EDUCATION CHRISTOPHER TOLLEFSEN* Like many other moral and social issues, children's educa- tion can serve as a prism through which to understand the impli- cations of moral, political, and legal theory. Education, like the family, abortion, and embryonic research, capital punishment, euthanasia, and other issues, raises a number of questions, the answers to which are illustrative of a variety of moral, political, religious, and legal standpoints. So, for example, a libertarian, a political liberal, and a per- fectionist natural lawyer will all have something to say about the question of who should provide a child's education, what the content of that education should be, and what mechanisms for the provision of education, such as school vouchers, will or will not be morally and politically permissible.
    [Show full text]
  • Gerard Mannion Is to Be Congratulated for This Splendid Collection on the Papacy of John Paul II
    “Gerard Mannion is to be congratulated for this splendid collection on the papacy of John Paul II. Well-focused and insightful essays help us to understand his thoughts on philosophy, the papacy, women, the church, religious life, morality, collegiality, interreligious dialogue, and liberation theology. With authors representing a wide variety of perspectives, Mannion avoids the predictable ideological battles over the legacy of Pope John Paul; rather he captures the depth and complexity of this extraordinary figure by the balance, intelligence, and comprehensiveness of the volume. A well-planned and beautifully executed project!” —James F. Keenan, SJ Founders Professor in Theology Boston College Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts “Scenes of the charismatic John Paul II kissing the tarmac, praying with global religious leaders, addressing throngs of adoring young people, and finally dying linger in the world’s imagination. This book turns to another side of this outsized religious leader and examines his vision of the church and his theological positions. Each of these finely tuned essays show the greatness of this man by replacing the mythological account with the historical record. The straightforward, honest, expert, and yet accessible analyses situate John Paul II in his context and show both the triumphs and the ambiguities of his intellectual legacy. This masterful collection is absolutely basic reading for critically appreciating the papacy of John Paul II.” —Roger Haight, SJ Union Theological Seminary New York “The length of John Paul II’s tenure of the papacy, the complexity of his personality, and the ambivalence of his legacy make him not only a compelling subject of study, but also a challenging one.
    [Show full text]
  • Vincentiana Vol. 49, No. 2 [Full Issue]
    Vincentiana Volume 49 Number 2 Vol. 49, No. 2 Article 1 2005 Vincentiana Vol. 49, No. 2 [Full Issue] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation (2005) "Vincentiana Vol. 49, No. 2 [Full Issue]," Vincentiana: Vol. 49 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol49/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Vincentian Journals and Publications at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vincentiana by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Via Sapientiae: The Institutional Repository at DePaul University Vincentiana (English) Vincentiana 4-30-2005 Volume 49, no. 2: March-April 2005 Congregation of the Mission Recommended Citation Congregation of the Mission. Vincentiana, 49, no. 2 (March-April 2005) This Journal Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Vincentiana at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vincentiana (English) by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VINCENTIANA 49" YEAR-N.2 MARCH-APRII. 2005 Vincentian Ongoing Formation CONGREGATION OF TIIF. MISSION GFNERAI CURIA VINCENTIANA Magazine of the Congregation of the Mission published every two months Holy See 1 1 i holy Father in the Father's (louse 49' Year - N. 2 11.4 Appointment March-April 2005 11-1 Ilabenius Papam! Editor Alfredo Becerro Vazquez, C.M.
    [Show full text]
  • From Memory to Freedom Research on Polish Thinking About National Security and Political Community
    Cezary Smuniewski From Memory to Freedom Research on Polish Thinking about National Security and Political Community Publication Series: Monographs of the Institute of Political Science Scientific Reviewers: Waldemar Kitler, War Studies Academy, Poland Agostino Massa, University of Genoa, Italy The study was performed under the 2017 Research and Financial Plan of War Studies Academy. Title of the project: “Bilateral implications of security sciences and reflection resulting from religious presumptions” (project no. II.1.1.0 grant no. 800). Translation: Małgorzata Mazurek Aidan Hoyle Editor: Tadeusz Borucki, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland Typeseting: Manuscript Konrad Jajecznik © Copyright by Cezary Smuniewski, Warszawa 2018 © Copyright by Instytut Nauki o Polityce, Warszawa 2018 All rights reserved. Any reproduction or adaptation of this publication, in whole or any part thereof, in whatever form and by whatever media (typographic, photographic, electronic, etc.), is prohibited without the prior written consent of the Author and the Publisher. Size: 12,1 publisher’s sheets Publisher: Institute of Political Science Publishers www.inop.edu.pl ISBN: 978-83-950685-7-7 Printing and binding: Fabryka Druku Contents Introduction 9 1. Memory - the “beginning” of thinking about national security of Poland 15 1.1. Memory builds our political community 15 1.2. We learn about memory from the ancient Greeks and we experience it in a Christian way 21 1.3. Thanks to memory, we know who a human being is 25 1.4. From memory to wisdom 33 1.5. Conclusions 37 2. Identity – the “condition” for thinking about national security of Poland 39 2.1. Contemporary need for identity 40 2.2.
