| Abstract (english) | The title of this dissertation Reception of the Teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the Christocentricity in the Post-Conciliar Renewal of Moral Theology speaks about the specificity of the title and of the approach taken to it. The Christian anthropology of the Second Vatican Council, specifically displayed in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes about the Church in the modern world, with its centre in Jesus Christ or with its Christocentricity, is an important and crucial guideline for the entire Catholic moral theology and especially for moral anthropology. The Council did not expressis verbis displayed the doctrine of the Christocentricity of moral theology, but in its exposition of Christian anthropology it brought forth the main and fundamental determinants of the teachings of Christocentricity. In that sense, we can speak of the Christological Conciliar anthropology, which is at the centre of the research and exposition of the Christocentricity of moral theology in this dissertation. In the Croatian speaking area, this issue, but especially this approach, has not been systematically worked up to date, although significant steps have been made and important impulses have been given to systematically address this issue. This also tells a little bit about the motive and purpose of the doctrinal work that is of course unattainable in one such research. But, because of the importance and significance of the actuality of the theme, it is at least worth a try to dare go on that conceived theological endeavour and to embark on this steep yet sweet theological path. With this modest doctoral research, we want to contribute to the enrichment of Croatian moral theology and especially to its renewal in the light of the Council. This reconstruction has already been initiated by the Croatian moral theologians in our speaking area, without which incentives, orientation, and contributions this dissertation would not have been possible. In our research, we will consistently try to hold to our main subject, which is the doctrine of the Christocentricity of moral theology, which we can read in the conciliar texts, especially in Gaudium et spes, which, before expressly speaking about Christian anthropology, in the Prologue already establishes a dialogue with the contemporary world. The Church addresses all people and the whole world, and that will also formulate the methodology of the Pastoral Constitution, as well as questions about the starting point, the method of presentation and the structure of the document itself. The Council, therefore, did not only present the teachings of the Church (Lumen gentium), but also determined the Church's position in relation to the contemporary world and man, and defined the essential directions of its action and practice. This in the history of ecumenical concerts is something new and unprecedented in terms of the character and expression of the document, points out Walter Kasper, as well as many other theologians. The method of scientific research and presentation in this doctoral thesis will be a peculiar method of theological theology in general, but in this work the theological method will be adapted to the demands of the moral-theological method, primarily inherent in the basic moral theology, in particular, which examines and analyses the sources and foundations of the Christian calling and life in Christ. In achieving the intended goal, we will mainly use an analytical-critical method that will enable us the displaying and analysis of the main texts contained in the sources and literature. The exception is the fifth chapter of the doctoral dissertation, in which we will rely more on the synthetic method that enables us to present the results of the doctoral research, which we will formulate in the form of theses. In this research work we will primarily use the sources, namely the Holy Scriptures and documents of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the four great constitutions (Sacrosanctum concilium, Lumen gentium, Dei Verbum and Gaudium et spes), around which the identity of the entire Council will be structured, especially the Christocentricity of the whole Catholic theology. We will use relevant commentaries and interpretations, primarily that of the Post-Conciliar Church, and then of course of the relevant theologians in general and moral theologians in particular. The doctoral dissertation will largely rely on immeasurable contributions to the rebuilding of moral theology of moral theologians of the German speaking area such as: Häring, Fuchs, Böckle, Auer, Demmer and Mieth, but also on other relevant moral theologians, especially of the Italian speaking area and those whose works are written or translated into Italian, and, to a lesser extent, to the moral theologians of the Englishspeaking area. Certainly, we will also heavily rely ourselves on Croatian moral theologians, of which we mention Marijan Valković, Ivan Fuček, Stjepan Baloban, Vladimir Dugalić and Tonči Matulić. The list of our source literature will be given at the end of the doctoral dissertation. This list cannot be comprehensive, but we believe it is more than indicative and sufficient to explore the teaching of the Christocentricity of moral theology in the light of the Second Vatican Council. This research also refers to some modern dogmatic and fundamental theologians who, by their theological works, were heralds of theological thought, and some of them also participated in the Council and gave inevitably important incentives in the preparation of conciliar documents, and post-conciliar renewal of theology in general and moral theology in particular. The sources used, the primary and secondary literature will be mentioned in the notes at the bottom of the page. Each chapter will have a separate list of notes, so it will start with the number one (1). All the changes of the contemporary world that the Council emphasized in the introductory exposition to Gaudium et spes are a challenge to the human moral action, and thus challenge to the moral theology. It is evident that profound social, historical, cultural and social changes to a large