John Paul II as a Theologian of Culture

Avery Dulles, S.J. John Paul II as aTheologian of Culture From his early years Karol Wojtyla, as a poet, dramatist, and philosophy professor in a Communist country with a deeply rooted Catholic heritage, developed a keen interest in the relations between faidi and culture. As a young bishop at Vatican II he took an active part in the composition of Gaudium et spes, and submitted a written intervention proposing about a dozen emendations to the draft of the chapter on the Church and culture.1 He played a prominent role in the Synod ofBishops in 1 974, which supplied the materials for Evangelii nuntiandi. As a cardinal he lectured at various places, including the Catholic University ofthe Sacred Heart in Milan, on "The Problem of the Constitution of Culture through Human Praxis."2 Elected pope in 1978, he set up a Pontifical Council for Culture in 1982. In die letter establishing this council he wrote: "Since the beginning of my pontificate I have considered die Church's dialogue widi die cultures of our time to be a vital area, one in which the destiny of die world at the end of the twentieth century is at stake."3 Logos 1:2 1997 20 Logos In what follows I shall try to syndiesize the teaching ofJohn Paul II on the relationship between faith and culture, which is found scattered through innumerable encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, letters, addresses, and homilies, as well as books and articles composed before he assumed the papal office.4 I have gathered up his thinking under seven headings that are my own. Theological Anthropology Behind all of die Pope's thinking about culture stands the theological anthropology diat is concisely expressed in Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, and is amplified in books such as John Paul II's Catechesis on die Book of Genesis.5 Central to this teaching is the idea that every human person is created in the image of God (GS 12), and is dierefore endowed with inalienable freedom and personal dignity. AsVatican II had already said, man is the only creature on earth that exists for its own sake (GS 24). The gospel reveals the deepest truth about man (GS 41), including the truth diat in Jesus Christ God has in some way united himself widi every human being (GS 22). In his inaugural encyclical, Redemptor hominis, the Pope drew die consequence that because everyone is included in the mystery of redemption, all are entrusted to the solicitude of die Church. "The object of her care is man in his unique unrepeatable human reality, which keeps intact the image and likeness of God himself."6 For this reason the Church professes a universal humanism: no individual or group is beyond her modierly solicitude. According to Holy Scripture, God created man not as an isolated individual but as a social being, destined to live in communion with others. The first community was marked by a difference of gender: "male and female he created them" (Gen 1 :27). Aldiough called to exercise dominion over die rest of creation, human beings were not given arbitrary dominative power. They were obliged to John Paul II as a Theologian of Culture21 respect the order of creation, the goodness of which God recognized even before the "sixth day," when Adam was formed. People all too easily forget that their power to reshape the world through their own labor is always based "on God's prior and original gift of the things diat are."7 The relationship ofmen and women to die rest of creation is therefore one of responsible stewardship. Without them there would be no one to till the earth (cf. Gen 2:5-6).8 Human Existence and Culture What distinguishes man from every otiier kind ofcreature is culture . Plants and animals live but have no culture. Thomas Aquinas, commenting on Aristotle, affirmed that humanity lives by creativity and intellect ("Genus humanum arte et ratione vivit").9 John Paul II paraphrases this as meaning diat "Man lives a really human life tiianks to culture.... Culture is a specific way ofman's 'existing' and 'being'."10 Culture is diat by which man becomes more human...