On the Beauty that Equals Mercy: The Conceptions of Mercy in Karol Wojtyła’s Play Our God’s Brother, as seen in the context of John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Dives in Misericordia Cover Image
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„TAKIE PIĘKNO NAZYWA SIĘ MIŁOSIERDZIE” Koncepcje miłosierdzia zawarte w dramacie „Brat naszego Boga” Karola Wojtyły w świetle encykliki „Dives in misericordia” Jana Pawła II
On the Beauty that Equals Mercy: The Conceptions of Mercy in Karol Wojtyła’s Play Our God’s Brother, as seen in the context of John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Dives in Misericordia

Author(s): Zofia Zarębianka
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Polish Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II - Instytut Jana Pawła II, Wydział Filozofii
Keywords: drama play; mercy; encyclical; Our God’s Brother; Dives in Misericordia

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a comparative analysis of the conceptions of mercy put forward in two texts by Karol Wojtyła–John Paul II, namely in his play Our God’s Brother and in the Encyclical Letter Dives in Misericordia. The existing interpretations of Our God’s Brother tend to disregard its theological aspects and focus on the biographic and historical issues instead. The author proposes a different approach to the reading of Wojtyła’s play and holds that its theological aspects, in particular the reference to the category of mercy, are crucial to its interpretation. A comparison of the ideational layer of the play with that of the encyclical in question leads to the conclusion that the most signifi cant ideas present in Dives in Misericordia were expressed—in a non-discursive way—in the play Our God’s Brother, which preceded the encyclical by thirty years. This discovery confi rms the axiological and ideational unity of the Polish Pope’s entire output, as well as the rightness of those who have pointed that Wojtyła’s literary works must be considered in terms of a ‘laboratory of thought’ which prepared the ground for his later writings making use of genres other than literary.

  • Issue Year: 29/2016
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 285-293
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish