Karol Wojtyła’s Radiation of Fatherhood: An Open Work

Ks. Alfred WIERZBICKI

Chair of Ethics, Institute of Theoretical Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article shows the impact of the philosophical and theological output of Karol Wotyła–Jan Paweł II on his literary works. The dramatic play Radiation of Fatherhood is interpreted as an open work in two senses. Firstly, its basic thematic motifs were in time elaborated by the author in his later philosophical and theological works. Secondly, the description of the play as an ‘open work’ points to the existential aspect of its message and to its closeness to traditional mystery plays. By pointing to the complementarity of both literary genres, the author also proposes abandoning the controversy of whether Radiation of Fatherhood represents the genre of ‘meditative drama’ or rather that of ‘mystery play.’ Karol Wojtyła’s way of thinking was marked by a sense of synthesis: he combined the interpretation of the human person as ‘substance’ with the interpretation of her as ‘relation’ and in his approach to anthropology he referred both to the phenomenological data and to the ‘data’ provided by the Revelation. His poetic meditations on fatherhood included both in the Radiation of Fatherhood and in the Roman Triptych show the adequateness of the Christian vision of the human being as imago Dei and enable the discovery and contemplation of the truth about the greatness of the human being in the light of the truth about God who is the cause of all humanity.

Keywords:

Karol Wojtyła’s dramatic plays, Radiation of Fatherhood, Roman Triptych, John Paul II as a poet, meditative drama, mystery play, philosophy in literature