    [Show full text]
  • 177618331.Pdf
    Christian Identity Studies in Reformed Theology Editor-in-chief Eduardus Van der Borght, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Editorial Board Abraham van de Beek, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Martien Brinkman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Alasdair Heron, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, emeritus Dirk van Keulen, Leiden University Daniel Migliore, Princeton Theological Seminary Richard Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena Gerrit Singgih, Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogjakarta Conrad Wethmar, University of Pretoria VOLUME 16 Christian Identity Edited by Eduardus Van der Borght LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data International Reformed Theological Institute. International Conference (6th : 2005 : Seoul, Korea) Christian identity / edited by Eduardus van der Borght. p. cm. -- (Studies in reformed theology ; v. 16) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-15806-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Identification (Religion)--Congresses. 2. Reformed Church–Doctrines--Congresses. I. Borght, Ed. A. J. G. van der, 1956- II. Title. III. Series. BV4509.5.I58 2005 261.2--dc22 2008018712 ISSN 1571-4799 ISBN 978 90 04 15806 1 Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • NINE DAYS THAT CHANGED the WORLD - Study Guide
    -1- NINE DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD - Study Guide Introduction (p. 2) A Message from Newt and Callista Gingrich (p.3) ACTIVITY 1 Story of Pope John Paul II and Nine Days That Changed the World (p. 6) Who was Pope John Paul II (born Karol Wojty_a)? What happened in June 1979 that changed the world? Why is it worth studying? ACTIVITY 2 WHO’S WHO AND WHAT’S WHAT (p. 9) God the Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Mary Mother of God, Pope John Paul II, President Ronald Reagan, Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher, Anna Walentynowicz, Cardinal Stefan Wyszy_ski, Edward Gierek, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Leonid Brezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev, Father Jerzy Popieluszko, Father Franciszek Blachnicki, Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Icon of Black Madonna, Soviet Union, KGB, Cold War, Nine Year Great Novena, Millennium of Polish Christianity ACTIVITY 3 Timeline – 1000+ year history of Christianity in Poland (p. 14) ACTIVITY 4 Fundamental Nature of Man (p. 18) Materialist Vision of Man – Communism Imago Dei – Man is Created in the Image of God – Christianity ACTIVITY 5 Nine Day Pilgrimage to Poland (June 2-10, 1979) (p. 20) ACTIVITY 6 Change after Pilgrimage: Spiritual Renewal and the Rise of Solidarity (p. 23) ACTIVITY 7 Revolutions of 1989 (p. 47) ACTIVITY 8 Victory of the Cross (“Overcoming Evil with Good”) (p. 51) ACTIVITY 9 Memory and Identity (p. 54) ACTIVITY 10 A Future Worthy of Man (p. 58) Lesson Plans for Educators (p. 60) Cast of Nine Days that Changed the World (p. 70) ____________________________________ DRAFT: November 10, 2010 (Updated versions of this Nine Days that Changed the World Study Guide may be downloaded at -2- Introduction On November 9, 1989, the most visible symbol of totalitarian evil, the Berlin Wall, tumbled down.
