Abstract

The theology of the body is closely related to John Paul II's definition of man. Its core is the affirmation of masculinity and femininity, which is expressed through the body. In this sphere there is not only the biological sex structure, but the entire sphere of behaviour resulting from gender. The situation which remains in opposition to Karol Wojtyła's teaching is the proposed (consumerism-initiated) approach to the body as a subject, a machine that requires the highest efficiency and parameterization of everything, maximizing its possibilities, but also as a kind of pot that hides spiritual beauty, remaining in a forced and unwanted dependence on the body. The dynamic development of research around the corporality has not led to a single universally accepted anthropology, and the dispute over the definition of a person and the importance of his or her physical structure remains unsettled. Increasingly, globalisation and mass culture seem to use the subject of the body to attract the attention of the participants in social life with consumerism, enhancing the "usability" and "usefulness" of the body. In this context, it is important to see the proposal of Karol Wojtyła, who, following the experience of the Catholic Tradition, logically combines the achievements of the theological and anthropological sciences and then looks at them through the prism of ethical issues. Consequently, he values the body (material, incidental, unstable, mortal, but necessary to express oneself) and asks how love can be expressed through it.