This course pursues some basic issues regarding human development and a look at the following dimensions: instinctual and emotional growth, cognitive development, psycho-social development, and how these aspects affect maturity of ones moral and religious development. “The Acting Person” of Karol Wojtyla
The name John Paul II cannot be underrated. Nor can his papal achievements for a quarter of a century be simply disregarded. Led by this man and guided by his profound social teachings, the Catholic Church in the 20th century came to be perceived by so many as the worlds single greatest voice for democracy and human rights. Only a few, however, know his background or the philosophy and theology behind his thinking.
This course on Karol Wojtyla is a systematic attempt at an understanding of the mind of the Personalist philosopher who became Pope John Paul II. The initial discussions will explore his life and times, especially taking into consideration the significant influences to his early philosophical formation. The succeeding discussions will examine in depth one of his central philosophical and theological persuasions the acting person the theme that is enshrined in his major work (Osoba i czyn, 1969) and is so pronounced even in his encyclical letters. A clear grasp of the Wojtylan concept of the human person as seen through his/her actions will eventually serve as a construct or mental framework for confronting certain moral issues of our times. Karol Wojtyla’s “Love and Responsibility”
Even before he assumed the papacy, Karol Wojtyla had already produced a remarkably eloquent and cogent defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality. His major work, Love and Responsibility (1960), drawn from his own pastoral experiences as a priest and bishop, and based on his Christian Personalism, contains his philosophico-theological persuasions on the sexual self-realization of the human person.
This course is a systematic attempt at an understanding and appreciation of the mind of the Personalist philosopher who became Pope John Paul II. It will explore his life and times, especially mindful of the significant influences that shaped his thinking, examine in depth his aforementioned opus as the result of what he calls an incessant confrontation of doctrine with life, and enable the students to engage in meaningful discussions on the moral issues which Wojtyla addressed and which have remained controversial even in our time.