extent shape men and their moral consciousness. The moral and ethical issue has become a radically anthropological issue today, in its origin it is an unavoidable metaphysical and ontological question, and in the light of the Church's Christian anthropology becomes the most eminent Christological question, which is theological question par excellence. The Second Vatican Council initiated the rebuilding the whole of theology and defined all the theological disciplines in the Christocentric way. The identity of theology is formed on this Christocentric path, and today more than ever before, the identity of moral theology. The main emphasis of the Church's teachings on Christian moral theology reveal the sources and foundations of a Christian call in Christ, or more specifically, they are developing a Christocentric structured moral anthropology and area also responding to the challenges of contemporary anthropological questions that can no longer be based on an outdated model of education and mentality. It is necessary to demonstrate the essential theological and Christological demands of Christian practice or Christian morality in the world of evolutionary-dynamical processes that carry an unquestionable awareness of the history, autonomy and self-consciousness of a man as a moral subject. It is our purpose to show that the renewal of moral theology should start from the main sources that provide insight into the value or ontological-ethical richness of a man as a person created in the image of God and redeemed to the image of the true God and the perfect man of Jesus Christ. The structure of the doctoral dissertation consists of five major sections or chapters. At the beginning of the first chapter, we give a brief overview of Catholic moral theology before the Second Vatican Council, which also explains the title of the doctoral thesis, that is, the key question, which is why it was necessary to renew the moral theology. Of that necessity, many moral theologians were speaking and writing even before the Council, which confirmed justification for doing that and even brought the basic guidelines for it. The demand for a renewal of the moral theology can be found in the Council's documents, especially in the four major constitutions. The first chapter is bringing in the outlines identity of moral theology related to the four great Constitutions of the Congregation, particularly in the novelty of the selfunderstanding of the Church exemplified by Gaudium et spes, and this also influences the understanding of Christian moral teachings. All the topics in the outlines of the first chapter are elaborated in the other chapters in the Christocentric key and have their centre in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Christocentric identity of moral theology has been linked with the basic elements of the conciliar moral anthropology, which indicates that the doctrine of Gaudium et spes must necessarily be related to the doctrine presented in the other three constitutions, as well as with other Council documents. The Christocentricity of moral theology essentially implies its origin, which is the person of Jesus Christ, the revelator of God of Triune Love, which shows that Christian moral teaching is based on and follows from God's revelation, which is interpreted by Dei Verbum Dogmatic Constitution about the divine revelation. Christian revelation is the source of all the supreme moral truth and moral doctrine. The second chapter begins with the recognition of the main tasks of moral theology in general and of moral anthropology in particular, and the most important task is to rediscover the centre and foundations of that discipline. Renewal of moral theology should start from this most important task that contains the New Law of the Spirit as a source of Christian calling and life in Christ. In this context, we can also talk about the conciliar pneumatological Christology on which the moral doctrine of the Church is based. The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ, introduces the whole Church into the mysteries of the life of Christ, from which all moral norms and laws arise, and that flow into Christ's commandment of love for God and his neighbour (Mt 22: 37-40). According to the teachings of the Council, the New Law of Christ's Commandments of Love is the centre of moral anthropology developed by the fundamental numbers of Christian anthropology in Gaudium et spes. The talk of Christian anthropology begins with the number 10 of Gaudium et spes, which is, according to Thomas Gertler, Christological credo of the Pastoral Constitution. That credo also demands a clearer definition according to the New Law of Love, which is the law of the Spirit, which Christians are able to accomplish for the Christian calling and life in Christ, who is the only law and the norm of Christian moral teaching and action. The third chapter, which is the central chapter of the doctoral dissertation, brings out the Christological organization of moral anthropology and its moral demands for the Christian calling and life in Christ, as implicitly contained in numbers 10, 12, 22, and 45 of the Pastoral Constitution in connection with other Council documents, especially with the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium on the Church. At the heart of this chapter is the fundamental Christian truth of a man as a person created on the image of God of Triune Love, with the central importance of the person of Jesus Christ as the true God and the perfect man. Jesus Christ is the culmination of God's revelation, a revelator of the whole truth about the creation of man in the image of God and about the ontic unity of the entire history of salvation. The central thought of a man as the image of God is at the same time the central category of the Council’s Christian anthropology. The talk of Christ – the new Adam, the eschatological picture of God – is a characteristic of the Council’s Christian anthropology and determines the essential connection between anthropology and Christology. This has immense implications for the interpretation of moral anthropology as the basis of the moral requirement of Christian calling and