The Polish Church and John Paul II’s Evangelization Mission in Slavic Countries
Pope John Paul not only used his roots in Slavic culture for the political development of the Church, but gave a theological justification for the role he carved out for Poland. He saw Poland as "the chosen nation" for direct Church mission. In this article, I examine both Wojtyla’s theolo...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Equinox Publ.
2008
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In: |
Religious studies and theology
Year: 2008, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Pages: 115-125 |
Further subjects: | B
Evangelization
B Theology of the Slavic Nations B Pope John Paul II |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Pope John Paul not only used his roots in Slavic culture for the political development of the Church, but gave a theological justification for the role he carved out for Poland. He saw Poland as "the chosen nation" for direct Church mission. In this article, I examine both Wojtyla’s theology of the Slavic "nations" and the specific role of the Polish people in his theory. I will survey the so-called "outstanding historic mission" of the Polish church in the re-Christianizing of Central and Eastern Europe…history for him was read in the light of the Gospel, which he believed provided a "hermeneutic key" to both world and human history. I argue that the Pope wished to extend this vision to all Slavic nations as a way of encouraging a Christian destiny "from the Atlantic to the Urals." In my final assessment I note that this missionary vision of Pope John Paul II proved to be unsuccessful. |
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ISSN: | 1747-5414 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Religious studies and theology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/rsth.v27i1.115 |