    [Show full text]
  • Göteborgs Universitet Uppsala Universitet Universitetet I Oslo Åbo
    SVENSK TEOLOGISK KVARTALSKRIFTS REDAKTIONSRÅD MARTIN BERNTSON LINDE LINDKVIST Göteborgs universitet Enskilda högskolan Stockholm MOHAMMAD FAZLHASHEMI MARIUS TIMMANN MJAALAND Uppsala universitet Oslo universitet ANNE KATRINE DE HEMMER GUDME ELSE MARIE WIBERG PEDERSEN Universitetet i Oslo Aarhus universitet PATRIK HAGMAN PÉTUR PÉTURSSON Åbo Akademi Islands universitet MICHAEL HJÄLM PAMELA SLOTTE Enskilda högskolan Stockholm, Åbo Akademi Sankt Ignatios Akademi Helsingfors universitet TONE STANGELAND KAUFMAN HANNA STENSTRÖM MF vitenskapelig høyskole Enskilda högskolan Stockholm STÅLE J. KRISTIANSEN KIRSI I. STJERNA NLA Høgskolen California Lutheran University ANNI MARIA LAATO DAVID THURFJELL Åbo Akademi Södertörns högskola OUTI LEHTIPUU LINN TONSTAD Helsingfors universitet Yale Divinity School KAREN MARIE LETH-NISSEN ERIKA WILLANDER Köpenhamns universitet Uppsala universitet S|T|K innehåll 3 2020 Inledning Den europeiska katolicismens många skepnader Ryszard Bobrowicz & Stephan Borgehammar . .211 Introduction The Many Guises of European Catholicism Ryszard Bobrowicz & Stephan Borgehammar . .215 Consumerism Replaces Catholicism? The Case of Ireland Fáinche Ryan. .219 The Polish Case Pedophilia, Polak-Katolik, and Theology of the Nation Magdalena Dziaczkowska . .235 Protest i traditionens namn Den katolska traditionalistiska rörelsen Yvonne Maria Werner . .253 Catholicism in Sweden Embodying the Church of Mission Ryszard Bobrowicz. .273 Recensioner. .284 Kelly James Clark, God and the Brain: The Rationality of Belief Lotta Knutsson Bråkenhielm. .284 Daniel Enstedt & Katarina Plank (red.), Levd religion: Det heliga i vardagen Knut A . Jacobsen. .285 Jan-Olav Henriksen, Christianity as Distinct Practices: A Complicated Relationship Stephan Borgehammar. .287 Kaia S. Rønsdal, Calling Bodies in Lived Space: Spatial Explorations on the Concept of Calling in a Public Urban Space Jakob Signäs . .289 Melvin Tinker, Veiled in Flesh: The Incarnation – What It Means and Why It Matters Bo Krister Ljungberg.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint John Paul II (1978-2005)
    Saint John Paul II (1978-2005) His Holiness John Paul II (16 Oct. 1978-2 April 2005) was the first Slav and the first non-Italian Pope since Hadrian VI. Karol Wojtyla was born on 18 May 1920 at Wadowice, an industrial town south-west of Krakow, Poland. His father was a retired army lieutenant, to whom he became especially close since his mother died when he was still a small boy. Joining the local primary school at seven, he went at eleven to the state high school, where he proved both an outstanding pupil and a fine sportsman, keen on football, swimming, and canoeing (he was later to take up skiing); he also loved poetry, and showed a particular flair for acting. In 1938 he moved with his father to Krakow where he entered the Jagiellonian University to study Polish language and literature; as a student he was prominent in amateur dramatics, and was admired for his poems. When the Germans occupied Poland in September 1939, the university was forcibly closed down, although an underground network of studies was maintained (as well as an underground theatrical club which he and a friend organised). Thus he continued to study incognito, and also to write poetry. In winter 1940 he was given a labourer’s job in a limestone quarry at Zakrówek, outside Krakow, and in 1941 was transferred to the water- purification department of the Solway factory in Borek Falecki; these experiences were to inspire some of the more memorable of his later poems. In 1942, after his father’s death and after recovering from two near-fatal accidents, he felt the call to the priesthood, began studying theology clandestinely and after the liberation of Poland by the Russian forces in January 1945 was able to rejoin the Jagiellonian University openly.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanae Vitae in the Course of Time 23
    Philosophy and Canon Law Vol. 5 Between the Culture of the Right to Responsible Parenthood and the Culture of the “New” Human Rights: Reproductive and Sexual (I) Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego • Katowice 2019 Editor-in-Chief Andrzej Pastwa Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pavol Dancák Members of the Board Krzysztof Wieczorek (Chair of Philosophy Department) Tomasz Gałkowski (Chair of Law Department) International Advisory Board Chair Most Rev. Cyril Vasil’ (Pontifical Oriental Institute, Roma, Italy) Members of the Board Libero Gerosa (Faculty of Theology in Lugano, Switzerland), Wojciech Góralski (Cardinal Ste- fan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland), Stephan Haering (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany), Adrian Loretan (University