life in Christ. This moral requirement is realized by imitating Christ and by living the evangelical Blessings, which is a program of Jesus’s proclamation of the kingdom of God, which results from Jesus’s moral doctrine: the moral of mercy, faith, hope and love. In number 22 of Gaudium et spes we find something that we can call the Christological synthesis of anthropology, which began with the Christian credo in number 10 and by speaking about the image of God in number 12. The crown of the entire first part of the Pastoral Constitution is number 45, in the centre of which is the person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man as the Saviour and the Redeemer of human nature. This is consequently a necessary source of a Christian structured moral anthropology, because it expresses the fundamental moral demands of Christian calling and life in Christ. In the fourth chapter, we bring forth and explain the conciliar doctrine of the Church in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium. The Council has begun restoring the Church; therefore, the renewal of ecclesiology is a prerequisite for the renewal of all theological disciplines, and that also means moral theology. The Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ who is its Head, and all members of the Church are his limbs. Christian moral life and action are accomplished in the Church by the power of the sacred sacraments through which the Holy Spirit gives Christians grace and divine virtues. Christians are called to the sacredness of life and the proclamation of the gospel in the contemporary world, society and culture so that they socially advocate for the evangelical values contained in the Church's social teachings, which are also Christocentric in its fundamental settings. In the last, fifth chapter, the synthetic presentation is formulated in the form of six (6) theses of the main research results. The theses outline the guidelines for a conciliar inspired and guided renewal of Catholic moral theology, both in the present and in the future. In the doctoral research of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on Christocentricity in post-conciliar renewal of moral theology, we conclude that the Council with its renewal guidelines has a permanent and rich inspiration, and can also serve as a source of understanding and interpretation of a crystocentric shaped and structured moral theology and anthropology. At the heart of the renewal of moral theology lies the Christology of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. The Council develops the Christological moral anthropology as the basis for the practical fulfilment of the moral requirement of Christian calling and life in Christ. The Council wanted to give basic guidelines for the development of the biblical foundation of morality. It was a conciliar imperative to overcome the orientation that prevailed in Catholic moral theology before the Council, and this orientation was a view of the natural law in which the word of God was simply lacking. Christian moral teaching should be based on the person of Jesus Christ and on the mysteries of his life. The conciliar moral doctrine is displayed as the Christocentric and as such has become an unavoidable task of post-conciliar moral theology. Our research has also touched on contemporary challenges and problems, moral issues and doubts that affect and bother modern man, resulting from the advancement of science and technology. The Council has dealt with these moral challenges and issues not only critically but also self-critically, by offering help to the modern world in resolving all moral-ethical issues and doubts in all areas of human life and action. In our doctoral work, our aim was to explore and demonstrate in the contours, the understanding of Catholic moral theology in a christocentric structured conciliar moral anthropology, which has a person of Jesus Christ as its starting point and purpose. It is a sign that Christology stands at the center of moral anthropology, that is, that moral anthropology is the most eminent theology in its most radical sense. If we want to be honest, and we want that, more than 50 years have passed since the end of the Council, and we have to ask the question: Was the Christocentricity of moral theology carried out both in theory and in practice? The answer to that question cannot simply be offered with the words “yes” or “no”. In front of the contemporary moral theology is still a task set out by the Christocentric way and orientation of the Second Vatican Council, for the Council has given strong and vital incentives and inspirations that remain the permanent heritage of the whole Church, as well as its theology in general and moral theology in particular. Moral theology has gone through this christocentric path, as seen in moral textbooks after the Council, as well as in numerous theological journals, various theological symposia and conferences, theological manuals, encyclopaedias and collections. Moral theologians have made strenuous but above all fruitful step towards achieving that goal that has not yet come to its end. Also, the post-conciliar Church Magisterium has given immense contributions to the development of the christocentricity of moral theology. The Bible and Christology, as the two basic principles of Christian morality, which make up the centre of moral theology, have not disappeared from the contentious view of moral theology, but are still, as are the doctrines themselves and the spirit of the Council, at the stage of renewal and reception. It is unquestionable that moral theology should become christocentric, but the question of realization of its Christocentricity today remains open, although it is also without a doubt that a good part of that request was realized. Jesus Christ remains forever the centre of Christian faith and theology. The Christocentricity of moral theology, therefore, is the “eternal” theme of the whole Church, its theology, and the concrete inheritance of Christ and of the Gospel. The Doctrine of the Christocentricity of the moral theology of the Second Vatican Council with its main Christological insights and orientations also remains