Wolność a łaska. Interpretacje problemu w tradycji chrześcijańskiej

Abstract

Salvation as a reality that is the centre of both the Christian faith, and a theology that speaks its sense, signifies the fulfillment of human existence capable of receiving God (capax Dei). It is realized in a dialogue between God and man, between an unconditional gift of Divine love and man’s free nature that responds to this gift. This relation has never been obvious in the Christian tradition, which is visible in the long-lasting disputes over the understanding of grace and freedom, God’s role and the place of man in the process. Since the times of the dispute between Augustine and Pelagius till the ongoing changes in the interpretations of the problem we have seen simplifications which, on the one hand, overestimate freedom and, on the other, wish to undermine the meaning of freedom to show the ruthlessness of God’s actions. In the article a panorama of traditional views on grace has been outlined, as well as the three most representative approaches for the determination of the aforementioned relations: monergism, synergism and energism. The last one, energism (as an inclusive approach), speaks of a specifically understood cooperation between God and man in salvation, namely the simultaneousness of God’s and man’s actions, in which grace becomes a releasing force of human freedom. In light of the principle of energism, best proved in the person of Jesus Christ, salvation has a personal and historical character, which every time demands a free decision of both sides, an agreement motivated by love realised in the gesture of perichoretic hospitality.