Theories of Justice

A Dialogue with Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II and Karl Barth

Stephanie Mar Brettmann

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781556358814
  9781498226523
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630877965
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

What is justice? How do we know justice? How is justice cultivated in society? These are the three questions that guide this critical dialogue with two representatives of the Catholic and Protestant traditions: Karl Barth and Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II. Though the two thought leaders are shaped within divergent theological traditions and historical contexts, they both appeal to Christian anthropology as a starting point for justice. Their explorations into the nature of humanity yield robust new theories of justice that remain relevant for our contemporary era. The third interlocutor, our female author, brings her own voice fully into the dialogue in the third part of the book in order to address the shortcomings in their theories and build upon their insights, all the while seeking theories of humanity and social justice that result in justice for all persons.

part one

Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II

1

Wojtyla’s Affirmation of Human Dignity in Occupied Poland

As a young man, Wojtyla experienced suffering that brought shape to his mature theories of justice. He encountered both the suffering of his people in occupied Poland as well as his own personal anguish as he lost all of his immediate family members during his early years. Yet despite this suffering, Wojtyla claimed that he witnessed the transcendence of the human spirit, a spirit that refused to bend under oppression and continued to rise above immediate forms of suffering. He credited these early experiences with his insight into the nature of human dignity. This theme of dignity remained the cornerstone for his theory of justice.

Each chapter in Part One of this book will seek to explore dimensions of Wojtyla’s theory of justice as shaped by his anthropology. Chapter 1 will trace the early events and the influences on Wojtyla’s humanistic impulses and the themes that continued to be developed and reinforced in his mature ideas of justice: the dignity of human persons, the transcendence of God as the being who is “other” yet who graciously gives himself for humanity, and the epistemological basis for knowledge of this God, of the human person, and of the moral law. Chapter 2 will examine Wojtyla’s theory of justice as developed in his philosophical works and chapter 3 will examine his theory as developed in his theological works as John Paul II. Early in his life he developed the key theme that underlies his philosophical and theological accounts of justice: the dignity of human persons.

Son of Poland

When Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, his nation experienced the pains of rebirth following World War I. While his fellow Poles worked to build the Second Polish Republic as a free and united nation, Wojtyla grew into a promising student and a talented actor despite two family tragedies: the death of his mother and of his only sibling. Though this suffering pressed hard upon Karol and his father, the elder Wojtyla encouraged his son in his studies and in his burgeoning Catholic faith.1

Upon graduation from his secondary schooling in 1938, Karol Wojtyla and his father moved to Kraków so that he could attend Jagiellonian University, where he studied language and literature.2 However, the following September of 1939, when German armies invaded Poland, the Polish army was unable to resist Hitler’s forces. Poland became divided as the eastern lands were absorbed into the Soviet Union while central and western Poland were divided, some incorporated into the Third Reich and the remainder placed under the control of Hans Frank. Frank ruled with great cruelty, seeking to destroy Poland by depriving the Poles of their rights and by seeking to eliminate Polish culture.3

In one of the many efforts to achieve this goal, the Germans sought to destroy Jagiellonian University by arresting over 180 academics, destroying laboratories, and wrecking libraries. In a defiant act of self-preservation, the University began to hold classes underground. These secret lectures enabled Wojtyla to continue his studies in the evenings after working as a manual laborer during the day.4

Through this difficult period, Wojtyla was involved in an underground theater and he began writing and directing plays. Most of these plays reflected his struggle to come to terms with the harsh reality of occupation.5 They explored the experience of human suffering and the potential of humans to transcend their circumstances through faith and action. They also documented the development of the theme that would later characterize Wojtyla’s account of justice: the dignity of personhood. In fact, Wojtyla later credited these years under occupation with his insight into human dignity. During this period he witnessed acts of courage in the face of tyranny, expressions of hope in the midst of oppression, and the transcendence of human persons in a context of suffering. He credited this courage, hope, and transcendence to the fundamental dignity of human personhood.

In the midst of his manual work, his studies, and his involvement in theater, Wojtyla returned home one day in February 1941 to find that his father had died in bed. According to Wojtyla, his grief marked a decided turn in his life; abandoning his earlier vocational plans, he decided to seek ordination to the priesthood.6 This personal suffering initiated his journey into training for the Catholic priesthood, a training which laid the theoretical foundation for his later account of justice.

Laying Theological Basis for Justice

In 1942, Wojtyla began attending the underground seminary in Kraków where he became intimately acquainted with Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha. After Wojtyla completed his seminary degree in July 1946 and was ordained in November, Sapieha decided that the young priest should begin doctoral studies in theology at Rome’s Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Thomas Aquinas (or “the Angelicum”).7 Wojtyla soon moved to Rome and lived for two years in the Belgian College of the Angelicum. During his studies, he encountered the three forms of Thomism that predominated contemporary Catholic thought: Aristotelian, Existential, and Transcendental Thomism.8 This encounter marked an important stage in the construction of Wojty...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part One: Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II
• Chapter 1: Wojtyla’s Affirmation of Human Dignity in Occupied Poland
• Chapter 2: The Dignity of Human Persons in Wojtyla’s
• Part Two: Karl Barth
• Chapter 4: An Early Passion for Justice
• Part Three: Critical Dialogue with a Female Interlocutor
• Chapter 7: Sources of Justice
• Chapter 8: Theories of Justice
• Select Bibliography