a lasting heritage and inspiration as a sign to every future moral theology that needs to be formed in the Christocentric key and vision. And can there even be Catholic moral theology that is not christocentric inspired, oriented and directed, both in theory and in practice? In this doctoral thesis, whose research is yet incomplete and only preliminary, we have shown in the outlines the significance and importance of the Council's guidelines for the renewal of moral theology in the light of the christologically structured moral anthropology. The Christian principle of moral anthropology, which stems from the doctrine of the Church, is present in all moral themes: in the talk of bliss, law, norms, grace, the kingdom of God, inheritance, faith, hope, love, the covenant and moral anthropology. Every concrete materialization of the moral doctrine is contained in the person embodied in the Word, Jesus Christ. The Council demands for the renewal of moral theology in the christological key, with far-reaching consequences for Christian moral teaching and concrete morality. Undoubtedly, we can conclude that the conciliar renewal of moral theology inspired the moral theologians of the whole Church for fruitful research work in the direction and light of the Church's doctrine of Christocentricity and in their interdisciplinary perspective and vision. The Council has enabled the fruitful and rich development of moral theology, which, without any doubt, is evaluated positively in this dissertation. The result of the post-conciliar development of moral theology has inspired and achieved many transformations in the self-understanding of the moraltheological work and research, which has also opened many new themes, repressed in the pre-conciliar moral textbooks; has revealed new paths, new goals and perspectives for the fruitful development of moral theology and anthropology. What is evident from the conciliar demand of Christian moral life and action is the return to the very sources and the foundations of the moral tradition of the Christian faith, which is the moral of the Gospel, the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. This is indicated by the fact that moral theology, whose content is only “life in Christ and the Spirit”, needs in the contemporary world to become a witness and living proclamation of faith in the crucified and Risen Christ. She needs to be the one who sees and hears the fundamental demands of Christian calling and life in Christ in the light of the Gospels. In the light of the teachings, but also of the spirit of the Council, moral theology needs to become a pupil of one and only Teacher Christ Jesus. The Evangelical teachings have to be adopted daily in order to perceive the new realities that appear in society and culture, new problems, new opportunities for understanding, which enable growth and maturation in faith and moral life, as well as the purification of the moral heritage, always bearing in mind that she is primarily a witness of the ecclesiae catholicae mores. In the life of mores ecclesiae catholicae, moral theology has a permanent basis and a source in which, within the overall context of faith, she seeks for each particular morality ratio fidei. Catholic moral theology, illuminated by the teachings of the Council, has the task of putting moral doctrine and moral action into the perspective and the horizon of meaning that affects the entire Christian existence and the Christian being – to encompass all human life and action in all dimensions of existence. For this reason, the theme of the Christocentricity of moral theology, as well as the general Christian calling and life in Christ with all its moral aspects, is an inexhaustible and rich topic that is impossible to encompass and present in a single dissertation. Her inexhaustibility is a sign of the richness of Christian faith and life in Christ. It is based on the person of Jesus Christ, the incomprehensible, inexhaustible, unutterable, immeasurable and unfathomable source of Christian moral teaching and life, just like the divine Revelation. On this path of growth and maturity to the holiness of life, moral theology in the light of the Council's guidelines illuminates the essence of reality in a definitive way. Jesus Christ is given to us as the definitive answer to every moral and ethical question. He is the answer to the question of man and his meaning, as well as to the question of the meaning of the whole reality. Moral theology is a continuous exploration of moral reality, moral life and action, moral law and norm, the published moral teaching that is given to us once and for all and which called Jesus Christ. Although moral doctrine has been given to us for all eternity, we will never be able to exhaust all its fullness because it is the fullness of Jesus Christ, and the fullness of Jesus Christ is greater than the whole cosmos, greater than anything we can even imagine. The miracle of moral theology in general and the moral anthropology in particular, is that we are constantly trying to deepen our understanding of what is given to us once and for all. Moral theology was called to deepen the inescapable reality of the mystery of Jesus Christ. It is her unique and single task, to advance in the understanding of the moral reality revealed to us by Christian faith. For Christian calling and life in Christ, this is of crucial importance and meaning, because if it is not clear and understandable what is that, that comes out of Christ, it is impossible to live the demands that this calling to Christ entails. Not only is it inconceivable today, but it is also impossible to develop and renew moral theology without the Second Vatican Council, which is the future of the Church. At the end of this very long and strenuous doctoral research, we have in mind that all that is human is equally deficient, imperfect, incomplete and has its shortcomings. Likewise, this dissertation is not an exception. We will conclude that in the time of exploration this issue has grown and matured in us, and that we are just now facing the task of an even more occupied, more intensive, more effective and complete dedication to this topic in the future |
