Jana Pawła II „Księga Życia”: podstawowe aspekty chrześcijańskiego orędzia o ludzkim życiu

Abstract

The problems of life stand in the centre of John Paul II’s teaching. Its point of departure is a profound belief that “only God is the true source of life” The relationship between human life and God is made visible already on the ontological level (the first part of the paper). It is stressed here the enlivening character of the human soul in a substantial unity with the body. Accordingly, it is not only the spiritual but also the carnal sphere that has a specifically human character. This means that not only the spiritual sphere but also the carnal sphere participates the dignity of the Divine image. From the personalistic perspective the person’s life is the entirety of his conscious and free acts, engaging his spirit and body (the second part of the paper). The subjective dynamism of the person’s life allows us to speak about his responsibility, and the same time determines the contents of this responsibility. We mean here the relationship between freedom and carnality. Carnality calls for respect in the same manner as we are obliged to respect the person himself. In a further perspective the point is a concrete shape of responsibility for human life, starting from its biological dimension. The following issues appear here: health promotion, therapeutic and preventive activities, and environment protection. The third part of the paper is devoted to the theological perspective of human life. Actually, in the teaching of John Paul II human life is not a category either purely biological, or only philosophical, but it is, in the first place, theological. Consequently, there is a threefold line of thinking on human life in the teaching of the Pope: creationistic, Christological, and pneumatological.