Two Dimensions of Seeing: Gabriel Marcel’s Philosophy and the Existential and Anthropological Background of Synodality

Aleksander BAŃKA

Abstract

The concept of “synodality” has become very popular in recent theological debates. Not only does it bring many new highlights to the already classic discourse on the nature of the Church, but it also makes it possible to raise important questions about her future. Moreover, as a mode of dialogue and discernment in the Church—a style of “journeying together” of the People of God—synodality also invites reflection on the subject of that journey, i.e., on contemporary man and his place in the ecclesial community. Not without reason, what constitutes an important aspect of synodality is also anthropological reflection, at the centre of which stands the idea of homo viator (the journeying man, the pilgrim): the idea which also lies at the centre of the philosophical creed developed by the great Christian existentialist Gabriel Marcel. The relationship between these two perspectives—the existential and anthropological contexts of synodality and Marcel’s metaphysics of hope—is not accidental. This article aims to show that the two perspectives in question entail two essential types of insight, existential and spiritual seeing, which can and should complement each other. What is more, it seems that their fruitful meeting could result not only in a renewal of the Christian thinking about man, which is needed today, but also in a better recognition of the directions which the Church of the future should follow while seeking space for the difficult dialogue with the modern world.