of Lucerne, Switzerland), Janusz Kowal (Pon- tifical Gregorian University, Roma, Italy), V. Bradley Lewis (Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., USA), Wilhelm Rees (University of Innsbruck, Austria), David L. Schindler (Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., USA), Santiago Sia (National University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland), Zbigniew Suchecki (Pontifical University Antonianum, Roma, Italy) Referees of the Board Miguel Bedolla (University of Texas, San Antonio, USA), Alexandru Buzalic (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Martin Dojčár (University of Trnava, Slovakia), Michał Drożdż (Pontifical University of John Paul II, Cracow, Poland), Roger Enriquez (University of Texas, San Antonio, USA), Edward Górecki (Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic), Kathleen
    [Show full text]
  • Catholicism in Central and Eastern Europe After Vatican II: Assessing the Legacy of John Paul II
    ISSN 2029-4573 (Print), ISSN 2335-8777 (Online) KULTŪRA IR VISUOMENĖ. Socialinių tyrimų žurnalas. 2017 8 (2) http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2335-8777.8.2.2 Catholicism in Central and Eastern Europe after Vatican II: Assessing the Legacy of John Paul II Andrew P. Lynch University of Sydney, Australia Abstract. Pope John Paul II (2005) called communism an “ideology of evil”, and fighting it became a centrepiece of his pontificate. As Samuel P. Huntington (1993) argued in his theory of a “third wave” of democratization that occurred after the 1960s, the Church was instrumental in helping Western powers undermine the credibility of the Soviet system, a process that was aided by the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Furthermore, Gilles Kepel (1994) and José Casanova (1994) have analysed the role played by the Catholic Church in a number of coun- tries where religion has been a vanguard for social movements seeking greater freedom amidst national political tensions. This paper examines the legacy of John Paul II’s efforts to oust Soviet communism from not only his homeland of Poland, but from Europe altogether. The paper begins with an examination of John Paul II’s critique of communism as a flawed system and his emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe’s Christian heritage. More specifically, how his writings and campaigning helped to undermine communism in Central and Eastern Europe will be discussed. The paper will then move to an assessment of the legacy of John Paul II’s efforts against communism and consider the role of contemporary Catholicism generally across Central and Eastern Europe as it tries to stake out its share of the religious marketplace against other re- ligions, including Orthodoxy, Protestantism and new religious movements.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is the New Evangelization?
    #1 The New Evangelization Series What Is the New Evangelization? Michelle K. Borras catholic information service general eDitor © copyright 2012, Knights of columbus. michelle K. borras, ph.D. all rights reserved. Director of the Catholic Information Service Quoted works are copyright their respective authors. manuscript eDitors alton pelowski & scripture citations adapted from the patrick scalisi revised standard version, catholic edition (san francisco: ignatius, 1994). photography Thomas serafin Design adam solove nihil obstat July 3, 2012 susan m. timoney, s.t.D. Censor Deputatus The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is imprimatur free of doctrinal or moral error. There is no Donald cardinal Wuerl implication that those who have granted Archbishop of Washington the nihil obstat and the imprimatur agree with the content, opinions, or statements archdiocese of Washington expressed therein. cover image The Archangel Gabriel The archangel gabriel holds a scroll representing the first proclamation of the gospel, the annunciation to mary. from the chapel of the holy family, Knights of columbus supreme council, new haven, connecticut. The mosaic was completed by fr. marko ivan rupnik, sJ and the artists of centro aletti in 2005. What Is the New Evangelization? Michelle K. Borras Contents “We have come to believe in God’s love...” 1 a World longing for love & Joy 3 Discovering god’s love amid suffering 5 a message of hope for the modern World 7 sharing the Joy of the gospel “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel” 11 Why Do We need a new evangelization? 13 Why “new”? 17 The source of evangelization “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies…” 23 Who evangelizes? 26 The content of the new evangelization 30 The method of evangelization 32 conclusion: The grain of Wheat 36 sources 40 about Detail of christ pulling adam up by the hand during the descent into hell.
    [Show full text]