Zmagania między kulturą życia i kulturą śmierci

Abstract

The new culture of life John Paul II talks about in “Evangelium vitae” is characterized by the fact that it points to some problems that were not known in the past and it shows efficient ways to solve them. The author of the article, being conscious of the good and bad sides of the contemporary outlook on life, points to love as the only perspective of justification of life in view of death. In order to discover what life is a man has to transcend himself. This is only possible when he is able - in the sense: has the courage - to give himself up, that is to love somebody. Hence, paradoxically, love as the essence of life does not have to rebel against death or to make light of it. In the second part of the article the author analyses the causes of the contemporary reductionism in looking at life that manifests itself in many signs of the culture of death. The author discovers them in forgetting about the essentially spiritual side of life, in the degenerated notion of freedom and contemporary man’s weakened sensitivity to the grandeur of God and the dignity of man. In the final part of the article the author speaks about the Christian principles of the new culture of life. He derives them from a Christian’s consistent participation in Christ’s prophetic, priestly and royal functions. Because of this participation a Christian proclaims a proper anthropology, in sacraments he can celebrate admiration of life, and he is able to humbly and efficiently attend to every living creature.