Rediscovering Christian Culture and Spirituality in the Fluid Reality of Europe

Andrzej Napiórkowski

doi:10.21697/ct.2024.94.1.05

Published: 2024-02-01

Vol. 94 No. 1 (2024)

Rediscovering Christian Culture and Spirituality in the Fluid Reality of Europe

Andrzej Napiórkowski

Collectanea Theologica

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2024.94.1.05

Abstract

This article points to the plight of man in the 21st century and his intimidating spiritual and axiological confusion. The 2020 COVID pandemic, the 2022 war in Ukraine and high economic inflation have exposed the lack of stable ethical values and lasting references for Europe. On the one hand, many EU citizens live today in uncertainty and fear, falling in line with populist slogans, and on the other hand, strong xenophobic and fundamentalist currents have emerged in the Catholic Church. Europe is arguably not so much in need of a return to over-institutionalized Christianity, but rather of a search for new forms and systems that would express the ideas of Jesus of Nazareth in innovative ways. Postmodernity with its characteristic elements, i.e., pluralization, mercantilization and rapid change, seem to be completely incompatible with the conventionally accepted Christian understanding of God, the concept of man and the world around him. Therefore, this is a great challenge to all Christian theologians.

Keywords:

Christianity, spirituality, culture, liquid modernity, Europe, postmodernism

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Napiórkowski, A. (2024). Rediscovering Christian Culture and Spirituality in the Fluid Reality of Europe. Collectanea Theologica, 94(1), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2024.94.1.05

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Andrzej Napiórkowski

anapiorkowski@wp.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3480-1178

Affiliation:

The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Andrzej A. Napiórkowski, a Pauline, In 1988 he graduated from the Papal Academy of Theology in Cracow as a M.A. in philosophy (specialization: psychology). In May 1989 he became the licentiate of philosophy. In 1990 he received the title of M.A in theology. The title of his Master's thesis was Ujęcie nieomylności Kościoła przez H. Friesa w świetle eklezjologii fundamentalnej A. Langa. In 1991 he became the licentiate of theology. The title of his work was Ujęcie wiary przez magisterium Kościoła i w “Istocie katolicyzmu” Karla Adama (M.A. in philosophy, Ph.D. in theology).

Specialistic studies in Germany (Tubingen, Regensburg) A. Napiórkowski completed with a doctorate degree at the Department Of Theology at the University of Regensburg based on the dissertation Schrift-Tradition-Kirche. Glaubensquelle in M.J. Scheebens theologischer Erkenntnislehre (Frankfurt a. M. 1996, ss. 295). The habilitation on the basis of the paper Bogactwo łaski a nędza grzesznika. Zróżnicowany konsensus teologii katolickiej i luterańskiej o usprawiedliwianiu: (Kraków 2000, ss. 404).

Since March 2001 a chairman of ecclesiology at the Department of Theology at the Papal University of John Paul II (PUJP II) in Kraków. From 1^st October 2004 he received the position of a professor at the Theology Department of PAT in Cracow and in 2006 he received the full title of professor. He lectures Ecclesiology, Ecumenism, Fundamental Theology and Mariology. Since 2020 director of Institute for Fundamental Theology, Ecumenism and Dialogue.

The area of his research may be placed in the following five thematical domains: 1. Ecclesiology; 2. Anthropology and Christology; 3. Mariology; 4. The problem of freedom, grace, justification in the Catholic – Lutheran dialogue; ecumenical issues in the general aspect; 5. pastoral and occasional subject matter.