A Return to the Lost Truth: Hellenistic Culture as Preparation for the Gospel
Klaudia JEZNACH
an Dlugosz University of Humanities and Life Sciences in Czestochowa , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1610-0415
Abstract
The article interprets the output of Karol Wojtyła–John Paul II as a ‘book of the spirit’ in which the author strives to find connections between the past and the present by indicating the germs of the truth about one God and the presentiment of the coming of the Messiah in Hellenistic culture. Wojtyła’s belief in the common identity shared by ancient Greece, Slavdom, and Christianity is based, on the one hand, on his analysis of Saint Paul’s speech on the Areopagus and, on the other, on the reflection on the activity of Saints Cyril and Methodius; the future pope also draws on Polish literature, particularly on the drama Akropolis by Stanisław Wyspiański and on the writings of Cyprian Norwid. In his works, John Paul II brings to the fore the thread linking pagan religions with Christianity, as well as the quest for unity inherent in different cultures and, at the same time, their respect for their own traditions and histories.
Keywords:
Karol Wojtyła, Hellenism, Slavs, Christianity, truth, identityan Dlugosz University of Humanities and Life Sciences in Czestochowa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1610-0415
